From 2012 through 2017, as part of its show "Books and Arts Daily," ABC Radio National in Australia broadcast a monthly book club on classics (chosen by listeners) from various world regions. Each year a different region was featured (Australia in 2012, the US in 2013, Europe in 2014, the Indian Subcontinent in 2015, Africa in 2016, and Latin America in 2017). The show was cancelled in 2018 by ABC but the old episodes are still available. They feature spirited discussions between the interviewers, Michael Cathcart or Sarah Kanowski, and expert panelists. For the Australian section, I added a few older episodes from 2009, which are still available on ABC's website.



Latin America

  1. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez  [Book]
  2. Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel  [Book]
  3. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges  [Book]
  4. The Power And The Glory by Graham Greene  [Book]
  5. The Hour Of The Star by Clarice Lispector  [Book]
  6. The Sound Of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez  [Book]
  7. The Story Of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli  [Book]
  8. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño  [Book]
  9. Prayers For The Stolen by Jennifer Clement  [Book]
  10. Men Of Maize by Miguel Ángel Asturias  [Book]
  11. The House Of The Spirits by Isabel Allende  [Book]


  • Other Latin American literature shows

      

    Africa

    1. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  [Book]
    2. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad  [Book]
    3. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe  [Book]
    4. Everyday is for the Thief by Teju Cole  [Book]
    5. July's People by Nadine Gordimer  [Book]
    6. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar  [Book]
    7. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo  [Book]
    8. The Famished Road by Ben Okri  [Book]
    9. Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton  [Book]
    10. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih  [Book]
    11. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee  [Book]


      

    Indian Subcontinent

    1. Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things  [Book]
    2. Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance  [Book]
    3. Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger  [Book]
    4. Amitav Ghosh, The Glass Palace  [Book]
    5. V S Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas  [Book]
    6. Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss  [Book]
    7. Michelle de Kretser,Questions of Travel  [Book]
    8. Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia  [Book]
    9. Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy  [Book]
    10. RK Narayan, Malgudi Days  [Book]
    11. Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children  [Book]


  • Other shows on books from the Subcontinent


    •   

    Europe

    1. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard  [Book]
    2. Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose  [Book]
    3. Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being  [Book]
    4. Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment  [Book]
    5. Simone de Beauvoir's Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter  [Book]
    6. Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis  [Book]
    7. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina   [Book]
    8. Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front  [Book]
    9. Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote  [Book]
    10. Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary  [Book]


      

    United States

    1. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird  [Book]
    2. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath  [Book]
    3. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby   [Book]
    4. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood  [Book]
    5. JD Salinger's Catcher In The Rye  [Book]
    6. Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep  [Book]
    7. Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms  [Book]
    8. Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence  [Book]
    9. Toni Morrison's Beloved  [Book]
    10. Joseph Heller's Catch 22  [Book]


      

    Australia

    1. The Aunt’s Story by Patrick White  [Book]
    2. Voss by Patrick White  [Book]
    3. Eleanor Dark's The Timeless Land  [Book]
    4. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead  [Book]
    5. Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert  [Book]
    6. Fergus Home's Mystery of the Hansom Cab  [Book]
    7. Ruth Park's The Harp in the South  [Book]
    8. Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians  [Book]
    9. Marcus Clarke's His Natural Life  [Book]
    10. Xavier Herbert's Capricornia  [Book]
    11. Thea Astley's The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow  [Book]


    These episodes provide a great way to virtually experience different places in time. Beyond these, the show featured many other interviews and discussions on books from around the world which can still be accessed here. BBC also has a great series of podcasts on books from around the world (site, RSS)

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