Ear Read This

By Ash Caton

Edinburgh based book podcast. Critical appreciations of classic and modern literature. Interviews with academics, authors and perfomers.... more

4.7

1919 ratings

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Ear Read This:

How many episodes does Ear Read This have?

The podcast currently has 170 episodes available.

Ear Read This episodes:

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
...more
16min
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
...more
1h 7min
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
...more
52min
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
...more
45min
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
...more
49min
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
...more
24min
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
...more
35min
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
...more
31min
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
...more
20min
January 31, 2024 ‘Address to Edinburgh’ (1786) by Robert Burns
S3E95 A belated Burns Night celebration, featuring one of Burns' lesser liked poems. But one of the only poems to inspire a toilet seat. Tune in for an exploration of Burns' time in Edinburgh, the Enlightenment's paradoxical attitude to Scottishness, and lots of rhyme-whining.

Title Music: 'Not Drunk' by The Joy Drops. All other music by Epidemic Sound.
@earreadthis
[email protected]
facebook.com/earreadthis
...more
32min

FAQs about Ear Read This:

How many episodes does Ear Read This have?

The podcast currently has 170 episodes available.

More shows like Ear Read This

Stuff You Should Know by iHeartPodcasts

Stuff You Should Know

78,840 Listeners

99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,243 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,511 Listeners

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker by The New Yorker

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

2,135 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

412 Listeners

Pod Save America by Pod Save America

Pod Save America

87,896 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

113,521 Listeners

The Bulwark Podcast by The Bulwark

The Bulwark Podcast

12,723 Listeners

The Al Franken Podcast by The Al Franken Podcast

The Al Franken Podcast

8,570 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,536 Listeners

Impolitic with John Heilemann by Audacy | Puck

Impolitic with John Heilemann

4,687 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,418 Listeners

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart by Comedy Central

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

10,926 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics

3,390 Listeners

Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast by iHeartPodcasts

Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast

2,327 Listeners