Macquarie Dictionary launches podcast

Macquarie Dictionary has launched a new podcast that investigates the histories behind Australian words and phrases.

Word for Word will go behind-the-scenes with dictionary editors and interview some of Australia’s notable word-lovers, including poet and hip-hop artist Omar Musa, romance writer Shannon Curtis, Indigenous languages expert Maia Ponsonnet, writer Alex McKinnon, and Scrabble champion Esther Perrins.

Pan Macmillan digital executive Kate Sherington will host and produce the podcast, with new episodes released every Wednesday over seven weeks, beginning on 2 November. Bonus content is scheduled for 2017 and Macquarie Dictionary hopes the podcast will be a ‘long-term outlet’ with content released ‘regularly throughout the year’.

Sherington told Books+Publishing she wanted to ‘reveal the real work of the dictionary’ to a wider audience and aims to do so by ‘looking at Australian English from all sorts of angles, in an open and playful way’. ‘People tend to think of it as this dusty old institution that’s here to enforce the law on language, when actually it’s a really lively document,’ said Sherington. ‘I’ve been blown away by what I’ve learned and I hope listeners will be too.’

Word for Word is available on iTunes, SoundCloud, various podcast apps and the Macquarie Dictionary website. To subscribe, click here.

Category: Local news