Noon & 8pm & 4am

PLAYS/DRAMA

THE DESIGNATED MOURNER BY WALLACE SHAWN

Wally Shawn is an award winning actor and dramatist and here he performs with Deborah Eisenberg the second act from his play The Designated Mourner. 

1pm & 9pm & 5am

IN CONVERSATION with LORRIE MOORE

Lorrie Moore is the author of the story collection Birds of America (described as “one of our funniest, most telling anatomies of human love and vulnerability” by The New York Times Book Review).  In her new novel, A Gate at the Stairs, Moore turns her eye to the anxiety and disconnection of post-9/11 America, on the insidiousness of racism, the blind-sidedness of war, and the recklessness thrust on others in the name of love. Moore is a recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction and it is courtesy of Lannan that we hear her read and talk about her work.

2pm & 10pm & 6am

POETRY – WALT WHITMAN TRIBUTE EVENING

Featuring Eamon Grennan, Major Jackson, and Pattiann Rogers with Michael Silverblatt.

Walt Whitman (born Walter Whitman) (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist whose unrhymed, unmetered verse marked a radical departure in poetics and framed the American experience in terms that would greatly influence subsequent literature. Before Whitman, poetry written in America was largely English poetry written on a colonial shore. Whitman’s arrival was like the sounding of a liberty bell. Literary critic Harold Bloom has stated that “no Western poet, in the past century and half, not even Browning, or Leopardi or Baudelaire, overshadows Walt Whitman.”

3pm & 11pm & 7am

ALTERNATIVE RADIO with ROBERT McCHESNEY

 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 by Robert McChesney, the author of many books including Digital Disconnect, and is on Capitalism in the Age of Digital.  Some say that Capitalism has colonized cyberspace, spurred the collapse of journalism, independent bookstores and many, many jobs. The sharp decline in antitrust enforcement of violations, the increase in patents on technology and proprietary systems, and massive subsidies have turned large parts of the Internet into an electronic shopping mall. And worse, it has become an unparalleled apparatus for government and corporate surveillance thus further eroding democracy. Activists are attempting to reclaim the democratizing potential of the Internet before the door slams shut.

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 – Balzac, 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 Mr Micawber’s Difficulties from Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, 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 A.I.T.L. & TODD SHOW

Audiobookradio is excited to introduce a new podcast brought to us by the And I Thought Ladies a prolific collective of American women spearheaded by the multi-talented Wilnona Marie and Jade Dee.  It encompasses Tonya Todd’s 52 Love Podcast and a short drama called the Managers and we’ll be broadcasting it every day at this time for the next few weeks.  So stay tuned for Episode 17 and their take on Love, Life & Literature.

6pm & 2am & 10am

HOLLYWOOD STAGE with Blood and Sand

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 Blood and Sand starring TYRONE POWER & ANNABELLA.

7pm & 3am & 11am

SHORT STORIES – KIPLING & MANSFIELD

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING BY RUDYARD KIPLING READ BY RICHARD MITCHLEY  Part I

This fascinating story was inspired by fact and as Henry James remarked ‘an extraordinary tale.’  Masterfully told in the first person by a British journalist who we suspect is Kipling himself, it was made into a movie by John Houston which Humphrey Bogart asked to appear in, such is the story’s appeal.

A DILL PICKLE BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD READ BY EVE KARPF

This spendidly crafted short story centres on two people who had a relationship meeting by chance after six years.  It reveals much, not only on lost love but social class and sharing.

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