Jojo Moyes, writer

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist and screenwriter. She began her writing career as a journalist and worked at the Egham and Staines News, Independent and South China Morning Post. Whilst working nightshifts on the Independent, she pursued her novel writing ambitions and wrote books by day. Her first few books were well received but did not topple the best seller lists. That all changed in 2012 when her novel You Before Me was published. Readers fell in love with the story of Louisa Clark, who takes a job looking after an angry young quadriplegic man. The book sold fifteen million copies, was made into a film and Jojo wrote two sequels. Her novels are beloved of book clubs and have sold in excess of fifty seven million copies and have been translated into forty-six languages. Jojo lives in London.DISC ONE: Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Laughing Version) (Live) - Elvis Presley DISC TWO: Golden Slumbers - The Beatles DISC THREE: Silly Games - Janet Kay DISC FOUR: The Art Teacher - Rufus Wainwright DISC FIVE: Mozart: Vesperae solennes de confessore in C, K.339: 5. Laudate Dominum omnes gentes (Ps. 116/117) Composed by Mozart and performed by Edith Mathis (soprano), MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig (choir), Staatskapelle Dresden (orchestra), conducted by Peter Schreier DISC SIX: Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell DISC SEVEN: A Better Time to Meet - Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek DISC EIGHT: Je L’Aime à Mourir - Francis Cabrel BOOK CHOICE: The complete works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky LUXURY ITEM: A mechanical horse CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Laughing Version - Live) - Elvis Presley Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah TaylorDesert Island Discs has cast many writers away to the island over the years including Helen Fielding, Marian Keyes and Dame Jilly Cooper. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Kate Winslet is an actor who achieved global fame playing Rose DeWitt Bukater, opposite Leonard DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, in the 1997 James Cameron epic Titanic. During her career she has won five BAFTAs, two Emmys, five Golden Globes and an Academy Award for her role in the Reader. Kate was born in Reading in 1975 and attended Redroofs School for the Performing Arts in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Her film debut came in 1994 when she played a teenage killer in Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures. The following year she played Marianne Dashwood opposite Emma Thompson’s Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee. Kate’s performance earned her a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She went on to consolidate her reputation as one of the most versatile actors of her generation by starring in a list of popular and critically acclaimed films including Hideous Kinky, Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Holiday.Last year Kate directed her first film, Goodbye June, starring Helen Mirren, Timothy Spall and Andrea Riseborough. Kate has three children and lives in West Sussex with her husband Ned and her family.DISC ONE: Georgia on my Mind - Roger Winslet and Sophie Breakenridge DISC TWO: Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs - Brian and Michael DISC THREE: Kiss from a Rose - Seal DISC FOUR: Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald DISC FIVE: Nuvole Bianche - Ludovico Einaudi DISC SIX: Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi - Radiohead DISC SEVEN: Blue Ridge Mountains - Fleet Foxes DISC EIGHT: Pump up the Jam - Technotronic BOOK CHOICE: Outside: Recipes for a Wilder Way of Eating by Gill Meller LUXURY ITEM: Freshly ground coffee CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Georgia on my Mind – Roger Winslet and Sophie Breakenridge Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinleyDesert Island Discs has cast many actors away over the years including Dame Emma Thompson, Cate Blanchett and Dame Helen Mirren. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Lee Child is a writer who is best known for his series of bestselling novels featuring Jack Reacher. Reacher is an enigmatic 6ft 5in, 17-stone ex-military police major who rights wrongs before disappearing off into the sunset. The books have sold in their millions around the world and have inspired two films starring Tom Cruise and a television series.Lee Child was born James - Jim - Grant in 1954 and grew up in Birmingham. He studied Law at the University of Sheffield and then joined the presentation department at Granada Television where he was a shop steward and became a thorn in the side of the management. At 40 he was made redundant and sat down to write his first Reacher novel Killing Floor. He found himself an agent and the novel was published in March 1997 - the franchise was up and running. In the UK Lee outsells both Stephen King and John Grisham and worldwide he sells between 12 and 15 million copies a year.In 2020 Lee announced that he was handing over the Reacher franchise to his younger brother Andrew Grant. The two brothers have worked on several novels since then and the thirtieth Reacher title features both brothers’ names on the cover.Lee Child was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours. He lives in the Lake District with his wife Jane. They have one daughter.DISC ONE: She Loves You - The Beatles DISC TWO: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones DISC THREE: So What - Miles Davis DISC FOUR: Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23: I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito. Performed by Stephen Hough (piano) and Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Osmo Vänskä DISC FIVE: Joe’s Blues - Joe Pass DISC SIX: The Lemon Song - Led Zeppelin DISC SEVEN: Für Elise (Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor) Composed by Ludwig Beethoven and performed by Lang Lang DISC EIGHT: Delibes: Lakmé / Act 1: \"Sous le dôme épais\" (Flower Duet) Performed by Renée Fleming (soprano), Susan Graham (mezzo soprano), Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing BOOK CHOICE: Killing Floor by Lee Child LUXURY ITEM: A mechanical wind-up watch CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: So What - Miles Davis Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Jesse Armstrong, writer, TV showrunner, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item he would take with him if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian writer. She has published more than sixty books spanning novels, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, children’s literature, and graphic novels, and has been called “one of the sharpest and most imaginative novelists writing in English”. She is one of only four writers to have won the Booker Prize twice: for The Blind Assassin in 2000 and for her 2019 follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments.Margaret was born in Ottawa in November 1939, shortly after the outbreak of World War II, the second of three children to Carl Atwood, an entomologist. During her early life, she would spend the warmer months in the remote forests of northern Quebec and Ontario where her father tracked insect infestations, and the winters in the city (first Ottawa, later Toronto). She didn’t attend school for a full year until the age of twelve.Her childhood scribblings – a “novel” about an ant called Annie, a volume of rhyming poems about cats, and a play about a giant – turned into a more serious ambition to become a writer when Margaret was sixteen. After studying English at the University of Toronto, where she began publishing poems in the college magazine, her first novel, The Edible Woman, came out in 1969, following five collections of poetry. Her most famous work, The Handmaid’s Tale, was published in 1985 and depicted a dystopian vision of the United States as a patriarchal and totalitarian place called Gilead. Although it was written during the Reagan era, it has become eerily relevant again in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. Margaret lost her life partner, the writer Graeme Gibson, in 2019. She lives in Toronto.DISC ONE: Anchors Aweigh - US Navy Band DISC TWO: Hearts of Stone - The Charms DISC THREE: Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann, Giulietta Act: Barcarolle. Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour. Performed by Joan Sutherland (soprano) Huguette Tourangeau (soprano), Plácido Domingo (tenor), Andre Neury (bass), Pro Arte Choir, Lausanne, Choeur Du Brassus, Choeur de la Radio Suisse Romande, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Richard Bonynge DISC FOUR: Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia DISC FIVE: Barrett’s Privateers - Stan Rogers DISC SIX: The Handmaid's Tale, Act I Scene 6: The Doctor. Composed by Poul Ruders and performed by Marianne Rorholm, Hanne Fischer (Mezzo-sopranos), Royal Danish Opera Chorus and Royal Danish Orchestra, conducted by Michael Schønwandt DISC SEVEN: We Praise the Tiny Perfect Moles - Orville Stoeber DISC EIGHT: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": II. Scene am Bach. Andante molto moto. Composed by Beethoven and performed by Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Otto Klemperer BOOK CHOICE: How to Survive on a Desert Island by Samantha Bell LUXURY ITEM: A knife and matchbox CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Hearts of Stone - The Charms Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Gordon Buchanan is a wildlife cameraman and TV presenter. He is best known for the Animal Family & Me series of BBC documentaries in which he gets up close to wild bears, Arctic wolves, elephants and reindeer among other species.Gordon was brought up in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull where he spent his days exploring the island and developed his lifelong love of the outdoors. In 1988, when he was 17, he met the charismatic wildlife cameraman Nick Gordon who invited him to become his assistant for a project to film primates on the island of Tiwai in Sierra Leone. Gordon spent 18 months in Sierra Leone working with Nick and after that the two of them worked in West Africa and South America. At 22 Gordon set up on his own – his first job was a year-long assignment to make three half-hour programmes for a 14-part wildlife series called Wild Islands. In 2001 he made his debut as a presenter on the BBC’s Natural World strand. He was appointed an MBE for services to conservation and wildlife filmmaking in 2020. Gordon lives in Glasgow with his wife Wendy. They have two children. DISC ONE: Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver DISC TWO: Brandy in the Airidh - Peat & Diesel DISC THREE: Purple Haze – The Jimi Hendrix Experience DISC FOUR: Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana DISC FIVE: High and Dry - Radiohead DISC SIX: Last Nite - The Strokes DISC SEVEN: Electrical Storm - U2 DISC EIGHT: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyoncé BOOK CHOICE: Teach Yourself Tap Dancing by Derek Hartley LUXURY ITEM: A mask, snorkel and fins CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: High and Dry - RadioheadPresenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinleyDesert Island Discs has cast many wildlife experts and broadcasters away including Dr George McGavin, Professor Carl Jones, Sir David Attenborough and Dr Jane Goodall. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Sir Salman Rushdie is a writer who has written over 20 books, seven of which have been nominated for the Booker Prize. In 1981 he won with his novel Midnight’s Children which also topped the polls for the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the prize, making it the most lauded novel in Booker history.He was born in Bombay in 1947 and educated at Rugby School in Warwickshire. After studying history at the University of Cambridge he worked as a copywriter at various advertising agencies before publishing his first novel Grimus in 1975. His breakthrough came with Midnight’s Children and he was one of 20 writers named on Granta magazine’s inaugural list of Best Young British novelists alongside writers including Martin Amis and AN Wilson.He attracted considerable controversy with his fourth novel the Satanic Verses which won the Whitbread Award and was shortlisted for the Booker. Some Muslims considered the subject matter blasphemous and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of Salman and the publishers of the book. Salman spent the following decade in hiding under police protection.In 2022 he was stabbed multiple times while on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. He had been invited there to talk about keeping writers safe from harm. He survived devasting injuries – including the loss of his right eye – and wrote about the attack and its aftermath in his memoir Knife.That same year he was awarded a Companion of Honour for services to literature.Salman is married to the poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths and they live in New York. He has two grown up sons and two grandchildren.DISC ONE: Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed DISC TWO: Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan - Mohammed Rafi and Geeta Dutt DISC THREE: Blowin’ in the Wind - Bob Dylan DISC FOUR: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones DISC FIVE: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston DISC SIX: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon DISC SEVEN: Isn’t She Lovely – Stevie Wonder DISC EIGHT: For the Love of You, Pts. 1 & 2 - The Isley Brothers BOOK CHOICE: Homer’s Odyssey (Translated by Emily Wilson) LUXURY ITEM: A bed with a mosquito net CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: For the Love of You, Pts. 1 & 2 - The Isley Brothers Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a computer scientist and the inventor of the World Wide Web. He was born in 1955, a golden year for technology innovators. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were also born in the same year. A curious child, he learned about electronics from his train set and spent his pocket money on transistors. His first significant connecting invention was building an intercom as a teenager for the family home before moving on to build his first computer. His parents were both mathematicians and coders who met whilst building one of the first commercially available computers in the early nineteen fifties. Sir Tim came up with the idea of the World Wide Web whilst working at CERN and insisted that the technology be released to the world without commercial reward so that it would be free for everyone to use. He was knighted for his world changing invention and also appointed to the Order of Merit. In 2016 he was given the Turing Award. Sir Tim Berners-Lee divides his time between the US, the UK and Canada with his wife Rosemary, who is also a technology entrepreneur.Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah TaylorDesert Island Discs has cast many computer scientists away over the years including Dame Wendy Hall and Sir Demis Hassibis. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Sally Mann is a photographer and a New York Times bestselling writer. She is best known for making large-format black and white photographs of the people and places in her immediate surroundings: her children, her husband, and the rural landscape of her home state and the American South. Sally was born in Lexington, Virginia, the youngest of three children to Robert and Elizabeth Munger. Her father was a doctor and gave Sally his old Leica camera to play with. After university, she wanted to be a poet but she spent more than a decade as a commercial photographer while starting a family of her own and exhibiting her work on a small scale. She published her first book of photographs in 1984. That same year, she began taking pictures of her three children for a series called Immediate Family, which brought her both renown as well as infamy for touching on ordinary moments in their daily lives – playing, sleeping, and eating, sometimes while naked – but also speaking to larger themes such as death and cultural perceptions of childhood, rendering familiar subjects “both sublime and disquieting”. In the mid-1990s, she began to move away from the family pictures in favour of photographing the landscape around her. Much of Sally’s body of work comes from observing what is closest at hand because, she says, “The things that are close to you are the things that you can photograph the best.” She has explored the identity of the American South, and her relationship with her place of origin, as well as mortality and decay, and the effects of muscular dystrophy on her husband. In her latest book, Art Work, she considers the challenges and pleasures of the creative process. Sally continues to live on the 800-acre family farm near Lexington with her husband Larry and a number of dogs. DISC ONE: Köln, January 24, 1975, Part I - Keith Jarrett DISC TWO: Take This Hammer - Odetta DISC THREE: Trustful Hands - The Dø DISC FOUR: O Holy Night. Composed by Adolphe Adam and performed by Concert Choir of St Andrew’s School, Delaware and Virginia Mann (Soprano) DISC FIVE: Moby Dick (an extract of Chapter 3) Written by Herman Melville and narrated by Frank Muller DISC SIX: County Seat - Emmett Mann DISC SEVEN: Vivaldi: Oboe Concerto in C major, RV 452: 2. Adagio. Performed by Heinz Holliger (Oboe), I Musici (Ensemble) DISC EIGHT: You Are My Friend (Live) - Sylvester BOOK CHOICE: In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust LUXURY ITEM: Paper and a pencil CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: You Are My Friend (Live) - Sylvester Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah TaylorDesert Island Discs has cast many photographers away over the years including Eve Arnold, Val Wilmer and Vanley Burke. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Lorraine Kelly is a journalist and broadcaster who has been a mainstay of daytime television for over 40 years. She has hosted her own show Lorraine since its launch in 2010 and she was awarded a lifetime achievement BAFTA in 2024.Lorraine was born in Glasgow and later moved with her family to the new town of East Kilbride. She became a junior reporter at the East Kilbride News when she was in her teens and in 1983 joined the BBC as a researcher. In 1984 she started at TV-am as a reporter covering Scottish news. During her time there she reported on some of the biggest stories in the UK including the Piper Alpha disaster and the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. In January 1990 she became a co-presenter of Good Morning Britain on TV-am alongside Mike Morris. In 1996 Lorraine and Eamonn Holmes reported for GMTV on the Dunblane school shooting in which sixteen pupils and their teacher were killed. The tragedy left a lasting impact on Lorraine, who formed a lasting bond with several affected families. She returned to Dunblane in 2021 to mark the 25th anniversary with a commemorative documentary.Lorraine lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband Steve.DISC ONE: Starman - Davie Bowie DISC TWO: Mama Said - Dusty Springfield DISC THREE: Careful - Horse DISC FOUR: Rock the Casbah - The Clash DISC FIVE: Truth - Hue & Cry DISC SIX: Warm Leatherette - Grace Jones DISC SEVEN: Love is All Around - Wet Wet Wet DISC EIGHT: That’s When He Told Her - The ProclaimersBOOK CHOICE: South: The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shackleton and the Endurance by Sir Ernest Shackleton LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered digital photo album CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Careful - Horse Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinleyThere are more than 2000 programmes in our archive available for you to listen to. We have cast away other journalists and presenters including Sir Terry Wogan, Christiane Amanpour, Lindsey Hilsum and Clive Myrie. You can find their episodes on BBC Sounds or on our Desert Island Discs website.