The Australian Bite

New book turns heat on footballers behaving badly

7 October 2010

Listen and download: MP3

This week on the Australian Bite, we meet doctor and crime fiction author Kathryn Fox, whose new book Death Mask is set against a background of sex, violence and football stars. We also hear how Tasmanian expertise in growing pyrethrum is helping subsistence farmers in Papua New Guinea.

Release of new crime fiction book couldn’t be more timely

Death Mask is the new novel from Sydney-based medical doctor and crime fiction author Kathryn Fox. It features forensic physician Dr Anya Chrichton, and is set against a background of sex, violence and misbehaving footballers – in Australia and the USA. It’s a timely release for the book, with an alleged sexual assault by two Australian Football League (AFL) footballers currently making headlines in Australia. In an extended interview, Kathryn Fox talks to me about the themes of the book, and some of the very interesting facts she uncovered whilst doing the research for it.  Death Mask is published by Pan Macmillan Australia.

Kathryn Fox website

Insects beware! Tasmanians help rebuild PNG’s pyrethrum industry

Tasmanian expertise in growing pyrethrum is helping subsistence farmers in Papua New Guinea develop a reliable source of income. In the 1990’s the pyrethrum industry in PNG suffered a big downturn, but now a partnership between Tasmanian researchers and companies and their Papua New Guinean counterparts is helping it make a comeback. The project is collaboration between Botanical Resources Australia (BRA), the University of Tasmania, the PNG National Agricultural Research Institute and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR.) Reporter Anna Vidot speaks to Kud Sitango, who has just finished his master’s degree at the University of Tasmania’s School of Agriculture, and Brian Chung from BRA.

More on this story at the ABC Rural website

Music (not in podcast)

DJ, re-mixer and record producer Dirty South - aka Dragan Roganovic – was born in Serbia and moved to Australia at the age of 13. He started remixing tunes not long after, and this is his latest release, called Phazing.

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