Story Radio Podcast

In this episode, Martin Nathan and Tabitha Potts speak to Darren Coffield, artist, author and host at the Colony Room Green, about his book Hen, Mistress of Mayhem: A Portrait of Henrietta Moraes . We learn about Moraes' appalling childhood, her work as a writer, her life in Bohemian Soho, her friends, lovers and husbands and what it was like to be a muse and model for Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud...

Tabitha Potts is interviewed by Martin Nathan about her debut novel, The House of Dust and Shadows, published by Rowan Prose Publishing on June 16th 2026. The House of Dust and Shadows is a Gothic mystery novel about the death of a famous painter and how it affects his three daughters when he disinherits all three of them in favour of someone else. We discuss ghosts, art and monstrous fathers in o...

In Wolf. Normal., a divorced mother impulsively decides to go on a challenging wilderness hike with a group of strangers. Over a day's hiking and a night sleeping in a remote cabin, she finds a strength and power within herself that she never realised existed before. Wolf. Normal was written and read by Lynne Curry. The producer was Tabitha Potts. The short story was first published in Literally S...

Ava Glass: The Hiding Season This week on Story Radio, Tabitha Potts and Martin Nathan talk to Ava Glass (shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger and dubbed "the new Queen of spy fiction" by The Guardian) about her compelling new novel, The Hiding Season , published by Penguin on 26th March 2026. The Hiding Season marks a bold departure from Ava's acclaimed Emma Makepeace series. Where those novels f...

In this episode of Story Radio, we are delighted to welcome Lottie Moggach to discuss her gripping new novel, Mrs Pearcey (published by Phoenix Books on 5th February 2026). Inspired by the true crime that scandalised 1890s London, the novel follows Hannah Teale, a bright young woman whose life becomes entwined with the trial of Mary Pearcey - a woman accused of a brutal double murder in Camden Tow...

We speak to Sally Page, best-selling author, about her new novel Six Little Words . Six Little Words follows two strangers embarking together on a Shakespeare-inspired scavenger hunt only to learn that you’re never too old to find love or pursue your dreams. We discuss mid-life romance, friendship, exploring your creativity, writing the male voice, lies, synaesthesia, painting and more. Blackstone...

Long hidden in an attic, vivid and revelatory poems shine a new light on the life and loves of Iris Murdoch. In the dusty attic of Iris Murdoch’s Oxford home lay a battered, black chest. In 2016, when the chest was finally opened, Murdoch’s life in poems was revealed. Renowned for her fiercely intelligent novels and groundbreaking philosophy, Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth c...

Story Radio interviews Mathew Gostelow, the editor of Silent Screams: An Anthology of Quiet Horror , about trends in the horror genre, the meaning of 'quiet horror', the child's perspective in horror writing, contemporary vs historical fiction and many other topics such as Twin Peaks and Frankenstein. We listen to a reading of 'Barnabas Calstock's Last Wish' by the author Terry Holland (Trigger wa...

A man who is the main carer for his stubborn and independent elderly mother experiences increasingly eerie encounters with mysterious creatures in the marshy landscape surrounding her home. Written by Daniel Jeffreys Dr Daniel Jeffreys works as a university lecturer with a special interest in the weird tale. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, LITRO, AMBIT and The London Magazine. Read by Ni...

August 6, 2025 marked eighty years since the nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. "The Misappropriation of Clouds" is a fictional short story based on a member of the writer's own family. This individual unwittingly played a part in one of the most devastating tragedies in human history — Hiroshima.  Following the 80 year commemoration of the bombing of Hiroshima, "The Misappropriation of C...

Poppet is the story of a young girl growing up in a hippy commune in rural England in 1976. She resents her mother, their social worker and most of all the commune leader, Dion. Over a long harvest season, Poppet learns what she must sacrifice in order to be free. A folk-horror inspired short story by Tabitha Potts, Poppet won an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize in 2022 an...

Our Writers' salon on the theme of libraries explores characters as diverse as saints, memories, universities, the necessity of writing novels, dystopian visions of the future and seed banks. We chose the theme of Libraries because at a time of book burning and censorship the Library remains a place of freedom of thought and expression. Our first reading is 'Members of Dead Libraries' written by D...

In this episode Story Radio visited a fascinating exhibition about mudlarking on the Thames and interviewed some of the mudlarks and other people involved in the exhibition. London Museum Docklands recently opened its new major exhibition Secrets of the Thames: Mudlarking London’s lost treasures (4 April 2025 – 1 March 2026) and we were delighted to be among the first to visit it. The first major...

A Story Radio Salon on the theme of Love, with readings from works in progress by some of our regular writer guests. Kristin Burniston  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, Kris...

Not Yet  is the story of Gabrielle, a woman traveling to the absurdly picturesque coastline of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula with her son, their first family trip since her separation from his father. It is a place that holds many memories, and when she suddenly finds herself bleeding uncontrollably all over Tulum, the past catches up with her. It’s a startling, powerful story about womanhood, f...

Let The Good Times Roll. Larry has been a circus clown for over thirty years. Now, with the threat of closure, he stands to lose everything. About Duncan Robert Illing Duncan is a writer living in Brighton, his first short story Let The Good Times Roll was published in June 2022 in Brighton & Beyond, A West Hill Writers Anthology .  A writer of fiction, memoir, non-fiction and script, a r...

In this episode Martin Nathan and Tabitha Potts interview Lead Curator Dr Eleanor Jackson and Julian Harrison, about the British Library's latest blockbuster exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, where visitors will discover how the voices of medieval women still resonate across the centuries and speak powerfully to our world today. We discuss famous historical figures such as Joan of Ar...

Our second live recording of six writers reading their work in the intimate surroundings of the Colony Room Green bar. There will be occasional drink mixing and pouring, laughter and doors opening! Listen to Lana Citron talk about food as an aphrodisiac, Sue Hubbard read her novel Three about food as a source of emotional renewal, Lindsay Gillespie read her story about ravenous mermaids enjoying a...

In 19th-century Sweden, Caesaria is kept in a doctor's mansion as a trophy: she is the first baby to be born alive from one of his c-sections.  In a Gothic ambience, Caesaria narrates in first person her experiences in the mansion and her encounters with its mysterious inhabitants and visitors. Does she know where she comes from? Where is her mother? Is there a world beyond these walls? We intervi...

'At the Watts Memorial EC1' is a haunting recreation of some of the true stories told on the famous memorial in Postman's Park. The memorial commemorates brave people who lost their lives trying to save others in acts of heroic self-sacrifice in the last three centuries - most recently in 2007. We hear the heart-breaking stories of William Donald of Bayswater, a railway clerk, Sarah Smith, a panto...

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 b...

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...

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 On...

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'...

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 ghost...