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Wednesday 11th September
Noon & 8pm & 4am
PLAYS/DRAMA
CORMORANT BY SARAH HUTCHINGS and HIL COOKE
Unworldly John and injured sailor, McKinney wash up on an uninhabited island, the only survivors of a terrifying shipwreck. When the pair is finally rescued John isolates himself in an anonymous bed-sit owned by the grotesque Mrs Paskins. Haunted by the sounds of the island, he shies away from human contact communing only with the disturbing voices in his dreams. John’s new neighbour Crow sees life through a haze of delusional paranoia and finds it hard to respect John’s need for solitude. Edgy, secretive John is the perfect focus for Crow’s over-active imagination and he becomes obsessed with investigating John’s nocturnal rituals. However, his surveillance soon turns to clumsy overtures of friendship. Despite his protestations John is forced to turn to Crow for help when his ‘voices’ start to blur his sense of reality.
1pm & 9pm & 5am
IN CONVERSATION…ROBERT COOVER
Robert Coover has been described by The New York Times as, “one of America’s quirkiest writers, if by ‘quirky’ we mean an unwillingness to abide by ordinary fictional rules and a conviction that a novel is primarily a verbal artefact unconvertible to other media.” His novel, The Public Burning, is a long and fantastic fictional account of the events surrounding the executions for espionage of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1952, whose principal narrator identifies himself as the then-Vice President of the United States, Richard Milhous Nixon. His other publications include Spanking the Maid, Gerald’s Party, Pinocchio in Venice, and Briar Rose.
2pm & 10pm & 6am
POETRY…AUGUST KLEINZAHLER
August Kleinzahler‘s poetry is described by the New York Times as “a modernist swirl of sex, surrealism, urban life and melancholy with a jazzy back beat. His personality combines Allen Ginsberg’s goofball charm and Norman Mailer’s inveterate pugnacity.” He has published eight books of poetry,
3pm & 11pm & 7am
GORGEOUS WOMEN
Women – we are the gentler sex or the deadlier of the species but universally it is agreed that we are good talkers, as Radio Gorgeous aptly delivers for ABR. Sometimes frivolous but always fabulous and today features LOUISE PENNY, best selling Canadian author and JODY DAY, the Founder of Gateway Women – the global friendship and support network for childless-by-circumstance women. Her book ‘Rocking the Life Unexpected’ introduces some radically new ways for childless women, and those who care about them, to think and feel about their situation.
4pm & Midnight & 8am
SHERLOCK HOLMES CLASSICS
ABR is proud to present two classic episodes, this time starring Tom Conway as Holmes. ‘The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor’ is followed by ‘The Boscombe Valley Mystery.’
We close the hour with an author interview from KOBO and today’s guest is JOWITA BYDLOWSKA.
5pm & 1am & 9am
SPARK LONDON
The concept is stand out simple. Real people telling real stories. Today’s are: Nobody’s Home by Alisdair Hurst, Down Post Office Lane by Andy Bodle and The Rabbit by Glen Long.
A WORD IN YOUR EAR
Word in Your Ear are a Bath based collective of writers who gather to tell their stories. They liked the way our ancestors enjoyed stories – by listening to them. We totally agree with them so let’s have a listen to: Winners and Losers by Pauline Mawurel and Black Sheep by Hannah Teasdale.
TAKE FIVE
We asked the same five questions to a range of writers – today it’s…POLLY COURTNEY, the bright and engaging novelist and commentator whose brilliant latest novel, Feral Youth, is critically acclaimed as both book and audio book.
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 The Hollywood ringmaster himself, CECIL B DE MILLE unveils…The Perfect Specimen featuring ERROL FLYNN.
7pm & 3am & 11am
SHORT STORIES
GEORGIE PORGIE BY RUDYARD KIPLING. READ BY EDWARD FOX.
A man breaks his promise to his Burmese wife, whom he bought essentially as a housekeeper. He bemoans his low station in such a remote colonial outpost, however, and returns to England to marry a proper British wife before moving to India and a higher diplomatic posting. The faithful Burmese wife, thinking he is in danger, seeks him out and follows him to India.
THE GARDEN OF TRUTH BY E. NESBIT. READ BY HARRIET WALTER.
Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children’s works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party. She is regarded by some as the first ‘modern writer for children’ but this short story can certainly be enjoyed and appreciated by adults as well.
13on & 8pm & 4am
PLAYS/DRAMA
The Great Detective by Roger Johnson
This play, by prominent Sherlock Holmes Society of London member Roger Johnson, offers the Holmesian another perspective on the beloved Canon. From a surrealist perspective, we find here a different and refreshing approach. We are transported to another time through the warmth of an English public house and immediately transfixed by the fascinating voices of those who contributed to the name Sherlock Holmes. This is a must listen for all those worshipers of the great detective.
1pm & 9pm & 5am
IN CONVERSATION…..JAMES HEFFERNAN
James Heffernan, Professor Emeritus from Dartmouth College, has written extensively on JAMES JOYCE, and particularly Ulysses. In this episode of In Conversation he focuses on the novel and in particular Leopold Bloom & his relationship with his adulterous wife Molly. Bloomsday is an actual day – 16th June in Dublin which is when and where the novel is set. So an obvious day where James Joyce is celebrated & commemorated & the events of the novel are re-lived.
2pm & 10pm & 6am
POETS & POETRY featuring Robert Hass
Robert Hass is a Pulitzer prize winning Poet Laureate born in San Francisco and raised by an alcoholic mother, both facts that feature in his concise and lyrical verse. He is one of the most celebrated contemporary American poets and also known for translations of the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz and Japanese Haiku masters who he has paid tribute to for their inspiration. In the mid-1990s, Hass promoted ecoliterarcy through the River of Words, an organisation he co founded to provide a multidisciplinary, interactive curricula to young students. He currently teaches at Berkeley and lives in California with his wife the poet Brenda Hillman. Thanks to the Lannan Organisation we now bring you Robert Hass reading his own poems followed by his being interviewed by NY poet Jorie Graham.
3pm & 11pm & 7am
ALTERNATIVE RADIO with ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ on The Other Side of Thanksgiving
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother. A distinguished scholar, she has been active in the international Indigenous movement for many years and is known for her commitment to social justice issues. She is the recipient of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize. Her 1977 book The Great Sioux Nation was the fundamental document at the first UN conference on Indigenous peoples of the Americas. She is the author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, winner of the 2015 American Book Award, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment, All the Real Indians Died Off and 20 Other Myths about Native Americans and Not a Nation of Immigrants.
4pm & Midnight & 8am
The Damon Runyon Theatre
New York has given rise to many authors who record and memorialise its streets and people. Damon Runyon is one such author who brings the New York story and its cast of characters to vibrant life. His tongue-in-cheek tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, gangsters and dolls appeal to our sense of what we think we know. Their colorful monikers; ‘Big Jule,’ ‘Harry the Horse Thief,’ ‘Good Time Charlie,’ or ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ immediately give life to his sparkling words. And life is bigger, exuberant; better.
The veteran Radio actor John Brown voices the recurring ‘Broadway’ character so central to every episode which today are Blonde Mink and Leopard’s Spots
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 Marcel Post a young Writer, Director, and Actor, residing in the ’new Hollywood mecca’ better known as Atlanta. He can be described as bold, brash, and at times controversial. However, his goal is to continue to create great stories bringing people of different ethnic groups to the forefront.
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…KING SOLOMON’S MINES starring DEBORAH KERR and STEWART GRAINGER
7pm & 3am & 11am
SHORT STORIES
The Moonlit Road by Ambrose Bierce read by Christopher Ragland
A gothic horror short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It first appeared in a 1907 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, illustrated by Charles B. Falls. This story is presented in three parts and relates the tale of the murder of Julia Hetman from the perspective of her son, a man who may be her husband, and Julia herself, through a medium.
A Thousand Deaths by Jack London read by Christopher Ragland
This is an 1899 short story by Jack London, his first work to be published. It is about the experimentally induced death and resuscitation/resurrection of the protagonist, by a mad scientist who uses multiple scientific methods for these experiments. The story was adapted to film in 1939.