Read On - The Audiobook Show from RNIB
RNIB Connect Radio
A weekly show all about audiobooks recorded at the RNIB Talking Book studios.
We talk to your favourite authors and narrators, along with reviews and news about new audiobooks.
Presented and produced by Robert Kirkwood, you'll find a new episode here every Friday at 1pm plus bonus content such as longer uncut interviews and episodes of our occasional extra show, The Book Group.
Talking Books is a free service from RNIB giving access to over 40,000 fiction and non fiction books for adults and children. Find out more by searching for RNIB Library.
Get involved and join the conversation by emailing radio@rnib.org.uk or find Robert on Twitter @Talking_Books
Other great podcast channels from RNIB Connect Radio
Connect - Our main channel with news, features and articles on sight loss.
Conversations - Blind and partially sighted people speaking about a wide range of topics.
Tech Talk - Technology for blind and partially sighted people.
Sport - See sport differently.
The Happy Hour - Mental health, mindfulness, and overall wellbeing.
Tracks of My Life - Take a journey through our guest's life.
Support - Other podcasts from RNIB.
TV Guide - Daily audio TV listings
We talk to your favourite authors and narrators, along with reviews and news about new audiobooks.
Presented and produced by Robert Kirkwood, you'll find a new episode here every Friday at 1pm plus bonus content such as longer uncut interviews and episodes of our occasional extra show, The Book Group.
Talking Books is a free service from RNIB giving access to over 40,000 fiction and non fiction books for adults and children. Find out more by searching for RNIB Library.
Get involved and join the conversation by emailing radio@rnib.org.uk or find Robert on Twitter @Talking_Books
Other great podcast channels from RNIB Connect Radio
Connect - Our main channel with news, features and articles on sight loss.
Conversations - Blind and partially sighted people speaking about a wide range of topics.
Tech Talk - Technology for blind and partially sighted people.
Sport - See sport differently.
The Happy Hour - Mental health, mindfulness, and overall wellbeing.
Tracks of My Life - Take a journey through our guest's life.
Support - Other podcasts from RNIB.
TV Guide - Daily audio TV listings
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 30, 2025 • 58min
426: Blessing Musariri & Clare Furniss - Carnegie Medal for Writing
In today's episode, we talk to two authors on the Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist, Blessing Musariri on her book All That It Ever Meant and Clare Furniss on The Things We Leave Behind, plus we find some new books out now and available from the RNIB Library.
May 23, 2025 • 58min
425: Becky C Brynolf and Daniel Tammet
A mix of fiction and non-fiction in today's show as Becky C Brynolf tells us about her debut I Found A Body in which an influencer gets mixed up in a murder investigation.
We also hear from writer and savant Daniel Tammet about Nine Minds: Inner Lives on the Spectrum, delving into the extraordinary lives of nine neurodivergent men and women from around the globe, including blind academic Amanda in Australia.
All that plus some new books in the RNIB Library.
May 16, 2025 • 58min
424: Percival Everett on James - Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for fiction
Winner of the National Book Award and now the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, James is a subversive reimagining of “Huckleberry Finn” told from the perspective of Jim, Huck's enslaved companion on the raft ride. Percival Everett tells Robert Kirkwood about the book and reveals he read Huck Finn too many times in the research!We also hear about the science behind James Bond's gadgets and Agatha Christie's poisons with Kathryn Harkup and find some new books in the RNIB Library.
May 9, 2025 • 58min
423: Boswell Book Festival Interview Special
As I'm off recording at Dumfries House at the moment, here's selection of interviews from past Boswell Book Festival events including Lady Anne Glenconner, founder of Private Eye Richard Ingrams, biographer Ben McIntyre, Winston Churchill's granddaughter Emma Soames, Andrew Cotter with Olive and Mabel, and we're Cloistered with Catherine Coldstream.
May 2, 2025 • 58min
422: Celia Silvani - Baby Teeth
On this week's Read On, Robert Kirkwood chats to Celia Silvani about her debut novel Baby Teeth, a cautionary tale about how vulnerable, isolated people can be lured into toxic communities and the catastrophic consequences this can have. Trigger Warning: This interview contains discussions and references to pregnancy and infertility. There is also a scene of pregnancy loss in the book.
Apr 25, 2025 • 58min
421: Beth O'Brien - Wolf Siren
This week on Read On a captivating chat with Beth O'Brien, visually impaired author of new HarperCollins Children’s Book 'Wolf Siren', which also has a visually impaired narrator. Beth talks about her writing, watching the narration process and her passion project, 'Disabled Tales.'
Apr 18, 2025 • 58min
420: Dame Stella Rimington - The Hidden Hand
Stella Rimington was the first female director general of MI5 and brings true authenticity to her books about spying and espionage. She talks to Robert Kirkwood about her career, her Liz Carlyle books and her imagined end, plus her two new Manon Tyler books. Dame Rimington also talks about how her failing eyesight due to AMD is affecting her ability to write.
And for episode 420, we also find some influential musical biographies in the RNIB Library.
Apr 11, 2025 • 58min
419: Nydia Hetherington - Sycorax & A Girl Made of Air
This week in Read On, author Nydia Hetherington tells us how living with a chronic yet hidden illness inspired her to write the untold story of Shakespeare's witch, Sycorax and also her debut novel, A Girl Made of Air. She also tells us how many spoons it took to narrate the audio version herself.
Apr 4, 2025 • 58min
418: Chris Bridges - Sick to Death
Emma is sick. Just not in the way you thought. In today's Read On - The Audiobook Show, we're mixing a thriller with a hidden disability in Chris Bridges debut novel Sick To Death. Plus we find some brand new books the RNIB Library, one written and read by actor, Brian Cox.
Mar 28, 2025 • 58min
417: Kate Kemp - The Grapevine plus Share The Vision
In this week's Read On - The Audiobook Show we chat to debut novelist Kate Kemp about murder and intrigue on Warrah Place, a sweltering Australian suburban cul-de-sac, in her novel The Grape Vine.
We also hear from Mark McCree and Simon Savidge from Share the Vision, a coalition of UK organisations that work together to improve the quality, availability and accessibility of library services for visually impaired and print disabled people.
And talking of accessible libraries, we'll find new books entering the RNIB Talking Books Library.
