"I don't read for comfort"

Richard Ford has published eight novels and four collections of stories. His book Independence Day was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the first time the same book had won both prizes. Let Me Be Frank with You was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. He was recently awarded the Prix Femina Étranger in France and the Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature in Spain.

Beejay Silcox is a forthright book critic, Artistic Director of the Canberra Writers Festival, and Chair of the 2024 Stella Prize judging panel. She has stories to tell. Beejay was married in Vegas (not by Elvis), escaped from quicksand (more than once), and drove to Timbuktu in a car held together with a bra-strap.