Janice Hallett
Johny Pitts speaks to Janice Hallett about her new book, The Christmas Appeal.
Episodes
Books and Authors
This podcast features Open Book and A Good Read. Open Book talks to authors about their work. In A Good Read Harriett Gilbert discusses favourite books.
Episodes
Ron Rash
Ron Rash on his new book, The Caretaker.
A Good Read: Chantal Joffe and Séamas O'Reilly
The artist Chantal Joffe picks I Capture The Castle, the English classic by Dodie Smith. Set in 1930s rural England, it relates the adventures of an eccentric family over the course of about a year. It's a book Chantal has come back to again and again, ever since she was a teenager. Séamas O'Reilly champions the Irish novel, A Goat's Song by Dermot Healy, which he argues deserves to be more widely known. And Harriett Gilbert recommends a graphic memoir by the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, called Th...
Alexis Wright
Award winning novelist Alexis Wright talks to Chris Power.
A Good Read: Janet Ellis & Jason Arday
The presenter and the sociologist share favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.
Femi Kayode
Crime writer Femi Kayode on his new novel, Gaslight.
A Good Read: India Knight and Emma Dabiri
The journalist and the writer talk to Harriett about favourite books.
Teju Cole
Chris Power talks to Teju Cole about his wide-ranging and powerful new novel, Tremor.
A Good Read Nigel Kennedy and Clare Perkins
Good books chosen by well known guests as reading recommendations
A Good Read Cressida Cowell & Romy Gill
Books worth reading chosen by Harriett Gilbert and guests
AI and the Novel
Elizabeth Day and Johny Pitts discuss AI and the novel.
A Good Read: Anneka Rice and Maureen Freely
The TV presenter and the writer share favourite books with Harriett.
Karl Ove Knausgård
Chris Power speaks to Karl Ove Knausgård about his new book, The Wolves of Eternity
A Good Read: Cornelia Parker and Jeremy Lee
Artist Cornelia Parker is with the chef Jeremy Lee and presenter Harriett Gilbert, to pick their all-time favourite books. Cornelia chooses South by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the story of his extraordinary journey to Antarctica. Jeremy is a fan of the food writer Elizabeth David, and recommends her book of essays, Omelette and a Glass of Wine. Finally Harriett Gilbert suggests the novel Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie, centred on two American academics' escapades in London. Cornelia has recently ha...
Daniel Mason
The US author and psychiatrist on his new novel, North Woods
A Good Read: Rhys Stephenson and Esther Manito
The children's TV presenter and stand up comedian advocate for favourite books.
Lydia Davis
Lydia Davis on the writing of Our Strangers.
A Good Read Vaseem Khan and Lucy Winkett
Two guests choose their favourite books
Ben Lerner and Anne Enright on poetry and fiction
Ben Lerner and Anne Enright on poetry and fiction
Zadie Smith
Elizabeth Day talks to the novelist Zadie Smith about her new novel, The Fraud.
George Orwell Now
George Orwell Now
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen speaks to Johny Pitts about her new book, The Wolf Hunt
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen speaks to Johny Pitts about her new book, The Wolf Hunt
Ann Patchett, plus Magical Historical Fiction with S. J. Parris and Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Octavia Bright talks to Ann Patchett about her captivating new novel. Tom Lake is the story of a young actor Lara under the spell of a future Hollywood star, but it is also about how she retells that story in later life to her adult daughters, and the power of storytelling itself. Two masters of historical fiction, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and S. J. Parris (aka Stephanie Merritt) discuss the allure of magic and mysticism in their latest books set either side of the Enlightenment. Plus Nana Kwame ...
Johny Pitts explores Birmingham's literary heritage and contemporary writing scene.
Johny Pitts explores Birmingham's literary heritage and contemporary writing scene.
A Good Read: Olivia Laing and Charlie Porter
Author and cultural critic Olivia Laing, whose books include The Lonely City, Funny Weather and Everybody, is joined by fashion writer and curator Charlie Porter, of What Artists Wear and Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion, and presenter Harriett Gilbert, to talk about the books they love. Olivia recommends Bad Blood by literary critic Lorna Sage - a memoir of her eccentric childhood and adolescence in 1940s rural Wales. Charlie loves Honey From A Weed by Patience Gray, a...
Elizabeth Day celebrates the centenary year of the writer Elizabeth Jane Howard
Elizabeth Day celebrates the centenary year of the writer Elizabeth Jane Howard
A Good Read
More book recommendations from actor Niamh Cusack and author Elly Griffiths
Susanna Hoffs and Nina Wadia
Nina Wadia is a well known face on British TV and film. She was part of the smash hit comedy Goodness Gracious Me and was a regular in EastEnders. Most recently she has been in The Outlaws. She's chosen a dark thriller set in Pakistan set in the world of courtesans and pimps. The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad. It's a disturbing read she says but a brilliant insight into a hidden world. Susanna Hoffs wrote songs and was lead singer with The Bangles. She is still recording and playing music ...
Megan Nolan, plus crime summer reading recommendations from Vaseem Khan, Laura Wilson and Val McDermid
Johny Pitts speaks to Megan Nolan about her new novel, Ordinary Human Failings. The book explores the demonization of an Irish family and tabloid journalism in nineties London following a shocking tragedy. Plus what is the best crime fiction out there this summer? Vaseem Khan, incoming chair of the Crime Writers Association, and critic Laura Wilson give their tips, from hot new psychological thrillers to reissued classics. And Val McDermid chooses a very modern-feeling 1940s whodunit for her Boo...
Richard Ford talks to Alex Clark about his latest novel, Be Mine - a father and son road trip across America.
Richard Ford talks to Alex Clark about his latest novel, Be Mine.