Author Ben Holden launches podcast to support libraries | Books - The Bookseller

Author Ben Holden will host a new podcast which celebrates libraries and indie bookshops, and aims to campaign against library cuts, with Jacqueline Wilson, Melvyn Bragg and Val McDermid among the interviewees.

Photo: (Left-right) Ben Holden, Rhian Jones and Ken Follett

Ex Libris will launch on 6th November and will see Holden in conversation with Ken Follett in his childhood library Canton Library, Cardiff, with senior librarian Rhian Jones.

He said: “At the turn of the year, as 2019 dawned, I grew frustrated and disheartened by newspaper reports of library closures during 2018. This post-mortem round-up has become something of an annual tradition in the UK during the age of austerity and makes for really grim reading. I decided to do something about it, as best I could...

Bragg told the podcast: “It’s a disaster. A shocking development and ridiculous. The library has a flexibility to be more than just a place where knowledge is stored, it’s a place where knowledge is shared and developed – and in such areas of learning, association and companionship are essential. As a social, intellectual and cultural force, the library has always been fruitful and important. The great thing about a library is that the choice is yours.”...

Ex Libris will launch on 6th November and episodes can be listened to via the website.
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Source: The Bookseller