Di Speirs is the Books Editor, BBC Audio and has spent the past three decades on a mission to discover and champion new authors and celebrate great books on radio. She produced the first ever Book of the Week and has directed scores of Book at Bedtimes, dramatisations and short stories. She now leads the London Books team and is the Editor for their audiobooks, Radio 4’s Open Book and BookClub, and World Book Club and World Book Café on the World Service. A long-time advocate of the formidable power of the short story, she has been integral to the BBC National Short Story Award since it began in 2005, is the returning judge on the panel and is also behind the BBC Young Writers Award. She has edited three story collections for the BBC. A regular literary judge including for the 2017 Wellcome Book Prize and the International Dylan Thomas Prize in 2019, she has been a nominator twice for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative (Literature) and is a board member of the Edinburgh City of Literature Trust.