Tall And True Short Reads

Tall And True Short Reads is a short-form literary podcast centered on original writing, narrated in a steady, intimate style by Robert Fairhead. Its episodes are compact, but they rarely feel slight. A story may begin with a boy feeling sick in the back seat before a rock fishing trip, then widen into questions of family, imagination, danger, and the absence of a father. Another installment follows Leo Roberts toward a fast-car accident at an abandoned quarry, using the hospital waiting room to expose old grief, blame, and fear. The fiction has a plainspoken surface. Underneath, it is interested in the choices people make under pressure and the private histories they carry into ordinary scenes. The show also makes room for reflective nonfiction. A Heart-Shaped Teal Tattoo recounts campaign volunteering, community division, and the effort behind independent politics in Sydney. A Good Story revisits a childhood adventure manuscript and turns it into a clear-eyed look at character, plot, setting, tension, and resolution. Seasonal Kris Kringle episodes gather earlier pieces into archive collections, so the feed can feel like both a current project and a living notebook. The afterwords matter. Fairhead often explains writing prompts, publication context, home-studio realities, and the craft decisions behind a piece. That gives the podcast a workshop edge without making it academic. Listeners hear the story, then get a glimpse of the desk where it was made. The recurring mood is humane and reflective, with flashes of humor, sadness, and domestic realism. It suits short attention windows, but it rewards careful listening. The best episodes leave a clean shape in the mind: a wave, a car, a hospital, a classroom memory, a Christmas delivery route, or a campaign booth at the end of a long day.