Show overview
Read On - The Audiobook Show from RNIB has been publishing since 2017, and across the 9 years since has built a catalogue of 513 episodes, alongside 60 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 440 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 58 min and 58 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Arts show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 3 days ago, with 29 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2018, with 98 episodes published. Published by RNIB Connect Radio.
From the publisher
A weekly show all about audiobooks recorded at the RNIB Talking Book studios. We talk to your favourite authors and narrators, along with reviews and news about new audiobooks. Presented and produced by Robert Kirkwood, you'll find a new episode here every Friday at 1pm plus bonus content such as longer uncut interviews and episodes of our occasional extra show, The Book Group. Talking Books is a free service from RNIB giving access to over 40,000 fiction and non fiction books for adults and children. Find out more by searching for RNIB Library. Get involved and join the conversation by emailing [email protected] or find Robert on Twitter @Talking_Books Other great podcast channels from RNIB Connect Radio Connect - Our main channel with news, features and articles on sight loss. Conversations - Blind and partially sighted people speaking about a wide range of topics. Tech Talk - Technology for blind and partially sighted people. Sport - See sport differently. The Happy Hour - Mental health, mindfulness, and overall wellbeing. Tracks of My Life - Take a journey through our guest's life. Support - Other podcasts from RNIB. TV Guide - Daily audio TV listings
Latest Episodes
View all 513 episodes482: Gordon Buchanan at the Boswell Book Festival
Beth O'Brien wins the Carnegie Medal for Writing (and the Shadower's Award!)
481: Penny Lancaster at the Boswell Book Festival
480: Beth O'Brien - Wolf Siren and Feather Vane - Carnegie Medal for Writing and Scottish Book Trust
479: J.P. Rose - Birdie - Carnegie Medal for Writing
478: Jason Reynolds - Twenty-four Seconds from Now - Carnegie Medal for Writing
477: Katya Baylen - Ghostlines - Carnegie Medal for Writing
476: Tia Fisher - Not Going to Plan - Carnegie Medal for Writing
475: Best of the Boswell Book Festival
474: Julie Caplin - The Hotel by the Sea
473: Rob Harrell - Popcorn - Carnegie Medal for Writing
472: Lucy Roth/Lucy Nichol - The Party To End All Parties
471: Carnegie Medal Winners
Ep 470470: Ben Markovits - The Rest of Our Lives
Today we go on a road trip with Ben Markovits and his book The Rest of Our Lives.When Tom Layward's wife had an affair he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact, and keeps driving ...Plus we'll find some new books in the RNIB Library.
Ep 469469: Lisa Timoney/Kate Storey/Naomi Williams - The Last Page Cafe
A return visit this week from Lisa Timoney, a bestselling, multi-genre author who writes emotional family dramas under her own name, uplifting book club fiction as Kate Storey, and twisty psychological thrillers as Naomi Williams.This time we talk about The Last Page Cafe, The Lies Out Children Tell and discuss the sight condition blepharospasm in her book, The Eyewitness.Plus we find new books in the RNIB Library.
Ep 468468: Comicbooks as Audiobooks featuring Daredevil: Born Again
In today's Read On we listen to some 'Marvel - Age of Comics' audiobooks, take a deep dive into the full cast audio versions of some 2000 AD graphic novels, listen to the voice of the original Dalek and Parker from Thunderbirds, the late David Graham and even talk to the producer and showrunner of Marvel/Disney's Daredevil Born Again.
Ep 467467: Talking Books at 90 - The First Recorded Voices (and the equipment used)
From the phonautograph to a smart speaker, today's Read On not only looks at the history of 90 years of RNIB Talking Books recording (and the equipment used), but goes back to the invention of recording as a whole. We hear the first recorded voices, about the format war between cylinder and disc, about the phonautograph, the phonograph, the graphophone and the gramophone, to single track magnetic tape, DAISY CDs and Alexa Skills and more in this 169 year trek through the history of recording the human voice.
Ep 466466: World Book Day 2026
In today's show we hear from 11 of the World Book Day books for 2026 which are available from RNIB, plus we listen back to two of our most popular children's authors, Julia Donaldson makes some illustrations in audio and the late great Michael Bond talks about the origins of Paddington.
Ep 465465: Talking Books at 90 - Ian Fraser and the first Talking Books
A special (updated) documentary about the origins of the Talking Books service, recorded at the original locations around London, and featuring many voices from the past.Historian Matthew Rubery and Robert Kirkwood explore everything from the first Talking Book machines, some failed technology, how books were chosen and much more.
Ep 464464: Talking Books at 90 - Recording Pride and Prejudice with Ben Willbond, Phil Dunster, Lisa George and Shazia Mirza
An all-star ensemble comes together to celebrate RNIB Talking Books 9th decade of bringing the joy of reading to blind and partially sighted people. A special recording of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice features some of the UK’s best-known actors and today we chat to four of them. Ben Willbond, Phil Dunster, Lisa George and Shazia Mirza talk about narrating Jane Austen and give us some great book recommendations.