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AudioBookRadio are currently archiving many of the programmes we have broadcast. We know it’s not always convenient to listen at a particular time so we’re aiming for everyone to be able to choose from a selection of programmes when you want to as we are sure this is a choice you’d like to have.
The launch of any feature is usually easier said than done but we are looking to add materials on a weekly basis. If there are particular programmes or themes you’d like to hear again then please let us know.
As the archive builds, themes and pockets of interest will develop so you’ll be able to choose more of what you want to hear when you want to hear it.
There are other materials we plan to include here too. Some are what you might call ‘vintage’ or ‘historical’ or just plain old but we hope they’ll still be of interest. You’ll find them here.
Other programmes might just be too specialised to broadcast. Yes, that sounds like a euphemism for boring but it’s probably because they are odd lengths, too niche, a bit long winded by which we mean ‘slow to the boil’. Sometimes we just can’t get broadcast rights but we can deliver them on a one to one basis by streaming. If everything was logical it wouldn’t be as interesting!
Visit regularly for all the latest titles.
Radio Archive featuring Hollywood Stage, Take Five with Peter James & Kobo interviews with Margaret Atwood & Roddy Doyle
Prunella Scales Dandruff Hits The Turtleneck By John Mayfield. Read by Prunella Scales From the moment pub landlord and keen amateur entomologist, Arnold Matson, arrives in Blinkington-on-the-Treacle to take over his new hostelry, the listener is guided superbly by one of Britain’s best-loved actresses, Prunella Scales, as she introduces local characters and intimately narrates her way through a colourful collection of vignettes and poignant flashbacks that are both comically funny and disturbingly familiar.
Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney was born in April 1939, the eldest member of a family which would eventually contain nine children. Heaney, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, uses all aspects of Irish culture, history, folklore, song, myth, and religion to write poetry that not only describes the Irish experience to the reader, but also allows the reader to feel the experience and emotions of the Irish people. He received a Lannan Literary Award for Poetry in 1990.
Gore Vidal Gore Vidal is the author of twenty-two novels, five plays, many screenplays, more than two hundred essays, and the critically lauded, Palimpsest: A Memoir. Vidal’s United States (Essays 1952-1992) won the 1993 National Book Award. In its “American Masters” series PBS said “Vidal’s lineage in American literature may be traced back to Henry James, the sophisticated American from the upper echelons of society who mingles with European sophisticates, and Mark Twain, the raw humorist and critic of American empire.”
Noon & 8pm & 4am
PLAYS/DRAMA
FOUR AGES BY COLIN LEWISOHN
Bernie Hearn is a hero. Not the sort who wears underpants over his trousers, Bernie is an everyday hero who has led a great life. Four Ages tells his story – what he means to his family, how he protects his sister from injustice, stops a war time atrocity, pulls a lad back from the brink of the ultimate betrayal – all whilst combating his own personal tragedy. Four Ages in the life of one extraordinary man. Bereavement, love, war, justice and abuse. Everyday stuff really!
ANNIVERSARY BY DAVID MILLER
An old gentleman shares his memories with his partner of 54 years…
1pm & 9pm & 5am
IN CONVERSATION with DEBORAH LEVY
Deborah Levy, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, writes fiction, plays, and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, broadcast on the BBC, and translated widely across the world. The author of highly praised novels, including Hot Milk and Swimming Home (both Man Booker Prize finalists), The Unloved, and Billy and Girl; the acclaimed story collection Black Vodka; and part one of her working autobiography, Things I Don’t Want to Know, she lives in London. Her latest novel, The Man Who Saw Everything, has been long-listed for the 2019 Booker Prize. She reads from her work and is then interviewed by writer John Freeman
2pm & 10pm & 6am
POETRY & POETS featuring MONA ARSHI
Today we are delighted to have the incomparable and beautiful poet Mona Arshi with us. Mona reads from her book Dear Big Gods and gives us greater insight about many of the poems. We also hear a few favourites from her last book Small Hands.
Mona Arshi worked as a Human rights lawyer at Liberty before she started writing poetry. Her debut collection ‘Small Hands’ won the Forward Prize for best first collection in 2015. Her poems and interviews have been published in The Times, The Guardian, Granta and The Times of India as well as on the London Underground. Her debut novel will be published in 2021. You can get both more info on Mona and her poems on https://www.monaarshi.com/
3pm & 11pm & 7am
ALTERNATIVE RADIO with ANGELA DAVIS
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 we have Angela Davis, one of the iconic figures of Black Power who was acquitted on conspiracy charges in 1970 after one of the most famous trials in U.S. history. She went on to become an internationally renowned writer, scholar and lecturer. She’s the author of many books, including Women, Race and Class, Abolition Democracy, and The Meaning of Freedom.
4pm & Midnight & 8am
SHERLOCK HOLMES CLASSICS
ABR is proud to present two classic episodes, once again starring Tom Conway as Holmes. ‘The Final Problem’ is followed by ‘The Dying Detective.’
We close the hour with an author interview from KOBO and today’s guest is CHRIS HADFIELD.
5pm & 1am & 9am
BOOKER PRIZE
In the last decade literary prizes and awards and festivals have mushroomed all over the world but there is one prize that has sailed supremely through the choppy literary waters – The Booker which celebrated its 50th birthday a couple of years ago. It might not be the oldest or the most respected as many believe that honour belongs to the Nobel and it certainly doesn’t award the most money, although 50 grand is no small potatoes, but it has become the best known in the international publishing world, guaranteeing an uplift in sales to all longlisted authors and provides readers from all over the world a steer to what they might read next. The quality threshold of its winners might be disputed but with its longlist it represents a breadth of writing that probably does include some of the best books ever written in the English language in the last half century. There’s always a winner and for the 50th one judge selected one title from each of the five decades and then the public voted on an overall Golden winner which was… The English Patient by Michael Ondaatjae.
We spoke to Dottie Irwin, PR and Booker Committee member, Eleanor Catton whose book the Luminaries won the Man Booker in 2013 and 2016’s shortlisted author of ‘His Bloody Project’ Graeme McCrae Burnett to hear more about what the prize means to them.
6pm & 2am & 10am
HOLLYWOOD STAGE
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 producer Irving Cummings unveils THE AFRICAN QUEEN starring HUMPHREY BOGART and GREER GARSON
7pm & 3am & 11am
SHORT STORIES – HORNUNG & WOOLF
This comes to you courtesy of Deadtree Publishing who have an excellent range of quality short stories from the masters of the craft. Do search for Miniature Masterpieces at any digital store for further information or at https://www.deadtreepublishing.com/. This hour opens with Nine Points of the Law by E W Hornung. Narrated by Richard Mitchley followed by Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf. Narrated by Ghizela Rowe and concludes with A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf. Narrated by Richard Mitchley Vol 11