Bookshelfie: Women’s Prize Podcast

Chart-topping music artist Maisie Peters discusses her first love - books - and how they have shaped her songwriting, including the most important love story she’s ever known, Twilight’s Bella and Edward.

Maisie is an award-winning singer-songwriter, whose albums The Good Witch and latest release Florescence both reached No 1 in the UK charts. Starting as a teenage busker in Brighton, she released her debut studio album, You Signed Up For This, in 2021 which catalogued the highs and lows of early adult life. Maisie made her debut at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in June, and will be playing a headline show at The O2 in May 2027, which no doubt will be watched by her loyal fandom “The Daisies”. This tightly knit, committed group of young women has fallen in love with Maisie’s catchy and emotionally honest indie-pop sound.

Maisie’s book choices are:

11:12 Twilight by Stephanie Myer
20:26 Famesick by Lena Dunham
29:10 Heartburn by Nora Ephron
37:22 Babel by R. F. Kuang
44:19 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Women’s Prize Trust

In this deeply personal conversation, comedian and writer Meera Syal discusses how seeing herself in books helped her make sense of her own experience, the weight of intergenerational trauma and how humour saved her life.

Meera is one Britain’s best-loved comedy legends. She grew up in the small mining village of Essington in Staffordshire, where her Indian Punjabi parents settled after moving from New Delhi. Her early life there, as the only Asian family, later served as inspiration for her semi-autobiographical novel, Anita and Me, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 1997. Meera gained widespread recognition for her work in the late 1990s as a writer and performer in the multi-award-winning, iconic BBC comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me and for portraying the character Ummi in the International Emmy-award-winning TV series The Kumars at No. 42. In 2023, she was awarded the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship and last month saw the publication of her memoir, Vigilauntie.

7:32 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
17:14 Finding A Voice: Asian Women in Britain by Amrit Wilson
26:17 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
34:11 Beloved by Toni Morrison
43:50 I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Women’s Prize Trust

Artist and performer anaiis explains how books influence her songwriting, the impact motherhood has had on her creative practice and why bell hooks has reframed her understanding of love.

Born in Toulouse, France, anaiis grew up on the move. She was raised between Dakar, Dublin, and California, eventually settling in London where she lives now. Influenced by the work of Black thinkers and artists like Ella Fitzgerald, James Baldwin, bell hooks, Alice Walker and more, anaiis makes lush, genre-fluid music that explores themes like belonging, connection and motherhood. In 2018 she released her debut single, ‘Nina’, and since then her career has soared, seeing her release multiple albums, and share a stage with the likes of Erykah Badu and Daniel Caesar. Last year she released the album Devotion and the Black Divine to critical acclaim, and this summer she announced a worldwide tour and put out two singles: ‘Sunshine’ and ‘P4P’, each representing joy and rage respectively, and marking a continuation of her creative journey.

anaiis’ book choices are:
07:39 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
14:49 Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by adrienne maree brown
21:36 Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
30:40 All About Love by bell hooks
38:58 Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Women’s Prize Trust

Yellowface author Rebecca F. Kuang joins Vick in the Bookshelfie studio to discuss her five favourite books by women, why Sylvia Plath’s diaries made her rethink female jealousy, and how losing her grandfather served as inspiration for her latest novel, Taipei Story.

A trailblazing talent whose literary career has unfolded at an extraordinary pace, Rebecca is the #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of Katabasis, Babel and global phenomenon Yellowface. She has won multiple awards including Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards – twice! A Marshall Scholar, she has a masters in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and another in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature. Her new novel, Taipei Story, a profoundly moving coming-of-age story exploring first love, grief and cultural belonging, is out now.

Rebecca’s book choices are:
12:45 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
20:19 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
30:27 The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
42:15 Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
50:11 Possession by A.S. Byatt

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

A double bill for Toni Morrison in bestselling author Tayari Jones’ book picks – she explains why she’s her favourite author; the need for deep, ferocious crying when reading; and her unexpected guilty pleasure – a good old murder mystery.

Tayari is the internationally bestselling author of five novels, including An American Marriage, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. It was also an Oprah’s Book Club selection, was included on Barack Obama’s summer reading list and has been published in two dozen countries, selling over 350,000 copies in the UK alone.

Tayari was born and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and is currently professor of Creative Writing at Emory University, and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.

Her most recent novel, Kin, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and has been named a Best Book of the Year so Far. It’s another Oprah Book Club Selection; Oprah called it, “a masterpiece of a novel that will live with you long after you turn the last page.”

Tayari Jones is a mentor for Originators 2027 – the Women’s Prize Trust’s mentorship and development program, dedicated to supporting emerging women fiction writers from across the United States, presented by CHANEL. Find out more here.

Tayari’s book choices are:
09:56 Jazz by Toni Morrison
17:14 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
24:13 Faithful Place by Tana French
29:53 The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
36:33 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

In this funny and uplifting conversation, novelist and screenwriter Maria Semple discusses her desire to re-write women in fiction, why she feels “naked” when writing books and her fascination with stoicism.

Maria used to work in television, producing and writing for sitcoms and comedy specials such as Arrested Development, The George Carlin Show and Mad About You, which earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination. Maria’s novels – Today Will Be Different, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and This One Is Mine – have been translated into forty languages, and Where'd You Go, Bernadette has sold over 200 thousand copies in the UK alone and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2013. Go Gentle, her most recent novel, is out now.

Maria’s book choices are:
11:02 Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
18:16 The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard
24:40 The Art Of Living by Epictetus
32:29 Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt
38:51 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Bestselling author Lousie O’Neill explains why she decided to set up daily dates around the world, how it inspired her new memoir and her journey to acceptance around addiction.

*Listener/viewer note - this episode contains reference to eating disorders and disordered eating*

Louise grew up in Clonakilty in the heart of the rugged coastline of West Cork in Ireland. After stepping away from a career in the fashion industry, she returned home to dedicate her time to writing her first novel, Only Ever Yours, a dystopian feminist story which went on to win The Bookseller‘s inaugural YA Book Prize in 2015. This success was quickly cemented following the release of her second critically acclaimed YA novel, Asking For It, which was voted Book of the Year at the Irish Books Awards the very same year, and spent 52 consecutive weeks in the Irish top 10 bestseller list. In the decade that followed she’s written three novels for adults and a YA feminist re-imagining of The Little Mermaid, and has not one but two more titles being published this year. Her latest novel, Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone? came out in April, and her first memoir, A Bigger Life, is published this month by HQ.

Louise’s book choices are:
12:43 How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned from Things Going Wrong by Elizabeth Day
18:28 Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
25:30 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
35:14 The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
42:39 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Diana Reid, the writer behind the new Sense and Sensibility adaption, explains to Vick how re-reading Austen taught her something unexpected and why she still cringes at the thought of herself as a writer.

Diana is a screenwriter and the bestselling author of the novels Love & Virtue, Seeing Other People, and Signs of Damage. Her debut Love & Virtue won several prizes including the ABIA Book of the Year Award. She was also named Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelist in 2022. Most recently, she’s written a new film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility for Working Title and Universal Pictures, set for release in cinemas on 25 September starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as the Dashwood sisters.
Diana’s book choices are:
06:00 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
16:23 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
23:51 Middlemarch by George Eliot
31:35 The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
27:11 On Beauty by Zadie Smith

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

In a first for Bookshelfie, Vick is brought to tears by bestselling author Katherine Rundell’s rousing speech on the importance of teaching children courage and not breaking faith with the beauty and love of the world.

Katherine’s novels for children have won the Waterstones Book of the Year, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Costa Children’s Book Award, among many others. In 2024, she was named the British Book Awards Author of the Year, and Impossible Creatures won the Children’s Fiction Book of the Year. She is a Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and her books for adults include Super-Infinite, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize. The third installment of her Impossible Creatures series The Neverfear is out now with Bloomsbury.

Katherine’s book choices are:

06:02 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
15:00 Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
21:18 Emma by Jane Austen
30:09 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
37:50 Priestdaddy: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Recorded Live at Women’s Prize Live, global bestselling writer Kathryn Stockett talks to Vick about the enduring allure of Mississippi, the book that gave her “electricity in my ass” and her long awaited second novel, 17 years in the making, The Calamity Club.

Kathryn was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. Her first novel, The Help, which was first published in the US back in 2009 has sold over 1 million copies in the UK and 15 million copies worldwide.

Kathryn’s book choices are:
09:58 The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
17:32 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
24:19 Animal by Lisa Taddeo
29:49 The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
38:59 The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Live from Baileys HQ, Ashley James joins Vick Hope to discuss how motherhood transformed her perspective, the realities of class in modern Britain, and the rise of the “trad-wife” movement.

Ashley is a broadcaster, author, DJ and advocate who first appeared on our screens in the early days of Made in Chelsea back in 2012, and has since gone on to be a feminist campaigner and social commentator. Her debut book BIMBO was published earlier this year. A Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, BIMBO has been described as a rallying cry for every woman who’s ever felt ‘too much’ or ‘not enough’, covering the many themes of feminism and the labels that box women in.

Ashley’s book choices are:
09:16 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
20:07 La Place (or A Man’s Place) by Annie Ernaux
29:54 Fix the System, Not the Women by Laura Bates
41:00 Matrescence by Lucy Jones
49:50 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

The UK’s bestselling poet, Donna Ashworth, joins Vick to discuss why ‘Instapoetry’ should not be dismissed, finding herself in the words of Sylvia Plath and the power of a midlife muse.

Donna started her social media accounts in 2018 in a bid to create a 'safe' space for women to come together and connect, but her love of all things wordy quickly became the focus, and a past love for poetry was reignited. Over 10 books and nearly 2 million followers later, Donna has made it her daily mission to shower the world with words and bring poetry back into focus. Her bestselling books include To the Women, Wild Hope, Words to Live By: A Journal, Growing Brave, I Wish I Knew, Love, Loss, Life and an illustrated book of children's poetry, Words Can Fly.

Donna’s book choices are
** The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path
** In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women by Alice Walker
** Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding
** Menopausing: The Positive Roadmap to Your Second Spring by Davina McCall and Dr Naomi Potter
** Enough by Dawn French

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist Kiran Millwood Hargrave makes a confession about her book “borrowing”, and explains why a 50 year old book about photography should be mandatory reading for young people before they join social media.

Kiran’s first novel for adults, The Mercies, became an instant Sunday Times bestseller. It won a Betty Trask Award, was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize and was named among the New York Times 100 Most Notable Books of 2020. Her bestselling works for children include The Girl of Ink & Stars. Her new book, Almost Life, a queer love story that spans decades, is out now.

Kiran’s book choices are
** Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
** On Photography by Susan Sontag
** The Wild Iris by Louise Glück
** Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
** The Carrier Bag of Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Skins and Game of Thrones star Hannah Murray talks about the journey to writing her new memoir, early acting fame and why a love story with a merman had her spellbound to the end.

Hannah worked as an actor for over a decade, cast as Cassie in E4’s Skins at the tender age of 16, and later as Gilly in HBO’s Game of Thrones, alongside numerous other roles for theatre, TV and film. During her early acting career, Hannah studied English at Cambridge University and later Creative Writing at UEA, and is about to release her first book, The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness – an autobiographical account of her involvement in a wellness cult, which will be published on 28th May.

Hannah’s book choices are
** The Secret History by Donna Tartt
** How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
** In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
** The Pisces by Melissa Broder
** Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Pioneering businesswoman Emma Grede defends the work-life balance honesty which has ignited recent online debates, and shares her passion for getting more women talking about money and power.

Emma is the Co-Founder and CEO of Good American, a B-Corp certified brand setting new standards for inclusivity in fashion, and a Founding Partner of SKIMS, now valued at $4 billion and recognised as one of the world’s most influential apparel brands. She also serves as Chairwoman of The Fifteen Percent Pledge, leading real systemic change to support Black-owned businesses. She’s the first female judge of colour on ABC’s Shark Tank, a guest investor on the UK’s Dragon’s Den and host of her incredibly successful podcast Aspire with Emma Grede.

Emma also invests deeply in young people in the UK, recently announced as an ambassador for The King’s Trust, joining their Destination Unknown campaign to help young people into employment. Earlier this year, she visited her old school in East London and hosted a workshop with Milk Honey Bees, inspiring young Black girls through creativity, entrepreneurship and self-expression.

Her debut book, Start With Yourself is a bold, no-BS guide to building meaningful success on your own terms. Part memoir, part playbook, it’s packed with the mindset and tools that helped Emma defy the odds to become a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of culture-defining global brands, and non-profit champion – all while raising four children.

Emma’s book choices are:
** The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton
**Mindset by Carol Dweck
**What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey
**Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
**Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Holly Jackson – aka the “Taylor Swift of books” – tells Vick about how she laughs at her bad reviews, her love of funny books about murder and what fans can expect from the second series of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

Holly is a superstar of crime fiction. She has sold over 10 million copies of her books worldwide, with translations in 45 different languages, a loyal following and a highly engaged global fanbase. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has spent over three years on the New York Times bestseller list and the series is now a major BBC and Netflix production, with season two due for release in late May. Holly’s other novels include Five Survive and The Reappearance of Rachel Price, and the paperback of her adult fiction debut, Not Quite Dead Yet, is published on 7 May.

Holly’s book choices are:
**The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
**Beloved by Toni Morrison
**Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
**My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
**The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Chef, broadcaster, and food and travel writer, Romy Gill, tells Vick about her experience as a first generation immigrant to the UK, the food that punctuated the 24 hour train journeys of her childhood, and how Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks inspired her own writing.

Born in West Bengal, India, Romy first learned to cook from her mother – famous for her aloo parathas and using every unloved scrap of plants and vegetables long before zero-waste became a trend. Romy moved to the UK in 1993, and began her cooking career hosting dinner parties and running cookery classes before opening her own restaurant, Romy’s Kitchen, in Gloucestershire. Since then, she has released her debut cookbook Zaika - Vegan Recipes from India which was followed by On the Himalayan Trail: Recipes and Stories from Kashmir to Ladakh. This second book wove personal essays, travel photography and explored the history of the region through its food and culinary traditions. Her most recent cookbook Romy Gill’s India - Recipes from Home features family recipes that celebrate her Bengali and Punjabi roots. In addition to her writing, Romy is a much-loved presence on radio and TV, regularly appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme, Ready Steady Cook and Celebrity Masterchef.

Romy’s book choices are:
**The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
**The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
**The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
**How to Eat by Nigella Lawson
**Managing Expectations by Minnie Driver

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

South African broadcaster, author, world-champion dancer and star of Strictly, Oti Mabuse tells Vick about her love of spicy romance novels, her rejection of tokenism and why she loves audiobooks.

Oti captured the hearts of the British public on Strictly Come Dancing, and is the only dancer to have won the show twice in a row - in 2019 and 2020. She’s presented and judged on a whole host of prime-time TV shows, including entertaining young children during lockdown with her CBeebies show Boogie Beebies, and her children’s book series Dance with Oti which celebrates dance and expressing your feelings by way of the penguin waltz and the turtle tango. She has also toured nationwide with her solo entertainment shows I Am Here and Viva Carnival, and most recently released her debut romantic fiction novel, Slow Burn.

Oti’s book choices are:
**You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
**Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
**Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
**Audre & Bash Are Just Friends by Tia Williams
**It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Award-winning football presenter and broadcaster Kelly Cates talks about finding new opportunities in midlife, her love for the way Marian Keyes captures female conversation and why deep down she is a terrible gossip.

Kelly has been a familiar and much-loved face in sports broadcasting for over 27 years, covering everything from the Premier League to the World Cup and the Olympics. Known for her warmth, wit and sharp insight, she has become one of the most respected voices in football. A lifelong Liverpool fan, Kelly grew up in Southport as the daughter of football legend Kenny Dalglish, before going on to study Maths at the University of Glasgow. Since 2025, she has co-hosted Match of the Day alongside Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman, and she continues to balance an incredibly busy career with life in London, where she lives with her two daughters.

Kelly’s book choices are:
** Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
** Frederica by Georgette Heyer
** Heartburn by Nora Ephron
** The List by Yomi Adegoke
** Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Bestselling crime writer Karin Slaughter reveals the gruesome storytelling culture she grew up in and why she thinks Wuthering Heights’ Cathy is “kind of a whiny bitch”.

Karin is one of the world’s most well-known and popular crime writers. Since publishing her debut novel, Blindsighted, in 2001, she has gone on to sell more than 40 million copies of her books internationally, including the hugely popular Grant County and Will Trent series. Karin is known for reaching beyond simple formulas of suspense and satisfying resolution. Instead she chooses to explore the darker side of humanity, criminal psychology and the systemic violence against women both in and outside of the home.

Outside of her writing, Karin is also the founder of the Save the Libraries project - a nonprofit organisation dedicated to supporting local libraries in Atlanta, Georgia - the city where she grew up and continues to draw inspiration from in her writing.

Karin has adapted a number of her works for TV and is currently showrunner for The Good Daughter, which will star Meghann Fahy and Rose Byrne. Her latest book, We Are All Guilty Here, was an instant Sunday Times No.1 bestseller, and will be published in paperback on 23 April. Her forthcoming novel, The Secrets We Hide, is published on 18 June and available to preorder now; the second book in her bestselling North Fall series, it sees a quiet town shattered in the wake of a brutal attack.

TW: this episode contains references to rape and sexual violence.

Karin’s book choices are:
** Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
** Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O’Connor
** Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
** Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
** Mister Sandman by Barbara Gowdy

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing.

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