The Right Words in the Right Order

Synopsis

Passionate, funny, revelatory and inspiring, this series is a mission statement about the transformative power of reading; about the way it inspires us, the tangible impact it can have on our well-being and the importance it holds for us now and will continue to hold in the future.

Stop What You're Doing And Read This! features five of our finest authors and advocates from the world of publishing. Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Tim Parks, Carmen Callil and Mark Haddon, are all united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading. Their essays argue that reading literature is, and must continue to be, a fundamental part of our daily life, as it directly improves our mental health and well-being, enriches our experience and broadens our imaginations.

As the ways people read, what they read, where they buy their books and in what format are all changing rapidly, this series argues unapologetically for the paramount importance of books and reading in a fast-moving, dislocated, technology-obsessed world.

From the moment he won six Penguin Classics in a school competition Mark Haddon has been an avid reader. But it's not the plots of books he focuses on but the words themselves, the images they conjure up, the world's they introduce him to. In 'The Right Words In the Right Order' he explains how reading, and reading the right books at the right time is a life-enhancing experience.

Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.