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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 [email protected] 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

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Check latest episodes from Read On - The Audiobook Show from RNIB podcast

Simon McCleave - DI Ruth Hunter, Frank Marshall and more

2026/10/16

Today a chat with Simon McCleave on his many crime books set in Snowdonia and beyond, on leaving TV writing for novel writing and becoming a self-publishing success story. Plus we find some new books in the RNIB Library.

Natalie Livingstone - The Nuremberg Women & Cliveden Literary Festival

2026/10/09

Today on Read On I talk to a co-founder of the annual Cliveden Literary Festival, Natalie Livingstone, about the book that sparked the idea for the festival and about her latest book, The Nuremberg Women. We also get a self help recommendation from the Happy Hour and find new books in the RNIB Library.

Best Kept Secrets for Travelers With Sight Loss with Lynn Jensen

2026/10/02

Best Kept Secrets for Travelers With Sight Loss lets people who are blind or have low vision enjoy travel with less fear and uncertainty. Robert Kirkwood talks to its author Lynn Jensen about some great travel tips. We also hear about the first blind travel writer and find some new books in the RNIB Library.

Wigtown Book Festival Gems

2026/09/25

Today we look forward to The Wigtown Book Festival, (which starts on the day this episode is first broadcast) by listening to some authors I've previously talked to in Scotland's Book Town including, Maggie O'Farrell on The Marriage Portrait, Kathryn Harkup on Superspy Science, Alex von Tunzelmann on Fallen Idols, Estelle Paranque on Fire, Blood and Gold and Rory Cellan Jones on Ruskin Park, plus we find some new books in the RNIB Library.

Stories of Love

2026/09/18

This week on Read On, we're celebrating love in all its complicated forms. Robert Kirkwood chats to Fiona Lucas about her deeply emotional novel Always and Only You, a story of love, secrets and second chances. Then Jenny Ashcroft joins us to talk about The Echoes of Love, an epic historical romance set in Crete, where a young love story is tested by war, loyalty and betrayal. And finally, Yael van der Wouden discusses her acclaimed debut The Safekeep, an unsettling tale of desire, obsession, secrets and revenge. Plus, as always, we head to the RNIB Library to discover some brand new books.

Val McDermid and Jo Sharp, plus RNIB Talk and Support Book Clubs

2026/09/11

This week on Read On, Robert Kirkwood watches Jo Sharp and her wife Val McDermid record the introduction to the brand new book in the Darkland Tales series, This Door of the Seas at the Canongate studios in Edinburgh and chats with them about the book. We also chat about Book Club Day UK - September the 11th - by finding out about RNIB's Talk and Support book clubs from both a club member and a volunteer facilitator. All that plus some new books in the RNIB library.

Damian Barr, Amanda Barrie and Percival Everett

2026/09/04

In today's Read On we talk to Damian Barr about his novel The Two Roberts and we hear from Coronation Street and Carry On actress Amanda Barrie about her memoir I'm Still Here - My 90 Years and we find a link between those two books. We also find some new books in the RNIB Library and get a Books Of My Life from the winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Percival Everett.

Crime Books

2026/08/28

This week on Read On we investigate some different styles of crime. Anita Frank discusses her WW1 historical fiction murder mystery thriller, The Good Liars, we get cosy with Josie Lloyd in Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency, and from the archive a listen back to the creator of Inspector Morse, Colin Dexter. Plus we find new books in the RNIB Library.

The RHS Sandringham Talking Books Garden with Lynda La Plante, Richard Osman and more

2026/08/21

Today we revisit the RHS Sandringham Flower Show to hear about RNIB's Talking Books Garden. With Toby Davey we hear from the people behind it, some visitor reactions, and hear exclusive audio recorded for the garden from Richard Osman and Lynda La Plante

Gavin Francis, Stephen McGinty & Darren McGarvey - Boswell Book Festival

2026/08/14

This episode of Read On contains subject matter that some listeners may find upsetting. Today Robert Kirkwood is recording on location at the Boswell Book Festival with Gavin Francis on The Unfragile Mind - Making Sense of Mental Health, Stephen McGinty on One Morning in March - Dunblane and the Shooting that Changed Britain and Darren McGarvey on Trauma Industrial Complex - The Dangers of Oversharing in a Digital World. Plus in the spirt of Boswell, we find some new biographies in the RNIB Library

History Books with Lucy Worsley, Kate Williams plus Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen

2026/08/07

Today on Read On we revisit some favourite historians with Lucy Worsley on Jane Austen, Kate Williams on Rival Queens plus Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen on the history of libraries. Plus we find some new books in the RNIB Library

Dame Harriet Walter & Dougie Donnelly - Boswell Book Festival

2026/07/31

Two very different authors this week on Read On, although with one thing in common, they both narrated the audio versions of the books they were speaking about at the Boswell Book Festival. Dougie Donnelly tells Robert Kirkwood about Recorded Highlights - My Life in Sport, and Dame Harriet Walter gives new scenes to some of Shakespeare's female characters in She Speaks! Plus we find some fiction and biography in the RNIB Library.

Inspired by Shakespeare

2026/07/24

Today on Read On, three very different authors all inspired by Shakespeare, Michael Morpurgo on his Shakespeare retellings, Nydia Hetherington on her book about the witch from the Tempest, Sycorax and Bernard Cornwell on William's brother, Richard Shakespeare, in his book Fools and Mortals. All that plus new books in the RNIB Library.

Frances Wilson - Electric Spark & Adam Hart - Operation Pimento - Boswell Book Festival

2026/07/17

Today on Read On, two biographical tales recorded at the Boswell Book Festival. Robert Kirkwood talks to Frances Wilson about Electric Spark - The Enigma of Muriel Spark, and author Adam Hart about Operation Pimento: My Great-Grandfather's Great Escape. Plus we have some new books in the RNIB Library

Summer Books

2026/07/10

Today on Read On, three summer themed books, One Girl One Summer with Isabel Ashdown, Hot Girl Summer with Sophie Gravia and Summer on a Sunny Island with Sue Moorcroft. All that plus some new books in the RNIB Library.