Love the Words

Hannah Stone talks to Chris Cambell, a queer neurodivergent immigrant who believes in constant reinvention, endless curiosity, and helping people prioritise daily creativity. Chris is a slam champion, an experienced facilitator, has a book of poetry published by Broken Sleep Books, and is a two-time UK National Poetry Slam finalist.

Award winning plays from Script Yorkshire's 2025 radio-drama competition. Teabreak-length tales from three writers, and a brace of the best repeated from 2024.

The Skippko Research Team, with Prof. Peter Anderson from Leeds University and Matthew Bellwood, talk about Wish You Were Here, a fascinating oral history project about British tourism in Spain over the last 40 years.

Mick Jenkinson is a poet, songwriter, musician, and freelance arts practitioner. He runs Well Spoken, a monthly poetry evening at Doncaster Brewery. His latest poetry pamphlet, A Parliament of Apples, was published in 2026 by Sherwood Handcraft.

Patrick Lodge is an Irish-Welsh poet who lives in Yorkshire. He has read at festivals across Europe and the UK. His 4th collection, "There You Are", is published by Valley Press. He reads from the book and talks about identity, belonging, and home.

A Bright Room Called Day is a rarely staged play by Tony Kushner. Produced by Leeds Arts Centre, it follows a group of friends in 1930's Berlin navigating the rise of fascism. Director Marlowe talks about the play and the process of working with Tony Kushner to bring it to the Leeds stage.

Juleus Ghunta is a poet and editor whose poems have appeared in The Caribbean Writer , Wasafiri , Poetry Archive , and Chiron Review. He speaks from where he lives in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada about art, childhood trauma and education. Also: a feature from the Fall Into Place 'Solace' group.

It’s summer 1948 and Amba’s on the flight of her life. Yorkshire author/sheep farmer Stephanie Shields has just been awarded a gold medal for her new novel After Amba. She talks about the book and reflects on her writing thus far.

Stacy Garrop is a Chicago-based composer whose work, performed all over the world, centres on dramatic storytelling. She talks to LTW, with Tony Macaluso and Agnes Leonovicz, about her fabulous new project, Glorious Mahalia, with The Knonos Quartet and the voice of Studs Terkel.

A series of original sketches created by Fall Into Place Theatre on the theme of More In Common (than divides us). Fall Into Place uses creativity and fun to bring people together and is based in East Leeds.

Helped by some old statues, Leonard Cohen and Taking Back Sunday, Christopher R. Moore considers what it really means to let go. A Writing On Air 2026 highlight.

Maurice de Sausmarez was the artist and arts education visionary who presided over a golden fine art era in Leeds in the 1950's. Kerry Harker curated the current exhibition.

Joanna Jowett’s interdisciplinary practice includes performance, print, photography, writing and publishing. Richard Wilcocks is a poet and an expert on film adaptations of Bronte novels.

Pearls of The White Lizard, a story from Isabel Edain. Isabel's favourite weather is mist and her favourite colour is green. She lives in Leeds with 948 books and an ivy plant.

Two prominent West Yorkshire poets read from and talk about their new work: Julia Deakin, with 3 collections and a pamphlet to her name, and Tallulah Howarth whose first pamphlet An Alternative Xanadu is just out.

From Jamaica, of Jamaican and Venezuelan parentage, Shara McCallum is the author of seven books, published in the US & UK. Her latest collection Behold is published by Peepal Tree, April 2026. Here she reads from the book and talks about art and identity.

Typewriter Poet Molly Ovenden and fellow writers Tony Macaluso, Charlotte Carrick and Tallulah Howarth talk about crossing the threshold from solitary creating to public sharing.

Emily Zobel Marshall is a Leeds-based literary activist, poet and Professor of Postcolonial Literature. She researches Caribbean carnival and trickster folklore and has published several academic books and two poetry collections with Peepal Tree Press, Bath of Herbs (2023) and Other Wil d (2025). Emily talks about mountains, grieving, and her current projects.

Love, betrayal, and the 1966 World Cup, in this atmospheric audio drama from Jacqueline Everett set in communist Hungary. One of the many highlights of Writing On Air 2026.

Leeds Arts Centre give us a blast of their innovative new production of Orwell's 1984, and editor Millie Lacey talks about the invaluable resource that is The State of The Arts online platform for arts and info in W. Yorkshire.

Children from All Saints Primary School in East End Park, Leeds, give us poetry, ideas and songs on the theme of Underground in this Love The Words Year 4 Special!

Four poets read from the latest Issue of Pennine Platform (winner of 'Best Cultural Promotion Publication' in the Northern Enterprise Awards 2025) read poems and talk about them with editor-in-chief Julia Deakin.

Timely satirical audio drama by Freya Jackson. It's all kicking off in the streets. But has it been minuted? This play was first broadcast as part of Writing On Air 2026.

'In the derelict shell of what was once his family home, a dying man surveys the wreckage of his former life and drinks himself senseless'. But this is also a book that brims with hope and love. Stu Hennigan on his brand new novel.

What’s domestic abuse really like for victim-survivors? And what are the harmful narratives that need to be changed? Experts in the field discuss.