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The Watchers by Kae Hart

A young woman watches over her little sister in a polluted dystopian world where her scientific knowledge is her only weapon.

The story was written by Kae Hart. Kae is a university student who learned to speak by telling stories to everyone who would listen. The cashier at the local grocery store was her first fan. Since then, she has written stories, poems, and novels, and hopes to continue to do so.

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.

The photo used is by Kvaale at Morguefile..com.

S: Beautiful Romantic Piano by UNIVERSFIELD | License: Attribution 4.0

Dust and Oranges by Nicholas Batura

This Halloween, rather than encountering ghosts and ghouls, we explore the horrors of war. A little girl sneaks out of her family home to buy a birthday gift for her mother, a decision that changes her life forever.

Nicholas Batura lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, with his rad wife and their rescue pit bulls. When he’s not writing, he can be found on the jiu jitsu mats, or working through the secrets found in a bottle of wine.

This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.

Photo by pawankawan at Morguefile.com

S: Beautiful Romantic Piano by UNIVERSFIELD | License: Attribution 4.0

Dirty Chicken and Rice by Simon Roberts

In this darkly comic and moving story, two young flatmates prepare and eat their favourite comfort food, dirty chicken and rice, at a time when there isn’t much comfort to be had.

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.

Photo Credit: Jerry Pank Cookipedia.co.uk

Copyright: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The Book of Beginnings: interview with Sally Page

The Story Radio team interview Sally Page, best-selling author of The Keeper of Stories, whose new novel The Book of Beginnings has just been published by HarperCollins. We talk to her about stationery, fountain pens, romance and ghosts.

The Book of Beginnings tells the story of Jo, who is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle’s beloved stationery shop.

Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart.

When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn’t alone.

They each have a story that can transform Jo’s life… if only she can let them in.

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.

After studying history at university, Sally Page moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. Sally came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, she continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.co.uk.

In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combined her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. In her second novel, The Book of Beginnings Sally draws on her love of stationery.

Sally now lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her younger daughter is the author, Libby Page. Both are keen wild swimmers.

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