
Advertise on podcast: Books and Authors
Rating
4.3from
This podcast has
37 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
BBC Radio 4Explicit
No
Date created
2009/09/11
Latest episode
2026/10/19
Average duration
28 min.
Release period
16 days
Description
This podcast features Open Book and A Good Read. Open Book talks to authors about their work. In A Good Read Harriett Gilbert discusses favourite books.
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Check latest episodes from Books and Authors podcast
Raymond Antrobus and Guy Gunaratne
2026/10/19
Lively conversation around three book choices. Presenter Harriett Gilbert talks to two guests about books they love.
Raymond Antrobus chooses Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
Guy Gunaratne chooses The Use of Photography by Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie
Harriett Gilbert chooses The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Raymond Antrobus is a poet whose memoir The Quiet Ear, which investigates the intersection of race and deafness, was published in 2025. His choice for the programme, Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, is the startling story of a severely disabled woman who blogs pornography from her care home.
Guy Gunaratne is a prizewinning novelist who has chosen Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie's work which explores sex, ill health and photography over the course of their relationship.
Harriett nominates The Mars Room, a novel which looks at the lives, experiences and motivations of the inmates of an American women's prison.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sally Heaven
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Marco Giugliarelli
Andrea Wulf and Selina Brown
2026/10/12
Lively conversation around three book choices. Presenter Harriett Gilbert talks to two guests about books they love
EUPHORIA by Lily King
HUNGER PAINS by Derek Owusu
LOVED AND MISSED by Susie Boyt
Selina Brown has written three children's picture books. She is the founder and CEO of the Black British Book Festival. Her book recommendation is Hunger Pains by Derek Owusu - a novel that puts the growing trend of male obsession with appearance and fitness under the spotlight.
Fellow guest Andrea Wulf is author of eight books, including the Founding Gardeners and The Invention of Nature. Her latest, The Traveller, is about the life of ethnographer George Forster, She chooses the novel chooses Euphoria by Lily King. It's based on the life of the life of the American explorer and anthropologist Margaret Mead.
Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt is Harriett's choice - a poignant story about the fierce love of a grandmother who brings up her troubled daughter's child.
Producer: Maggie Ayre, BBC Audio Bristol
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Antonina Gern
Dr Vee Kativhu and Susie Riddell
2026/08/03
Guests discuss books they love. This time:
Loving and Giving by Molly Keane, chosen by podcaster and Archers actor Susie Riddell
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, chosen by education activist Dr Vee Kativhu
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sarah Goodman
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Lauren Child and David McAlmont
2026/07/27
A sharing of book recommendations and lively discussion. Harriett Gilbert is joined by children's author Lauren Child and musician David McAlmont to talk about books they love by George Orwell, Elizabeth Strout and Alan Bennett.
The books are:
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout, chosen by Lauren Child
Burmese Days by George Orwell, chosen by David McAlmont
Killing Time by Alan Bennett, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Sally Heaven
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Cariad Lloyd and Geoff Dyer
2026/07/20
Writer, actor and comedian Cariad Lloyd and writer Geoff Dyer join Harriett Gilbert for an enthusiastic and robust discussion about favourite books.
The books are:
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard, chosen by Geoff Dyer
Question 7 by Richard Flanagan, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
The Others by Sheena Kalayil, chosen by Cariad Lloyd
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Eliza Lomas
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Joanne Harris and Islam Issa
2026/07/13
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, chosen by Joanne Harris
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth by Naguib Mahfouz, chosen by Islam Issa
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sally Heaven
Daisy Dunn and Andrew Hunter Murray
2026/07/06
The classicist and the author talk about books they love with presenter Harriett Gilbert. One of the books is eerily prescient about the state of the world today.
The books are:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, chosen by classicist Daisy Dunn
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, chosen by podcaster and author Andrew Hunter Murray
A Life's Music by Andreï Makine, translated by Geoffrey Strachan, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Beth O'Dea
Join us over on instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Timothy Foster
Philippa Perry and Stuart Maconie
2026/06/29
A special episode of A Good Read, recorded live at the Hay Festival. The books are:
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe, chosen by psychotherapist and artist Philippa Perry
All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills, chosen by presenter and writer Stuart Maconie
Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilbert
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Maggie Ayre
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Pal Hansen
Louise Welsh and Chris Brookmyre
2026/06/22
Two Scottish crime writers choose books by:
Iain Banks (Espedair Street)
Muriel Spark (Memento Mori)
And Harriett's choice is Summer by Edith Wharton
Producer: Maggie Ayre BBC Audio Bristol
Photo credit: Julie Broadfoot
Harriet Tyce and Matt Edmondson
2026/06/15
The books are:
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene, chosen by Harriet Tyce
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre, chosen by Matt Edmondson
Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sally Heaven
Photo credit: Suki Dhanda
Kelly Cates and Tom Rob Smith
2026/06/08
Three books that deal with the intricacies of relationships and marriage.
Not That Sort of Girl by Mary Wesley
Aftermath by Rachel Cusk
Three Days In June by Anne Tyler
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Maggie Ayre
Patrick Grant and Mary-Ann Ochota
2026/04/01
This time the community clothing entrepreneur and host of The Great British Sewing Bee Patrick Grant chooses his favourite book along with fellow guest anthropologist and broadcaster Mary-Ann Ochota.
The books are:
Parsnips Buttered by Joe Lycett
The Flow by Amy Jane Beer
Heatwave by Penelope Lively
Produced in Bristol by Maggie Ayre
Maryam Moshiri and Doug Naylor
2026/03/23
Newsreader Maryam Moshiri and Red Dwarf creator Doug Naylor discuss their chosen books, including Bridget Jones's Diary, with Harriett Gilbert.
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, chosen by Maryam Moshiri
Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell, chosen by Doug Naylor
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sally Heaven
Victoria Pile and Julian Baggini
2026/03/16
THE LIVES AND LOVES OF A SHE DEVIL by Fay Weldon, chosen by Victoria Pile
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway, chosen by Julian Baggini
CLEAR by Carys Davies, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Comedy writer and director Victoria Pile joins philosopher and author Julian Baggini to talk about their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. On the menu is a feminist revenge novel that is as dark as it is funny, a classic Hemingway novella that casts us out to sea, and an evocative short story set on a remote island off Scotland.
Join the conversation on Instagram: agoodreadbbc
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley
Lolita Chakrabarti and Dr Guy Leschziner
2026/03/09
This week's books are:
How to Measure a Cow by Margaret Forster (chosen by Lolita Chakrabarti)
The House of God by Samuel Shem (chosen by Guy Leschziner)
A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir (chosen by Harriett Gilbert)
The producer is Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Podcast reviews
Read Books and Authors podcast reviews
JG TY 2024/10/20
Love this program!
Thanks for your consistently fascinating broadcasting. The recent panel episode with Naomi Alderman about the future was especially great. Keep up the...
Gingiaa 2023/11/18
Feeds my Addiction
I enjoy the wide range of books discovered through these discussions. The guests vary so widely in how they interpret what is a a Good Read that I lea...
Beatnik Strategy 2023/10/11
Often shallow
A great concept but often the shallowness of the guests is such that they could be talking about television. In fact they are usually TV presenters of...
sextus Pompeius 2022/09/28
Mariella Frostrup the best
Mariella Frostrup is by far the best of the hosts. Always measured, informed and a pleasure to listen to.
Brat154 2022/05/24
The best
A Good Read is the best part of this podcast. Wish there was more of it.
A Reader in Tennessee 2021/11/16
A Good Read…and a great listen
For anyone with a love for books and reading, A Good Read is the best of all possible Podcasts. The book selections and discussions (guided by the alw...
malfoxley 2021/06/11
Great show!
The host of the Books and Authors podcast, highlights all aspects of authorship and more in this can’t miss podcast! The host and expert guests offer...
WB2MIA 2021/03/06
BBC4 Books
Finding this podcast got me through the worst of the Pandemic. I loved every interview. The hosts are brilliant and so are the guests! It’s a joy!
artsactivist 2021/02/24
Thoughtful & insightful
A great way to discover books and get inside the mind of writers.
Prose Prose 2021/01/11
Delightful
Best of the genre - not too long - not too short - always enjoyable
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