Read On - The Audiobook Show from RNIB
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
Episodes
Today we escape to the Algarve in Julie Caplin's brand new book The Hotel by the Sea, we visit a fairy tale exhibition in London, we review Ruth Ozeki's Timecode of a Face and we find some books in the RNIB Library.
Plus there's some news about an Aria nomination for Read On!
On today's Read On I'm joined by author and artist Rob Harrell from his home in Texas as we discuss his Carnegie Medal for Writing short listed book, Popcorn, plus his previous book, based on his battle with eye cancer, Wink.
We also find some new books in the RNIB Library.
Today we go on a road trip with Ben Markovits and his book The Rest of Our Lives.
When Tom Layward's wife had an affair he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact, and keeps driving ...
Plus we'll find some new books in the RNIB Library.
A return visit this week from Lisa Timoney, a bestselling, multi-genre author who writes emotional family dramas under her own name, uplifting book club fiction as Kate Storey, and twisty psychological thrillers as Naomi Williams.
This time we talk about The Last Page Cafe, The Lies Out Children Tell and discuss the sight condition blepharospasm in her book, The Eyewitness.
Plus we find new books in the RNIB Library.
From the phonautograph to a smart speaker, today's Read On not only looks at the history of 90 years of RNIB Talking Books recording (and the equipment used), but goes back to the invention of recording as a whole.
We hear the first recorded voices, about the format war between cylinder and disc, about the phonautograph, the phonograph, the graphophone and the gramophone, to single track magnetic tape, DAISY CDs and Alexa Ski...
A special (updated) documentary about the origins of the Talking Books service, recorded at the original locations around London, and featuring many voices from the past.
Historian Matthew Rubery and Robert Kirkwood explore everything from the first Talking Book machines, some failed technology, how books were chosen and much more.
An all-star ensemble comes together to celebrate RNIB Talking Books 9th decade of bringing the joy of reading to blind and partially sighted people. A special recording of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice features some of the UK’s best-known actors and today we chat to four of them.
Ben Willbond, Phil Dunster, Lisa George and Shazia Mirza talk about narrating Jane Austen and give us some great book recommendations.
James Bartlett, Reading Services Manager at RNIB tells Robert Kirkwood about a new recording of Pride and Prejudice with many famous narrators, made to celebrate 90 years of Talking Books. We also hear the foreword by Julian Fellowes.
Full book - https://audioboom.com/playlists/4635906-talking-books-at-90-pride-and-prejudice-by-jane-austen
Today we continue our deep dive into last year's Booker shortlist as Robert Kirkwood has a long chat with Susan Choi on her novel Flashlight.
They chat about the significance of the title, the importance of historical research and even end up chatting about ashtrays from McDonalds and smoking in the office!
The year 2026 is National Year of Reading and this along with World Book Day 2026 on March 5, is a great chance for every child, including those with reading impairments and vision impairments, to enjoy and celebrate their love of reading and storytelling.
To mark the occasion, leading sight loss charity, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is running a creative writing competition so children with vision impairmen...
In today's episode Robert Kirkwood chats to Katie Kitamura about her novel Audition, an exhilarating, destabilising novel that asks whether we ever really know the people we love.
They chat about dimension shifts, narration and why the book was almost called Performance.
Plus we find some new books in the RNIB Library.
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller is an atmospheric novel set during a famously freezing 1960s winter, exploring the minutiae of married life through the interior lives of two couples. Robert Kirkwood talks to Andrew about his inspiration for the novel, why it's not based on his parents and about his first time narrating one of his novels.
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