These North Shore podcasters have taken their love of literature to the airwaves with their Book Trivia Podcast
The Stanton Library monthly book club is where Jess Graham and Rachel Winter first met around nine years ago, so it is fitting that the pair returned there to host a live event in celebration of the Book Trivia Podcast – a venture they started together early last year.
“It will be a blend of a traditional pub trivia night, but all based on books, with lots of audience interaction to make it fun,” Rachel told NL ahead of the Book Trivia Night she and Cammeray resident, Jess, hosted at Stanton Library on 28 May.
The pair are currently recording season two of their podcast, which drops every month, and each episode focuses on a different book. Together they have covered classics like Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo, more current novels like Sally Hepworth’s Mad Mabel – even children’s books. The episodes are a mix of discussion about the storyline, character trivia, author insights and the behind-the-scenes facts.
Podcaster Jess Graham
A fan of the internet movie database IMBD, Jess was interested in behind-the-scenes facts about the movies she would see, and admits she’d ‘always wanted trivia, but for books,’ as a way of getting inside a novel.
After being made redundant from her job last year, Jess took her idea for the podcast to Rachel, and within a few weeks she’d drafted out a whole season of podcast episodes.
Their first episode was on the novel, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. “We refer to it as our ‘first pancake,’” Jess says. “You know when you’re cooking pancakes and the first one always turns out a bit fluffy and undercooked? We cringe whenever anyone says that they have listened to that one!
“We didn’t have the proper microphones and we were playing around with the format. But we’ve definitely learned a lot since then,” Jess admits.
In a strange twist, the pair have never actually recorded an episode while in the same room together – with the Stanton Library live event being the first time they have actually traded trivia facts while in the same room! With both podcasters working in full-time jobs – Jess is a marketing director and Rachel works in education – and with former Lavender Bay resident Rachel now living on the upper North Shore, the pair record their podcast together, from their individual homes.
As for their Stanton Library book club, the podcasters still attend regularly, and make sure that when it’s their turn to pick a book, they include it on the show. Jess says the book club was supportive of their venture. “They were all really excited for us,” she adds.
And the hosts’ top picks? Jess’s favourite is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, while Rachel loves Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
“I like books that are a little less literary and highbrow, so (the podcast) is for people like me who like reading, but aren’t that literary,” Rachel says. “We try to keep it fun and light and a bit informative.”
The Book Trivia Podcast is available on Spotify.
