Ramona Koval is one of Australia’s most loved literary figures, thanks to her many years ruling the Radio National airwaves as the host of The Book Show. She’s famous for shining the spotlight on her bookish guests, at the ABC and as the host of The Monthly’s book club.
In her new book, Bloodhound, the interviewer extraordinaire gets personal, inviting us on an intimate journey to track down her father.
Ramona’s parents were Holocaust survivors who resettled in Melbourne. As a child, she suspected that the man who raised her was not her biological father. In the 1990s, long after her mother’s death, she decided to discover the truth – and a phone call led to a photograph in the mail, tea with strangers, and travel that spanned a meeting with a horse whisperer in tropical Queensland, rural Poland, and a Kafkaesque bureaucracy.
In conversation with Hilary Harper, discover how Ramona uncovered the truth, and why it was so important to her.
Featuring
Featuring
Ramona Koval is a writer who has worked as a journalist and broadcaster. Her most recent books are A Letter to Layla: Travels to our Deep Past and Near Future, Bloodhound: Searching For My Father, and By the Book: A Reader’s Guide to Life (all published by Text). She was the editor of two volumes ... Read more
Hilary Harper has a degree in English Literature and Cultural Studies, a Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing, and 30 years’ experience in radio. She’s been at the ABC since 2005. She’s covered everything from news and current affairs to traffic reporting, arts, health, gardeni... Read more
Watch, Listen, Read
Watch
Ma Thida: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy
Listen
Global Game Changers: The Evolution of the Olympic Games
Watch
Surveillance, Technology and AI: Meredith Whittaker in Conversation
Watch
No Place Like Home: Australia’s Housing Affordability Crisis
Listen
Surveillance Technology and AI: Meredith Whittaker in Conversation
Read