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
Jan 22, 2021 • 58min
204: Costa Book Award Special 2020
This week Read On is focusing on The Costa Book Awards, which recognise the most enjoyable books published in the UK over the past year in five categories:
Novel, Debut Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Books.
The five category winners were selected earlier this month.
And next week, one overall winner will be crowned Costa Book of the Year, winning the author £30,000.
And Red Szell brings you interviews with four of the five authors in contention: Ingrid Persaud, Monique Roffey, Lee Lawrence and Natasha Farrant, and talks to the friend and publisher of Eavan Boland, who died shortly before she won the Costa Poetry Award.
Jan 15, 2021 • 58min
203: Mick Dawson and Steve 'Sparky' Sparks, Sarah Jane Douglas, Richard Frazer and Ed Caesar
In Read On this week, we are focusing on resilience:
Mick Dawson and blind veteran Steve Sparky Sparks discuss their gruelling journey to row across the Pacific Ocean.
Sarah Jane Douglas and Richard Frazer reveal the reconciliation each of them found through walking and contemplation.
Ed Caesar introduces us to 'The Moth and The Mountain': the extraordinary story of a World War One veteran who sought to climb Mount Everest.
And we return to Mick Dawson, to hear the books of his life.
Jan 8, 2021 • 58min
202: Vicki Goldie, Tim Finch and Anna Bell
Vicky Goldie reveals how working for RNIB and her own personal circumstances informed the character of her blind detective.
Paul Mylrea reviews Ngaio Marsh's 'Scales of Justice'.
Tim Finch discusses his novel Peace Talks, which has been short listed for the Costa Award.
And Anna Bell shares a cautionary tale in her new rom com We Just Clicked.
Jan 4, 2021 • 58min
A Booker Prize Special 2020
In this Read On 2020 Booker Prize special episode, host Red Szell interviews each of the six shortlisted authors, shares some fun facts about the world's most prestigious literary prize and reveals the winner through the Books of Their Life.
Jan 1, 2021 • 58min
201: The Best of Read On 2020 Part 2
The Best of Read On 2020 Part 2:
Robert Kirkwood talks to the winner of the Costa First Novel award, Sarah Collins.
Stuart Turton takes us on a mysterious and murderous voyage in his new novel The Devil and the Dark Water.
We hear the heart warming story of how an RNIB volunteer, a musician and a holocaust survivor came together to create a Talking Book
The RNIB Library’s Lynne Livingstone gives us her literary antidote to lockdown.
Best selling novelist Sarah Morgan transports us to the Lake District in search of family harmony.
And SD Robertson shares the Books of His Life.
Jan 1, 2021 • 58min
200: The Best of Read On 2020 Part 1
The Best of Read on 2020: Part 1
Costa Award Winner Jack Fairweather introduces us to 'The Volunteer'.
We hitch a ride with an enchanted suitcase and author LD Lapinski’s 'Strange Worlds Travel Agency'.
Husband and wife narrators Alastair Petrie and Lucy Scott reveal how they kept calm and carried on narrating despite lockdown.
Blade Runner meets Forrest Gump in Simon Stephenson’s android rom-com, Set My Heart To 5.
And loyal listener Penny Melville Brown shares some of her audiobook highlights of 2020.
Dec 16, 2020 • 58min
198: Christmas with Charlie Mackesy, Joanna Toye and Emma Powell
Charlie Mackesy discusses both writing, illustrating and recording (in his barn) 'The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse'.
Joanna Toye catches us up with the goings on at Marlow's Department Store in 'Christmas for the Shop Girls'.
Emma Powell talks about narrating RNIB's Read-A-Long book 'Red and the Wolf'.
And we return to Charlie Mackesy for the Books of his Life.
Dec 11, 2020 • 58min
197: Contemporary Crime Special
In today's show, we focus on Contemporary Crime.
Mark Billingham on 'The Killing Habit'
Matthew Parris on 'Scorn'
Chris Brookmyre on 'Want You Gone'
Emma Swan on narrating 'That'll Be The Day'
And Red reviews 'Trunk Music' by Michael Connelly
Dec 4, 2020 • 58min
196: Interview with Sally Gardner, Tineka Smith and Alex Court, Charlotte Levin
Sally Gardner brings us a fairy tale for adults with The Snow Song.
Tineka Smith and Alex Court on 'Mixed Up: Confessions of an Interracial Couple'.
Robert Kirkwood talks to Charlotte Levin about her debut novel 'If I Can't Have You'.
And we return to Sally Gardner for the Books of her Life.
Nov 27, 2020 • 58min
196: Rewriting Crime Special with Sophie Hannah and Lynn Shepherd
This week we’ll be using our little grey cells to investigate some new developments in classic crime...
Sophie Hannah tells us why Hercule Poirot is working with a new partner, and her publisher talks about how the collaboration came about.
Lynn Shepherd discusses adding crime scenes to stories inspired by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
And Red finds the book in The Library that made him want to be a crime writer.
