The Reading Room

In this short video podcast, Paul takes to the stage of the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre to try out his stand-up skills and look ahead to this month's Reading Room Book Group where we'll be talking about Stewart Lee's The 'If You Prefer a Milder Comedian Please Ask For One' EP.

On ROOM 18 we talk to author Niki Valentine about her psychological horror The Haunted, we look back to some of our favourite books of the last year and Gill Hart gives us a sneak peek at some of the titles to look forward to in 2012 (scroll down for more on this...). Our atmospheric short story comes from Richard Barter, and we have poetry from Elaine Kazimierczuk and John Welsh and another addition to our 101 Books To Read Before You Die.

To listen to the podcast, click the player below or subscribe to us using the links on the right...

On ROOM 17 the Reading Room Book Group review Haruki Marakami's epic international bestseller 1Q84: Books 1 & 2 – is the world about to change?  We also talk to poet Hannah Jane Walker about what it means to say “sorry”, we have poetry from Paul Eteng, and film critic Mark Kermode gives us his nomination for 101 Books To Read Before You Die.

To listen to the podcast, click the player below or subscribe to us using the links on the right...

On December's show The Reading Room Book Group will be reviewing 1Q84: Books 1 and 2 - the blockbuster international bestseller from Haruki Murakami.  Don't forget to tune in at 10am on Sunday 4th December on Sirenonline.co.uk. The podcast version will be available from Tuesday 6th December. In the meantime, here's a quick video preview... click below or go to our YouTube channel.

On our second programme for November we speak to performance poet, comedian and musician John Hegley, historian Tracy Borman talks about her new book on William the Conquerer's wife, Matilda: Queen of the Conquerer, we have poetry from Elaine Kazimierczuk, writer and comedian Tony Hawks gives us his nomination for 101 Books to Read Before You Die, and Jamie Mackay brings us his Musings of a Muddled Mind.

To listen online click on the player below or use the links to the right to subscribe. And don't forget to join us for our next programme on 4th December....

On the first of our new twice-monthly podcasts The Reading Room Book Group discuss The Bees, Carole Ann Duffy's first collection of poetry since becoming Poet Laureate. We also talk to travel writer Peter Kerr (Snowball Oranges) about his move towards writing fiction, our Remembrance-Sunday themed short story comes from Jim Gotts, and actress and author Abigail Tarttelin (Flick) gives us her nomination for 101 Books To Read Before You Die.

To listen online click on the player below or use the links to the right to subscribe. And don't forget our next programme will be along just 2 weeks from now....

This month we talk to BBC film critic Mark Kermode about his latest book The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex, comedian, musician and writer Tony Hawks tells us about the trials of turning his bestseller Round Ireland with a Fridge into a film, Science Fantasy author Marie Harbon talks about her book Seven Point Eight, our short story comes from Louis Malloy, and The Reading Room Book Group review Flick by Abigail Tarttelin. All this, plus more Musings of a Muddled Mind with Jamie McKay and poetry from John Welsh.

Listen online by clicking on the player below, or subscribe using the links on the right...

This month the Reading Room Book Group take an outing to the cinema to watch the film adaptation of One Day by David Nicholls, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. Will Hollywood ruin one of our favourite books - or bring a whole new audience to it? We’ll also be talking to actress and writer Abigail Tarttelin about her first novel Flick, Claire Kinton returns with the first chapter of her book Dead Game, we find out how thebookpond.com helps students swap academic books, and our tea break story comes from Jim Gotts. All this plus more 101 Books To Read Before You Die, poetry from Paul Eteng and Jamie McKay brings us Musings of a Muddled Mind.

Click the player below to listen online, or subscribe to our feed using the buttons on the right...

On August's podcast we talk to historical fiction author Karen Maitland about how and where she finds her inspiration, poet John Welsh tells us about his third book Manic Reflections and how being bipolar affects his creativity, author Claire Kinton talks about the writing process of her first novel Dead Game which was inspired by the death of her cousin whilst serving in Iraq, our Tea Break Story comes from Joe Evans, and the Reading Room Book Group discusses The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Click the player below to listen online or subscribe to the podcast using the buttons on the right...

On August's podcast we talk to historical fiction author Karen Maitland about how and where she finds her inspiration, poet John Welsh tells us about his third book Manic Reflections and how being bipolar affects his creativity, author Claire Kinton talks about the writing process of her first novel Dead Game which was inspired by the death of her cousin whilst serving in Iraq, our Tea Break Story comes from Joe Evans, and the Reading Room Book Group discusses The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.