Love the Words

In depth interview with Alan Lyddiard, Artistic Director of The Performance Ensemble, about his long and committed history as a theatre director. Alan talks passionately about the place of older people in our culture.

An interview with innovative theatre producer Deborah Dickinson, currently with Mind The Gap and her own production company On The Wire, plus the Tenter Hook project; Boff Whalley on walking and singing, plus Matthew H.Stoppard, Grace Darbyshire and more...

Francois Matarasso reflects on a life in community arts and on his major book about socially-engaged arts, A Restless Art; plus a new virus-inspired book by Joe Williams, and poet Malika Booker explores Chapeltown - and a Radio Free Kinsley episode to boot!

Poet Seni Seneviratne conjures up her family's past in Holbeck, Leeds, plus The Writing Squad under lockdown and Otley Folk Festival online.

An interview with Sara Lee, Artistic Director of the amazing Irene Taylor Trust (Music in Prisons), the UK charity that sends musicians into prisons for week-long residencies, plus a story about Old Boney from Martin Riley; and the poet James Nash on Leeds and Life and much much more.

Angles of Light: writer Juleus Ghunta introduces Caribbean poets reading their own work in this 100th LTW; a fascinating collection with music chosen by the writers.

Writer and Artistic Director of The Writing Squad, Steve Dearden, talks about how the Squad are responding to the pandemic, and about his flying; Leeds storyteller Matthew Bellwood with an eerie tale, plus young poet Maya Allen with a powerful piece about identity and race.

Interview with South Yorkshire poet and dramatist Matt Black, plus new monologues from emerging writers in the north of England introduced by Writing Squad graduate and scriptwriter Charlotte Carrick.

It's July 2020: After the government’s announcement of a £1.5billion for the arts, what do we want: recovery or revolution? Plus Emma Storr, Pam Line, Keith Fenton, The Writing Squad, and more.

New Found Fiction podcast presented by Steve Clarkson, Anzir Boodoo with his extraordinary rendition of Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, and scurrilous Radio Free Kinsley Ep 7 from Jimmy Andrex & friends!

Melissa Wuidart Phillips reads her short fiction 'Trinket', plus Part 2 of Sonic Stops from Better Songs Productions on the history of music in Leeds, commissioned by Music:Leeds.

Tanya Shadrick talks about her forthcoming memoir 'The Cure For Sleep' and about late-waking, renewal, and staying alive.

In this 150th episode, singer, choir-whisperer Em Whitfield Brooks talks about change, presence, & her work in Voice; Joe Williams on his new poetry collection.

Verity Britton and Rosie Parsons from Better Songs present Part I of Sonic Stops, their recent commission from Music Leeds for Abbey House Museum.

Singer, choir-whisperer, life coach Em Whitfield Brooks talks about change, 'presence', & her work in Voice; plus Joe Williams on his new poetry collection, The Taking Part.

Andrew McMillan, winner of The Guardian First Book Award for his first collection physical, talks about Pandemonium, his visceral new collection with Cape - & reminisces about Chapel FM.

A piratical love-story from Melissa Wuidart Phillips, the final Pandemical from Jimmy Andrex, & an archive Wordybirds.

Rob Cowen talks to Peter Spafford about his extraordinary new book The Heeding, out later this month. The Heeding, illustrated by Nick Hayes (The Book of Trespass), is a moving meld of autobiography, pandemic journal, nature observation, prophecy, remedy.

Brian Williams talks about his two new novels, a Luddite drama from Calderdale and a rite of passage story set in the sizzling summer of ’76.

Presenters and writers D3 and Sarah talk about Loudspeaker, a brand new monthly words show on ELFM, plus 2 highlights of Writing On Air 2021: Blend, a bittersweet meditation on make up and makeovers by Charlotte Carrick and Lydia Allison, and dystopian radio drama The Future is Already Here by James Fernie.

In our mini-series of interviews about Voice, Zelino Modesto talks about the art of listening, his own work with voice, and his fascinating podcast ' Why I Listen ’, plus a vintage Wordybirds episode.

The Weight of Smoke by Peter Spafford: song settings of poems by Sir Walter Raleigh, conflicted explorer, imperialist, poet, politician, played by Spafford and Dave Bowie Jnr, with interlinking poems and text by Peter Spafford read by Pam Hilton and Owain Shaw. Plus ep 8 of Jimmy Andrex's Covid journal in verse, The Pandemical, plus a vintage ep of Wordybirds from the pandemic summer of 2020.

Elspeth Morrison, Voice Coach, on her work on accent and identity with actors, newsreaders and podcasters, plus Wordybirds with Steph Shields.

Love The Words: Steve Clarkson talks about new Found Fiction projects, Irene Lofthouse on 26 Characters, fiction from P.J.Quinn, and a good old-fashioned monologue from Keith Fenton.

Love The Words. Playwright Emma Adams talks about her journey in writing, her experience of lockdown - and a new musical!