BOOK READING CELEBRATES 60 YEARS ON ABC RADIO
This year ABC Radio's Book Reading celebrates 60 years on air. ABC Radio National is marking this milestone from September by broadcasting a selection of novels first published in 1948. These
novels presented the world with pioneering depictions of political, social and sexual issues which still resonate with readers today.
ABC Radio National's Head of Performance and Features Richard Buckham believes The Book Reading has become an important part of many people's lives.
"For years when the Book Reading was heard at 8.50am, listeners reported 'stay in the car' moments - how they had to sit in the carpark at work to hear the end of that day's episode. These days the
Book Reading is broadcast after lunch and just before bed - or at any time via the Radio National website. After 60 years on air it's still home to the best classic and contemporary fiction, read by our top actors," Buckham said.
The Book Reading 60th Anniversary Season is:
The City the Pillar (Gore Vidal, 1948), read by Tyler Coppin September 1 - 19
Harp in the South (Ruth Park, 1948), read by Anne Phelan October 6 - 22
Cry, the Beloved Country (Alan Paton, 1948), Reader TBC 1st - 26th December
Gore Vidal's The City and the Pillar caused a major scandal in 1948
due to its frank and non-judgemental exploration of homosexuality.
Sixty years on, it is still regarded as a groundbreaking work of
sexual liberation.
The Harp in the South by New Zealand-born Australian author Ruth Park,
centres on the life of a Catholic-Irish Australian family living in
the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, which was at that time an inner-city
slum.
Cry, The Beloved Country by South African author Alan Paton tells the
story of a black Anglican priest from a rural Natal town, who is
searching for his son Absalom in the city of Johannesburg.
The Book Reading is broadcast each weekday at 2pm and 11pm on ABC
Radio National, and online at abc.net.au/rn/bookreading