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…

FRIDAY 2nd May

Noon & 8pm & 4am

PLAYS/DRAMA

THE DESK by CARL CHETTY

The Desk  centres around the widow of an unfulfilled scriptwriter and  reveals much about them and their lives in this absorbing play.

Carl Chetty has written many plays that we are privileged to broadcast on ABR.  He’s also made five short films (twist in the tale monologues) the latest of which, Scot Free can be seen on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZyiO4yibm0.

1pm & 9pm & 5am

IN CONVERSATION with JOHN D’AGATA

John D’Agata published his first book, Halls of Fame, a collection of lyric essays, in 2001 and Annie Dillard called it “A daring, utterly original book by a young writer of rare intelligence and artistry… With wit and finesse, and writing that’s as much poetry as it is prose, D’Agata is redefining the modern American essay.” He has since edited two essay collections, The Next American Essay (2002) and The Lost Origins of the Essay (2009) and his creative nonfiction book, About a Mountain, was published in 2010. His most recent book is The Lifespan of a Fact, published in 2012, and is a collaboration with Jim Fingal, the fact-checker, who worked on a D’Agata essay originally slated to publish in 2003.  Courtesy of the Lannan Foundation he reads from his work and is interviewed by writer Ben Marcus.

2pm & 10pm & 6am                 

POETS & POETRY – THE DARK ROOM COLLECTIVE REUNION TOUR PART II

 “Nothing Personal: The Dark Room Collective Reunion Tour” with Natasha Trethewey, Major Jackson, Thomas Sayers Ellis, John Keene, Tisa Bryant, Sharan Strange, and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. The Dark Room Collective was formed in 1988 in Boston by a group of young African American poets as a means of providing community to both established and emerging writers in the form of a reading series. This 25th Anniversary event with nearly all of the original founding members marks the end of the group’s reunion tour.

3pm & 11pm & 7am

ALTERNATIVE RADIO with BRYAN STEVENSON

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 the social justice lawyer, Bryan Stevenson who has shown dedication to helping the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. He’s the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative a group that has won major legal challenges exonerating innocent prisoners on death row, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.

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 a play by Jules Romain called Dr Knock

introduced by SIR RALPH RICHARDSON and starring ROBERT MORLEY. S2 Vol6

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. 

6pm & 2am & 10am

HOLLYWOOD STAGE with Shadow of a Doubt

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 Shadow of a Doubt starring WILLIAM POWELL & THERESA WRIGHT.

7pm & 3am & 11am

SHORT STORIES –KIPLING & JEROME

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 Miniature Masterpieces at any digital store for further information.  This hour opens with MARK OF THE BEAST by RUDYARD KIPLING READ BY ROBBIE MCNAB  followed by THE WISDOM OF UNCLE PODGER BY JEROME K JEROME READ BY HUBERT GRIEG