Putting Books on the radio makes the audio book

Audio book

An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...

 format cheaply available to a wide audience. The books given this form of presentation include both fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

 and non-fiction

Non-fiction

Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

 and are read either by an actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 or by the author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. The BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 does many of these "talking book serials" every week across their range of radio stations.

Here is a list of radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 programmes which feature short stories, poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 or whole book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

s in a serialised form:

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

• "Afternoon Reading" external link features either a short story or an abridged book.
• "Book at Bedtime
  Book at Bedtime
  Book at Bedtime is a long-running radio programme on BBC Radio 4, broadcast each weekday evening at 10.45–11.00 pm.Book at Bedtime offers fiction including modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world. Books are usually abridged and serialised each evening for...
  
  " external link presents modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world.
• "Book of the Week
  Book of the Week
  Book of the Week is a BBC Radio 4 series broadcast daily on week days. Each week the selected book, always a non-fiction work, is read in five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning and repeated overnight . The Act of Worship replaces the morning broadcast on...
  
  " external link Non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history.
• "Poetry Please
  Poetry Please
  Poetry Please is a weekly radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in which listeners request poems, which are then read by a cast of actors. The current presenter is Roger McGough...
  
  " external link a selection of poems chosen by listeners.

BBC World Service

BBC World Service

The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...

 

• "Off the Shelf
  Off the shelf
  Off the shelf may refer to:* Off-the-shelf component* Commercial off-the-shelf, a phrase in computing terminology* Ready-to-wear* Shelf corporation, a type of company...
  
  " serialized books of many types. It is not on air
  On Air
  On Air is the second solo release by Alan Parsons following the split of The Alan Parsons Project, however the album's chief creative force was the Project's long-time guitarist, Ian Bairnson...
  
   anymore.

BBC 7

BBC 7

BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...

 

• "The 7th Dimension
  The 7th Dimension
  Seventh Dimension is the BBC's regular radio slot for science fiction, fantasy and horror. It is broadcast on the digital radio station BBC Radio 4 Extra at 6 p.m. , seven days a week and then repeated each day at midnight with host Nick Briggs. Most of the programs are full cast dramatizations and...
  
  " external link is sometimes a book reading or (more often) a dramatisation.
• "Best Sellers" external link bestseller
  Bestseller
  A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
  
  s both fiction and non-fiction.
• "Little Toe" external link serialises books for young children.
• "Big Toe" external link serialises books for older children.

BBC 6Music 

• "Steve Lamacq
  Steve Lamacq
  Steve Lamacq , sometimes known by his nicknames Lammo or "The Cat" is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio stations BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2.-Early career:He was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire...
  
  " external link Steve Lamacq's Library of Rock and Roll related books.
• "6Music's reading festival" (yes, reading festival as opposed to Reading Festival which is something else) external link Six Music celebrates reading, writing and books.

RTÉ

Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...

 Radio 1

• "Fiction 15" external link newly-commissioned writing for younger listeners.
• "Francis Macmanus Short Story" external link short stories.
• "The Poem and the Place" external link brings together poems and the places which inspired them.

ABC Radio National 

• "The Book Reading" external link classic and contemporary fiction by Australian and world writers, read by actors.

• "Short story" external link two short stories a week.

ABC

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

 local radio

• "Short story project" external link short stories from around Australia.

Oneword

Oneword

Oneword Radio was a British commercial digital radio station featuring books, drama, comedy, children's programming, and discussion. The station was available in the UK via digital radio and digital television and was streamed on the internet 24 hours a day worldwide...

• Virtually all of Oneword's programming, 24 hours a day. external link