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!

Engineer, author and broadcaster Roma Agrawal talks to Vick about reclaiming her body after childbirth, centring the knowledge of non-western cultures and why engineering is more creative than you think.

Roma is best known for working on the design of The Shard, Western Europe’s tallest tower, and is a judge for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, sponsored by Findmypast. She has given talks to tens of thousands at universities, schools and organisations around the world, including TEDx, and presented numerous TV, radio and podcast shows for the BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery. Her first book, Built, won multiple awards, and was published for children as How Was That Built? in 2021. Her third book, Nuts & Bolts was shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, and was also adapted for children, as Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World. Her new book, How to Build a Chocolate Bridge: Extraordinary Builds Using Everyday Things, is a hands-on exploration of science and the world around us, featuring seven fun interactive building projects for kids.

Roma’s book choices are:
** Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
** Uncivilised: Ten Lies that Made the West by Subhadra Das
** The Girl and The Goddess by Nikita Gill
** The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
** Yellowface by Rebecca Kuang

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.