Nicole Abadee

Nicole Abadee is an interviewer, moderator and journalist who has worked in the books industry since 2010, following her first career as a barrister.

Nicole appears regularly as a moderator at writers’ festivals around Australia, including Adelaide Writers’ Week, Canberra Writers’ Festival, Sydney Writers’ Festival and the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival.

In August 2025 she will be appearing at The Edinburgh International Book Festival.

She also interviews writers at bookshops and libraries.

She has interviewed international writers including Richard Ford, Colum McCann and Bonnie Garmus, and Australian writers including Helen Garner, Geraldine Brooks, Kate Grenville, Suzie Miller, Anna Funder, Markus Zusak, Trent Dalton and Shankari Chandran.

Nicole was a literary judge for the 2022 and 2021 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction.

Nicole is also a journalist who writes - about books, writers and other things - for Good Weekend, Spectrum, Australian Book Review and Harper’s Bazaar.

She started a podcast, Books, Books, Books, in 2020 during covid , on which she interviewed writers including Hilary Mantel, George Saunders and Joyce Carol Oates. She is not currently recording any new podcast episodes - but never say never.

In March 2025 she curated the Woollahra Writers’ Festival. You can find out more about the festival here: Festival Saturday + Festival Sunday.

Nicole feels extremely lucky to make her living from reading and talking – two of her favourite pastimes.