Story Radio Podcast

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 Stories on March 27, 2026.Alaska/Washington author Lynne Curry—nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology, the 2024 Pushcart Prize and Best Microfiction—founded “Real-life Writing,” https://bit.ly/45lNbVo and publishes a monthly “Writing from the Cabin” blog, https://bit.ly/3tazJpW and a weekly “dear Abby of the workplace” newspaper column. Curry has published twenty-six short stories; seven poems; two articles on writing craft, and six books.Sound:Wolves - Yellowstone National Park by Nivatius -- https://freesound.org/s/519592/ -- License: Creative Commons 0Photo of wolf courtesy of Scott Liddell at Morguefile.comIt has come to our attention that individuals posing as Story Radio have been approaching writers asking for payment to be on the show. We never ask writers to pay to submit to us; you can visit our Submissions page and send us a story for free or contact us via email to offer us an author interview. If you want to support us, we do have a Patreon and other ways to donate on our website (below).Support Story Radio Podcast

Ava Glass: The Hiding SeasonThis 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 followed a trained British intelligence officer, this book places an entirely ordinary woman — Maya Landry, recently escaped from a broken marriage and working at a remote Montana ski resort — at the centre of a deadly conspiracy. When Maya witnesses a murder and finds herself with no one to believe her, she is forced to abandon her identity, her home, and everything she knows in order to survive.In this conversation, we find out what drew Ava to write a different kind of spy story, told in the first person, set firmly on American soil, and focused on the collateral damage an intelligence operation can inflict on those who stumble, unwittingly, into its path. We learn about the craft decisions behind The Hiding Season: the novel's distinctive time structure, which resists a straightforward linear narrative; the challenge of writing a resourceful but untrained protagonist; and the atmospheric weight that the landscapes of Montana, Texas, and Chicago bring to the story.We also talk about what it means to reinvent yourself — a theme that resonates far beyond the world of espionage — and about the two figures at the novel's heart: Maya, who must outwit her pursuers on instinct alone, and Riley Maguire, the FBI agent whose motives she cannot quite bring herself to trust.Drawing on her years working alongside British intelligence and her earlier career as a crime reporter in America, Ava Glass brings a rare depth of knowledge to The Hiding Season, her most personal novel yet. Produced by Martin Nathan.Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.Support Story Radio Podcast

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 Town. When Mary's fiance Cosmo, a journalist, is undercover in an asylum, Hannah decides to try to help him by investigating the case and writing about it herself.We discuss researching historical novels and learn about Moggach's fascinating connection to the real life Mrs Pearcey, how Fleet Street journalism evolved, how close Hannah is to being a Victorian 'New Woman' and the reasons for our cultural obsession with true crime.I inhaled Mrs Pearcey. What an incredible book. Gripping and creepy and compulsive, yet deeply touching . . . brilliant - Sabine DurrantAbout Lottie MoggachLottie Moggach is the acclaimed author of Kiss Me First, Under the Sun, and Brixton Hill. She lives in North London with her husband, son and dog.This episode was produced by 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.Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.

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 Publishing is the US publisher and the publication is 24 Feb 2026. HarperCollins is the UK publisher and the publication day is 12 March 2026.About Sally Page: Sally Page is the internationally bestselling author of The Keeper of Stories, The Book of Beginnings, and The Secret of Flowers. After studying history at university, Sally moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time, she studied floristry, eventually opening up her own flower shop, an experience that offered a unique window into people’s lives that has inspired her writing. She has two daughters, bestselling author Libby Page and Alex, a doctor. She lives in Dorset.This episode was produced by Martin Nathan.Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.

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 century. Yet she is also known for her equally radical life – intense friendships, relationships with both men and women, and an open marriage – about which much has, often controversially, been written. Now, her tightly wrought and vivid poems reveal a new, deeply personal account in Murdoch’s own voice. They range over the preoccupations closest to her heart, from the state of Ireland to memories of a first love lost in the Second World War.We speak to Dr Miles Leeson, one of the editors of Poems from an Attic by Iris Murdoch, to learn more about this exciting discovery and how it adds to our understanding of the work of the famous philosopher and novelist. Dr Leeson also reads three poems from the book, 'Reverie in Winchester Cathedral', 'I find that honesty is a hard thing', and 'Macaw in the Snow'. Dr Miles Leeson is Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at the University of Chichester and Visiting Research Fellow at Kingston University. He is Lead Editor of the Iris Murdoch Review, Series Editor of Iris Murdoch Today with Palgrave Macmillan, host of the Iris Murdoch Podcast, and has published widely on Murdoch’s work. He published Iris Murdoch: Philosophical Novelist in 2010, the edited collection Incest in Contemporary Literature (2018), the festschrift Iris Murdoch: A Centenary Celebration (2019), the co-edited collections Iris Murdoch and the Literary Imagination (2022) and Iris Murdoch and the Western Theological Imagination (2025), co-edited her selected poetry Poems from an Attic: Selected Poems 1936-1995 (2025), and is currently writing Visiting Mrs Bayley and Other Essays (2026) Iris Murdoch and Feminism and editing The Oxford Handbook of Iris Murdoch (2028).You can find out more about him and his work here:https://www.chi.ac.uk/people/miles-leeson/Iris MurdochIris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. After working in the Treasury and in the UN, she discovered philosophy, eventually becoming Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford. Her philosophical concerns are at the heart of the 25 novels for which she became famous, gaining the Whitbread Prize for The Sacred and Profane Love Machine and the Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She wrote poetry all her life.The Iris Murdoch SocietyBuy the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/470920/poems-from-an-attic-by-murdoch-iris/9781784746124Music: “The Silver Swan” (O. Gibbons), performed by Denis Carpenter, Clara IMSLP (CC BY 3.0): https://clara.imslp.org/work/51148 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ IMSLP+1This episode was produced by 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.