BBC Radio 4 ‘A Good Read’

A couple of weeks ago during the Birmingham Literary Festival I went up to record ‘A Good Read’.  This is my favourite BBC Radio 4 book programme. Every week two people plus the presenter chose a book each to read and discuss.  I was on with Catherine O’Flynn who chose Gordon Burn’s ‘Alma Cogan’; I chose Don DeLillo’s ‘White Noise’; and the host, Sue McGregor, chose ‘Chicago’ by Alaa Al Aswany.  It was a great thrill to meet Sue McGregor, and after the recording was finished (in front of a live audience, quite nerve-wracking), I took the train back to London with Sue, who turned out to be completely charming and funny.  We had a great conversation about female news presenters and hard news reporters, and the lack thereof.  Fascinating.

You can hear the programme here for the next week; after that I think it will be in the archive…