Storytellers

Highly respected ABC anchor, bestselling author and hit podcaster Leigh Sales interviews the cream of Australian journalists about their craft – how (and why) they bring us the stories that inform our lives.

Leigh Sales is one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists, having anchored the ABC’s flagship 7.30 program for twelve years. She has been a foreign correspondent, hosted Lateline and anchored numerous elections for the ABC. In this book, she turns her interviewing skills onto her own profession, those usually asking the questions: the journalists.

In ten sections – from News Reporting to Editing, via Investigative, Commentary and of course Interviewing – Sales takes us on a tour of the profession, letting the leaders in their field talk direct to us about how they get their leads, survive in war zones, write a profile, tell a story with pictures, and keep the show on the road. A who’s-who of Australian journalism – including Lisa Millar, Kate McClymont, Hedley Thomas, Trent Dalton, Benjamin Law, Tracy Grimshaw, Richard Fidler, David Speers, Stan Grant, Niki Savva, Waleed Aly, Annabel Crabb, Karl Stefanovic and Mia Freedman – talk candidly about their greatest lessons and their trade secrets.

A fascinating insight into a vital and much-misunderstood profession, Storytellers is a book for anyone who’s ever wanted to be a journalist, or even just wondered how the news gets made.

About the Author

Leigh Sales AM is one of Australia’s most respected journalists. As the new presenter of Australian Story and the recent host of the ABC’s flagship current affairs program, 7.30, she has interviewed dozens of world leaders and celebrities, including Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, the Dalai Lama, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Bill Gates. She has interviewed every living Australian Prime Minister, as well as the late Bob Hawke, and has anchored the last three federal elections for the ABC. Leigh is the winner of three Walkley Awards, Australia’s highest journalism honour; the author of the books Detainee 002, On Doubt, Well Hello and the bestselling Any Ordinary Day; and the co-host of the popular podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 with Annabel Crabb.

In 2023, her service to journalism and the community was recognised with an honorary doctorate from Edith Cowan University.