My Life In Books with Red Szell

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. Jonathan Whitelaw is an author, journalist and broadcaster with a darkly comic sense of humour and a love of detective fiction. Having worked on...

Ellen Jovin is a self-confessed grammar nerd. So passionate is she that, in 2018, she decided to set up a table outside her New York home to answer questions about the correct use of grammar and other knotty linguistic problems that passers-by might have. It proved an instant success and soon she and her husband took the table, and a selection of reference books, on tour around the United States....

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by Val Wood, an award-winning author of romantic historical fiction, whose work is often compared to that of Catherin...

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Szell for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by writer and journalist Ed Caesar. In his first book, "Two Hours," Ed explored the quest to run a sub-two-hour m...

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Széll for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by Champion of the Classics, Natalie Haynes. Through her best-selling novels, her sell-out stand-up comedy perfor...

Join writer, broadcaster and blind adventurer Red Szell for the latest episode of AMI-audio’s My Life in Books. Each fortnight, Red invites you to join him in conversation with a renowned author about their work and the books that inspired them to write. For this episode, Red is joined by Marilyn Davidson Elliott, author of The Blind Mechanic. The book chronicles the life of her father, Eric David...

For this episode, Red is joined by John Keay, a British historian with an international reputation for writing accessible biographies of India, The Far East and China. In his new book, Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World , he presents us with a meticulously researched and characterful history of one of the world’s last great wildernesses and, in particular, of the bizarre discoveries and imp...

This time, Red is joined by Josie Lloyd who, since her debut in 1997, has written a string of best-selling novels, including the international smash hit Come Together, which she co-wrote with her husband Emlyn Rees. Although her books are a celebration of life, love, and friendship, Josie has never shied away from difficult subjects, but she invariably does so with a sense of hope and humour. This...

Red is joined by Kate Summerscale, an award-winning author and journalist who achieved international recognition with the publication of "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher." The book was a ground-breaking re-examination of the infamous Road Hill House case, a grisly Victorian murder that became the blueprint for the classic English country house murder story. Since writing "Mr. Whicher," Kate has turn...

In this episode, Red is joined by Graeme Macrae Burnet who, in his four novels to date, has created a cryptic and compelling sub-genre: false true crime. His second book, His Bloody Project, was a runaway hit, shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize and translated into more than 20 languages. Now, his fourth, Case Study, which has recently been published in Canada, seems destined to equal, if...

For this episode, Red is joined by Kevin J Anderson, the internationally best-selling author of over 170 novels, including the Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., series and the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns. He has also written spin-off novels for Star Wars, The X-Files, and co-authored the prequels to Frank Herbert’s Dune series.   But perhaps his proudest achievement comes from his collabor...

For this episode, Red is joined by Ben Macintyre, the award-winning author of over a dozen historical biographies that reveal some of the most fascinating and entertaining true spy stories of 20th-century history. From double agents operating during World War II to legendary Cold War spies such as Kim Philby and Oleg Gordievsky, Ben’s research has given him access to some of the most closely guard...

For this episode, Red is joined by Premee Mohamed. The Alberta-based author is one of the most original and engaging voices in speculative fiction today. And with dual scientific degrees in molecular genetics and land reclamation, she is well-qualified. Premee’s writing, like her academic studies, is not constrained by genre boundaries. Her latest novella, "The Annual Migration of Clouds," combine...

For this episode, Red’s guest is the multi-talented author Rebecca Stott. Not only is she a prize-winning biographer and emeritus Professor of Literature, but she is also the author of three highly regarded works of historical fiction. Her latest novel, Dark Earth, transports the reader back to one of the most obscure periods of European history: the years following the Roman withdrawal from Brita...

In this episode, Red’s guest is Deborah Moggach, the author of 20 widely acclaimed novels and two collections of short stories. Deborah is also a highly regarded screenwriter; several of her books have been adapted for the screen, including "Tulip Fever" and "These Foolish Things," which became the box office hit "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." Join Deborah and Red as they explore loneliness, de...

In this episode, Red is joined by best-selling author Ruta Sepetys, who has built an international reputation for shining a light into the darkest corners of 20th-century history and telling the stories of ordinary people resisting extraordinary brutality.   To date, her five novels have been published in over 60 countries and 40 languages, and all have been recorded as audiobooks read by some of...

"This month, Red’s guest is Louise Hare, whose atmospheric debut novel, ""This Lovely City,"" was set in bombed-out, post-war London and placed a young couple from the Windrush generation at the heart of a tender love story wrapped up in a whodunnit. The novel received rave reviews and Louise’s follow up, ""Miss Aldridge Regrets,"" was an eagerly anticipated treat that found its way into many-a-su...

This month, to celebrate the show’s first birthday, Red is joined by not one, but three guests, all of whom should be familiar to AMI listeners, and all of whom love talking books. Join Red round the table with fellow AMI presenters Dave Brown, Kelly MacDonald and Ramya Amuthan, as they explore the books they love and the changing ways in which they access them. About AMI AMI is a media company th...

This month, Red’s guest is award-winning Canadian author and filmmaker Lesley Krueger. Her latest novel, "Time Squared," follows a reluctant time traveller across centuries and continents as she struggles for a sense of agency in a world dominated by patriarchal preoccupations. If that sounds heavy, fear not, Lesley has a knack for blending the weighty topics she explores with a playfulness that m...

This month, Red’s guest is John Preston, the award-winning journalist and author whose titles include "The Dig," "A Very English Scandal" and, most recently, "Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell." John has a gift for bringing historical characters back to life, exposing hypocrisy and subterfuge and for blending the tragedy and farce of human endeavour. He also has a wicked turn of phrase honed by...

This month, Red’s guest is Ellen Alpsten, whose meticulously researched historical novels, "Tsarina" and "The Tsarina’s Daughter," retell the extraordinary stories of the two women who ushered in a century of female rule in Russia. Join Ellen and Red as they discuss hair-raising historical events and machinations at the Romanov court in 18th-century St, Petersburg that make Game of Thrones seem li...

This month, Red’s guest is Stuart Turton, creator of "The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle." A mind-bending blend of the board game Clue, the TV show "Quantum Leap" and the movie "Groundhog Day," it quickly became an international bestseller, as did his follow-up "The Devil and The Dark Water," an equally compelling tale of murder, mayhem and fantastic goings-on set aboard a 17th-century merchant...

"This month, Red is in conversation with Salley Vickers, the best-selling author of ""Miss Garnet’s Angel,"" ""The Librarian"" and ""The Cleaner of Chartres."" Salley’s literary fiction blends historical, romantic and psychological themes and is informed by her training as a psychotherapist, meaning that she has a keen eye for what makes her characters tick, even if they don’t always share her ins...

This month, Red is in conversation with Maggie Shipstead, whose latest novel, ""Great Circle,"" was shortlisted for The 2021 Booker Prize. Part historical fiction, part contemporary satire, it intertwines the story of a pioneering woman aviator with that of the Hollywood actress chosen to play her in a modern-day biopic. Join Maggie and Red as they discuss her work, and the quest for a sense of pe...

This month, Red is in conversation with Canadian-British author Alison MacLeod, whose latest novel "Tenderness" weaves together fact and fiction to explore the genesis and repercussions of one of the most notorious books ever written: D.H. Lawrence’s "Lady Chatterley’s Lover." Through her extensive research, Alison has uncovered not only an FBI plot to suppress "Lady Chatterley’s" publication on b...