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.

Hosted by

Michele Gerard Good

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

Last Person Rural 9 of 10 – Lesson Of The Bolt Weevils / Tough Old Men
Perrin tells the story of the Bolt Weevils, a group of Minnesota farmers who destroyed electrical transmission towers in an attempt to stop power companies from seizing their land. Then, […]
April 17, 2025
Last Person Rural 8 of 10 – The Price Is Wrong / Old MacDonald Lost His Farm
The two pieces are variations on the same theme — there is a problem with our food. Not just one, but several. Farmers aren’t paid enough and aren’t rewarded for […]
April 16, 2025
Last Person Rural 7 of 10 – A Lesson From The Cows / Cows And Pleasure / A Vermont Christmas
A lesson from livestock about just why “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” Of all of the farm animals, cows really know how to […]
April 15, 2025
Last Person Rural 6 of 10 – The Soul Of New England / Baling The Village
When Perrin visits southern California for the first time, he feels compelled to get a feel for the land, but ends up longing for home. Bedford Center, Vermont is defined […]
April 14, 2025
Last Person Rural 5 of 10 – The Factory In The Woods
Perrin’s small village of Thetford is peppered with abandoned factories that once thrived along the river’s edge. The history of rural manufacturing is rich throughout New England, but not all […]
April 11, 2025

Browse archive

Chapter A Day Booklist

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

View Booklist

Coming Next

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.