Julie Hesmondhalgh and Elaine C Smith

Julie Hesmondhalgh is a well known face on television and stage. Recently she has been in The Pact on BBC1 and played Hayley in Coronation Street. Her choice of book is Notes To Self by Emilie Pine - a raw and powerful memoir of life for a young Irish woman. It's not a 'mis-mem' or misery memoir as Julie is keen to point out, rather a life affirming and honest account of womanhood, a book she has given copies of to many women friends. Elaine C Smith chooses the memoir of Scots poet Jackie Kay - Red Dust Road - a love letter as Elaine describes it - to Jackie's adoptive parents as well as her birth parents. It deals with the painful quest to find her Nigerian father and Scots mother whilst feeling that she was betraying her loving adoptive parents. It also recounts the prejudices experienced by a young dual heritage girl. Birdsong In A Time of Silence is as you would expect an appreciation of the sounds of nature that suddenly became amplified during the Covid Spring of 2020. Steven Lovatt records his walks and observations of wildlife during the first lockdown. All three agree that it has opened their eyes and ears to avian behaviour in a new way.

Producer: Maggie Ayre