Bookshelfie: Women’s Prize Podcast

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