Simon Mayo's Books of the Year

Journalist and author Emma John talks us through her favourite books and writers - which include Stephen Fry, Amy Poehler and Mark Twain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can you feel nostalgic for a life you've never known? Suffused with her much-loved warmth and wit, Emma John's memoir follows her moving and memorable journey to master one of the hardest musical styles on earth - and to find her place in an alien world. Emma had fallen out of love with her violin when a chance trip to the American South introduced her to bluegrass music. Classically trained, highly strung and wedded to London life, Emma was about as country as a gin martini. So why did it feel like a homecoming? Answering that question takes Emma deep into the Appalachian mountains, where she uncovers a hidden culture that confounds every expectation - and learns some emotional truths of her own. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeanette Winterson is one of the UK's most loved and respected authors. In our Q&A she discusses her favourite writers and books - and her reading and writing habits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What will happen when homo sapiens is no longer the smartest being on the planet? Jeanette Winterson shows us how much closer we are to that future than we realise. Frankissstein may well terrify you. But will make you laugh. Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester and read English at Oxford, during which time she wrote her first novel, the Whitbread award winning Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. She has won a BAFTA Award for Best Drama, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the E. M. Forster Award, the St. Louis Literary Award, and is a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award. She has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sue Nelson is an award-winning science journalist, producer and broadcaster. A former BBC TV science correspondent and Radio 4 presenter, Sue makes short films on space missions for the European Space Agency and co-presents the Space Boffins podcast, whose guests have included astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Eileen Collins, Tim Peake and Helen Sharman. Sue's extensive broadcasting career has taken her from rocket launches in South America to driving a lunar buggy in London alongside Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon. Her 2016 documentary 'Women with the Right Stuff', on the history of women in space, won a New York Festival International Radio Program Award. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wally Funk was among the Mercury 13, the first group of American pilots to pass the Woman in Space programme. Wally sailed through a series of rigorous physical and mental tests, with one of her scores beating all the male Mercury 7 astronauts', including John Glenn's, the first American in orbit. But just one week before the final phase of training, the programme was abruptly cancelled. A combination of politics and prejudice meant that none of the women ever flew into space. Undeterred, Wally went on to become America's first female aviation safety inspector, though her dream of being an astronaut never dimmed. In this offbeat odyssey, journalist and fellow space buff Sue Nelson joins Wally, now approaching her eightieth birthday, as she races to make her own giant leap, before it's too late. Covering their travels across the United States and Europe - taking in NASA's mission control in Houston, the European Space Agency's HQ in Paris and Spaceport America in New Mexico, where Wally's ride into space awaits - this is a uniquely intimate and entertaining portrait of a true aviation trailblazer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chloe's book The Arsonist is Simon and Matt's favourite of the year so far. Here she talks us through her favourite authors and books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Arsonist tells the real-life story behind one of Australia’s darkest days and the deadliest bushfire disaster in Australia’s history, Black Saturday. On the scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday, a man lit two fires in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. In the valley, where the rates of crime were the highest in the state, more than thirty people were known to police as firebugs. However the detectives soon found themselves on the trail of a man they didn’t know.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two hugely successful authors have a crack at our book Q&A Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michelle Paver is an international bestselling author with over 3 million copies of her books sold in 37 countries across the globe. She writes for both adults and children and her work includes two of the most critically and commercially acclaimed ghost stories of modern times, Dark Matter and Thin Air and the prize-winning, million copy selling, children’s series, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. Her new book Wakenhyrst, set in Edwardian Suffolk, was inspired by a series of real events and fuelled by secrets from her maternal past.   John Boyne returns to the show. He is best known for his phenomenal bestseller The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas which has sold an astonishing 9 million copies worldwide. His latest book, My Brother's Name Is Jessica, is an urgent call to arms for better empathy and understanding around the complexity of gender identity, and is full of John’s trademark warmth, humour and emotion.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.