Story Radio Podcast

Writers Salon: Bohemia Theme – Brought to You from the Colony Room Green, London

Welcome to the first-ever Writers Salon, hosted at the Colony Room Green, an artist-run bar in London. The theme was Bohemia, with tales of 1980s art models, 19th-century stage acts, clubbing in Tenerife, and a famous musician dying in hospital. Thanks to all the amazing writers who participated; our next event will be on November 11th.

Featured Writers:

Kristin Burniston

Kristin Burniston, an MA Screenwriting graduate from University of the Arts London, has had her short film scripts TREE and HAIRY MARY selected by festivals like City of Angels and Best-Script London. Kristin is working on a children’s animation, a crime fiction TV series, and a feature film based on her novel.

Lindsay Gillespie

Lindsay Gillespie, from South Wales, now resides in the South Downs. She has lived in New Delhi, Washington DC, France, and Tokyo, where she taught English. A Costa 2021 Short Story Award finalist, she was also a finalist for the 2022 Bridport Short Story Prize, with stories shortlisted in Fiction Factory, Exeter, and Oxford Flash Fiction. Find her on Twitter @LindsGillesp14.

Darren Coffield

Darren Coffield, an artist and author, studied at Goldsmiths, Camberwell School of Art, and Slade School of Art. His exhibitions have appeared at the Courtauld Institute and National Portrait Gallery. His books include Tales from the Colony Room and Queens of Bohemia, which celebrates the brilliant women of Soho. He shared readings from Queens of Bohemia.

Goran Baba Ali

Goran Baba Ali, a writer and journalist, has published in Kurdish, Dutch, and English. His debut English-language novel The Glass Wall draws from his experience as an ex-refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan. He is the founder of Afsana Press.

Miki Lentin

Miki Lentin completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck and was a finalist for the 2020 Irish Novel Fair with Winter Sun. His short stories have been published in Litro and Story Radio. He released his short story collection Inner Core in 2022, and his debut novel Winter Sun was published by Afsana Press.

Martin Nathan

Martin Nathan’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in various journals. His novel A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke Award and the Woodward International Prize.

Tabitha Potts

Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.

Simon Roberts

Simon Roberts, based in West London, writes short stories and flash fiction. His story Dirty Chicken & Rice was a 2024 Plaza Prizes finalist, and his adaptation of The Slaves of Solitude was produced by Questors Theatre in 2024. He was longlisted for the 2022 Fish Short Story Prize.

Photos courtesy of Miki Lentin. Some sexual swearwords are used in these readings so the episode has been marked as Explicit.

A young girl goes for a walk in the country with life-changing consequences. This short story by Lana Citron was originally published in US magazine Thin Air, 2022 under the title "The Understanding".

Trigger warning: The following short story contains content and or references of a violent and sexual nature. These may be distressing or triggering to some sensitive listeners. Please proceed with caution. If you find these topics difficult to engage with, you may choose to skip this story.

Lana Citron is a prize-winning author and scriptwriter with twenty years’ professional writing experience. She has published five novels, two non-fiction books and numerous short stories, plays, poems, film scripts, articles and book reviews. You can read more about her at www.lanacitron.com.

The sound engineer was Gabriel Hansen and the producer was Tabitha Potts.

Music from freesound.org P: Sad Music by Nancy_Sinclair

Photographer credit: ©Valentina Lari 

We interview Daisy Goodwin, novelist and screenwriter, about her latest novel, Diva (Head of Zeus March 2024), inspired by the life of the brilliant soprano Maria Callas.

The novel opens at a time when Callas is at the height of her extraordinary career but in a stultifying marriage and haunted both by her unhappy childhood and the ever-present fear of losing her voice.

When she meets Aristotle Onassis, she believes she has finally met her soulmate. But as the novel makes clear, just like the tragic heroines she embodies on stage, even her fame and brilliance cannot save Callas from heartbreak.

We talk to Daisy about the nature of the word 'diva', musical genius and the fragile nature of the human voice.

Daisy Goodwin is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The American Heiress and The Fortune Hunter. She is the screenwriter of the PBS/Masterpiece drama Victoria and lives in London.

She is also Tabitha Potts' sister and they have worked together in the past.

This month we have two auto-fiction stories about parents and children.

Our first auto-fiction piece, "Close to Revelation" written by Janet Lawrence, is set during the pandemic and tells the story of a woman trying to get pregnant using IVF while chaos erupts all around her.

Janet Lawrence is a writer, journalist, and video producer based in New York City. In her writing, she often examines life's "small" moments to try and find truths that unite us. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and her two children.

Narrator/Voice Over actor: Alexandra Echavarri 

Music Composer: Olga Gonithellis  

Our second auto-fiction piece, "Check Your Tire Pressure" by Corinne Noufi, tells the story of a father and daughter and how their love for each other is expressed in seemingly mundane, but very important, rituals that bring them closer together.

This episode contains a swear word.

Corinne Noufi is a marine scientist dedicated to promoting sustainable ocean practices and preserving our waters for future generations. With 17 years spent in Colorado and another decade in Washington State, Corinne now calls Brunswick, Maine, home. She brings her passion and expertise to her role at the Aquaculture Research Institute at the University of Maine, where she runs her own podcast, "Salty Talks." In her free time, Corinne enjoys biking, hiking, cooking, and, of course, podcasting! Join her on "Salty Talks" as she dives into fascinating conversations about aquaculture, marine conservation, and the future of our oceans

The readers are Corinne Noufi and her father Rommel Noufi. 

Music used in "Check Your Tire Pressure" is courtesy of Podcastle/Salty Talks.

Story Radio interviews Katie Willis, author of The Quiet Act of Loving Bones, published by Joan Publishing. We discuss bones, inspiration, the colour yellow, Russia and lucid dreaming.

"It is rare to come across a book that feels, at the same time, overwhelmingly strange and delightfully familiar. The Quiet Act of Loving Bones takes you into a world that is intimate and physical but also ghostly and ecstatic. You'll dance with it until you feel dizzy and transformed. I think Katie Willis has written a classic."

- Toby Litt

Katie Willis has written a beautifully precise dance anti-narrative. Her story is about the quiet defiance of using an interior world to navigate the complexities of embodied life. This book is for anyone who has been an adolescent or a dreamer.

- Laura Joyce

About Katie Willis

Katie Willis was a ballet dancer. She lives in London, close to a river, dividing her time between water and land, home and hospital. She writes about women and water, bodies and bones, and the stories that bones hold individually and collectively. This is her first novel.

This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.

Music: dark piano-loop in f-minor 2 by Baz_Odink_NL -- https://freesound.org/s/442780/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Eleven-and-a-half months ago, Mary didn’t know she had sisters. Now, at her home in Hove on England’s South Coast, they meet to scatter their mother Anne’s ashes.

This episode was written, directed, and produced by Kristin Burniston.

Kristin is a graduate of the MA Screenwriting program at the University of Arts London. In 2023, her short film scripts TREE and HAIRY MARY were selected by the City of Angels Film Festival, WOFFF (where HAIRY MARY placed 2nd), and Best-Script, London.

Recently, Kristin‘s script EGGS was made into a short film and will soon be released on to the festival circuit. Currently, Kristin is working on a London-based children’s animation, a crime fiction TV series, and a feature film script based on her menopausal rite-of-passage novel.

ANNE was published in 2022 in Brighton and Beyond: A West Hill Writers Anthology under the pseudonym “Maggie Winters”.

Mary read by Elly Tipping

María read by Iniki Mariano

Marguerite read by Florentia Antoniou

Lucas and Joe read by Theo Greenwood

Photo by Richard Burniston

Written, read and produced by Kristin Burniston

Sound recording by Holywell Studio

Sound design by Christopher Nathan

Post-production and mixing by Duncan Illing

Executive Producer – H Howard

As there are swearwords in this episode, we have rated it as Explicit.

Martin Nathan and Tabitha Potts interview writer Miki Lentin about his new novel Winter Sun, published by Afsana Press in 2024.

A nine-day winter break in Tenerife. Nothing is quite good enough. A son tries in vain to ask his ailing, elderly Irish Jewish father questions about their past before it is too late. The absurdity and hilarity of family holidays in the sun are brought to life in this sharp and fiercely honest novel that crosses borders, carrying the reader on a ride of childhood pain, a search for identity, and growth.

Miki talks about auto-fiction, package holidays, memory and meals in this fascinating interview.

Miki Lentin took up writing while travelling the world with his family a few years ago.

Miki completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck in 2020, and was a finalist in the 2020 Irish Novel Fair for his first book, Winter Sun.

Miki has been placed highly in competitions including Fish Publishing Short Memoir Prize, Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Award, and Leicester Writes, and has been published in Litro, Storgy, Story Radio, MIR amongst others.

In 2022 he brought out a collection of short stories with Afsana Press, Inner Core, that cover death, anxiety, masculinity, family and children and social good. The book was called 'consistently enthralling... funny, moving and disturbing in equal measure' by Francis Gilbert, author of I’m a Teacher Get Me Out of Here.

Miki volunteers with refugee charity Breaking Barriers and with foodKIND in Greece, and dreams of one day running a café again. 

Martin Nathan produced this episode.

Martin Nathan’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.

A student goes on a day trip to the seaside with his mum, and ends up learning a great deal more about himself - and her.

This story was written and read by Simon Roberts. Simon Roberts is currently based in West London and writes short stories and flash fiction. He was longlisted for the 2022 Fish Short Story Prize. He has read his work on Riverside Radio, London’s largest community radio station. Simon also writes for the theatre; his adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s 1947 novel The Slaves of Solitude will be produced by the Questors Theatre in 2024.

This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts, writer and podcaster. She recently received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck University and a First in English Language and Literature from Oxford University. Read her short story collection here or visit her website.

Photo by Tabitha Potts.

Seaside sounds used in the recording were courtesy of Yarmonics on Freesound.org.

This episode contains some sexual swearwords so has been marked as explicit.

Listen to an interview with Jane Labous and hear her reading from her new novel, Past Participle, published by Afsana Press.

Dakar, Senegal, 1987: On a rainy night after a wild party, the British ambassador’s wife, Vivienne Hughes, is involve in a car crash. Her vehicle hits the motorbike of a young Senegalese doctor, Aimé Tunkara, killing him. Pleading diplomatic immunity, Vivienne and her husband flee to England.

Three decades later, Aimé’s little sister, Lily Tunkara, now a high-flying lawyer in Dakar, finds a photograph that compels her to investigate what really happened that rainy night. As Lily faces increasing hostility from the local community, she turns to Vivienne Hughes, the only remaining witness, but is either woman prepared for the truth to emerge?

Past Participle is the story of two women bound together by the faultlines of the past, a study of love and guilt, power and desire, retribution and forgiveness.

Jane Labous is an award-winning author, BBC journalist and broadcaster known for her frontline coverage of human rights and gender issues, always telling the powerful human stories behind the headlines.

Jane read English & French at Jesus College, Oxford, before working for the UK and international press and INGOs, most often out of Dakar, Senegal. This while developing her creative art as a writer, filmmaker and novelist, drawing on her insider knowledge of the aid sector and foreign journalism, and her unique experience of both expat and local family life in Ngor, Dakar.

Jane's credits span a vista of international outlets, including The Independent, Voice of America, Geographical, The LA Times, BBC Africa and BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent. She has also worked as a writer and filmmaker for aid/humanitarian agencies including the UN, the World Health Organisation, Save The Children, and Amnesty International. She has won the BBC Radio 4 and Royal Geographical Society Documentary Award, the Merck More than a Mother Media Recognition & Film Award for Francophone African Countries, and a European Journalism Centre Development Reporting Grant.

Her fiction has been longlisted for the Bath Novel Prize and the Santa Fé Writers' Project Literary Award.

This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts, writer and podcaster. She recently received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck University and a First in English Language and Literature from Oxford University. Read her short story collection here or visit her website.

Tabitha Potts and Martin Nathan interview the lead curator and guest curator of the British Library’s blockbuster exhibition, Fantasy: Realms of Imagination, Tanya Kirk and Matthew Sangster. The exhibition runs until 25th February 2024 and tickets can be booked here.

The exhibition has been critically acclaimed with a five star review in The Telegraph, ‘a visually captivating treat’, and has been featured in The Guardian, The I Newspaper, Apollo Magazine and BBC Radio 4: Front Row to name a few.

We interviewed both curators about the process of assembling an exhibition featuring over 100 objects that spans the breadth of a genre as varied as Fantasy, from its roots in epics and mythology to contemporary writers like Neil Gaiman and Susanna Clarke.

Tanya Kirk, Lead Curator, Printed Heritage Collections 1601-1900, has worked at the British Library for 16 years, currently as the leading expert on 300 years of the Library’s printed collections. She has curated six major exhibitions on topics including Gothic fiction, Shakespeare in performance, the British landscape in literature, science fiction and most recently, Fantasy: Realms of Imagination. She is the editor of four Christmas-themed collections of short stories in the British Library’s Tales of the Weird series. With Matthew, she co-edited Realms of Imagination: Essays from the Wide Worlds of Fantasy (2023).

Matthew Sangster joined the University of Glasgow in 2016 and was promoted to Professor of Romantic Studies, Fantasy and Cultural History in 2022. Prior to that Matthew worked at the British Library cataloguing the archive of the Royal Literary Fund and contributing to the exhibitions The Worlds of Mervyn Peake in 2011 and Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands in 2012. Matthew is the author of Living as an Author in the Romantic Period (2021) and An Introduction to Fantasy (2023); co-director of Glasgow’s Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic (with Dimitra Fimi); and a founding co-editor (with Brian Attebery and Dimitra Fimi) of the Bloomsbury Perspectives on Fantasy series.

This episode was produced by Martin Nathan. Martin Nathan’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.

Episode cover image adapted from Carceri Etchings, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, (17501761) © British Library Board