Radio listener by Jim Gilchrist

Which way will Scotland swing when the SNP finally holds its referendum on independence? In Canada, the citizens of Quebec have twice gone to the polls to vote on breaking away from the rest of the country, the move being narrowly defeated each time.

In WAITING FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY, political commentator Iain MacWhirter visits Montreal and Ottawa to sound out the Quebec experience and how it affected Quebecois society.

Meanwhile Canadian-American singer Rufus Wainwright marks the 50th anniversary of what he calls "the greatest night in show business history" in DEAR JUDY, evoking Judy Garland's legendary concert at New York's Carnegie Hall on 23 April, 1961.

For Garland, who had been performing since she was two, the concert was a milestone in her career, and life would never be the same again. Sadly, that was often for the worse, rather than for the better, and the yellow brick road led ultimately to tragedy.

In contrast, the inimitable Dolly Parton started life in inauspicious circumstances but capitalised on her, er, assets to become a household name worldwide.

But she's done more than sing, as Sarfraz Manzoor discovers this morning (or listen later via BBC iPlayer) in HOW DOLLY GOT ROTHERHAM READING.

Having grown up in dirt-poor rural Tennessee, where education was a luxury, Parton appreciates the value of literacy and in 1995 established her Imagination Library, a scheme where children in a targeted area get a book a month until they are five years old.

In 2007 her campaign brought her to South Yorkshire, which Manzoor visits. He also travels to Dollywood, the singer's theme park in Tennessee's Smokey Mountains, to attend an Imagination Library conference and discover the impact of Parton's global literacy campaign.

There is much reading, too, on Radio Scotland, where this week's edition of MY LIFE IN FIVE BOOKS sees Stuart Cosgrove and author Robin Pilcher discovering a shared enthusiasm for that enduring John Buchan yarn, The 39 Steps.

Waiting for Independence Day

Monday, Radio 4, 8pm

Dear Judy

Tuesday, Radio 2, 10pm

How Dolly Got Rotherham Reading

Today, Radio 4, 10:30am

My Life in Five Books

Thursday, Radio Scotland, 2pm

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 23 July, 2011