Wigan book club secure national radio slot

The Red Door Book Club based at the town centre bistro of the same name will be heard discussing literature by thousands of listeners across the country when it appears on BBC Radio 2 Book Club.

The Wiganers will be featured as part of this evening’s show presented by Jo Whiley which turns the spotlight on a different book club across the country and also features the authors whose works are chosen.

The Red Door group were given Angie Thomas’ young adult book On The Come Up to talk about, which they admitted was initially a shock as it is rather different from their usual choice of novel.

However, with producer Joe Haddow recording at the Wigan eatery the conversation soon began to flow.

Book club member Gail Green said: “We were quite surprised because the book was all about a rapper in America and none of us are that up-to-date on that.

“However, we all really enjoyed it. There were lots of themes we could identify with from our younger years.

“It’s about relationships, about families and about being young in general.

“We did enjoy Googling lots of words with all the rap-related terms. Usually we’re Googling for dictionary words but this time we needed an urban dictionary.

“However, that’s what a book club is there for, to get you to read things you wouldn’t normally look at.

“We were a bit nervous talking about it at first but then we just carried on the book club as we normally would. Joe went round the table recording sections. He was really personable and made everybody feel at ease.”

Gail says it will be a thrill for the group members to be representing Wigan on such a well-known radio show.

She will also be on the phone during the show and will get to put a question to the author, who will be joining in the discussion from the USA.

Gail said: “It’s quite exciting. It’s also a bit nerve-racking because we didn’t want to do ourselves, the book club and Wigan a disservice.”

The book club has been going for many years, having previously met in Waterstone’s until they needed to find a new location. Currently around nine people meet on the first Thursday of each month at the Red Door Bistro at 6pm.

The programme is on BBC Radio 2 tonight at about 8pm.