WPR

Chapter A Day

Started in 1931, “Chapter a Day” is WPR’s longest-running program. Jim Fleming, Norman Gilliland, Michele Good, Melvin Hinton, Baron Kelly and Susan Sweeney read a chapter from a book for a half hour each weekday. Genres are predominately contemporary and range from works of fiction, history and biography.

Schedule

WPR Music, 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., WPR News, 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Cover of Last Person Rural by Noel Perrin, featuring a woodcut illustration of a rural scene with a farmer, barn, and sheep, bordered by a teal frame.
Version 1.0.0

CURRENTLY READING


Last Person Rural by Noel Perrin

Monday, April 7 through Friday, April 18, 2025

Read by Jim Fleming


Perrin’s second “final” collection of bucolic essays was written eight years after his supposedly ultimate compilation (Third Person Rural, heard earlier this year on CAD)—and it’s another appreciation of rural life and being a good steward of the land told with humor, warmth and a little bit of philosophy as well.

THEME: “Pastorale” by Claude Champagne – CBC Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

(David R Godine Pub; ISBN10: 087923914x)


Readings are archived for one week following the broadcast day of the last chapter due to publisher 
copyright restrictions.


Latest Episodes

  • Heritage 5 of 15 – The Birth of Margo

    Lazare builds the most spectacular aviary in all of South America for Therese and her birds. In it, she gives birth to their daughter, Margot. As a young child, Margot […]

    Heritage 5 of 15 – The Birth of Margo
  • Heritage 4 of 15 – Therese Lonsonier

    The daughter of a musician, Therese begins her life singing until a case of whooping cough causes her to change her interests. She becomes a falconer which is how she […]

    Heritage 4 of 15 – Therese Lonsonier
  • Heritage 3 of 15 – Lazare’s Journey To Healing

    Lazare has returned to Chile but is very unwell both mentally and physically. Lazare Sr. hires a shaman, Aukan, to heal him. At a market, Lazare impulsively joins a caravan […]

    Heritage 3 of 15 – Lazare’s Journey To Healing
  • Heritage 2 of 15 – The Lonsonier Sons Fight For France

    All of Lazare Lonsonier’s sons leave Chile to fight for France. Lazare, the youngest, is the only one to survive. He returns to Chile a ruined and unwell man, missing […]

    Heritage 2 of 15 – The Lonsonier Sons Fight For France
  • Heritage 1 of 15 – The Trip to Chile

    Lazare leaves France to immigrate to America with his vine stock but ends up in Chile with a new name. He settles there and becomes the patriarch of an impressive […]

    Heritage 1 of 15 – The Trip to Chile

Chapter A Day Booklist

View information about every book we’ve read in the past 30 years!

Coming Next

Cover of Heritage by Miguel Bonnefoy, featuring a portrait of a person partially obscured by lemon branches with leaves and flowers.
Version 1.0.0

Heritage by Miguel Bonnefoy

monday, April 21 through friday, may 9, 2025
Read by norman gilliland


The house in Santiago de Chile, with its lush lemon trees, has sheltered three generations of the Lonsonier family. Having arrived from France’s Jura region with a single grape vine in his pocket, the patriarch put down roots there in the late nineteenth century. His son, Lazare, back from World War I’s hellish trenches, would build in their garden the most beautiful aviary in the Andes. The granddaughter Margot, a pioneering aviator, would first dream of flying, and where she would raise her son, the revolutionary Ilario Da. Like Lazare before them, they will bravely face the conflicts of their day, fighting against dictatorship on both sides of the Atlantic. A dazzling family saga, brimming with poetry and passion, that skillfully weaves together the private lives of individuals and major historical events in South America and Europe.

NPR’s Book Concierge

NPR Book Concierge