City Winter is a gentle reminder of the relationships we can lose with each other, and with nature. It’s a prompt to treasure every small moment, every falling snowflake.

This piece is the winner of Northern Broadsides and Arvon’s short story competition, and is read by Neil Grainger.

City Winter by Ellen McKeag

Ellen McKeag is a creative writing student at Leeds Art University. She hails from North Yorkshire, where her love for reading and writing was influenced by the countryside she grew up in. Before pursuing her degree, Ellen worked as a falconer, an experience that has influenced her creative work.

About Neil Grainger

Born and bred in Middlesbrough, Neil began his acting career in ITV daytime soap Crossroads and was nominated for Best Actor at the 2002 Soap Awards. In Theatre, Neil worked extensively at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough under Sir Alan Ayckbourn, appearing in Time and Time Again, The Champion of Paribanou and My Sister Sadie. He also appeared in the Edinburgh Fringe First award winning show Crush in which he was also nominated for Best Actor at the Stage Acting Excellence Awards. Neil went on to star in 2 series of the BBC2 sitcom Hebburn, and most appeared in ITV dramas The Hunt for Raoul Moat and A Spy Among Friends, FX drama Say Nothing, BBC’s The Capture and can be currently seen as a series regular in the BBC sitcom Smoggie Queens, set in his native Boro and available now on BBC iPlayer.

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Hana Gillani

Hana is a single disabled parent of an 8-year-old. Previously an asylum seeker and now a refugee, she loves creative writing and poems. She loves to paint this world with the beauty of words and storytelling. She tries her best to give a voice to the most voiceless. Her words are expression of unity and love. 

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Dancing Dan’s Christmas Gift by Damon Runyon is set on Christmas Eve in New York, where we meet a cast of associates drinking at a speakeasy. 

Damon Runyon

Damon Runyon was an American journalist and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era.

Jamie Parker

Theatre: Next To Normal (Donmar Warehouse); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Southwark Playhouse Elephant), The Doctor (Adelaide Festival), Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace Theatre, Olivier for Best Actor, and Lyric Theater, Broadway, Tony Nomination for Best Actor), High Society (Old Vic), Guys and Dolls (Chichester Festival and Savoy Theatre, Olivier Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), Candida (Theatre Royal Bath), Proof (Menier Chocolate Factory), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Chichester and West End), My Zinc Bed (Northampton Theatre Royal), Racing Demon (Sheffield Crucible), A New World, As You Like It, HENRY IV Parts 1 & 2, HENRY V (Shakespeare’s Globe), Revenger’s Tragedy, The History Boys (National Theatre), The History Boys (Broadway and World Tour), Singer (Tricycle Theatre), Between the Crosses (Jermyn Street), Holes In The Skin, The Gondoliers (Chichester Festival Theatre) and After the Dance (Oxford Stage Co.)   

TV: The Crown (Netflix), Masters Of The Air (Apple TV+), The Long Shadow, Endeavour, Des, Wire in the Blood, Foyle’s War (ITV), Becoming Elizabeth (Starz), BBC Proms, Jonathan Stage and Mr. Norrell, Count Arthur Strong, Silk, Burn Up, Silent Witness, Maxwell (BBC).  

Film: 1917, Dirty Weekend, Valkyrie, The History Boys, Journey Home, The Lady in the Van.  

Music: The Golden Age of Broadway (Proms, 2021), The John Wilson Orchestra Performs, Frank Sinatra (Proms, 2015) 

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Christmas with Kylie Always! is a new story by Anjum Malik about negotiating a family Christmas after a big night out. It is read by Mina Anwar.  

Anjum Malik 

Anjum Malik is a script writer and poet, she is also a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan university and one of Manchester’s first multilingual City Poets for Manchester City of Literature, UNESCO. As a script writer she has been prolific writing for BBC Radio 4 Drama and Television, Coronation Street, ITV, regional and national theatres, community, and arts bodies. Her poetry has been featured in several anthologies as well as her own collection, ‘Before The Rains’. She was born in Saudi Arabia of Pakistani heritage. 

Mina Anwar 

Prolific stage, screen and radio actor, director and singer. TV includes The Thin Blue Line, Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who, In The Club and Happy Valley. Theatre includes original casts of Olivier Award-winning Sheffield Crucible/West End shows Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Life of Pi, Spring and Port Wine (Bolton Octagon) and The Book Thief (Curve, Leicester). 

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It’s a Wonderful Life is a new story set in a small town on a winter’s night.  

It is read by the author.  

Clare Shaw (they/them) has four poetry collections with Bloodaxe. Their latest collection Towards a General Theory of Love (2022) is a poetic exploration of love and its absence: it won a Northern Writer’s Award and was a Poetry Society Book of the Year 2022. Clare lectures at the University of Huddersfield, and runs courses for Wordsworth Grasmere, the Royal Literary Fund and the Arvon Foundation. Clare is also a popular performer with multiple appearances on Radio 3 and 4, including “Pick of the Week”. With a background in mental health and education, Clare is a keen advocate for writing as means of personal and social change, and they have established writing projects in workplaces and communities across the UK.   

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A tribute to all relatives who are truly clueless gift-givers. 

Read by Samuel Barnett

Saki

Saki (real name Hector Hugh Munro) was a British Edwardian writer who began his career in 1896 as a journalist. Saki first found success in his short story writing, particularly those which acted as political satire. He also wrote two novels, The Unbearable Bassington and When William Came, before enlisting for the First World War. He was shot and killed in 1916.

Samuel Barnett

Originally from Whitby in North Yorkshire, Samuel studied acting at LAMDA and works across theatre television, film, radio, video games and voice over. He is an Oliver, BIFA and two-time Tony Award nominee, and winner of WhatsOnStage, Drama Desk and The Stage Edinburgh awards for his work in The History Boys, Twelfth Night and Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen.

He plays the titular character in Netflix/BBCAmerica’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and other tv credits include Four Lives, Penny Dreadful, Desperate Romantics, Beautiful People, Not Safe For Work, Twenty Twelve, and John Adams. He can soon be seen in the films Lee, And Mrs and Polite Society, and other film credits include The Lady In The Van, Jupiter Ascending and Mrs. Henderson Presents. 

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This story follows Mr and Mrs Thackenbury’s distate for the holidays. 

Read by Samuel Barnett

Saki

Saki (real name Hector Hugh Munro) was a British Edwardian writer who began his career in 1896 as a journalist. Saki first found success in his short story writing, particularly those which acted as political satire. He also wrote two novels, The Unbearable Bassington and When William Came, before enlisting for the First World War. He was shot and killed in 1916.

Samuel Barnett

Originally from Whitby in North Yorkshire, Samuel studied acting at LAMDA and works across theatre television, film, radio, video games and voice over. He is an Oliver, BIFA and two-time Tony Award nominee, and winner of WhatsOnStage, Drama Desk and The Stage Edinburgh awards for his work in The History Boys, Twelfth Night and Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen.

He plays the titular character in Netflix/BBCAmerica’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and other tv credits include Four Lives, Penny Dreadful, Desperate Romantics, Beautiful People, Not Safe For Work, Twenty Twelve, and John Adams. He can soon be seen in the films Lee, And Mrs and Polite Society, and other film credits include The Lady In The Van, Jupiter Ascending and Mrs. Henderson Presents. 

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A story from Jeanette Winterson's Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days collection.

Jeanette Winterson CBE is a British writer. After graduating from Oxford University, she published her first novel at 25. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is based on her own upbringing but using herself as a fictional character. She scripted the novel into a BAFTA-winning BBC drama. 27 years later she re-visited that material in her internationally bestselling memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

She has written thirteen novels for adults, two collections of short stories, as well as children’s books, non-fiction and screenplays. 12 Bytes is her latest book.

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The iconic poem about the arrival of St Nicholas in a quiet house on Christmas eve.

Read by Andrew Whitehead

Clement Clarke Moore

Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863) was an influential American writer and real estate developer, best known for this iconic Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas."

As a Professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, Moore played a pivotal role in its development by contributing land. Over a 44-year period, he served as a trustee at Columbia College and contributed to various institutions, including the New York Society Library and the New York Institution for the Blind. Moore's enduring legacy lies in his literary contributions and his impact on the development of New York City.

Andrew Whitehead

Andrew has worked extensively in theatre throughout his career.  

For Northern Broadsides: Much Ado About Nothing, A Christmas Carol, Cyrano, The War Of The Roses, School For Scandal, The Bells, The Merchant Of Venice, Henry V, A Woman Killed With Kindness, Antigone, Poetry Or Bust, Oedipus, The Cracked Pot, The Merry Wives Of Windsor, King John, Alcestis, Romeo & Juliet, Samson Agonistes, The Passion, Antony And Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Trackers Of Oxyrinchus Canterbury Tales, An August Bank Holiday Lark, She Stoops to Conquer, The Winter’s Tale and The Twelve Tales of Christmas. 

Other theatre credits include: The Book of Will (Queens Hornchurch/Bolton Octagon/Shakespeare North), the World Premiere of The Book Thief (Bolton Octagon), Say Yes to Tess (Leeds Playhouse/Camden People’s Theatre), Wind in The Willows, Witches Promise (Birmingham Rep); Dangerous Obsession (Esk Valley Theatre); Sleeping Beauty (Qdos - Beck Theatre); The Wife of Usher’s Well (Quondam Theatre); Rogue Herries, A Chorus of Disapproval, Summer Lightning, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Around The World In 80 Days, Under The Blue Sky, Rebecca (Keswick Theatre By The Lake); Unsung (Liverpool Playhouse), The Glee Club (Library Theatre Manchester); Cinderella (Harrogate Theatre); Richard II (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie (New Vic); A Christmas Carol and Toast (Hull Truck); The Wind In The Willows (Oldham Coliseum); The Grapes Of Wrath (American Drama Group Europe); The Cost Of Living (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Little Sure Shot (West Yorkshire Playhouse/The Egg, Bristol) and (Old Laundry Theatre). 

Andrew's television and film credits include: Coronation Street, Brassic, The Runaways, Emmerdale and The Big Chance.  

His radio credits include: Stone - ‘Dead Fishes’, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, Alcestis, The Cracked Pot (BBC).    

As a Musical Director, Andrew wrote and produced the music for the award-winning Tongue Twister (24:7 Festival). 

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On a gloomy Christmas eve, a family arrives in London to find something much more valuable than what they had hoped for.

Sadhana Narayanan

Sadhana Narayanan is a young person and creative, currently studying Arts and Sciences at UCL. She's a New Vic Youth Theatre alum and a contributor for Voice: an online platform for young people interested in art, culture, and politics. Sadhana is also part of Boundless Theatre's Youth Advisory Board and took part in the Young Writers’ Forge scheme run by Northern Broadsides. 

Devashrie De Silva

Devashrie de Silva is a singer, songwriter, actor and recording artiste.

She enjoys performing in various genres in western and eastern music. She has released several original singles as well as been a part of many collaborations. She also trained in acting and received her MA Acting from The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, London and taken up a myriad of roles in several musical theatre productions in Sri Lanka and been a part of stage and TV productions UK. Devashrie is also a known media personality in Sri Lanka, having worked in reality shows and talk shows. She is a voice trainer, working with different age groups. Devashrie is a passionate believer in the power of arts in positive social transformation.

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