Broadcasting English and Creative Writing at Northampton: BBC Radio Northampton’s Book Club
Recently, an exciting partnership has developed between the University of Northampton and BBC Radio Northampton’s fortnightly book club, in association with Library Plus Northamptonshire.
The radio book club is broadcast fortnightly on Friday afternoons on BBC Radio Northampton as part of the John Griff show. Listeners are given the title of the next book well in advance, ensuring that there is plenty of reading time before the first broadcast on that particular title is aired. Each book is spread over two sessions, giving listeners a chance to hear detailed discussions on the first half of it in the first session before moving on to its conclusion in the second.
John is joined on air by two or three readers, from a variety of backgrounds, to discuss relevant themes, characters and plot lines, as well as offering their opinions and personal experiences of the book.
Readers taking part in the book club include staff and students from the University of Northampton — most originating from the University’s English and Creative Writing and History subject areas — alongside members of the reading public across the county.
So far, sessions on Patricia Highsmith’s acclaimed thriller ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ featured Drs Sam Reese and Sonya Andermahr, both lecturers in English. As a BA and MA English graduate from Northampton and also a prospective PhD student, I also had the opportunity to participate in these sessions, which produced lively and informative discussions about Highsmith’s text.
All of the titles that are selected by the book club are available in local Northamptonshire libraries, encouraging readers to make use of the excellent library services the county has to offer. Anne Lovely, who oversees county library provision, also participated in one of the Highsmith sessions, and is pictured above.
There are multiple planned book club appearances over the summer from a range of staff and students from ECW at UoN, discussing a line-up of intriguing titles including Bill Bryson’s Road to Little Dribbling (Bryson is also soon to appear at the Althorp Literary Festival, which the ECW unit at UoN also sponsors).
To take part in the book club, simply listen in to the John Griff show on alternate Friday afternoons, and to discover the next title, use one of the following links:
For more information on UoN’s involvement with the book club: https://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/university-representatives-reach-the-ears-of-thousands-of-book-club-listeners/
For more information on BBC Radio Northampton and to listen to the book club sessions as part of the John Griff show on BBC IPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radionorthampton
For more information about your local Northamptonshire library: http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/leisure/libraries/visit-your-library/listlibraries/pages/listoflibraries.aspx
