Dolly Jitani is with us during our Bookshelf segment to talk about Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao. Rao’s debut novel tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two women in contemporary India who face struggles and adversity due to their social status and gender.

If you ever find yourself stranded on a deserted island you’ll be happy to have tuned into this segment of Talking of Books! Find out which three books acclaimed children’s author Julia Johnson would take with her if she ever became stranded.

Literary Spotlight this week celebrates the life and work of the late Egyptian author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik. Emirati authors Noura Al Noman, Sultan al Zaabi, and Sindbad SciFi founder Yasmin Khan join us to honour his literary legacy.  

Children’s author Julia Johnson tells us about her latest book The Secret of the Cave, grumpy camels and the animal she wants to write about next.

The Bookshelf – Part One

Natalie Madison reviews The Hoarder by Jess Kidd, a supernatural tale set in Ireland about an old curmudgeon Cathal Flood, his underpaid carer Maud Drennan and the family secrets that unravel for both of them. 

The Bookshelf – Part Two

Heidi Frost, founder of Dubai Writers’ Group and SciFi & Fantasy aficionado, reviews One Way by SJ Morden – a book with a killer tagline: Eight astronauts. One killer. No way home.

Do you believe in unicorns? Young Reviewer Charlotte Spafford tells us about Rachel Hamilton’s Unicorn in New York series.

Did you know that reading can be used as therapy? We talk about the benefits of bibliotherapy and how it works in this episode of Literary Spotlight, with Alia Alshamsi and Gamze Hakli Geray.  

From the adaptability of nature, to Scots dialect, and the golden age of cinema, this week’s Castaway guest is former Head of Programming at the Emirates Literature Foundation and magazine journalist Gillian Henney. Stuck in a reading rut? Three excellent recommendations for you right here. 

It’s all about Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls Vol 1 & 2 this week. The anthologies by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo have been illustrated by sixty female artists from around the world and introduce readers to remarkable women from all walks of life including Malala, Elizabeth I, and Serena Williams. In this episode Lucy Holland and her ten-year-old daughter Isobel talk about what makes a rebel girl and why these stories matter to them.

This week we’re reviewing a title that’s hot off the press, Tangerine by Christine Mangan. We’ll be weighing in on the book that everyone can’t stop talking about and placing it in the context of other commended psychological thrillers both old and new that have made waves, particularly those with an element of Femme Fatale about them.