Ear Read This

By Ash CatonArts Books History

Ear Read This episodes

August 03 12 Poems about Seagulls
This is an omnibus of twelve episodes from the ERT Poem of the Day series on YouTube. I make daily videos in which I read and then discuss a poem, for the last twelve days I've focussed on seagull poems and here are all twelve in one bumper anthology.

Poets featured:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Michael Rosen
Brian McCabe
Edwin Morgan
Enid Welsford
Herbert Bashford
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Akers Allen
Lloyd Mifflin
Hamlin Garland
Bret Harte
Anna Maria Wells

If you would like to suggest a poem of the Day you can do so using this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzoQ4MXVOZy9AsJ7lv1YcG8vkA4vde0bOMz6i8GDxw4226qQ/viewform?pli=1

58 min
October 09, 2025 ‘Verses written at the Hermitage of Braid, near Edinburgh’ (1771) by Robert Fergusson
S3E104 Today, Ash broadcasts from the Hermitage of Braid in Morningside, to talk about a poem Robert Fergusson was inspired to write on a visit there in 1771.

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
16 min
October 05, 2025 “Of Course, Merlins are Different”: Frank Rennie on A Magical Raptor
S3E103 Today, Ash interviews Frank Rennie, Professor of Sustainable Rural Development at the University of the Highlands and Islands and author of numerous books, including this year's The Merlin. Tune in to find out more about this elusive and magical raptor, from it's earliest fossil records to the environmental challenges facing it today.

To order a copy of Frank's book, click here:

https://pelagicpublishing.com/products/the-merlin?srsltid=AfmBOoru3v7wQ8u2l2OQCbduNIgIR89n-s7Ux3KMqtydFKeq9hWvm8zw

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
1 hr 7 min
August 26, 2025 The “Glitchy Atmosphere” of Grievance: Krystelle Bamford on Idle Grounds
S3E102 Today, Ash interviews Edinburgh-based author Krystelle Bamford about her debut novel, Idle Grounds for a conversation ranging from Scotland to the "horse country" of New England.

To order a copy of Krystelle's book, click here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Idle-Grounds-Krystelle-Bamford/dp/1529154588

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
52 min
April 23, 2025 “Our Storied Town”: Donald Smith on Edinburgh’s Explosive Literary Past
S3E101 Donald Smith takes us on a literary tour of Edinburgh's Old Town, touching on the stories of writers including Robert Louis Stevenson, J. K. Rowling, Naomi Mitchison, Robert Burns and many more.

To order a copy of Donald's book, Our Storied Town, click here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edinburgh-Storied-Town-Donald-Smith/dp/180425150X

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
45 min
April 07, 2025 A Year of Birds (1984) by Iris Murdoch
S3E100 Miles Leeson returns to the podcast to talk about Iris Murdoch, this time concentrating on her short collection of poems, A Year of Birds.

Miles and Ash discuss connections between Murdoch's poetry and philosophy, the critical reputation of her poems and some of the folklore tradition associated with her chosen birds.

To pre-order a copy of Poems from an Attic:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/470920/poems-from-an-attic-by-murdoch-iris/9781784746124

And to listen to The Iris Murdoch podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-iris-murdoch-society-podcast/id1506230228

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
49 min
March 08, 2025 ‘Epitaph for Robert Fergusson’ (1789) by Robert Burns
S3E99 Today Ash looks at not one but three short poems composed by Robert Burns on the subject of his 'elder brother in the Muse', Robert Fergusson.

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
24 min
February 24, 2025 “Technology is Hijacking Our Dreams”: Alice Thompson on AI, Edinburgh and Sylvia Plath
S3E98 Today's special episode of Ear Read This was recorded on location in Portobello Library, where Ash interviewed novelist Alice Thompson about artificial intelligence, the effect of Edinburgh on the imagination of a writer and the influence of Sylvia Plath.
For copies of books mentioned in the podcast please visit Salt Publishing:

https://www.saltpublishing.com/products/chimera-9781784632540?srsltid=AfmBOoqcVviTu-PSkktp9HMgUK6lSgCGgxLZ48NqRlu-2CDT-vU5Ab0J

Or Portobello Bookshop:

https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/contributed-by/alice-thompson

And to read my review of Alice's latest novel, Chimera:

https://glasgowreviewofbooks.com/2024/02/07/a-shipload-of-symbolic-freight-on-chimera-by-alice-thompson/

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
35 min
January 12, 2025 ‘The Daft Days’ (1772) by Robert Fergusson
S3E97 Iconic Edinburgh poet Robert Fergusson is the subject of today's podcast, as Ash looks at his breakthrough poem, 'The Daft Days':

Now mirk December’s dowie face
Glowrs owr the rigs wi sour grimace,
While, thro’ his minimum of space,
The bleer-ey’d sun,
Wi blinkin light and stealing pace,
His race doth run.
From naked groves nae birdie sings,
To shepherd’s pipe nae hillock rings,
The breeze nae od’rous flavour brings
From Borean cave,
And dwyning nature droops her wings,
Wi visage grave.
Mankind but scanty pleasure glean
Frae snawy hill or barren plain,
Whan winter, ‘midst his nipping train,
Wi frozen spear,
Sends drift owr a’ his bleak domain,
And guides the weir.
Auld Reikie! thou’rt the canty hole,
A bield for many caldrife soul,
Wha snugly at thine ingle loll,
Baith warm and couth,
While round they gar the bicker roll
To weet their mouth.
When merry Yule-day comes, I trou,
You’ll scantlins find a hungry mou;
Sma are our cares, our stamacks fou
O’ gusty gear,
And kickshaws, strangers to our view,
Sin fairn-year.
Ye browster wives, now busk ye braw,
And fling your sorrows far awa;
Then come and gie’s the tither blaw
Of reaming ale,
Mair precious than the well of Spa,
Our hearts to heal.
Then, tho’ at odds wi a’ the warl’,
Amang oursels we’ll never quarrel;
Tho’ Discord gie a canker’d snarl
To spoil our glee,
As lang’s there’s pith into the barrel
We’ll drink and ‘gree.
Fidlers, your pins in temper fix,
And roset weel your fiddle-sticks;
But banish vile Italian tricks
Frae out your quorum,
Not fortes wi pianos mix –
Gie’s Tulloch Gorum.
For nought can cheer the heart sae weel
As can a canty Highland reel;
It even vivifies the heel
To skip and dance:
Lifeless is he wha canna feel
Its influence.
Let mirth abound, let social cheer
Invest the dawning of the year;
Let blithesome innocence appear
To crown our joy;
Nor envy wi sarcastic sneer
Our bliss destroy.
And thou, great god of Aqua Vitae!
Wha sways the empire of this city,
When fou we’re sometimes capernoity,
Be thou prepar’d
To hedge us frae that black banditti,
The City Guard.

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
31 min
April 04, 2024 ‘Kookaburra’ (1998) by Frieda Hughes
S3E96 On today's episode, Ash looks at a poem from Frieda Hughes' debut collection, Wooroloo, discussing Hughes' longstanding connection with birds, and how 'Kookaburra' relates to the poetry of her parents, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
20 min