Arts

Book In

by Rupert Fordham and Charlie Fordham

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Latest episodes

The Tempest - William Shakespeare

October 23, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min

The Tempest is Shakespeare's last play, and many have seen its central character, Prospero, as representing Shakespeare himself, preparing for his departure from the stage. But the truth is more complex and nuanced; Prospero is indeed a…
The Winter's Tale - William Shakespeare

October 16, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min

When Shakespeare wrote The Winter’s Tale, he was an older, though not old, man. It was one of what are often called his late plays, and along with The Tempest one of the two great plays he wrote at the end of his career. In these plays, he…
Autumn Poems – Keats, MacNeice, Frost – with Pip Torrens and Andrew Crean reading

October 9, 2026 · 55 min

As the exceptional summer of 2026 fades into memory, we look at three autumn poems. John Keats’ To Autumn is the finest of his Odes and one of the greatest poems written in English. At the moment of fruition, decay begins; from the high…
Sense & Sensibility - Jane Austen

October 2, 2026 · 58 min

As Georgia Oakley's film of Sense and Sensibility is released, Book In looks at Jane Austen's novel. It was the first that she published, but already her genius for satire, social comedy and the extraordinarily subtle expression of human…
In conversation with Iain Dale - Have I Said Too Much?

September 28, 2026 · 52 min

Iain Dale is one of the country's leading broadcasters. His evening radio show on LBC attracts millions of listeners, and for 30 years he has been at the centre of British politics as a publisher, radio host, author, podcaster, bookshop…

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Re-Release - Philip Larkin Poems

September 25, 2026 · 55 min

We're swotting up for our next series this week, so sadly haven't had time to record a new episode. Instead, we're re-releasing one of our classics from the archive. Philip Larkin wrote some of the greatest poetry in English in the second…
Classic Booker Prize Winners: Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald

September 18, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

In the early 1960s, a group of old barges and minor naval craft have been converted to houseboats. They are falling apart and so are their owners. The boats creak, leak and occasionally sink, and the people who live on them struggle with…
Classic Booker Prize Winners: Possession - A.S. Byatt

September 11, 2026 · 56 min

A.S.Byatt wrote Possession as a completely self-indulgent project, with no thought of commercial or critical consequence. It sold millions and won the Booker Prize in 1990, introducing her to a mass audience and turning her into a literary…
Classic Booker Prize Winners: The Siege of Krishnapur - J. G. Farrell

September 4, 2026 · 1 hr 8 min

The Siege of Krishnapur is set in India in 1857 during the Indian Rebellion (or what used to be known as the Indian Mutiny). The small British community are besieged by the rebellious Indians, and as food and medicine gradually run out…
Classic Booker Prize Winners: Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie - Part 2

August 28, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

In the second part of the Book In episode on Midnight's Children, Charlie and Rupert look at the way Salman Rushdie places the novel in the context of the extraordinary political and social changes created by the birth of the Indian…
Classic Booker Prize Winners: Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie - Part 1

August 21, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

On the stroke of midnight of August 15th 1947, the nation of India became independent from Great Britain. Saleem Sinai, the central character of Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children, is born at exactly the same moment, and in this…
In conversation with Jesse Norman - The Winding Stair

August 14, 2026 · 42 min

Jesse Norman joins Book In to talk about his brilliant novel The Winding Stair, about the rivalry between Francis Bacon and Edward Coke as they battled for power in the court of King James 1st. In this special edition of Book In, Jesse…

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About the show

Brothers Rupert and Charlie Fordham discuss all things English Literature. From Chaucer to the present day, covering drama, novels and poetry, they cover all the classics and much more, from the UK, Ireland, the US, Europe and the rest of the world. Informative but lighthearted, Book In is suitable for all readers, and will be helpful for students from school to degree level. Both Rupert and Charlie have been keen readers all their lives and both studied English at university. For many years Charlie taught English at GCSE and A-level.