Read On - The Audiobook Show from RNIB
RNIB Connect Radio
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
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
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 14, 2022 • 58min
291: Booker Prize 2022 - NoViolet Bulawayo, Percival Everett, Shehan Karunatilaka and Claire Keegan
We talk to four of the six Booker shortlisted authors (with the other two coming soon)
Percival Everett with The Trees, in which a violent history refuses to be buried.
NoViolet Bulawayo with her re-telling of Animal Farm, Glory.
Shehan Karunatilaka with his murder mystery The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
And Claire Keegan with Small Things Like These, which is aptly titled as it's the shortest book ever to be on the shortlist.
Oct 7, 2022 • 58min
290: Wigtown Book Festival 2022
In a packed show recorded on location at the Wigtown Book Festival, Robert Kirkwood chats to a whole host of writers, including three very different historians, Nick Jubber on the Fairy Tellers, Alex von Tunzelmann on toppled statues in Fallen Idols and Estelle Paranque on Fire, Blood and Gold - the relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici.
There are some Wigtown natives ... we speak to storyteller Renita Boyle, and bookshop diarist Shaun Bythell.
Plus a trio of female Scottish writers, Olga Wojtas on Maria Blane's Prefect, Lynne McEwan on Dead Man Deep and In Dark Water plus recent guest on the show Elissa Soave on her debut Ginger and Me.
Sep 30, 2022 • 58min
289: Josie Lloyd and Neil MacGregor with the Booker Shortlist
Josie Lloyd chats to Robert Kirkwood about her books The Cancer Ladies Running Club, Come Together and her new book, Lifesaving for Beginners plus fresh from the Booker Shortlist announcement we hear from head judge Neil MacGregor.
Sep 23, 2022 • 31min
Tribute to Dame Hilary Mantel
Dame Hilary Mantel, author of the Wolf Hall trilogy, has died aged 70
A statement from her publisher reads, "We are heartbroken at the death of our beloved author, Dame Hilary Mantel. Our thoughts are with her friends and family, especially her husband, Gerald. This is a devastating loss and we can only be grateful she left us with such a magnificent body of work."
When The Mirror and the Light was published I put together this little biography combining the two times she joined me on air, and the picture accompanying this tribute is Dame Hilary in the RNIB Talking Book studios proudly displaying her 2009 Booker Prize.
Sep 16, 2022 • 58min
288: Joseph Coelho, John Gordon Sinclair and Bernardine Evaristo
Red Szell chats to Joseph Coelho about becoming the new children's laureate, we listen back to a live interview with John Gordon Sinclair with Robert Kirkwood on stage at the Edinburgh Book Festival and as the Booker shortlist is released we hear from former winner Bernardine Evaristo with the books of her life.
Sep 2, 2022 • 58min
287: Philip Reeve, Jacqueline Wilson, Chris Riddell, Pamela Butchart and Cressida Cowell
Philip Reeve, author of Mortal Engines, tells us all about his new book Utterly Dark and the Heart of the Wild plus we listen back to the Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour Jamboree with Jacqueline Wilson, Chris Riddell, Pamela Butchart and Cressida Cowell.
Aug 26, 2022 • 58min
286: Funny People Special (Part 2) Julian Clary, Helen Lederer, Eddie Izzard, Cariad Lloyd, Richard Herring and Limmy.
Another listen back to some stand ups, comedy performers and funny people who've popped up over the years, this time with Julian Clary, Helen Lederer, Eddie Izzard, Cariad Lloyd, Richard Herring and Limmy.
Aug 19, 2022 • 58min
285: Funny People Special (Part 1) Robin Ince, Susan Calman, Tony Hawks, Michael Palin, Jo Brand and Phill Jupitus.
A listen back to some funny people who've popped up on Read On, featuring Robin Ince, Susan Calman, Tony Hawks, Michael Palin, Jo Brand and Phill Jupitus.
Aug 12, 2022 • 58min
284: Lexie Elliott, Juliet Stevenson and Elsewhere
Lexie Elliot joins Robert Kirkwood to discuss her psychological thriller, How To Kill Your Best Friend.
We travel back in time to discover the origins of a hidden gem in the Talking Books library, the specially commissioned book series, Elsewhere.
Plus Juliet Stevenson talks to Red Szell about narrating for RNIB.
Aug 5, 2022 • 58min
283: Star Trek with Bruce Horak and Marcus Berkmann
Bruce Horak is the first blind actor with a lead role in Star Trek. He talks to Robert Kirkwood about his life, from losing his sight as a toddler to cancer, through his career as an artist and performer, to stepping onto the bridge of the Enterprise.
We also learn about Marcus Berkmann's book Set Phasers to Stun, and hear books narrated by William Shatner and the late Nichelle Nichols.
