Ongoing Task - Listen to programs about books & arts on the radio

Our teacher's suggestion that we listen to the program Books and Arts Daily on ABC Radio National was no hardship for me, as when I have the radio turned on, it is usually set to Radio National. But it is not the only program on RN to talk about books - there is Books+ on Sunday afternoon, Late Night Live with Phillip Adams, which often has a book review, and other programs like Life Matters which sometimes talks to authors - like  the interesting discussion last week about "bibliotherapy" where reading is prescribed to help with all sorts of physical or mental ailments.

I drove home to the dulcet tones of Phillip Adams for years and have bought many a book after hearing him interview its author. Some have been interesting and entertaining like Douglas Rogers' tale of his parents staying on in Zimbabwe, or interesting and educational like Jennifer Homans' tome on the history of ballet.Others sounded so promising but delivered boredom, like Vicky Wards' story of Lehman Brothers.

The radio offers many chances to hear book reviews, author interviews, and broadcasts from festivals and other events. A couple of weekends ago, I listened to a whole afternoon of programs broadcast live from the Brisbane Writers Festival, and during the recent Melbourne Writers Festival, many authors were interviewed on a variety of programs - and all this going on in the background while you are doing something else like cooking or cleaning.

I love radio for that reason - it gives you the chance to listen to something interesting and stimulating (be it music or a discussion) while you are doing something productive. Win, win really.


References:
Homans, J. (2010). Apollo's angels: a history of ballet. London: Granta.
Mitchell, N. (Presenter). (2013, September 19). Life matters [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/the-novel-cure/4965272
Rogers, D. (2010). The last resort. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Ward, V. (2010). The devil's casino. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.