THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz (Faber), chosen by Nancy Medina

Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic Nancy Medina chooses a book that reminds her of growing up in the Dominican Republic. It's a funny, intense and often brutal tale of life under a dictatorship.

Joe Talbot from the band Idles selects bell hooks' essays on love which explores the act of loving and how it can be applied to relationships, parenting and what society chooses to prioritise.

Harriett's choice is Douglas Adams' story about Arthur Dent's journey through space with an alien called Ford Prefect after earth is demolished to make way for a bypass.

Presenter: Harriett Gilbert

CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner, chosen by Anna Bogutskaya

Critic, author and podcaster Anna Bogutskaya chooses musician Michelle Zauner's account of growing up as one of the few Asian-American children in Eugene, Oregon, Crying in H Mart, which details her complex relationship with her mother.

Former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis picks Kate Humble's book Thinking on My Feet. It's a book about travel, the outside world, and the act of putting one foot in front of another. Rachel came to it in lockdown and loved the opportunity to virtually go on so many walks with Kate.

Harriett's choice is Jenni Diski's account of a trip she took to the frozen south, but as ever with Diski it is a journey that is accompanied by reflections on the defining moments of her childhood and adult life, in Skating to Antarctica.

Presenter: Harriett Gilbert

THE GLASS PEARLS by Emeric Pressburger chosen by Ian Rankin

Rebus creator, Ian Rankin, expresses his admiration for filmmaker and novelist Emeric Pressburger's skilfully empathetic characterisation of a fleeing Nazi war criminal in his novel, The Glass Pearls. All the more impressive when you realise that Pressburger was a Hungarian Jew who'd had to flee Nazi Germany.

Mull Historical Society singer-songwriter, Colin MacIntyre, recommends Widow Basquiat by Jennifer Clement - the biography of the New York street artist Jean Michel Basquiat's long suffering girlfriend and muse Suzanne, documenting their life together in the New York art scene of the early 1980s, a time when hip-hop, New Wave and street art converged to make New York the edgy centre of a burgeoning arts scene.

Presenter Harriett Gilbert chooses The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi, a novel told from an Afghan woman's perspective, as she sits in one room praying over the comatose body of her wounded fighter husband. Battles rage outside, as she sits and prays for his recovery. But as time passes, her voice becomes louder and more powerful as her rage grows.

Producer: Maggie Ayre, BBC Audio Bristol

The artist Chantal Joffe picks I Capture The Castle, the English classic by Dodie Smith. Set in 1930s rural England, it relates the adventures of an eccentric family over the course of about a year. It's a book Chantal has come back to again and again, ever since she was a teenager. Séamas O'Reilly champions the Irish novel, A Goat's Song by Dermot Healy, which he argues deserves to be more widely known. And Harriett Gilbert recommends a graphic memoir by the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, called The Secret to Superhuman Strength.

Chantal Joffe is an artist known for her often larger-than-life-sized paintings, of women and children in particular, which have been shown in solo exhibitions around the world. Séamas O'Reilly is a columnist for the Observer whose memoir is Did Ye Hear Mammy Die.

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Janet Ellis and Jason Arday join presenter Harriet Gilbert to discuss The Cut Out Girl by Bart van Es; Rise, the memoir of South African rugby player Siya Kolisi and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

Three readers choose favourite books and discuss themes of war, rugby and tightrope walking.

Writer and former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis chooses The Cut Out Girl by Bart van Es, the true story of a Dutch Jewish girl during the Second World War. Cambridge's youngest black professor Jason Arday champions Rise, the memoir of South African rugby player Siya Kolisi who went from a tough start in a township to the very top of his game. Harriett's choice, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, tells the story of a tightrope walk between the twin towers and the lives unfolding on the ground below.

Producer Sally Heaven, BBC Audio Bristol

Journalist India Knight and writer Emma Dabiri talk to Harriett Gilbert about favourite books. India chooses The Tap Dancer by Andrew Barrow, while Harriett has gone for Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, the novel Anne Tyler considers her best work. Emma champions Claire Keegan's short but powerful story, So Late in the Day. Themes of food and family emerge from all three books.

Producer for BBC Audio Sally Heaven

The violinist Nigel Kennedy is in the UK playing several concerts and takes time out to join Harriett Gilbert and actor Clare Perkins to talk about one of his favourite books. It's Confessions of A Mask by Yukio Mishima - the coming of age and sexual awakening story of a young boy in post war Japan. Nigel says he began exploring Japanese fiction and is interested in how many Japanese authors explore the inner lives of their characters.

Actor Clare Perkins goes for Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - a story she finds hopeful for humanity, despite being about a hostage situation where a group of party guests find themselves at the mercy of terrorists in an unnamed South American country.

Harriett opts for Franz Kafka's novella Metamorphosis - a story first published in 1915 about a young salesmen who wakes up one morning to find he has changed into a monstrous insect.

Photo of Nigel Kennedy: Carly Hyde

Producer: Maggie Ayre

Cressida Cowell MBE is the best-selling author illustrator of the How To Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once children's book series. Cressida's book choice is The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - the story of a fractious mother-daughter relationship between a first generation Chinese immigrant to the USA and her Americanised daughter.

Romy Gill MBE is a renowned Indian chef and travel writer. She is the author of two cook books. Her favourite book is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, a novel that follows a similar theme of conflicting Eastern and Western cultures.

Harriett chooses the autobiography of actor Minnie Driver. Managing Expectations documents an unconventional and often difficult childhood in England and a successful Hollywood acting career, told with humour and self-deprecation.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

TV presenter Anneka Rice and writer Maureen Freely share favourite books. Maureen has chosen Marilynne Robinson's award winning Gilead, Anneka enjoyed Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists, and Harriett is charmed by The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos.

Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Sally Heaven

Artist Cornelia Parker is with the chef Jeremy Lee and presenter Harriett Gilbert, to pick their all-time favourite books.

Cornelia chooses South by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the story of his extraordinary journey to Antarctica. Jeremy is a fan of the food writer Elizabeth David, and recommends her book of essays, Omelette and a Glass of Wine. Finally Harriett Gilbert suggests the novel Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie, centred on two American academics' escapades in London.

Cornelia has recently had solo shows at the Tate Britain and the Metropolitan Museum of New York; Jeremy is chef-proprietor of Quo Vadis restaurant in Soho and author of Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many.

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