
Read On - The Audiobook Show from RNIB
A weekly show all about audiobooks recorded at the RNIB Talking Book studios.
We talk to your favourite authors and narrators, along with reviews and news about new audiobooks.
Presented and produced by Robert Kirkwood, you'll find a new episode here every Friday at 1pm plus bonus content such as longer uncut interviews and episodes of our occasional extra show, The Book Group.
Talking Books is a free service from RNIB giving access to over 40,000 fiction and non fiction books for adults and children. Find out more by searching for RNIB Library.
Get involved and join the conversation by emailing radio@rnib.org.uk or find Robert on Twitter @Talking_Books
Other great podcast channels from RNIB Connect Radio
Connect - Our main channel with news, features and articles on sight loss.
Conversations - Blind and partially sighted people speaking about a wide range of topics.
Tech Talk - Technology for blind and partially sighted people.
Sport - See sport differently.
The Happy Hour - Mental health, mindfulness, and overall wellbeing.
Tracks of My Life - Take a journey through our guest's life.
Support - Other podcasts from RNIB.
TV Guide - Daily audio TV listings
Latest episodes

Mar 3, 2023 • 58min
310: World Book Day 2023 and Tips on Writing with Sight Loss
This week blind author Ami Turnbull tells the Tech Talk team how she wrote her book 'More!', we talk to children's author Laura Ellen Anderson about Amelia Fang and being a previous World Book Day Book author and we hear all 13 titles that blind and partially sighted children can get for free on this year's World Book Day.

Feb 24, 2023 • 58min
309: Catherine Simpson and Rosanna Amaka
On today's show Robert Kirkwood chats to Catherine Simpson about her memoir One Body: A Retrospective and how anyone can pick up a free audio copy on World Book Night.
Rosanna Amaka weaves together the realities of war and the pain of first love in the brand new book 'Rose and the Burma Sky'.
We also get some more healthy book recommendations from Paulina Kuchorew and Barry Snell talks to someone who has been volunteering with Talking Books for over 50 years.

Feb 17, 2023 • 58min
308: C.K. McDonnell - The Stranger Times and The Dublin "Trilogy"
In today's show we talk to C.K. McDonnell about his series of books, The Stranger Times, including the brand new book 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' and also the "increasingly inaccurately titled" Dublin Trilogy.

Feb 10, 2023 • 58min
307: Jon Gingerich, David Graham and some AI narrators
In today's episode we hear from author Jon Gingerich about his book The Appetite Factory, and how he raced to finish the book as his eyesight failed.
We chat to our friends at Tech Talk about the new batch of AI narrators that are reading commercially available audiobooks.
And we chat to a proper human narrator and voice of everything from Daleks to Peppa Pig's grandpa via Parker in Thunderbirds, David Graham.

Feb 3, 2023 • 58min
306: Meik Wiking, Richard Wiseman, Percival Everett and Everything I Know About Love
This week Paulina Kuchorew talks to Meik Wiking about his book, My Hygge Home, Robert Kirkwood talks to Professor Richard Wiseman about fear, magic and smiling, Amelia Hilton reviews Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton and we get the books of your life from Booker shortlisted author Percival Everett

Jan 27, 2023 • 58min
305: Claire Keegan, Candia McWilliam and some healthy book recommendations
On today's show we get some healthy book recommendations from the RNIB Talking Books Library, hear the Books of Your Life from Booker shortlisted author Claire Keegan, listen to Candida McWilliam's 'What to Look for in Winter - A Memoir in Blindness' and there's some news for RNIB Library members.

Jan 20, 2023 • 58min
304: Remembering Fay Weldon, The Bullet That Missed reviewed, plus NoViolet Bulawayo and Jonathan Dimbleby
On today's Read On we remember Fay Weldon and play her interview with Robert Kirkwood from the RNIB Talking Book Studios. We review Richard Osman's 'The Bullet that Missed', talk to Jonathan Dimbleby about 'Destiny in the Desert' and hear the Books of Your Life from twice Booker shortlisted author NoViolet Bulawayo.

Jan 13, 2023 • 58min
303: Randee Dawn and Rebecca LaChance on Tune in Tomorrow
'Tune in Tomorrow' is a funny, thrilling and mysterious adventure into the world of alternate reality television. We speak to both author Randee Dawn and narrator Rebecca LaChance about 'The Curious, Calamitous, Cockamamie Story Of Starr Weatherby And The Greatest Mythic Reality Show Ever'

Jan 6, 2023 • 58min
302: Book Festival Special
A compilation of the times we escaped the studio and got out and about, featuring Nigel Havers, Kate Williams, George Dunn, Eric Motley, Bill Clegg KC and a complete history of Boswell and his eponymous festival.

Dec 23, 2022 • 58min
301: Christmas with Timmy Mallet and Noddy Holder
Timmy Mallet joins Robert Kirkwood to talk about the best gifts to give for Christmas and about how his late brother with Down's Syndrome was the inspiration for an epic journey detailed in his book, 'Utterly Brilliant, My Life's Journey', plus we hear from Noddy Holder about his acting career and how the Slade song 'Merry Xmas Everybody' was recorded.