When I talked to James Rea, my boss at LBC, about moving to the evening show, I said I’d like to present a books hour. He suggested we do it as a podcast so we needn’t be constrained by format, length or commercial breaks. Two months later I am delighted to tell you that we’re launching the eponymous Iain Dale’s Book Club this weekend. If you search on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast from, you should find it. If you don’t, let me know and I’ll look into it.
The basic premise is that every week (sometimes more than once a week) I’ll bring you an hour of chat with some fascinating authors. Sometimes there will be a panel of three authors, other times it may be a single author, other times there may be two separate author interviews in the hour. A lot of the time they’ll be quite famous. Sometimes you’ll have never heard of them, but I can guarantee you’ll be interested in their books.
I also want to have a variety of guests. It won’t just be about political books. Next week’s show, for instance, features three novelists (Dreda Say Mitchell, Amanda Prowse and Judith O’Reilly) talking about their books and what it takes to become a successful writer of fiction. Tomorrow I’m recording half an hour with Tim Tate and Rob Hutton, who’ve written books about Brits who supported Germany during the war. Last week I recorded half an hour with best selling novelist Sebastian Faulks about his new book ‘Paris Echo’. On Thursday I’m talking to Max Hastings about his history of the Vietnam War. On Wednesday I’m recording an hour with Labour politician Alan Johnson, June Bernicoff from Gogglebox and top author Frederick Forsyth. That should be a corker!
So you can see that we’re going for variety. We’ll also add in a few shows from the archive, from when I used to present the LBC Book Club from 2010-2013, and also a show I did for British Airways. So you can look forward to hearing some fabulous bonus interviews with Joan Collins, Joan Rivers, Michael Winner and Miranda Hart to pick four at random.
I’m really grateful to all the publishers who have supported this initiative and are helping us to get off the ground with a bang. Global Radio is putting a lot behind this and my aim is to build up a very large audience as soon as possible.
I’ve researched the book podcast market and I was very surprised to see how few good ones there actually are. And there’s also nothing like this at all.
Do please subscribe to the podcast and also if you’re doing it on iTunes, give us as many stars as you think we deserve, and above all leave a review. It helps others find us. And tell your friends!
And if you’re a publisher reading this, please do feel free to pitch authors to me. I won’t be able to say yes to them all, and in all honesty I’ve said yes to far too many so far! There are so many great books coming out this autumn it’s going to be difficult to squeeze them all in.
Just to get you salivating, here are the authors who will be appearing on the podcast over the next couple of months…
Gina Miller, Dreda Say Mitchell, Jacqui Smith, Sebastian Faulks, Amanda Prowse, Judith O’Reilly, Jeremy Thompson, June Bernicoff, Giles & Mary from Gogglebox, Mark Austin, Max Hastings, Gyles Brandreth, Andrew Roberts, Derek Draper, Alan Johnson, Ruth Davidson, James O’Brien, Alastair Campbell, Dan Snow, Philip Collins, Isabel Hardman, Bernard Cornwell, Max Foster, Frederick Forsyth, Tim Tate, Rob Hutton, Barbara Hoskin, Stanley Underhill, Sophy Ridge, Paddy Ashdown, John Simpson, Caroline Shenton, Romesh Ranganathan, Christopher Lee, Rob Goldstone, Kate Williams, Robert Hardman & Tom Baldwin.
The first podcast is now live and features three women authors - Jacqui Smith, Sophy Ridge and Gina Miller, talking about women in politics, business and the media, and of course their respective books.
Also, please do subscribe to my other two podcasts - ‘For the Many’ and ‘Cross Question’.
