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NEW VOICES WITH MARK MACAULEY

Mark Macauley, an Anglo-Irish debut author whose book House of Slamming Doors has received rave reviews from a range of publications from the Times Literary Supplement to the Sun by way of the Guardian.  We also get to hear a couple of chapters from the audiobook that he has produced himself with ambient sound effects that enhance the cracking good story as it unfolds apace with a cast of characters that he has successfully voiced himself….not so surprising as he trained as an actor and it shows!    Stephen Fry says it’s  “A marvellous achievement. It’s a Tubular Bells for the podcast and audiobook market.”  Available on Audible.

THE POETRY HOUR

Poetry is often cited as our greatest use of words. The English language has well over a million and poets down the ages seem, at times, to make use of every single one. But often they use them in simple ways to describe anything and everything from landscapes to all aspects of the human condition. Poems can evoke within us an individual response that takes us by surprise; that opens our eyes and ears to very personal feelings.

Forget the idea of classic poetry being somehow dull and boring and best kept to school textbooks. It still has life, vibrancy and relevance to our lives today. In this hour we feature DH Lawrence, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Allan Poe, Amy Lowell and others.

THE SHORT STORY HOUR

This comes to you courtesy of Miniature Masterpieces who have an excellent range of quality short stories from the masters of the craft. Do search for them and many more on https://www.deadtreepublishing.com/

This hour opens with Rudyard Kipling’s ‘My Own True Ghost Story.’ Then we hear the dark humour of Saki in Tobermory read by Richard Mitchley followed by Daniel Defoe’s story entitled The Apparition of Mrs Veal read by Ghizela Rowe.

SUNDAY 22nd December

Noon & 8pm & 4am

DAY OF THE DEAD .

The Production company, Final Rune, is centered on the award laden multi-talented Fred Greenhaigh who not only writes, produces and directs but much else besides.  Plus he has a talented cast and crew who give it their all so your ears are in for a treat.  Check everything out at Final Rune.com

1pm & 9pm & 5am

IN CONVERSATION with YIYUN LI

Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing and came to the United States in 1996 where her debut collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and was described by the Washington Post as “a remarkable debut”—it’s one of those rare short story collections where you find yourself reading one perfectly realized gem after the next. Her recent novel, The Vagrants, is set in China in the late 1970s, when Beijing was rocked by the Democratic Wall Movement, an anti-Communist groundswell designed to move China beyond the dark shadow of the Cultural Revolution toward a more enlightened and open society that eventually led to the Tiananmen Square uprising. Li is introduced and interviewed by Brigid Hughes after her readings.

 2pm & 10pm & 6am

POETRY featuring KEVIN YOUNG

Kevin Young often finds meaning and inspiration for his poetry in African American music, particularly the blues. His seven collections include Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebellion(Knopf, 2011) and Dear Darkness. His Jelly Roll: A Blues, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize. He is the editor of five volumes, including 2010’s The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing. His recent book The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness won the 2010 Graywolf Nonfiction Prize and combines essay, cultural criticism, and lyrical chorus to illustrate ways African American culture is American culture. “I don’t mean to taxonomize but to rhapsodize. Take it from me—mean mean mean to be free.”

3pm & 11pm & 7am

ALTERNATIVE RADIO with HOWARD ZINN

Here at Audiobook Radio we are keen to provide a range of voices – very literally as well as in terms of opinions and views of the world.  This strand created by Alternative Radio does just that.  We will hear from some of the most informed minds and greatest social activists of our time whose take on justice and  power does not chime with those that hold the power and don’t provide justice for all so we rarely get to hear from them in mainstream media.  Different opinions always help inform our own and we are always eager to hear from listeners about this or any other strand.  Contact us on the tab at www.audiobookradio.net Today’s talk is on Resistance and the Role of the Artists and is given by Howard Zinn who was an active figure in the civil rights movement and served on the board of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.  He continues to be politically active, erudite and insightful:  “We don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. To live now, as human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvellous victory.”

4pm & Midnight & 8am

THEATRE ROYAL

The very name summons up something of grandeur and eloquence – and it was. Hosted by Laurence Olivier these big name productions – also including the acting talents of Sir John Gielgud, Orson Welles and Robert Morley – were based on works by the world’s leading authors – Charles Dickens, Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Anton Chekhov and Robert Louis Stevenson are but a few of whose company we shall be keeping.  Today we raise the curtain on Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson introduced and starring LAURENCE OLIVIER.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES featuring BASIL RATHBONE and NIGEL BRUCE in more of these timeless classic adventures.

5pm & 1am & 9am

THE PODCAST HOUR – THE JO SHOW

Audiobookradio is delighted to launch a new strand, namely the Podcast Hour.  Our first podcast is the Jo Show presented by silky voiced Jo Sands and features a wide range of creatives with plenty to say….she calls it soul sipping maybe because her guests do some soul searching as Jo always gets to the parts that other interviewers don’t reach as you are about to find out.  Today her guest is Jeannette DiLouie who has authored 12 novels across four genres…and counting.  Her business, Innovative Editing, is centered around helping others reach their own writing goals and dreams.

6pm & 2am & 10am

HOLLYWOOD STAGE with the Jazz Singer

Hollywood is indelibly printed in our minds as a go to place for entertainment and has been for decades. We take you back in time as WILLIAM KEIGHLEY unveils The Jazz Singer featuring AL JOLSON

7pm & 3am & 11am

SHORT STORIES

HEIDEGGER’S EXPERIMENT BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. READ BY NICKY HENSON.

First published in 1837. Dr. Heidegger experiments on four of his friends by offering them water from the fountain of youth. This gives them the ability to grow young once again. All four, who have led wasteful lives, vow never to repeat the mistakes of their youth and to be the perfect individuals they have always imagined.

MR AND MRS DOVE BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD. READ BY ROSALIND AYRES.

Mansfield’s short story is about as romantic as it can get as a man prepares to say goodbye to the woman he loves before her pet doves point the way to common sense.

PAT HOBBY PUTATIVE FATHER BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD. READ BY RICHARD MITCHLEY.

Pat Hobby is working at the studio, but not really doing anything, so Jack Berners asks him to show a couple of visitors around the studio. The two visitors are from India. In fact, the younger of the two is Pat Hobby’s son, born during a brief marriage and then taken to India when Pat’s ex-wife married the second richest man in India. The two visitors want to meet a famous actress currently filming a movie at the studio. Pat wants to show how influential he is at the studio, so he agrees to introduce them to the actress. Unfortunately, Pat is not that influential and is forced to sneak onto the set. In the process, Pat leads his two visitors through a set that was in the middle of filming…