Powerful and passionate words by poet Keith Armstrong inspired by his roots, his haunts, his Tyneside heroes.

Poet Clare Crossman reads a selection of her poetry from The Shape of Us and talks about the inspiration behind it. Clare also describes her work process and tells us about her projects. Although Clare has now migrated southwards, much of her poetry are drawn from her Northern roots.

Poems:

Cartography

Echo

Eileen at Fifty

Gravel Kind

Home Life

Nephews

Northerners

Portrait of My Father at 60

From the talented North Pens Writers: two very different short stories with intriguing titles and the common theme of social gatherings

Mythconceptions by Jenny Spooner

Hello, Who's Your Lady Friend? by Judy Goodwin

More tales and poetry from the Easington Writers' Group

We're Not Dead Yet a poem by Terry Dobson

The Slasher a short story by Mavis Farrell

Fen's World a poem by Mavis Farrell

Eating Jelly in the Welly a poem by Chris Robinson

Innocence a short story by Agnes Frain

A seemingly respectable housewife, Liz, gathers the mundane village news for the down-at-heel editor of a local newspaper. As the Editor desparately searches for a juicy story to boost readership, little does he know the less then respectable sources of Liz's news

Cast

Liz played by Rachel Cochrane

The Editor played by Howard Haywood

When comfortably middle-class Elly befriends a writer on the run from her abusive partner, they have more in common than imagined.

CAST

Elly: Helen Morris

Jo: Sue Nicholson

Marting & ex-husband: John Woods

Elly's Mother: Robin Piette

Counsellor: Sue Hedworth

Elly's father & Policeman: Andrew Palmer

includes the following poems:

Cheap Thrills

Goblins

January Blues

Forty Years On

Wishful

Muffin the Tortoiseshell Cat

A short story by Northumberland writer Sue White set on the banks of the River Wear and recorded at a writing retreat run by Rachel Cochrane at Gibside National Trust, Rowlands Gill. It was inspired by the radio play Benchmark written by Rachel Cochrane which is also available as a podcast on listenupnorth.

A tribal bid for power by Coira, a Celtic Queen. A tense and atmospheric story set almost 2000 years ago around the time of building Hadrian's Wall. Recorded at Segedunum Roman Fort and Museum.

Writer Michael Baron reads a selection of his poems, with subjects ranging from Rita Hayworth to bats. Recorded at Michaels' home in Cockermouth, Cumbria.

Michael's Poems:

Writing to Rita

Diary Note

Vol de Nuit

What If They Were Larks

Us