Chiltern Voice Book Club

Lev is an orchestral conductor, a naturalist and a writer. He takes Antonia on a gentle stroll through his music choices, taking in rediscovering the joy of birds and birdwatching, working with Unbounders, emergency birds and making Twitter a pleasant place to be despite being home to people who ask him to write about The Intrinsic Link Between Chocolate, the Wombles and Musical Theatre in Post-Millennial Britain. Which he did (in Music to Eat Cake By). Beautifully.

The Beatles – Ticket to Ride
Sandie Shaw – Puppet On A String
Otis Redding – (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
The Carpenters – (They Long to Be) Close To You
T. Rex – Telegram Sam
Suzi Quatro – 48 Crash
Abba – Waterloo
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke
Blondie – Heart of Glass
Michael Jackson – Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
David Bowie – Let's Dance

Lorna Gibb joins Antonia in a personal and wide-ranging discussion of her novel A Ghost’s Story, her memoir Childless Voices and her biographies of Rebecca West and Hester Stanhope.


Matt Monroe: Walk away

Joni Mitchell: Marcie

Eddi Reader: Jamie, Come try me.

The Waterboys: The Whole of the Moon

Sandy Denny: Who Knows Where the Time Goes

Fabri Fibra and Gianna Nannini: In Italia

Jan Garbarek: Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium)

Paolo Nutini: Caledonia (live)

Counting Crows: Round Here

Yvonne Lyon: Significance

Bruce Springsteen: Land of Hope and Dreams (live at Madison Square Garden)

Joan Baez: Natalia

Frank Sinatra: Luck be a Lady

International bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winning author Jane Smiley joins Antonia to talk about her new novel, The Strays of Paris, taking in husbands and ex-husbands and horses along the way. And cowboys and first love and Dickens and Shakespeare. And predicting the future. And her plans for her next novel, too.

The Eagles, Take it to the Limit
The Traveling Wilburys, Heading for the Light
The Beatles, Here Comes the Sun
The Chieftains and Sinead O’Connor, The Foggy Dew
The Chieftains and Sting, Mo Ghile Mear
Bob Marley, Redemption Song
Joan Baez, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Judy Collins, Someday Soon
Cowboy Junkies, Lost My Drivin’ Wheel
Rhiannon Giddens of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Lost on the River #20
Ella Fitzgerald, Too Darn Hot
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Turn of the Century

Salena Godden talks about life and death and writing and joy, about sharing the very early stages of Mrs. Death on national radio, about a life spent revelling in words - and about having your debut novel optioned for film by Idris Elba. Join us for an hour of joy in lockdown. Pessimism, after all, is for lightweights. This interview contains a recording of Salena performing her poem ‘Pessimism is for Lightweights’ live at Tongue Fu. Thank you, Tongue Fu, for permission to include it.

Etta James – God’s Song

Arlo Parks - Black Dog

Nirvana - Where did you sleep last night

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer

Nick Cave & PJ Harvey - Henry Lee

Elliott Smith - Between The Bars

Ella Fitzgerald - Sunshine of your love

Gil Scott Heron - I’m new here

Patti Smith - Smells like Teen Spirit

Iggy Pop - Lust for Life

Irma Thomas - Time is on my side

Tracy Chapman - All that you have is your soul

Stella Duffy joins Antonia to talk about life and death and joy and Fun Palaces and the fierce wonder of the young, and about love and music and diagonal family relationships and beauty, all wrapped in her glorious new novel, Lullaby Beach.

Global Warming - John Grant

Nightswimming – R.E.M.

Songbird - Fleetwood Mac

Call The Days - Nadia Reid

You Got to Run - Buffy Sainte Marie & Tanya Tagaq

Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez

Death With Dignity - Sufjan Stevens

You’re Welcome - Dwayne Johnson

The Kick Inside - Kate Bush

Catherine the Great - The Divine Comedy

Tilted - Christine and The Queens

Say a Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin

Satellite of Love - Velvet Underground

Antonia chats with Tim Finch about his critically acclaimed novel, The House Of Journalist, and Tim talks openly and honestly about the experience of writing and publishing a second novel. That second novel, Peace Talks, about being shortlisted for the Costa Prize, and about his wide ranging music choices.

America from West Side Story - Stephen Sondheim
We’ve only just begun - The Carpenters
Are ‘Friends’ Electric? - Gary Numan
Youth of Eglington - Black Uhuru
A Proper Sort of Gardener - June Tabor
The Blood is Love - Queens of the Stone Age
I Can’t Give Everything Away - David Bowie
Good Luck - Basement Jaxx
Aiwa - Emmanuel Jal
Follow Your Arrow - Kacey Musgrave
Here Come the Rattling Trees - High Llamas
By The Time I Get To Phoenix - Glen Campbell

Anne Booth talks about the joy, the responsibility and the beauty of writing for children, from picture books to young readers to her Carnegie-listed middle-grade novel Girl With a White Dog. She also talks about the writing of Small Miracles, her first novel for adults, due for publication in 2022.

Anne’s song choices were:

Gipsy Kings - Bamboléo
Julie Fowlis - Touch the Sky (from Brave)
Sinéad O’Connor - This Is to Mother You
Fairground Attraction - Perfect
The Divine Comedy - To the Rescue
Paolo Nutini - Pencil Full of Lead
Mary Mary - Shackles (Praise You(

Julie Andrews - My Favourite Things
Earth, Wind and Fire - September
Kirsty MacColl - A New England
Andrew Gold - Never Let Her Slip Away
Crowded House - Weather With You
Eurythmics - I Saved the World Today
Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
Pharrell Williams - Happy

From Victorian England to Ancient Egypt, from travelling circus to deserted mansion, Emma discusses how she creates compelling characters and stories across a range of settings and times, how her career as a teacher prepared her for life as a full-time writer, and the reality of earning a living as an author.

Emma’s song choices were:

When Doves Cry- Prince
Sympathy for the Devil- The Rolling Stones
Masterblaster- Stevie Wonder
River- Joni Mitchell
Feeling Good- Nina Simone
Cloudbusting- Kate Bush
The Power of Love- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Don't You ( Forget about me)- Simple Minds
Starman- David Bowie
Proud Mary- Tina Turner
Halo- Beyonce
Valerie- Amy Winehouse
Shake it Off- Taylor Swift

Andy Miller, author of The Year of Reading Dangerously and co-host of Backlisted Pod, talks about the power of reading and the art of writing, and plays a marvellous and unexpected selection of Northern Soul.

Needle in a Haystack - The Velvelettes
What - Judy Street
Don't Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today -
Heartaches Away My Boy - Christine Cooper
Helpless - Kim Weston
Yours Until Tomorrow - Dee Dee Warwick
Nothing But a Heartache - The Flirtations
Is This What I Get for Loving You? - Marianne Faithfull
Rip Off - Laura Lee
Wanting You - April Stevens
Make Me Yours - Bettye Swann
Lay this burden down - Mary Love
You Got Me - Jaibi
The Girl from Cincinnati - Bobbie Gentry
Keep On Keeping On - Curtis Mayfield

One Christmas Night

Hayley talks Christmas and kindness and how Twitter at its best gave rise to her novel One Christmas Night.

Thank God It's Christmas - Queen
Blue Christmas - Elvis
Gaudete - Steelye Span
Walking in the Air - Peter Auty
Last Christmas - Wham
Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie/ Bing Crosby
White Wine in the Sun - Tim Minchin
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town - Bruce Springsteen
Winter Song - Sam Fender
Stop the Cavalry - Jona Lewie
I saw a maiden - Choir of Kings College
River - Travis
Underneath the Tree - Kelly Clarkson
Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin Stevens