Bedtime Stories for the End of the World

Bedtime Stories for the End of the World episodes:

• 07.27.2021

  Episode Nine: In The Beginning

  The final episode of our current series explores myths of creation, with poets Anthony Anaxagorou and Chloe Elliott joining our host Eleanor Penny. Chloe gives her interpretation of the ancient Chinese story of Pan Gu, the first living creature, who...

  
• 07.20.2021

  Episode Eight: Hunger Moon

  This week we have an unusual episode of Bedtime Stories as two poets each provide different reimaginings of the same traditional story. Poets Nina Mingya Powles and Maggie Wang join our host Eleanor Penny to each present their versions of...

  
• 07.13.2021

  Episode Seven: Sleepless

  Joining Eleanor Penny this week are poets Antosh Wojcik and Alice Frecknall. They have chosen to reimagine stories from the Victorian and Edwardian era, which themselves drew on traditional tropes. Antosh reads and discusses his take on AH Wratislaw’s The...

  
• 07.06.2021

  Episode Six: Not Some Small Villain

  This episode welcomes Vanessa Kisuule and Jack Bigglestone who have each revived a millennia-old monster. Jack lands the mythical figure of the Basilisk in contemporary life, whilst Vanessa retells the Ugandan myth of the first man Kintu, and the mysterious...

  
• 06.29.2021

  Episode Five: To Take Back Untamed Ground

  This week, poets Mona Arshi and Amara Amaryah join Eleanor Penny to discuss their reinterpretations of traditional stories. Mona imagines the experience of one of Scheherazade’s unfortunate predecessors, a young woman sent to marry the Emperor and meet her death...

  
• 06.22.2021

  Episode Four: Blossomed from Fierceness

  Joining Eleanor Penny this week are poets Momtaza Mehri and Jamie Hale who each explore a number of traditional characters. Jamie has chosen to reimagine figures and moments from Aruthurian myths; whilst Momtaza looks at the figures of Gog and...

  
• 06.15.2021

  Episode Three: Every Small Catastrophe

  Today’s episode features poets R. A. Villanueva and Fathima Zahra. They each retell a traditional story of a powerful female figure, imagining Penelope before her wedding to Odysseus, and recounting the tale of Keralan resistance figure, Nangeli. Joining host Eleanor...

  
• 06.08.2021

  Episode Two: Dark Water

  This week’s guests joining Eleanor Penny are poets Luke Palmer and Joe Dunthorne. Luke reimagines the traditional Grimm’s fairytale of Hansel and Gretel, whilst Joe explores the trope of water-monsters, who appear in traditional stories across the world under many...

  
• 06.01.2021

  Episode One: Beyond Old, and into Myth

  The Bedtime Stories for the End of the World podcast is back for another series, asking leading poets to reimagine traditional stores for our apocalyptic age.  Joining Eleanor Penny this week are poets Fiona Benson and Remi Graves. They each retell...

  
• 10.21.2020

  Ink Tales: Bedtime Stories Book Preview

  **NEW ILLUSTRATED BOOK - RELEASED 19 NOVEMBER** We bring you exciting news that Bedtime Stories for the End of the World has partnered with Studio Press and illustrator Inkquisitive to create a wonderful illustrated book featuring stories from Malika Booker, Kayo...

  
• 10.21.2019

  Episode Six: No Justice, Only Prizes

  Our final episode of the current series looks at power and control. Joining Eleanor Penny this week are poets Jack Underwood, Amina Jama and Oliver Fox. They share reimaginings of the Jörmungandr or Norse World Snake; King Cnut; and the Somali...

  
• 10.14.2019

  Episode Five: The Sin of Clay

  Joining Eleanor Penny this week are poets Sabrina Mahfouz, Geraldine Clarkson and Stuart Buck. Together they explore our relationship with mythical characters; re-imagining stories of Prometheus, Bluebeard, and the little-known Lob Lie-by-the-fire, who'll do your housework in return for a saucer...

  
• 10.07.2019

  Episode Four: My Heart Was So Greedy

  In our fourth episode poets Ella Frears, Annie Hayer and Andrew McMillan join our host Eleanor Penny to discuss traditional tales of love and relationships. They re-imagine Eurydice, wife of Orpheus; the mythical half-seal half-women Selkie; and Jesus, who emerges...

  
• 09.30.2019

  Episode Three: Sweetness and Fear

  Our third episode explores monsters, outlaws and home invaders, as our host Eleanor Penny sits down with poets Helen Mort, Romalyn Ante and Tice Cin. Their mythic re-imaginings include the vampiric Fillipino Manananggal, the Turkish Cypriot fugitive Hasan Buli, and trespasser...

  
• 09.23.2019

  Episode Two: She Not Here to Make Friends

  This week poets Malika Booker, Natalie Linh Bolderston and Olga Dermott-Bond bring to life traditional stories of powerful women. We hear about the West Indian temptress La Diablesse, Vietnamese Warrior Triệu Thị Trinh, and the Irish giant-trickster Oonagh McCool. Find out more and catch...

  
• 09.16.2019

  Episode One: The Flood Came

  In the first episode of Series Two, we’re facing environmental catastrophe in its various forms. Joining Eleanor Penny, are Forward Prize winning poet Kei Miller and young poets Gboyega Odubanjo and Joshua Judson. They share re-imaginings of the ‘meme’ of...

  
• 09.10.2019

  Series Two - Launches 16 September

  Bedtime Stories for the End of the World returns on Monday 16 September, bringing you another six episodes of poetry for our apocalyptic age. Each episode will feature brand new poetry from some of the best UK poets, including: Malika Booker,...

  
• 07.23.2018

  Episode Six: The Humdrum of Bone

  Jay Bernard, Simran Uppal and Rhian Edwards dive into some of the world's most iconic compendiums of myth: The Arthurian Legends, the Ramayana and the Mabinogion. This week we bring you stories about the Hijra, third-gender people blessed by Rama for their loyalty...

  
• 07.23.2018

  Episode Two: The Humdrum of Bone

  Jay Bernard, Simran Uppal and Rhian Edwards dive into some of the world's most iconic compendiums of myth: The Arthurian Legends, the Ramayana and the Mabinogion. This week we bring you stories about the Hijra, third-gender people blessed by Rama for their loyalty...

  
• 07.16.2018

  Episode Five: Dinner with the Ancestors

  Kate Denereaz revisits the story of Melusine: a half-woman, half-serpent hiding her curse from her human husband and their children. Leke Oso Alabi brings Menelik I into modern London, asking what the offspring the Queen of Sheba and the biblical...

  
• 07.09.2018

  Episode Four: Edgelands

  This week we're roaming around the borderlands, where towns and cities meet the wild. Miriam Nash pulls up a seat at the fire with the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr. Leonardo Boix leaves gifts of rum and cigars for the forest-dwelling spirit Pombero, Señor De...

  
• 07.02.2018

  Episode Three: Darling Girl

  This is the week of wicked women. S. Niroshini faces down the goddess Kali. Lucia Dove visits Baba Yaga in her chicken leg hut at the edge of the forest. Joelle Taylor talks to the Furies, vengeful spirits who drive...

  
• 07.02.2018

  Episode Two: Darling Girl

  This is the week of wicked women. S. Niroshini faces down the goddess Kali. Lucia Dove visits Baba Yaga in her chicken leg hut at the edge of the forest. Joelle Taylor talks to the Furies, vengeful spirits who drive...

  
• 07.01.2018

  Episode Three: Darling Girl

  This is the week of wicked women. S. Niroshini faces down the goddess Kali. Lucia Dove visits Baba Yaga in her chicken leg hut at the edge of the forest. Joelle Taylor talks to the Furies, vengeful spirits who drive...

  
• 06.26.2018

  Episode Two: Sympathy for Wild Horses

  SYMPATHY FOR WILD HORSES This week Kayo Chingonyi, Phoebe Stuckes and Kandace Siobhan Walker are take long walks with lonely monsters. Nyami Nyami looks out on a modern Zambia, Cassandra rips her fishnet stockings, and Boo-Hags stalk the wetlands of the...

  
• 06.25.2018

  Episode Two: Sympathy for Wild Horses

  SYMPATHY FOR WILD HORSES This week Kayo Chingonyi, Phoebe Stuckes and Kandace Siobhan Walker are take long walks with lonely monsters. Nyami Nyami looks out on a modern Zambia, Cassandra rips her fishnet stockings, and Boo-Hags stalk the wetlands of the...

  
• 06.18.2018

  Episode One: Leaving The Island

  Inua Ellams, Laurie Ogden and Alycia Pirmohamed unpack stories of travel and the heartbreak of homesickness. Featuring a mercenary Little Mermaid, a Persephone tale for third-culture kids, and Icarus fighting to survive in the refugee camps at the margins of...

  
• 06.17.2018

  Episode One: Leaving The Island

  Inua Ellams, Laurie Ogden and Alycia Pirmohamed unpack stories of travel and the heartbreak of homesickness. Featuring a mercenary Little Mermaid, a Persephone tale for third-culture kids, and Icarus fighting to survive in the refugee camps at the margins of...

  
• 05.13.2018

  Welcome to Bedtime Stories for the End of the World

  Welcome to Bedtime Stories for the End of the World - where we ask poets to rewrite their favourite myths, folk tales and fairy stories. First episode 18/06/18