Pep Talk: Top Actors To Explain Joy Of Audiobook Reading At Isle Of Wight Literary Festival

Audiobooks are becoming more and more popular, and an event at this year’s Isle of Wight Literary Festival will hear from two top actors about how they bring books to life for the listener.

Lydia Leonard has appeared in major TV shows such as Gentleman Jack and The Crown, where she played Cherie Blair, and in films including The Fifth Estate with Benedict Cumberbatch.

Alongside her at the 'Reading, Not Reading' session at 4.20pm on Friday, October 6, will be Malcolm Sinclair, a renowned film, TV and stage actor.

Malcolm has performed with theatre companies including the Royal National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.

He has won countless awards for his television and stage performances including Casino Royale, Foyle’s War and Star Wars: Andor. 

Recently he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Olivier Awards for his role in Pressure at The Ambassador’s Theatre.

The 'Reading, Not Reading' event is presented by Spiracle Audiobooks, a new, independent audiobook platform offering a fantastic selection of fiction and nonfiction from around the world while championing writing published by the UKs’ independent and small presses.

This event will reveal what makes a thrilling reading.  

We’ll learn how the reader can transform the text and bring all the atmosphere, character and meaning to it – alongside the perils of overdoing it, giving inappropriate emphasis or unnecessary drama, mispronunciations or faltering accents.

The event will see the actors involve the audience, asking us to read to ourselves and then to hear the same piece read, helping us realise the differences while discovering deep associations and resonances.

A spokesperson for Spiracle said:

“Our roots are in the Isle of Wight and we are delighted to be part of this year’s Literary Festival with Reading, Not Reading.”

The event is one of many at the Isle of Wight Literary Festival which is being held in Cowes from October 5-8 with a base at Northwood House.

Among the major speakers are Isle of Wight-born Dame Sheila Hancock, Maureen Lipman, Michael Morpurgo, Patrick Gale and Justin Webb.

But there is something for everybody, with subjects from football to forensic science, and from history to politics, with a good dose of fiction thrown in for good measure.

And don’t forget this year there is LitFeast, a series of cookery demonstrations and wine tasting from authors such as Rosemary Shrager, Helen McGinn (Saturday Kitchen wine expert) plus the Island’s own Robert Thompson, demonstrating his cookery skills in the LitFeast marquee.