Short Works

When a computer for a budget airline becomes sentient, things start looking rather terminal for humankind -

A satirical short story about AI, apathy, and in-flight entertainment. Please fasten your headphones, and welcome on board – the 356A to Marrakech.

Andrew Hunter Murray is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Day, The Sanctuary, & A Beginner's Guide To Breaking And Entering. A QI Elf, Andrew co-hosts the multi-award-winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, and writes for Private Eye.

Read by Stephen Fry.

Producer: Katie Sayer

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

www.pozzitive.co.uk

Stephen Fry reads Andrew Hunter Murray's new short story in which AI takes off - literally

Read by Stephen Fry, a new story from Sunday Times bestselling author Andrew Hunter Murray. When a computer for a budget airline becomes sentient, things start looking terminal.

AI takes off - literally - in this new story from bestselling author Andrew Hunter Murray.

When a computer for a budget airline becomes sentient, things start looking terminal for humanity. A new comic story from Sunday Times bestselling author Andrew Hunter Murray

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Grahame Williams was born in County Down and now lives and works in London. His work has appeared in the Stinging Fly, the Letters Page and he received an Arvon/Jerwood Mentorship for fiction writing. His current work in progress is a novel about a father, a son and the construction of a giant girl in the last of the Belfast shipyards.

Produced by Maggie Ayre and Mair Bosworth

An original short story for Radio 4 about what we share, what we hide and how to understand someone's true feelings when you're not even sure of your own.

Derek Owusu is a writer, poet and podcaster from north London. He discovered his passion for literature at the age of twenty-three while studying exercise science at university. Unable to afford a change of degree, Derek began reading voraciously and sneaking into English Literature lectures at the University of Manchester. Derek edited and contributed to Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space. That Reminds Me, his first solo work, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for new fiction in 2020.

Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Produced by Mair Bosworth

An original short story for radio by the winner of the 2020 Desmond Elliott Prize.

In her specially commissioned story Joanna Cannon, the best-selling writer, introduces us to Barbara who is making a new start.

Joanna Cannon best-selling novels The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things about Elsie, were both Sunday Times bestsellers and Richard and Judy picks. Her first non-fiction book, Breaking and Mending, is a memoir about her experience as a junior doctor, and was published in 2019 to critical acclaim. Joanna's writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Times, Good Housekeeping Magazine and The Observer. She co-wrote and presented BBC Radio 4's Papageno and the Poetry of Disquiet, about the relationship between poetry and mental health.

The producer is Elizabeth Allard

In this specially commissioned short story Barbara decides to make a new start.

In her specially commissioned story, Joanna Cannon, the best-selling writer introduces us to Barbara who is making a new start. Dorothy Atkinson reads.

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He ignores him but later discovers the stranger is connected to this phone map.

Connected in a disturbing way.

A short story written and narrated by Will Self.

Producer: Duncan Minshull.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2018.

A man who is obsessed with digital maps is suddenly contacted from... where?

A man returning home finds old connections strained by a long absence.

Reader Manu Kurewa

Written by Tendai Huchu

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Tendai Huchu was born in Zimbabwe and lives in Edinburgh. He is the author of 'The Hairdresser of Harare' and the Edinburgh Nights series of contemporary fantasy novels for young adults.

Manu Kurewa is an actor, artist and filmmaker whose work has been shown around the world and won a number of awards at major international festivals. He is currently developing his first feature film.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4

A new short work from Tendai Huchu celebrating the power of stories.

When a man returns home to find old connections strained by his long absence, books must bridge the gap. Written by Tendai Huchu. Read by Manu Kurewa.

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'Everything is more perfect in the story inside your head...'

When a man returns home to Bindura, Zimbabwe after years of living in the West, he finds old connections strained by his long absence. Books must bridge the gap. Written by Tendai Huchu and read by Manu Kurewa.

Writer Tendai Huchu was born in Zimbabwe and lives in Edinburgh. He is the author of 'The Hairdresser of Harare' and the Edinburgh Nights series of contemporary fantasy novels for young adults.

Reader Manu Kurewa is an actor, artist and filmmaker whose work has been shown around the world and won a number of awards at major international festivals.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2025.

A man returning home finds old connections strained by a long absence.

When a man returns home to find old connections strained by his long absence, books must bridge the gap. Read by Manu Kurewa.

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A few times a season, a woman books a night at a hotel in her nearest town - so she can watch Arsenal on TV in her favourite pub.

Candy Neubert is a poet who has also published novels and short stories. Her latest collection, Privacy, was published in April 2021.

Writer: Candy Neubert

Reader: Chetna Pandya

By Candy Neubert. A woman watches Arsenal on TV in her favourite pub.

A few times a season, a woman books a night at a hotel in her nearest town - so she can watch Arsenal on TV in her favourite pub.

Candy Neubert's short story read by Chetna Pandya.

Candy Neubert is a poet who has also published novels and short stories.

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in September 2021.

A woman watches Arsenal on TV in her favourite pub.

A few times a season, a woman books into a hotel - so she can watch Arsenal on TV in her favourite pub. Read by Chetna Pandya.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story for BBC radio by Daisy Johnson.

Read by Sinead MacInnes and Barbara Flynn.

Daisy's first short story collection, Fen, was published in 2017.

Her debut novel, Everything Under, was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize, making Daisy the youngest nominee in the prize's history.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

An original short story by Daisy Johnson, the youngest ever Booker Prize nominee.

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Kathleen and John, in the twilight of their long marriage, have retired to a beautiful town in the South of France. The house they spent a lifetime of summers renovating offers reminders of happy times for John as his memory begins to fail. Kathleen is sure the house keeps him grounded, happy... until one day she learns John is planning something that threatens to turn their whole world upside down.

A new short story written by P.T. McAllister and read by Helen Lloyd.

P.T. McAllister has taught Creative Writing at both Hull and Exeter University. A short story writer, he is the director of the North Cornwall Book Festival, Writer in Residence at the Morrab Library, Penzance, and editor and co-founder of Inkfish Magazine and Press.

Produced by Beth O'Dea in Bristol for BBC Audio, Wales and West of England

Kathleen learns that even after years of marriage, her husband John can still surprise her

Kathleen finds out that even after many years of marriage her husband John can still surprise her. He is planning something that may just turn their whole world upside down.

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Originally from Malaysia, the writer Elaine Chiew is a twice winner of the Bridport Short Story Competition. She is the author of the short story collection The Heartsick Diaspora. Her novel, The Light Between Us, will be published in May 2024.

Readers: Chike Chan and Elaine Chiew

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4

By Elaine Chiew. 1896. Wu Lien Teh arrives in London from Penang.

By Elaine Chiew. Wu Lien Teh would one day bring the Manchurian Plague of 1910-11 under control. But in 1896 he was a young student, newly arrived in London.

Naomi Ishiguro's specially commissioned work about love, masochism and cake.

Read by Olivia Ross.

Naomi's debut short story collection 'Escape Routes' was released in 2020. Described as 'delightfully fresh and contemporary', her magical and sometimes disquieting stories originated during her time working as a bookseller at Mr B's Emporium in Bath.

She is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia.

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham.

An original short fiction for radio by Philippa Holloway, author of the The Half-life of Snails and the Parthian Books short story collection Untethered.

Reader: Catrin Powell

Sound: Nigel Lewis

Producer: John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production

A Survival Thing by Philippa Holloway, read by Catrin Powell.

A Survival Thing by Philippa Holloway, read by Catrin Powell. A middle-aged woman and a rejected teenager meet in a treetop – neither one knows quite what to make of the other.

An original short work for radio

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Bita Taghavi is a Bristol-based writer and actor originally from Newcastle upon Tyne and this is her first work for R4. She's always been slightly obsessed with the inner life of people, their secrets and truths.

Written and read by Bita Taghavi

Produced by Alison Crawford

A moving and funny portrayal of a woman getting to grips with change. Written and read by Bita Taghavi.

A tale of wonder, heartbreak and tenderness during one boy's trip to the Scottish seaside.

Original short story by Michael Pedersen.

Read by Russell Tovey.

Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet and author. He is the current Edinburgh Makar and a former Writer in Residence at The University of Edinburgh. His prose debut 'Boy Friends,' published in 2022, was a Sunday Times Critics Choice and shortlisted for Best Non-Fiction at the Saltire Scottish National Book Awards.

His debut novel 'Muckle Flugga' is a surreal, lyrical story of a lighthouse keeper and his son, whose lives on a remote Scottish island are turned upside down by a visitor from the mainland.  It was shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year 2025 and longlisted for the 2026 Author's Club Best First Novel Award.

Producer: Hayley Jarvis

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2026.

[LISTEN NOW]

She wants them all to meet over a proper Sunday lunch - and so Anthea must shape up.

An original short story by Yvvette Edwards

Read by Cherrelle Skeete.

Yvvette Edwards is a British East Londoner of Montserratian origin and, in addition to writing short stories, she is author of two novels - A Cupboard Full of Coats and The Mother. Her work has been nominated for a number of literary awards, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Man Booker Prize.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2019.

Rose has a surprise for her grand-daughter. Read by Cherrelle Skeete.

Read by Alexander Vlahos.

Culhwch can love only the giant's daughter Olwen. To win her hand he must first complete a list of 39 impossible tasks. Arthur's champions take up the challenge, but time slips steadily away from them in Jo Lloyd's poignant contemporary take on the oldest Arthurian romance.

Production Co-ordinator: Eleri McAuliffe

Sound: Rhys Morris

Producer: John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production

An original short work for radio by Jo Lloyd. Read by Alexander Vlahos.

[LISTEN NOW]

Read by Sara McGaughey

Why does Elen listen to the voices so much these days? Is it because everybody she lives with has stopped listening to her?

Directed by John Norton

Sound by Nigel Lewis

A BBC Audio Drama Wales production

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

New short fiction from Manon Steffan Ros. Read by Sara McGaughey.

New short fiction by Manon Steffan Ros. Read by Sara McGaughey. Why does Elen listen to the voices so much these days?

Reader - Jacob Ifan

Directed by John Norton

Sound by Catherine Robinson

A BBC Audio Drama Wales production

A fabular vision of the Dark Ages. New short fiction by Jo Lloyd, read by Jacob Ifan.

A new short work from award winning author Kirstin Innes looking at the contentious issue of asylum hotels and social media. Once the house goes quiet and she has a moment to herself, a woman is gradually being reawaken to the world around her, but can the algorithm give her what she's really looking for?

Reader Neshla Caplan

Producer Ellie Marsh

Kirstin Innes is an award winning Scottish writer, her novels include Fishnet, which won The Guardian's Not The Booker Prize in 2015 and Scabby Queen which was nominated for the Gordon Burn Prize and Scottish Novel of the Year. She currently working on her third novel, The Book of Risk.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.

One woman faces a reckoning when asylum hotel protests dredge up unwelcome memories.

Original short works for radio.

A new short work, from award-winning author Kirstin Innes. One woman faces a reckoning when asylum hotel protests dredge up unwelcome memories.

[LISTEN NOW]

Annie's always lived in the same tiny community on the sea, in a remote part of West Wales. She spends the day picking cockles from the shore, then walking them miles and miles to market.

There's beauty here too, but how can she protect her son from the future?

A short story for radio, by Rebecca F John.

Read by Alexandra Roach

Produced by Minnie Harrop and Fay Lomas

Studio Manager: Catherine Robinson

Production Co-ordinators: Lindsay Rees and Eleri McAuliffe

Life's full of beauty and hardship for Annie, on the remote Welsh coast. By Rebecca F John

Life is full of beauty and hardship for Annie, living with her son Rhodri on a remote part of the Welsh coast. A short story for radio by Rebecca F John. Read by Alexandra Roach.

An original short work for radio

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An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by novelist Jacob Ross.

Read by Jade Anouka.

Jacob Ross is a novelist, short story writer and creative writing tutor.

He is also Associate Fiction Editor at Peepal Tree Press, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and winner of the inaugural 2017 Jhalak Prize for his second novel The Bone Readers.

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Lilly's a new mother with a burning soul, she just has to find it again.

Lilly is a new mother with a beautiful baby and burning soul - she just has to find it again. Read by Jade Anouka.

Lottie Mills won the BBC Young Writers Award in 2020, and her debut collection, Monstrum is published in 2024. In her stories, Lottie delights in the uncanny, the unusual and the unique power of outsiders.

The producer is Di Speirs

The director is Justine Willett.

A specially commissioned fantastical tale from the award-winning Lottie Mills.

A specially commissioned short story by the award-winning Lottie Mills. In this fantastical tale, Alice Carter and her friends are in high spirits at the Colony.

Richard Smyth's short fiction has been published by The Stinging Fly, The Fiction Desk, Unthology, The Lonely Crowd, Firewords, TSS, and Haverthorn, among others. He is the author of six books of non-fiction, the most recent of which, An Indifference Of Birds, was published in 2020. He has published two novels, and in 2017, he was awarded a Northern Writers' Award for fiction. He has been longlisted for the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Prize for nature writing and the Historical Writers' Association Short Story Award. He was also a grand finalist on BBC Mastermind in 2008.

Go to www.BBC.co.uk/nssa to hear his shortlisted story for the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award - Maykopsky District, Adyghe Oblast read by Blake Ritson.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

When Andrew dies, Katie spirals. She's unable to process her grief, which leads her to believe that a stray dog who turns up on their doorstep is the reincarnation of Andrew.

The Cullen Brothers are a pair of award-winning writers from Bristol. The worlds and stories they create often blend genres, featuring hyper-real dialogue and characters that an audience can root for. The brothers wrote the R4 series ‘The Attendant' starring Will Merrick, Patricia Allison and Kenneth Collard which was based on their internationally acclaimed short film of the same name and starred Isy Suttie and Robert James-Collier.

Written by The Cullen Brothers

Read by Isy Suttie

Sound Design by Ilse Lademann

Produced by Alison Crawford

A Short Work by The Cullen Brothers about change, grief and (possibly) reincarnation.

An original Short Work by The Cullen Brothers about change, grief and (possibly) reincarnation.

[LISTEN NOW]

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Mich耀le Forbes is an award-winning theatre, television and film actress. Her first novel Ghost Moth was published in 2013 to great critical acclaim and Forbes was shortlisted for Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, for First Book Award at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival and selected as one of The Observer's Seven Debut Novels That Will Make A Splash in 2014. Her second novel Edith & Oliver was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her short stories have won both The Bryan MacMahon and The Michael Laverty Award. She lives in Dalkey, Dublin.

Reader: Mich耀le Forbes

Writer: Mich耀le Forbes

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A surprise visitor ignites a sense of hope for a woman living alone.

As London bustles with Christmas shoppers, a mother and daughter's holiday is endangered by a lost toy.

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish author Christine Dwyer Hickey.

Read by Stuart Graham.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2022.

A festive story about the angels we do and don't see throughout our lives.

As London bustles with Christmas shoppers, a mother and daughter's holiday is endangered by a lost toy. Read by Stuart Graham.

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish author Christine Dwyer Hickey. As read by Stuart Graham.

Christine Dwyer Hickey is an award-winning novelist and short story writer. Twice winner of the Listowel Writers' Week short story competition and a winner of the Observer/Penguin short story award, her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies world-wide. Her most recent novel The Narrow Land was awarded the prestigious 2020 Walter Scott Prize as well as Novel of the Year at the Dalkey Literary Awards. Her novel Tatty was also selected as 2020 Dublin One City One Book Choice. She is an elected member of Aosdကna, the Irish academy of arts.

Reader: Stuart Graham

Writer: Christine Dwyer Hickey

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

[LISTEN NOW]

A new short story read by Mark Heap.

Philip Hensher is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. A novelist and journalist, he's the editor of The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story and The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. He's also the author of two collections of short stories: The Bedroom of the Mister's Wife and Tales of Persuasion.

Produced by Beth O'Dea in Bristol for BBC Audio, Wales and West of England

Sally is driving through Pimlico with her dog Reggie when a bee flies into her car.

[LISTEN NOW]

As the moment of Earth's destruction approaches so does his moment of reckoning.

Consumed by love and longing for his wife and children, he questions whether he has loved them well enough. He knows that in leaving them behind to embrace a life of exploration, he was turning away from the terrors, but also the joys, of fatherhood, the agonies, but also the ecstasies of intimacy. Remembering how he was unable to bear his children's slightest suffering, and inventing any excuse to absent himself when they were ill or hurt, he wishes he could make amends.

But now it is too late.

Apologia is a heart-rending meditation on loneliness and loss and the perils of turning away from love.

Written by award-winning author Jessie Greengrass

Read by actor Billy Howle

Produced by Karen Holden

A haunting meditation on loneliness and loss from the depths of space.

Abby Oliveira is a spoken-word poet, writer, performer, and arts facilitator based in the North of Ireland. She has performed in the mucky fields of festivals such as Glastonbury, Electric Picnic, and Body&Soul, to the the National Concert Hall of Ireland in Dublin as well as internationally. She has been a contributor to multiple BBC and RTE radio shows.

Reader: Muire McCallion

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A mysterious noise forces two disparate neighbours together. Written by Abby Oliveira.

Stella is inspired to take up yoga again - despite having not tried since she was pregnant with her daughter.

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Bernie McGill.

Read by Seána Kerslake

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2024.

**** Bernie McGill is the author of two novels and two short story collections.

She's also written audio scripts for heritage projects and stage scripts for theatre. She studied English and Italian at Queen's University, Belfast and graduated with a Masters degree in Irish Writing.

Her novel 'The Watch House' was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature and 'The Butterfly Cabinet' was named in 2012 by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year. Her short story collection 'This Train is For' won the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2023.

It's been years since Stella went to yoga. Fifty-eight years, to be exact.

Stella decides to take up yoga again, despite having not tried since she was pregnant with her daughter. Read by Seána Kerslake.

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Bernie McGill. As read by Seána Kerslake ('Blue Lights.')

Bernie McGill is the author of two novels and two short story collections. She has also written audio scripts for heritage projects and stage scripts for theatre. She studied English and Italian at Queen's University, Belfast and graduated with a Masters degree in Irish Writing. Her novel 'The Watch House' was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature and 'The Butterfly Cabinet' was named in 2012 by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year. Her most recent short story collection 'This Train is For' was awarded the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2023.

Reader: Seána Kerslake

Stella is inspired to take up yoga again, despite having not tried since she was pregnant with her daughter. As read by Seána Kerslake.

It's been years since Stella went to yoga. 58 years, to be exact.

[LISTEN NOW]

With his marriage falling apart on a volcanic Spanish island, a man turns in desperation to local legends. If talking cannot save his family, is it time to appeal to a higher power?

Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore

Writer: Andrew Michael Hurley is the award-winning author of three novels. His first, The Loney, won the 2015 Costa Book Award for First Novel, and the British Book Industry Award for best debut fiction. He recently wrote the folk horror series, Voices in the Valley, for Radio 4. Stephen King has called him the 'new master of menace'.

Producer: Justine Willett

An original story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author of The Loney.

With his marriage falling apart on a volcanic Spanish Island, a man appeals to higher powers... Stephen Campbell Moore reads a new story from the acclaimed author of The Loney.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from writer Sue Rainsford.

Read by Roísín Gallagher.

Sue is an Irish fiction and arts writer based in Dublin.

Her practice is concerned with hybrid, lyric and embodied texts, explicit fusions of critical and corporeal inquiry, as well as with questions of transcription and otherness.

A graduate of Trinity College and IADT, in January 2017 she completed her MFA in Writing & Literature at Bennington College, Vermont.

She is a recipient of the VAI/DCC Critical Writing Award (2016/17), the Arts Council Literature Bursary Award (2013, 2018, 2019) and a MacDowell Fellowship (2019). She is a visual arts writer in residence at Roscommon Arts Centre (2018-20), and was writer in residence at Maynooth University (2019-2020).

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2021.

A bereaved woman finds an unexpected connection to her lost love in a museum's storerooms.

A woman discovers an unexpected connection to her lost love through the artworks stored in a museum. Read by Roísín Gallagher.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from writer Sue Rainsford. As read by Ro퀀s퀀n Gallagher.

Sue Rainsford is an Irish fiction and arts writer based in Dublin. Her practice is concerned with hybrid, lyric and embodied texts, explicit fusions of critical and corporeal inquiry, as well as with questions of transcription and otherness. A graduate of Trinity College and IADT, in January 2017 she completed her MFA in Writing & Literature at Bennington College, Vermont. She is a recipient of the VAI/DCC Critical Writing Award (2016/17), the Arts Council Literature Bursary Award (2013, 2018, 2019) and a MacDowell Fellowship (2019). She is a visual arts writer in residence at Roscommon Arts Centre (2018-20), and was writer in residence at Maynooth University (2019-2020).

Reader: Ro퀀s퀀n Gallagher

A woman finds an unexpected connection to her lost love through the artworks in a museum.

[LISTEN NOW]

Tishani Doshi was born in the city formerly known as Madras in 1975. She has published six books of poetry and fiction. Her essays, poems and short stories have been widely anthologized.

Her first book, COUNTRIES OF THE BODY, won the prestigious Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2006. GIRLS ARE COMING OUT OF THE WOODS was shortlisted for the TED HUGHES AWARD & a Firecracker Award. Tishani's debut novel, THE PLEASURE SEEKERS, was shortlisted for the Hindu Literary Prize and long-listed for the Orange Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. SMALL DAYS AND NIGHTS, her second novel, has been shortlisted for the TATA BEST FICTION AWARD 2019 and the RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2020.

Produced by Mair Bosworth

A new short story for radio by poet and novelist Tishani Doshi.

An original festive short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Gerard McKeown. Read by Andrew McCracken.

The Author

Here's a short biography: Gerard McKeown is a writer from Ballymena, Northern Ireland. His work has been published in a number of journals and anthologies and broadcast by BBC Radio 4. In 2025, he was longlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize.

Reader: Andrew McCracken

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A young man returns home for a charity swim off the north coast of Ireland.

At the annual charity swim in Carnlough Bay, one participant's resolve is shaken when he bumps into his childhood bully.

[LISTEN NOW]

Jan Carson is a writer and arts programmer based in Belfast. The author of the collections 'Postcard Stories' and 'Children's Children', her work has also appeared in journals including 'Banshee', 'Harper's Bazaar' and 'The Honest Ulsterman' in addition to being read on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3. Her forthcoming novel 'The Fire Starters' will be published by Doubleday in 2019.

Reader - Tara Lynne O'Neill

Producer - Michael Shannon.

By Jan Carson. A magical story about family, poverty and a bottomless can of baked beans.

It's been weeks now, but the can of beans from the food bank still hasn't run out. Mum calls it a miracle. However seven-year-old Hannah can't take another meal of baked beans.

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Jan Carson.

Jan Carson is a writer and arts programmer based in Belfast. The author of the collections 'Postcard Stories' and 'Children's Children', her work has also appeared in journals including 'Banshee', 'Harper's Bazaar' and 'The Honest Ulsterman' in addition to being read on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3. Her novel 'The Fire Starters' was published in 2019.

Actor Tara Lynne O'Neill is known for her role in the television drama 'Derry Girls'.

Reader: Tara Lynne O'Neill

Producer: Michael Shannon

A magical story about family, poverty and a bottomless can of baked beans.

Hannah's mum is doing her best. However the seven-year-old can't take another meal of baked beans. Read by Tara Lynne O'Neill.

[LISTEN NOW]

She has been developing her own business since she was 13. However, outside the classroom, her parents are divorcing and people no longer get out of their cars.

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by Nicole Flattery.

Read by Beccy Henderson.

Irish author Nicole Flattery's work has been published in the Stinging Fly, the White Review, the Dublin Review, the Irish Times, Winter Papers and the 2019 Faber anthology of New Irish Writing. She was awarded the Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year 2019 and the 2017 White Review Short Story Prize.

Her debut short story collection ‘Show Them A Good Time' was published in 2019. It was A New Statesman, Irish Times and Guardian Book of The Year.

Producer: Michael Shannon

14 year old Beatrice attends an after-school class for 'Female CEO's of the Future'.

A teenager develops her business plan, in spite of her parents' divorce, friend and society issues. Read by Beccy Henderson.

Emily DeDakis grew up in the southeast U.S. and now lives in north Belfast. She is a writer, producer and dramaturg currently working with Fighting Words NI (a creative writing centre for young people, where she mentors teen scriptwriting projects). Emily's writing has appeared in Dead Housekeeping, The Vacuum, Ulster Tatler, Yellow Nib, Of Mouth and Choice Words and been broadcast by Household Belfast, the Lyric Theatre, BBC Radio 3 & BBC Three.

Reader: Carol Moore.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Louise is worried that her grandson visits her so often because he's actually lonely.

80 year old Louise is determined to show her grandson that love exists and is waiting for him.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Emily DeDakis.

Read by Carol Moore.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in January 2022.

Louise is worried that her grandson visits her so often because he's actually lonely.

80 year old Louise is determined to show her grandson that love exists and is waiting for him. Read by Carol Moore.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story especially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 by the Irish writer Louise Hegarty.

Winner of the Sunday Business Post Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize, Louise's work has been featured in the anthology ‘wordlegs presents: 30 Under 30' and the Banshee literary journal.

This is her first story for BBC Radio.

Read by Cathy Belton

Producer: Michael Shannon

An insurance company employee investigates a suspected arson at a stately home.

An original short story for radio by Charlotte Runcie, author of Salt on Your Tongue: Women and the Sea, and of a new novel, Bring the House Down.

Writer: Charlotte Runcie

Producer: Mair Bosworth

A BBC Audio Bristol production for BBC Radio 4

Two days after the worst break-up of her life, a registrar has to officiate a wedding.

Two days after the worst break-up of her life, a registrar has to officiate a wedding. An original short story by the author of Salt on Your Tongue and Bring the House Down.

[LISTEN NOW]

Louise Farr is a teacher and writer from Northern Ireland. In 2018, she was the winner of the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition and The Trisha Ashley Award. In 2019, she won The Ink Tears Short Story Competition and The Dalkey Writing Festival Short Story Competition. In 2020 Louise was shortlisted for the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition and her story ‘Tinder' was nominated for the An Post Short Story of the Year Award. She is currently working on her second novel.

Reader: S退ain퀀n Brennan

Reader: Eimear Fearon

Producer: Michael Shannon

Exec Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Teenager Lexie disappeared 30 years ago but has never left her school friend Katherine.

Louise Farr is a teacher and writer from Northern Ireland. In 2018, she was the winner of the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition and The Trisha Ashley Award. In 2019, she won The Ink Tears Short Story Competition and The Dalkey Writing Festival Short Story Competition. In 2020 Louise was shortlisted for the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition and her story ‘Tinder' was nominated for the An Post Short Story of the Year Award.

Writer: Louise Farr

Reader: Séainín Brennan

Reader: Eimear Fearon

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2021.

Teenager Lexie disappeared 30 years ago but has never left her school friend Katherine.

Katherine's school friend Lexie disappeared but Katherine will never forget her. Read by Séainín Brennan and Eimear Fearon.

Louise Farr's short story read by Séainín Brennan and Eimear Fearon.

In 2018, she was won the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition and The Trisha Ashley Award. In 2019, she won The Ink Tears Short Story Competition and The Dalkey Writing Festival Short Story Competition.

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2021.

Teenager Lexie vanished 30 years ago but has never left Katherine's side.

The Author

Joseph O'Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of nine novels as well as two collections of short stories and a number of bestselling works of non-fiction. He has received numerous awards including the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature.

Writer, Joseph O'Connor

Reader, Aisling Bea

Producer, Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Flight attendant Hanna joins an online Book Club with colleagues.

Joseph O'Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of nine novels as well as two collections of short stories and a number of bestselling works of nonfiction. His many awards include the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature.

Written by Joseph O'Connor

Reader, Aisling Bea

Producer, Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production first broadcast on Radio 4 in May 2021.

During lockdown, Hannah joins an online Book Club and watches foxes in her garden.

An uplifting story about hope and keeping away the foxes. Written by Joseph O'Connor. Read by Aisling Bea.

Clare Watson is the author of short stories published in the Seamus Heaney Centre Blackbird Anthology, and broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster's Storytellers series. She studied at Queen's University Belfast and graduated with a Masters degree in Special Educational Needs as well as a Masters in Creative Writing. She has been teaching for over 25 years and has been a Special Needs Co-ordinator in three different schools for over 8 years. She is currently working on a compilation of character driven stories focusing on the lives of women.

Details of organisations offering information and support with autism are available at BBC.co.uk/actionline.

Reader: Ro퀀s퀀n Gallagher

Producer: Michael Shannon

Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A mother struggles to understand her autistic son.

Boyfriends is the story of a young man living and loving at the margins of the sprawling, tumultuous American city of Houston. A young man who attempts to find his place amongst family and community - in the knowledge that he is gay. Read by the author, Boyfriends is about all the various, raw, urgent and unexpected ways in which love steals up on us and takes us over.

Boyfriends is an original short story written for radio by US author Bryan Washington

Rhiannon Tise has written many original dramas and adaptations for BBC Radio 3 and 4 and her plays have been performed at theatres including the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Court and The Lyric Hammersmith. Her ten-part adaptation of George Eliot's The Mill on The Floss won Best Radio Drama at the 2020 VLV Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting. This is her first radio story.

Writer: Rhiannon Tise

Reader: Sharon Small

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4

By Rhiannon Tise. After 30 years away, a woman meets up with an old boyfriend.

By Rhiannon Tise. A woman returns to Glasgow after 30 years and meets her old university boyfriend.

Author and international storyteller Xanthe Gresham Knight, has performed at Cheltenham and Hay Literature Festivals, the Barbican, the National, Northern Stage, toured India with the British Council and storytelling festivals internationally. She has been Storyteller in Residence for Harvard University, the Chelsea Physic Garden, Stoke and Staffordshire Libraries, Hastings 18 Hours and Psychologies Magazine. She performs regularly at The British Museum and The Smithsonian Washington. Her latest book Goddesses and Heroines is forthcoming.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard

Acclaimed storyteller Xanthe Gresham Knight performs her new and beguiling tale.

Today Chair of judges Katie Thistleton presents excerpts from the shortlist as well as a reading in full of the winning story, Under a Deep Blue Sky written by 17 year old Davina Bacon.

The 2018 shortlist in full

Under a Deep Blue Sky' by Davina Bacon, read by Don Gilet

Footprints in the Far Field' by Reyah Martin, read by Liam Lau Fernandez

Unspoken' by Lottie Mills, read by Alexandra Constantinidi

Firsts' by Jane Mitchell, read by Nadia Albina

Oh Sister, Invisible' by Tabitha Rubens, read by Lucy Doyle

Presented by Katie Thistleton

Produced by Ciaran Bermingham

Katie Thistleton presents a showcase of the shortlisted entries for this year's award.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 by the Northern Irish writer Michael Nolan. As read by Thomas Finnegan.

Michael Nolan is from Belfast. His work has been published by The Stinging Fly and The Lifeboat. He is the fiction editor of The Tangerine, and is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at Queen's University, Belfast.

Producer: Michael Shannon

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2019.

A student in Belfast struggles to find his place in the local arts scene.

But has she really given up art for love?

Commissioned story for Radio 4 written by the award-winning Celeste Ng,

Read by Laurel Lefkow.

**** Celeste Ng is an acclaimed Asian-American writer.

Her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, won multiple awards and was a New York Times bestseller, and Amazon's Number 1 Best Book of 2014. Her second novel is Little Fires Everywhere.

Producer: Justine Willett

A woman questions her sister's romantic choices.

A woman questions her sister's romantic choices. Has she given up art for love? Read by Laurel Lefkow.

[LISTEN NOW]

A new short story from Anna Bailey.

Louise Nealon studied English literature in Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a masters in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2016. She is the winner of the Seကn Ӏ Faolကin International Short Story Competition 2017 and her debut novel 'Sowflake' will be published in May 2021. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare, where she divides her time between reading, writing and milking cows.

Reader - Julia Dearden

Writer - Louise Nealon

Producer - Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Delia likes to tell people that her husband believed dinosaurs were living in his knees.

An original short work for radio written and performed by Selina Thompson.

Selina Thompson is an artist and performer based in Leeds. Her work is playful, participatory and intimate, focused on the politics of identity, and how this defines our bodies, lives and environments. She has made work for pubs, cafes, hairdressers, toilets, galleries, theatres - and now radio.

Past work includes 'Salt', where she retraced one of the routes of the Transatlantic Slave Triangle on a cargo ship across the Atlantic, and 'Chewing The Fat', her own version of a midnight feast: somewhere between the confessions made over coffee at weight-watchers, and the sloppy drunken story-telling that accompanies that 3AM kebab.

Producer: Eliza Lomas

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Northern Irish writer Paul McVeigh.

Read by Tony Flynn.

Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories. His work has been performed on radio, stage and TV, and published in seven languages. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is an associate director at Word Factory.

His debut novel 'The Good Son' won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A sudden injury causes Ben to look at himself in a brand new way.

When newly divorced Lila arranges a trip to a wellness retreat, school teacher Teresa reluctantly agrees to accompany her - but it's not just the holistic gong bath that takes her by surprise...

Beth Morrey is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Saving Missy, Lucky Day, and Em & Me.

Read by Georgie Glen.

Producer: Katie Sayer

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

www.pozzitive.co.uk

An original short story by Beth Morrey, read by Georgie Glen.

A wellness retreat is anything but relaxing when newly divorced Lila drags the reluctant Teresa away for the weekend. A new comedy from bestselling Beth Morrey read by Georgie Glen

[LISTEN NOW]

Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories. His work has been performed on radio, stage and television, and published in seven languages. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is an associate director at Word Factory. His debut novel 'The Good Son' won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award. He is also the editor of The 32: Irish Working Class Voices, Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction and Belfast Stories.

Writer: Paul McVeigh

Reader: Tony Flynn

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

On Christmas Day, Mark must adjust to a new festive routine at his sister's house.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish author Paul McVeigh. As read by Tony Flynn.

Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories. His work has been performed on radio, stage and television, and published in seven languages. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is an associate director at Word Factory. His debut novel 'The Good Son' won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award. He is also the editor of The 32: Irish Working Class Voices, Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction and Belfast Stories.

Writer: Paul McVeigh

Reader: Tony Flynn

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

On Christmas Day, Mark must adjust to a new festive routine at his sister's house.

Spending Christmas Day with his sister and her family, Mark can't help but think about the child he never had. Written by Paul McVeigh.

[LISTEN NOW]

Reader - Ruth Jones

Directed by Philippa Swallow

Sound by Nigel Lewis

A BBC Audio Drama Wales production

New short fiction by Julie Ma. Read by Ruth Jones.

Writer and artist Amanthi Harris was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Colombo, before moving to London. Her novella Lantern Evening won the Gatehouse Press New Fictions Prize in 2016. Her novel, Beautiful Place, was published in 2019.

Writer: Amanthi Harris

Reader: Aiysha Hart

By Amanthi Harris. Anya visits a house once visited by Virginia Woolf.

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Alan Spence is an award-winning poet, playwright and novelist based in Edinburgh, where he runs the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Centre. Appointed Edinburgh Makar in 2017, he is also Professor Emeritus in Creative Writing at University of Aberdeen. His longer works include novels, 'Its Colours They Are Fine', 'The Stone Garden', 'The Magic Flute', 'Way to Go' and 'The Pure Land'.

Michael Nardone plays DCI Neil McKinven in BBC crime drama ‘Traces', and has appeared in hit TV series ‘The Night Manager', ‘Line of Duty' and ‘Rome'. Stage credits include Black Watch, Knives in Hens, and King Lear and Macbeth for the National Theatre.

A frustrated climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu in a short work from Alan Spence.

Michael Nardone reads a short work from Alan Spence, as a frustrated climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu.

Michael Nardone reads a new short work from Alan Spence, as a frustrated climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu.

A frustrated climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu in a new piece from Alan Spence.

A frustrated climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu.

Short story written by Alan Spence.

Read by: Michael Nardone.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

**** Alan Spence is an award-winning poet, playwright and novelist based in Edinburgh.

Appointed Edinburgh Makar in 2017, he is also Professor Emeritus in Creative Writing at University of Aberdeen.

His longer works include novels, 'Its Colours They Are Fine', 'The Stone Garden', 'The Magic Flute', 'Way to Go' and 'The Pure Land'.

A climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu.

A frustrated climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu. Read by Michael Nardone.

[LISTEN NOW]

Born in Belfast, Lucy Caldwell is the award-winning author of four novels, several stage plays and radio dramas and two collections of short stories: Multitudes (Faber, 2016) and Intimacies (Faber, 2021). She is also the editor of Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber, 2019). In 2021 she won the BBC National Short Story Award with her story `All the People Were Mean and Bad.` Her most recent novel, These Days (Faber, 2022), was a Sunday Times, Times, Irish Independent, Spectator and Good Housekeeping Book of the Year.

Writer: Lucy Caldwell

Reader: Michelle Fairley

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

The starlings have disappeared from Belfast's sky.

After learning that the starlings that gathered above the Albert Bridge in Belfast may have been displaced due to light pollution, Daphne is inspired to conserve nature elsewhere.

Jenny's family have recently moved from their home in Canada to a village in Dorset to take over the running of her Grandpa's quarry - ‘aka abandoned everything for a few English rocks'. Homesick and lonely, she explores quarry caves when she's meant to be waiting at school for her brother to finish football practice. One day she finds something incredible...

Emma Hooper is an author, musician and academic. Her debut novel, ‘Etta and Otto and Russell and James', was published in 23 territories and 18 languages and her second book, ‘Our Homesick Songs', was long listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. ‘We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky' is her third novel and has been long listed for The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.

Her viola-accordion-saw-and-loop-pedal solo act ‘Waitress For The Bees' has earned her a Finnish Cultural knighthood and her quartet ‘Red Carousel' have performed with Peter Gabriel, The Heavy, Newton Faulkner and many others.

Although Emma lives in the UK, she visits home in Alberta to cross-country ski as often as she can.

Written and read by Emma Hooper

Music by Waitress For the Bees

Produced by Alison Crawford

A young Canadian girl discovers something incredible in a Dorset quarry.

A young Canadian girl discovers something incredible in a Dorset quarry. Written and read by Emma Hooper.

[LISTEN NOW]

It's 2118. Day three of Jeff's space cruise and already events are falling below his required standard. On his phone, he records his experience for the operator, Cosmic Tours of Hove, from whom he must surely get compensation.

Writer: Harry Venning

Reader: Jeff Rawle

Producer: Karen Rose

A comic monologue about a doomed space cruise. By Harry Venning, and read by Jeff Rawle.

A Nottingham lad gets stuck and breaks free in the same afternoon. By Henry Normal.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story by Catrin Kean.

A woman is late for her father's funeral. She hardly knew him, but she spends the night in his empty house, trying to feel his presence.

Catrin Kean won the 2021 Wales Book of The Year Award for her debut novel 'Salt'.

Reader: Catrin Stewart

Sound: Nigel Lewis

Producer: John Norton

A BBC Audio Drama Wales Production

An original short story by Catrin Kean. Read by Catrin Stewart.

An original short story by Catrin Kean. A middle-aged woman is late for her father's funeral.

An original short story by Catrin Kean. A woman is late for her father's funeral. She hardly knew him, but she spends the night in his empty house, trying to feel his presence.

What does it feel like to have your home town turned into a stand-up comedy theme park for tourists every August?

It's a story of soggy flyers, disappointing encounters and splitting headaches. It's also about that transient moment when teenage memories and adult hopes are as raw as each other.

Original short work for radio written and performed by Kieran Hurley.

Kieran Hurley is a writer, performer and theatre maker based in Glasgow. His Fringe First-winning play Heads Up won Best New Play at the Critics' Awards 2017 for Theatre in Scotland. Other plays include Rantin: a ceilidh-play with music; Hitch: an autobiographical story with a live band, and Beats: a monologue performed with a DJ.

Producer: Eliza Lomas

What is Edinburgh Festival to the 22-year-old who grew up there?

Peter Jordan is a short story writer from Belfast. He has won the Bare Fiction Prize, came second in the Fish, and was shortlisted for both the Bridport Flash and the Bath Flash & Short Story Prizes, amongst others. Over 50 of his stories have appeared in literary magazines, journals and anthologies. His essays have been published at Thresholds and TSS Publishing & Retreat West. He has also been nominated for Best of ‘net, Best Small Fictions and a Pushcart Prize. His award-winning short story collection, Calls to distant places, was released in August 2019. His story ‘The Stigmata' was broadcast as part of BBC Radio Ulster's Storytellers series ‘New Writers, Short Stories'.

Reader: Niall Cusack

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A story about drunken priests, stone walls and living saints.

Rumour has it the Northern Lights will be seen over Haverfordwest tonight.

[LISTEN NOW]

Read by Anne Lacey

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Victoria MacKenzie is a fiction writer, poet and essayist whose debut novel was published in 2023. 'For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain' explores the lives of two medieval mystics, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, who wrote the first known books in English by women.

An original short work for radio by Victoria MacKenzie.

Gerard McKeown is a writer from Ballymena, Northern Ireland. He was recently longlisted for the Retreat West 2020 Short Story Award and the 2019 BBC National Short Story Award. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies including 'Still Worlds Turning' 2019 and 'The Black Dreams: Strange Stories from Northern Ireland' 2021.

Reader: Seamus O'Hara

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

An ill-timed attempt to kick a football leads to a trip to the hospital.

Or, in one case, try to kick.

Gerard McKeown's original short story read by Seamus O'Hara.

Gerard is a writer from Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

He was recently longlisted for the Retreat West 2020 Short Story Award and the 2019 BBC National Short Story Award.

His work has appeared in numerous anthologies including 'Still Worlds Turning' 2019 and 'The Black Dreams: Strange Stories from Northern Ireland' 2021.

Producer: Michael Shannon

An ill-timed attempt to kick a football leads to a trip to the hospital.

Someone has been leaving balls filled with concrete in public places for unsuspecting people to discover. Read by Seamus O'Hara.

[LISTEN NOW]

In this hard-hitting piece from the Scottish author and journalist, a man rails against the custody settlement which limits time with his son. Brought up short by a shocking crisis on the way to the football, he is forced to examine his past behaviour.

Rachael Fulton's fiction has been published by the Bridport Prize and The Common Breath, and broadcast on Audible. She was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award 2021, Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize 2020 and won Elle Magazine's New Talent Award. She is currently working on a short story collection and her debut novel from her home in Scotland.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

A hard-hitting new short story from Rachael Fulton.

A man rails against the custody settlement which limits time with his son.

Brought up short by a shocking crisis on the way to the football, he is forced to examine his past behaviour.

Read by Andy Clark.

Rachael's fiction has been published by the Bridport Prize and The Common Breath, and broadcast on Audible. She was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award 2021, Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize 2020 and won Elle Magazine's New Talent Award.

She is currently working on a short story collection and her debut novel from her home in Scotland.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

A man rails against a custody settlement. Hard-hitting short story.

A hard-hitting story about fatherhood, a custody settlement and past behaviour. Read by Andy Clark.

A hard-hitting story by the prize-winning Scottish author and journalist, Rachael Fulton

Rachael Fulton's fiction has been published by the Bridport Prize and The Common Breath, and broadcast on Audible. She was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award 2021, Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize 2020 and won Elle Magazine's New Talent Award.

A hard-hitting short story from Rachael Fulton, Scottish author and journalist.

A hard-hitting piece about fatherhood, a custody settlement and past behaviour. Read by Andy Clark.

[LISTEN NOW]

A short story exploring the complexities of OCD, written and read by Katie Sherrard, with support from Ellie Heydon and performing arts academy, City Academy. Produced in Bristol by Becky Ripley.

An original short story about living with OCD, written and read by Katie Sherrard.

[LISTEN NOW]

And then they meet a stranger on the path - ¦

Read by Bryony Hannah.

Julia Bell is the author of three novels - most recently The Dark Light - and three volumes of short stories. She is also co-editor of the Creative Writing Course book and a Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck College, London.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in October 2019.

Lost in the woods, a mother and son meet a stranger on the path.

But can she conquer her fear of flying?

An original short work for radio - written and performed by Anna Freeman.

Anna is a novelist, a multiple poetry slam champion, an associate lecturer in creative writing at Bath Spa University and the producer of Bristol's acclaimed spoken word series, Blahblahblah.

She is the author of two novels, The Fair Fight, a historical adventure set within the world of female prize-fighters and their patrons in 18th century Bristol, and Five Days of Fog, which follows a gang of female criminals through the great smog of 1952.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

An original short work for radio by Anna Freeman, author of The Fair Fight.

Anthony Shapland is from Bargoed, Wales. His short stories can be found in the anthologies (un)common, Lucent Dreaming and Cymru & I. Twice shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Short Story Award, he was chosen as one of the 2023 Hay Festival's Writers at Work. His debut novel A Room Above a Shop will be published by Granta in 2025.

Reader - Nathan Sussex

Sound by Catherine Robinson

Directed by John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production

An original short story by Anthony Shapland, read by Nathan Sussex.

An original short story by Anthony Shapland, read by Nathan Sussex. Two boys idle away the long days of late summer. Their games, dares and bets escalate.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for radio by Jamie Guiney.

Read by Carol Moore.

Jamie Guiney is a literary fiction writer from County Armagh, Northern Ireland.

His debut short story collection 'The Wooden Hill' was shortlisted under Best Short Story Collection in the 2019 Saboteur Awards. Jamie's short stories have been published internationally and he has been nominated twice for the 'The Pushcart Prize.' He is a graduate of the Faber & Faber Writing Academy and has twice been a judge for short story competition 'The New Rose Prize.

His work has been backed by the Northern Ireland Arts Council through several Individual Artist Awards and he has also been chosen by Lagan Online as one of their New Original Writers.

Producer: Michael Shannon.

An elderly man attends wakes for deceased strangers.

Eley Williams' new short story for radio brings us a portrait of a fixed point in a changing, changeable world. Williams' writing is 'elegantly droll without the kind of hipster quirkiness that makes me want to hurl books at the wall.' (Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent).

Produced by Becky Ripley.

An original short story about working as a living statue by writer Eley Williams.

“Georgina had worked as a living statue for about ten years. She believed in no uncertain terms that this cold day in March must be her hardest day at the job so far. ?

Eley Williams reads her own short story for radio, bringing us a portrait of a fixed point in a changing, changeable world.

Williams' writing is 'elegantly droll without the kind of hipster quirkiness that makes me want to hurl books at the wall.' (Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent).

Producer: Becky Ripley

An original short story about working as a living statue.

Georgina works as a living statue. On a cold March day, she believes it's her hardest day on the job so far. Read by the author.

[LISTEN NOW]

A meeting at a supermarket cheese counter sparks memories of loss, grief and friendship - and perhaps an answer to a ghost story that has haunted Stoke-on-Trent's old steelworks for decades.

Writer: Lisa Blower is an acclaimed novelist, playwright and prize-winning short story writer from Stoke-on-Trent.

Reader: Amy Parker

Producer: Justine Willett

A new story for Radio 4 from Lisa Blower, about loss, grief and ghosts from the past.

A meeting at a supermarket cheese counter sparks memories of loss, and perhaps an answer to an old ghost story...

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 by the Irish writer Cathy Sweeney

Read by Roísín Gallagher.

Cathy Sweeney lives in Bray, County Wicklow. She has published short stories in ‘The Stinging Fly', ‘Southword', ‘The Dublin Review', ‘Icarus', ‘Meridian' and in the 2015 anthology ‘Young Irelanders' published by New Island Press. This is her first story for BBC Radio.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A story about a man who makes films without a camera. By Cathy Sweeney.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 by the Irish writer Cathy Sweeney

Read by Ro퀀s퀀n Gallagher.

Cathy Sweeney lives in Bray, County Wicklow. She has published short stories in ‘The Stinging Fly', ‘Southword', ‘The Dublin Review', ‘Icarus', ‘Meridian' and in the 2015 anthology ‘Young Irelanders' published by New Island Press. This is her first story for BBC Radio.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A story about a man who makes films without a camera.

In Alison MacLeod's beautifully written and sharply observed story, we travel back to the Victorian era where we encounter a young woman and her formidable intellect. Ada Lovelace well known as the daughter of Byron and an early contributor the forerunner to the computer and AI, the 'Analytical Machine' was a mathematical genius. Less well known is that she once wanted to fly, and in her desire to be airborne her fierce imagination led her into the unseen worlds of science and discovery.

Alison MacLeod is a novelist, short story writer and senior academic. Her most recent novel, Tenderness, was a New York Times ‘Best Book' of the year and a ‘Best Paperback' of the year for The Sunday Times. Her novel Unexploded was nominated for the Man-Booker Prize and adapted for BBC Radio 4. Her collection All the Beloved Ghosts was shortlisted for Canada's Governor General's Award for Fiction and for the UK's Edge Hill Short Story Prize. She has also been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, and her stories have often been broadcast on Radio 3 and 4. She is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, Visiting Professor at the University of Chichester, a Writers' Award recipient of the British Library, and currently lectures on a part-time basis at Anglia Ruskin University, where she contributes to the Cambridge Writing Centre.

Phoebe Campbell is best known for playing Rhaena Targaryen in the fantasy series House of the Dragon. Campbell's played Susanna in the RSC West End production of Hamnet, and Nikki in Alma Mater at the Almeida.

The producer is Elizabeth Allard.

Ada Lovelace takes a liberating flight of fancy and a vision of the future unfurls.

The acclaimed writer Alison MacLeod's new short story sees Ada Lovelace take a liberating flight of fancy where a vision of the future unfurls. Phoebe Campbell reads.

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

Dawn Watson was born in Belfast and is a poet and writer. She is currently a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Queen's University, Belfast. Dawn's debut collection We Play Here was a Guardian Poetry Book of the Year 2023 and was shortlisted for the John Pollard International Poetry Prize for an outstanding debut collection. Dawn's work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3, and BBC Radio Ulster, and has appeared in leading literary journals including The Poetry Review and Granta.

Writer: Dawn Watson

Reader: Andrea Irvine

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

Usherette Lisa arrives to work at the cinema, only to learn there has been a bomb scare.

On a day that finally offers hope for peace in Northern Ireland, a teenager working at a Belfast cinema finds that not everyone is so optimistic about an end to the violence.

Read by Jade Anouka

Written by Diana Evans, the award-winning author of A House for Alice, Ordinary People, The Wonder and 26a. Her prize nominations include the Guardian and Commonwealth Best First Book awards, and she was the inaugural winner of the Orange Award for New Writers.

Produced by Justine Willett

A new story for Radio 4 from the award-winning author Diana Evans, read by Jade Anouka.

When two pigeons become trapped on a tower block balcony, a young mother finally decides to act, in a new story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author Diana Evans.

[LISTEN NOW]

It's a journey her family once took when they sought refuge in the United States - wondering who has the right to tell these stories.

Read by Nadia Albina.

Written by Dima Alzayat. Taken from her collection Alligator and Other Stories.

Producer: Nicola Holloway

A chance find in a bookshop prompts a pregnant woman to reflect on her journey

A chance find in a bookshop prompts a pregnant woman to reflect on the journey she's taken. Read by Nadia Albina.

A chance find in a bookshop prompts a pregnant woman to reflect on the journey she's taking to becoming a mother, on the journey her family once took when they sought refuge in the United States, and wonder who has the right to tell these stories.

Dima Alzayat's debut collection, Alligator and Other Stories, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas and James Black Memorial Prizes.

Gentle is read by Nadia Albina

A chance find in a bookshop prompts a pregnant woman to reflect on the journey she's taking to becoming a mother and who has the right to tell her story.

Gentle by Dima Alzayat

[LISTEN NOW]

It's a journey her family once took when they sought refuge in the United States - wondering who has the right to tell these stories.

Dima Alzayat's short story read by Nadia Albina.

Taken from Dima's collection Alligator and Other Stories.

Producer: Nicola Holloway

A chance find in a bookshop prompts a pregnant woman to reflect on her journey

A chance find in a bookshop prompts a pregnant woman to reflect on the journey she's taken. Read by Nadia Albina.

[LISTEN NOW]

In Lucca, he considers two failed marriages: one in the novel, the other his own.

Tom Vowler's short story read by Blake Ritson.

Taken from Tom's story collection The Method, which won the Scott Prize and the Edge Hill Readers' Prize.

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2022.

A writer goes to Lucca to complete another author's novel.

A writer goes to Tuscany to complete a dead author's unfinished novel, causing him to reflect on life. Read by Blake Ritson.

A writer goes to Tuscany to complete the unfinished novel of a dead author. In Lucca, he considers two failed marriages: one in the novel, the other his own.

Tom Vowler's story collection The Method, won the Scott Prize and the Edge Hill Readers' Prize. His most recent novel, Every Seventh Wave, was published in 2021.

Writer: Tom Vowler

Reader: Blake Ritson

Ghost Writer by Tom Vowler. A writer goes to Lucca to complete another author's novel.

Ghost Writer by Tom Vowler. A writer goes to Lucca to complete the unfinished novel of a dead author. He considers two failed marriages: one in the novel, the other his own.

[LISTEN NOW]

The Author

Born in Dublin in 1959, the poet, playwright and novelist Dermot Bolger worked as a factory hand, library assistant and small press publisher before settling for the precious life of a full-time writer in 1984. Bolger is the author of fourteen novels including Tanglewood and An Ark of Light. He is a member of the artist's association Aosdána and received an honorary doctorate in literature from the National University of Ireland in 2022. He lives in Dublin.

Writer: Dermot Bolger

Reader: Michelle Fairley

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

Janet visits the guesthouse where she spent her last ever family holiday.

A playwright attends a re-staging of her debut play, eager for the excuse to revisit the place she remembers from childhood. Read by Michelle Fairley.

[LISTEN NOW]

Carla has a telephone phobia, whilst her mother is seldom off the thing.

Mother has a PHD in History of Art, and somehow telephoning and Dutch Flower Paintings become connected in this world of theirs.

This is one of five stories originally commissioned from outstanding younger writers to accompany the 2016 BBC National Short Story Award.

Written by Emma Healey

Read by Louise Brealey.

Producer: Duncan Minshull

Art history and the art of telephoning connect a mother and daughter.

Art history and the art of telephoning connect in a story about a mother and daughter. Read by Louise Brealey.

One of five new stories originally commissioned from outstanding younger writers to accompany the 2016 BBC National Short Story Award:

GIVE ME A BUZZ by Emma Healey

Carla has a telephone phobia, whilst her mother is seldom off the thing. Mother has a PHD in History of Art, and somehow telephoning and Dutch Flower Paintings become connected in this world of theirs..

Reader Louise Brealey

Art history and the art of telephoning mingle in a story about a mother and daughter.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story about coming back to the world after postpartum depression, written and read by Kerri Ní Dochartaigh.

A BBC Audio Bristol Production

Producer: Becky Ripley

And here it is: the sea, the summer, the light.' An original work by Kerri N\u00ed Dochartaigh

And here it is: the sea, the summer, the light.' An original short story about coming back to the world after postpartum depression, written and read by Kerri Ní Dochartaigh.

A visiting professor regrets offering a lift to a local woman whilst en route to a film festival in County Antrim.

Wendy Erskine works full-time as a secondary school teacher in Belfast. Her writing has appeared in several publications including 'The Stinging Fly' literary magazine and the anthology 'Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland'. Her debut short story collection, Sweet Home, was shortlisted for The Republic of Consciousness Prize, and longlisted for The Gordon Burn Prize and The Edge Hill Prize.

Read by Robert Glenister

Produced by Celia de Wolff

An awkward car journey to a Christian film festival takes an unexpected turn.

A visiting professor regrets offering a lift to a local woman whilst en route to a film festival. Read by Robert Glenister.

Caoilinn Hughes is an Irish writer whose poetry collection 'Gathering Evidence' was awarded the Irish Times Shine/Strong Award and the Patrick Kavanagh Award. Her work has appeared in Tin House, POETRY, Granta, The Rumpus, Best British Poetry, Poetry Ireland, BBC Radio 3 and elsewhere. Her debut novel 'Orchid & The Wasp won the Collyer Bristow Prize. In September 2018 she won first and third prize in The Moth International Short Story Award. In 2019, she won an O. Henry Prize for her story ‘Prime' which was also longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Prize.

Writer - Caoilinn Hughes

Reader - Fenella Woolgar

Produced by Celia DeWolff for BBC Northern Ireland

Clara surprises her brother with an unexpected visit.

Emma Kane is currently completing an MA in Creative Writing at Queen's University Belfast. Her previously published work can be found in On the Grass When I Arrive: An Anthology, The Bangor Literary Journal, The Cormorant and What Could Be Carried, part of an ekphrasis project for the Ulster Museum. Her story 'Mother's Daughter' was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster in 2023 as part of the Storytellers series.

Reader: Andrea Irvine

Producer: Michael Shannon

Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production

A mother can't help feeling left behind when her son announces his engagement.

Kat is about to turn sixteen on the anniversary of her sister Grace's disappearance 5 years ago and her anxious parents are on overdrive. Everything in Kat's life since Grace failed to come home has been the result of loss; her life is defined by her sister's absence. When Kat goes out running with her dog her Mum insists that both she and the dog wear a GPS tracker at all times. A message glimpsed on social media leads Kat to uncover the dark history of the local area but will she find out what really happened to her sister that terrible night 5 years ago?

A Short Work inspired by the history of the Mendip Hills.

Sanjida Kay has had four psychological thrillers published by Corvus Books: Bone by Bone, The Stolen Child, My Mother's Secret and One Year Later. Bone by Bone went straight into the Amazon kindle best-selling list. It was long listed for the CWA Steel Dagger Award and nominated as one of the best crime and thriller books of 2016 by the Guardian and the Sunday Express. Her books have been optioned for TV, and published in other countries. She's had two short stories published in collections: The Beautiful Game, in The Perfect Crime, published by Harper Collins, which was shortlisted for a CWA Short Story Dagger; and The Divide in The Book of Bristol (Comma Press), which won the CWA Short Story Dagger.

Under her own name of Sanjida O'Connell, she's had four novels and four non-fiction books published. She's also contributed to two encyclopaedias, had poetry and short stories published in anthologies and edited two collections of work by students for the charity, First Story. Sanjida has been shortlisted for the BBC Asia Awards, the Betty Trask Award for Romantic Fiction, the Daily Telegraph Science Writer's Award, Asian Woman of the Year, and was highly commended for BBC Wildlife Magazine's Award for Nature Writing.

https://www.sanjida.co.uk/

Written by Sanjida Kay

Read by Halema Hussain

Produced by Alison Crawford

An original short story written by Sanjida Kay.

I haven't had a birthday since I was ten years old. That makes me sound like I'm immortal or a vampire, but it's really not like that'. An original short story by Sanjida Kay.

[LISTEN NOW]

It's her wedding anniversary and Miriam is visiting her husband's grave, but something is amiss.

New short fiction by Giancarlo Gemin, a Cardiffian author whose books for younger readers Sweet Pizza and Cow Girl, have both won the Tir Na n-Og award and been nominated for the Carnegie Medal.

Reader: Sue Roderick

Sound: Catherine Robinson

Producer: John Norton

[LISTEN NOW]

A M Bakalar is the author of two novels, Madame Mephisto (2012) and Children of Our Age (2017). Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The International New York Times and LA Review of Books among others. Her story Woman Of Your Dreams was broadcast as part of Radio 4's Angielski series in 2015. She was born and raised in Wroclaw, Poland and lives in London.

Writer: A M Bakalar

Reader: Anamaria Marinca

By A M Bakalar. It's Poland in 1980 and Sonia receives some unwelcome visitors.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Matthew McDevitt.

Matthew McDevitt lives in Derry with a very clever librarian and three Spaniels. He is a writer for BBC NI's television series 'Soft Border Patrol' and his first radio play 'Lock In' starring Conleth Hill was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster in 2018.

Read by Tara Lynne O'Neill (Derry Girls)

Written by Matthew McDevitt

Producer - Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2021.

A struggling single mother begins delivering court summons to earn some extra money.

A single mother's new job delivering court summons takes a dangerous turn when she is blackmailed. Read by Tara Lynne O'Neill.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Matthew McDevitt. As read by Tara Lynne O'Neill (Derry Girls)

Reader - Tara Lynne O'Neill

[LISTEN NOW]

The award-winning Scottish writer Alan Warner's new and specially commissioned story sees an antiques expert off the telly – Harry Swithenback – arrive in at this unnamed harbour town for what he hopes is a few days of rest and relaxation, however, the townspeople have other ideas. Stuart McQuarrie reads.

Alan Warner, who as was born in Oban on the west coast of Scotland in 1964, is the author of several novels including: Morvern Callar (1995), which won the Somerset Maugham Prize and was adapted for the cinema by director Lynne Ramsay in 2002. It is published as a Vintage Classic. He also wrote These Demented Lands (1997), which won the Encore Award and The Sopranos/Our Ladies, (1998), which won the Saltire Book of the Year Award. His novel The Stars in the Bright Sky from 2010 was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Stuart McQuarrie is a television, film and theatre actor who has appeared in shows such as Taggart, Rab C Nesbitt, London's Burning and Silent Witness. In film, he's also had notable roles in 28 Days Later, Terminator: Dark Fate and White Bird.

The producer is Dominic Howell.

TV antiques expert Harry Swithenback is in town for a holiday but people have other ideas.

A new short story by the award-winning writer Alan Warner sees antiques expert Harry Swithenback visit a harbour town in the hope of a holiday, but the townsfolk have other ideas.

The award-winning Scottish writer Alan Warner's new and specially-commissioned story sees an antiques expert off the telly – Harry Swithenback – arrive in an unnamed harbour town for what he hopes is a few days of rest and relaxation, however, the townspeople have other ideas. Stuart McQuarrie reads.

Alan Warner was born in Oban on the west coast of Scotland in 1964 and is the author of several novels including: Morvern Callar (1995), which won the Somerset Maugham Prize and was adapted for the cinema by director Lynne Ramsay in 2002. It is published as a Vintage Classic. He also wrote These Demented Lands (1997), which won the Encore Award and The Sopranos/Our Ladies (1998), which won the Saltire Book of the Year Award. His novel The Stars in the Bright Sky (2010) was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

TV antiques expert Harry Swithenback is hoping for a holiday but the town has other ideas.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Bernie McQuillan. Read by Caoimhe Farren.

The Author

Bernie McQuillan is an Irish writer, based in Belfast with her husband and four children and works in health and social care. Her short stories have won awards and been published in journals including The Honest Ulsterman and Women's Way (Ireland). She is an Irish PEN/John Hewitt 2024 Freedom to Write Awardee. Her debut novel The Lobster Pot (2026) was shortlisted by Watson Little x Indie Novella Prize, longlisted by the Caledonia Novel Award and highly commended by Irish Novel Fair.

Reader: Caoimhe Farren

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

Erin struggles to reconcile her doctor's advice with her knowledge of his personal life.

In a hospital in Belfast, senior nurse Erin is unsettled to find herself in the role of the patient.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story by Rachel Trezise, read by Alexandria Riley.

Sound by Catherine Robinson

Produced by Emma Harding

A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4.

Alexandria Riley reads Rachel Trezise's darkly comic story about a miracle chicken.

Lowri and Adam run a smallholding in Wales, where they raise chickens for slaughter.

But one chicken, Satay, seems to defy the laws of nature.

An original darkly comic short story by Rachel Trezise

Read by Alexandria Riley

Producer: Emma Harding

A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2022.

Darkly comic story about a miracle chicken.

Darkly comic story about a couple who run a Welsh smallholding and a miracle chicken. Read by Alexandria Riley.

[LISTEN NOW]

In this touching and funny story, new hearing aids lead Barry to look afresh at his marriage to Donna and the way he has behaved in the past.

Hearing Aids is read by Liam Carney, and produced by Nicola Holloway

Misunderstandings and miscommunications on a car journey in Dublin.

Driving with his new hearing aids for the first time, makes Barry reassess his past behaviour.

A brand new story from Roddy Doyle, author of The Commitments and the 1993 Booker Prize winner, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

Annabel Banks is an award-winning writer and poet, who previously worked on the car assembly plant in Swindon. She has a PhD in Creative Writing, and her work has appeared in The Manchester Review, Litro and The Stockholm Review among others. Her debut short story collection EXERCISES IN CONTROL is published in February 2020.

Liv Hill is a Bafta-nomintaed actor who has starred in BBC mini-series Three Girls, as well as films Jellyfish, The Little Stranger and Elizabeth is Missing. For her role in Caryl Chruchill's Top Girls at the National Theatre, she received Stage Debut Award nomination for Most promising newcomer.

Writer: Annabel Banks

Reader: Liv Hill

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

A teenage girl prepares for the day when the sparrows will take her heart away

Divya Ghelani was born in Gujarat and grew up in Loughborough, Leicestershire. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and an MPhil in Literary Studies from the University of Hong Kong. She lives between Berlin and the UK where she has published short stories and judged story and flash fiction competitions. She is working on her first novel.

Writer: Divya Ghelani

Reader: Indira Varma

By Divya Ghelani. Pramila's training for the skipathon does not go smoothly.

In writer Allan Radcliffe's alternative take on love and relationships, Maggie and Ellie meet on Valentine's Day in an attempt to build a relationship after being semi-estranged for years.

Allan Radcliffe is a multi-award winning Scottish author, arts journalist and editor, and is currently a freelance theatre critic and feature writer. His short stories have been published in anthologies including Out There, The Best Gay Short Stories and New Writing Scotland. After the resounding success of his debut novel 'The Old Haunts', his new novel, 'Blurred Faces', was published by Fairlight in November 2025.

Hearts in Lattes' is read by Gabriel Quigley and produced by Bethany Woodhead. It is a BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

A new story from Allan Radcliffe about a strained relationship between mum and daughter.

With an alternative take on love & relationships, Allan Radcliffe centres this Valentine's story around a semi-estranged mum & daughter trying to reconcile

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story for radio by Northern Irish author, Michael Hughes.

Read by Faye Marsay.

Michael Hughes wrote the novels 'The Countenance Divine' and 'Country', a retelling of Homer's 'Iliad' set on the Northern Irish border during the Troubles.

Born in Armagh, he also teaches creative writing at Queen's University Belfast.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A young woman writes a letter delivering some unexpected news.

Caitlin Magnall-Kearns is a writer based in East Belfast. She was a finalist in the London Independent Story Prize 2020 and was chosen to be a part of the Lyric Theatre Belfast's New Playwrights Programme in 2021. This is her second piece for Radio 4 following on from her audio drama “Orangefield ? that was featured as part of audio anthology “United Kingdoms ?.

Reader: Chris Robinson

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A long-suffering secondary school drama teacher holds auditions for the end of year show.

Wendy Erskine's writing has appeared in several publications including 'The Stinging Fly' literary magazine and the anthology 'Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland'. Her debut short story collection 'Sweet Home' has just been published by The Stinging Fly Press.

Reader - Ali White

Producer - Michael Shannon.

A story about the people missing from our lives. By Wendy Erskine.

Michelle Fairley reads Christine Dwyer Hickey's short story.

Christine Dwyer Hickey is an award-winning novelist and short story writer.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2020.

In 1978, a young girl moves to London at Christmas to start a new life.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Marie-Louise McGuinness. Read by Charlotte McCurry (BBC One's Leonard and Hungry Paul.)

The Author

Marie-Louise McGuinness writes from Omagh, Northern Ireland. She has work published in numerous literary magazines including Banshee, The Forge and Fictive Dream. She has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, longlisted in the Bath Short Story Award and her very short story 'When She Falls', first published in Milk Candy Review, was selected as a winner for Best Microfictions 2025. She writes from a sensory perspective.

Reader: Charlotte McCurry

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A seemingly ordinary day inspires a woman to reflect on what led her to this life.

Over the course of an average day caring for her husband and children, a woman can't help but think back to her adventures travelling abroad in her youth.

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 to critical acclaim, followed by a short-story collection, Children's Children (2016), and two flash fiction anthologies, Postcard Stories (2017) and Postcard Stories 2 (2020). Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She has won the Harper's Bazaar short-story competition and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and the Seကn Ӏ Faolကin Short Story Prize. Her third novel, The Raptures, was published in 2022.

Writer: Jan Carson

Reader: Lisa Dwyer Hogg

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A magical story about a doting auntie, face-painting and the importance of wet wipes.

THE CLOCK TOWER, written and read by Nat Segnit

In the Spanish village after lunch he climbs the tower to the mechanism room, while she refuses to. These two decisions shape their romantic destinies..

Producer Duncan Minshull

Acclaimed Irish writer, Kevin Barry, reads a his story, specially commissioned for BBC Radio.

Kevin Barry is an acclaimed Irish writer, whose debut novel, City of Bohane, won the 2013 Impac Dublin literary award.

His next novel, Beatlebone, was the winner of the Goldsmiths prize, and his novel, Night Boat to Tangier, was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

Producer: Justine Willett

Two lovers are reunited after decades apart.

But she discovers that she cannot escape from herself.

Short story read by Aysha Kala.

Writer and artist Amanthi Harris was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Colombo, before moving to London.

Her novella Lantern Evening won the Gatehouse Press New Fictions Prize in 2016. Her novel, Beautiful Place, was published in 2019.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2019.

Anya seeks escape in a Spanish village.

Clare Duffy is an Irish writer and performer across stage and screen. She is currently living and writing in Belfast and dreaming about Paris. She gained an MA in Creative Writing from the Seamus Heaney Centre and Queens University Belfast and is working on a screen project, a short story collection, and teaching screenwriting at Queens University Belfast.

Writer: Clare Duffy

Reader: Clare Duffy

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A young woman in need of some advice tracks down Rapunzel.

When men start locking women in towers, a young woman seeks out the help of Rapunzel.

[LISTEN NOW]

Reader: Laurel Lefkow

Author: Kirstin Valdez Quade is an American short story-writer, whose work has appeared in the New Yorker. Her short story collection, Night at the Fiestas, won numerous awards.

Producer: Justine Willett

A new short story by acclaimed American author Kirstin Valdez Quade.

The haunting story of a remarkable encounter with two mysterious strangers on a train journey south from Newcastle to London.

A post-graduate is leaving Newcastle and heading south after finishing her English studies when she is struck by two unusual men who seem oddly over-anxious to establish if they are on the right train. Once on board the pair break into song and it emerges they are travellers, who have never learnt to read, on their way to their annual festive gathering, Appleby Fair.

This short work captures a fleeting moment when two contrasting cultures, rural and urban, lyrical and literary, age-old and modern, rub up against each other on one memorable summer's evening.

Read by Deborah Findlay.

Produced by Karen Holden.

An original short work for radio by Nina Allan, award-winning writer of speculative fiction, including The Good Neighbours.

Read by Alexandra Mathie.

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.

In a world not unlike ours, Janet flees the city after a devastating loss. Read by Alexandra Mathie.

[LISTEN NOW]

On the day of her wedding, Joan's adult children struggle to accept her decision to remarry.

Read by Julia Dearden.

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from Northern Irish writer Tara West.

Tara West is a novelist and Creative Writing Lecturer at Queen's University Belfast.

She is the author of novels Fodder and Poets Are Eaten as a Delicacy in Japan as well as the memoir The Upside of Down. She has short stories published in The Glass Shore and Female Lines. She was part of BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices 2020/21. She won an RTÉ Storyland commission for her first drama ‘The Good Christian Women's Writing Group' for which she was nominated for the Royal Television Society's Debut Writer Award.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in September 2023.

A woman in her 70s surprises her children by marrying an ice cream shop.

On the day of her wedding, Joan's adult children struggle to accept her decision to remarry. Read by Julia Dearden.

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from Northern Irish writer Tara West. Read by Julia Dearden.

Tara West is a novelist and Creative Writing Lecturer at Queen's University Belfast. She is the author of novels Fodder and Poets Are Eaten as a Delicacy in Japan as well as the memoir The Upside of Down. She has short stories published in The Glass Shore and Female Lines. She was part of BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices 2020/21. She won an RTɀ Storyland commission for her first drama ‘The Good Christian Women's Writing Group' for which she was nominated for the Royal Television Society's Debut Writer Award.

Reader: Julia Dearden

Editor: Andy Martin

A woman in her seventies surprises her children by marrying an ice cream shop.

[LISTEN NOW]

Reader - Nina Wadia

Directed by Philippa Swallow

Sound by Nigel Lewis

A BBC Audio Drama Wales production

Kicha and the Unicorn. New short fiction by Hanan Issa. Read by Nina Wadia.

Kicha and the Unicorn. A widow deals with grief in an extraordinary way. New short fiction by Hanan Issa. Read by Nina Wadia.

The required 'muscle' will come from an unexpected quarter.

New story written by James Meek.

Read by David Horovitch.

Producer Duncan Minshull

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2018.

His Lordship, who's known as Gerry, is broke and lacking ideas.

In a nameless town, two very different men, both struggling and lost from society, find solace in small acts of kindness...

Readers: Jason Barnett and Sam Dale

Writer: David Constantine is an acclaimed poet and writer, best known for his critically acclaimed collections of short stories, including Tea at the Midland. He is the winner of both the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award.

Producer: Justine Willett

An original story for Radio 4 from the award-winning writer David Constantine.

Two different men, both struggling and lost, find solace in acts of kindness, in this original story for Radio 4 from David Constantine.

[LISTEN NOW]

Read by Jessica Hardwick

Producer Ellie Marsh

Kirsty Logan is an award winning novelist and short story writer. Her latest book, No & Other Love Stories, is a collection of dark love stories.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.

In Kirsty Logan's new short work, Wilbur prepares to meet his dad for the very first time.

A new short work for Father's Day. As Wilbur prepares to meet his dad for the first time, can he find the strength to face his fear? Reader Jessica Hardwick. Writer Kirsty Logan.

[LISTEN NOW]

June Caldwell is the author of 'Room Little Darker', a collection of short stories. She is the winner of the Moth Short Story Prize and has been shortlisted for writing.ie Short Story of the Year; Calvino Prize in Fabulist Fiction; Colm To퀀b퀀n International Short Story Award; Lorian Hemingway Prize; and Sunday Business Post/Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize.

Reader: Emmet Kirwan

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

The sun is melting, so Rory goes for a drink. A short story for radio by June Caldwell.

Hannah Vincent lives in Brighton. She began her writing life as a playwright and her first radio play, Come to Grief, was a re-working of one of her stage plays. It won the BBC 2015 Audio Award for Best Adaptation. Hannah's most recent collection of short fiction, She-Clown And Other Stories, was published in March 2020.

Writer: Hannah Vincent

Reader: Gabby Wong

By Hannah Vincent. A story about ambition, cheese and wrestling mice.

Confident Erin and her quiet colleague Kumeko arrive at an empty hotel to prepare for a conference, where they will be competing for a place on a sales team.

A story about ambition, cheese and sumo-wrestling mice.

Read by Gabby Wong.

Author Hannah Vincent lives in Brighton. She began her writing life as a playwright and her first radio play, Come to Grief, was a re-working of one of her stage plays. It won the BBC 2015 Audio Award for Best Adaptation.

Hannah's most recent collection of short fiction, She-Clown And Other Stories, was published in 2020.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2020.

A story about ambition, cheese and wrestling mice.

Colleagues Erin and Kumeko arrive at an empty hotel. A story about ambition, cheese and sumo-wrestling mice. Read by Gabby Wong.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for radio.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Rachel Gough. Read by Jessica Regan.

The Author

Rachel Gough is a writer from County Cork. Her work includes short fiction published in The Waxed Lemon, Outpost, Bealtaine, The National Flash Fiction Anthology, and Best Small Fictions and poetry published in Quarryman. In 2021 her short story ‘December 25th 2022' was shortlisted for Best Short Story at the Wild Atlantic Words Festival. In 2022 she received the Editor's Choice Award from the National Flash Fiction Day Anthology. In the same year she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In 2025, she was awarded first place in the flash fiction category at the Write by the Sea Literary Festival.

Reader: Jessica Regan

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A woman receives a phone call from her recently deceased grandmother.

A shop assistant still gets regular phone calls from her grandmother, despite her being dead for over three years.

[LISTEN NOW]

At his local swimming pool, Jack is confused to see his ex-girlfriend in the next lane. Hadn't she always said she was afraid of the water?

A new short story written by Emily Koch.

Emily Koch is an award-winning journalist and author of three novels, If I Die Before I Wake, Keep Him Close and What July Knew. Her debut, If I Die Before I Wake, was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Steel Dagger award, won France's Prix du Bureau des Lecteurs Folio Policier, was longlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, and was selected as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. She lives in Bristol.

Produced by Beth O'Dea and Mair Bosworth in Bristol for BBC Audio

Original short works for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

Rebecca Watson is the highly acclaimed author of little scratch, shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. A fresh new literary voice, she was chosen by The Observer as one of the 10 best debut novelists of 2021 for her 'daringly experimental stream-of-consciousness novel'.

Written and read by Rebecca Watson

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

A powerful new story for radio by the author of 2021 breakthrough novel, little scratch.

Rebecca Watson is the highly acclaimed author of little scratch, shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. A fresh new literary voice, she was chosen by The Observer as one of the 10 best debut novelists of 2021 for her 'daringly experimental stream-of-consciousness novel'.

Written and read by Rebecca Watson

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

A powerful new story for radio by the author of 2021 breakthrough novel, little scratch

Following her mother's instructions, Ruthie has gone to Iceland: to wait for the volcano to erupt and to complete an important task.

Tiffany Murray is the author of the novels Diamond Star Halo, Happy Accidents and Sugar Hall. Her fourth book, The Girl Who Talked to Birds, is set in Iceland. She is completing a memoir, You, Me, and The Rock n' Roll Cook, about growing up with Queen and Black Sabbath sleeping in your house.

Writer: Tiffany Murray

Reader: Tanya Reynolds

Lava! Lava! Lava! by Tiffany Murray. In Iceland, Ruthie waits for the volcano to erupt.

Tiffany Murray is the author of the novels Diamond Star Halo, Happy Accidents and Sugar Hall. Her fourth book, The Girl Who Talked to Birds, is set in Iceland. She is completing a memoir, You, Me, and The Rock n' Roll Cook, about growing up with Queen and Black Sabbath sleeping in your house.

Writer: Tiffany Murray

Reader: Tanya Reynolds

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in June 2021.

In Iceland, Ruthie waits for the volcano to erupt.

Ruthie has gone to Iceland to wait for the volcano to erupt and to complete an important task. Read by Tanya Reynolds.

LAY NOT THY HAND UPON THE LAD by Ned Beauman

On the island, at the command of the Algorithm, father and son carry out the culling of the Woolly Anteater. But one day their work is interrupted by a new set of instructions..

Reader Allan Corduner

Producer Duncan Minshull

Anteaters and an algorithm as a father and son share a culling job.

Glenn Patterson is an author and screenwriter from Belfast. He has written ten novels as well as audio dramas for Radio 3 and Radio 4 and is the co-writer of 'Good Vibrations', an award-winning movie based on the life of Belfast punk impresario Terri Hooley.

Reader - Maggie Cronin

Producer - ¦.. Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

After she misses her bus into town, a woman shares an unusual taxi ride with a stranger.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Glenn Patterson.

Glenn Patterson is an author and screenwriter from Belfast. He has written ten novels as well as audio dramas for Radio 3 and Radio 4 and is the co-writer of 'Good Vibrations', an award-winning movie based on the life of Belfast punk impresario Terri Hooley.

Written by Glenn Patterson

Read by Maggie Cronin

Produced by Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2021.

After she misses her bus into town, a woman shares an unusual taxi ride with a stranger.

After missing her bus, a woman shares an unusual taxi ride with a stranger and reassesses her whole life. Read by Maggie Cronin.

Over the course of the journey, she comes to reassess her entire life...

Glenn's an author and screenwriter from Belfast. He has written ten novels as well as audio dramas for Radio 3 and Radio 4 and is the co-writer of 'Good Vibrations', an award-winning movie based on the life of Belfast punk impresario Terri Hooley.

Producer: Michael Shannon

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Written and read by Northern Irish writer Lucy Caldwell.

Lucy Caldwell is an award-winning playwright and novelist.

Her novels ‘The Meeting Point' and ‘All the Beggars Riding' were serialised on Radio 4's Book at Bedtime and her audio dramas include 'Mayday', ‘Notes to Future Self', ‘Avenues of Eternal Peace', ‘Quicksands' and the Imison award-winning ‘Girl from Mars'. Her debut short story collection 'Multitudes' was published by Faber in 2016.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A story about the reality, and unreality, of parenting.

Julianne Pachico is a British-American writer who grew up in Colombia. The Lucky Ones was her acclaimed debut, comprising a series of linked stories. Her novel The Anthill is published in May 2020.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard

Julianne Pachico's specially commissioned story is about the art of contemporary writing.

The first of five tales originally commissioned to celebrate the BBC National Short Story Award shortlist in 2016.

In David Szalay's story, a man drives a lorry through Europe and sleeps in the cabin at service stations.

It's always the same, drive and sleep.

Then one night there's a knock on the cabin door.

Writer: David Szalay

Reader: Paul Hilton

Producer: Duncan Minshull

A long distance lorry driver parks up overnight - but it's not the same old story.

A man drives a lorry through Europe, stopping to sleep at service stations. But one night is different. Read by Duncan Minshull.

In David Szalay's story, a man drives a lorry through Europe and sleeps in the cabin at service stations. It's always the same, drive and sleep. Then one night there's a knock on the cabin door..

[LISTEN NOW]

Written by Pippa Goldschmidt

Read by Tyler Collins

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

American Nobel Prize-winner Hermann Muller founded the field of radiation genetics and was an early voice warning about the dangers of radiation and nuclear weapons testing. Pippa Goldschmidt is an Honorary Fellow at the Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (STIS) unit in the University of Edinburgh, where she has been involved in interdisciplinary projects ranging from the exploration of outer space through upland hill farming to the uncanny. She splits her time between Germany and Scotland.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4

A new short work from Pippa Goldschmidt inspired by the life of scientist Hermann Muller.

A man on the run heads north with precious cargo in this new story from Pippa Goldschmidt, inspired by the life of American scientist Hermann Muller. Read by Tyler Collins.

An original short work for radio.

Gina Donnelly is a multi-award winning writer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Along with her writing partner Seón Simpson, she has gained recognition for their play ‘Two Fingers Up' after winning the Abbey Theatre Dublin Fringe Creative Thinking Award in 2019 and the Summerhall Lustrum Award in 2022 at the Edinburgh Fringe. Her other writing credits include ‘Maybe If We'd Stayed Angry' for Origins First Irish Festival New York, 'Tea' as part of Now for the North and 'Don't Tell Me to Smile' for Fortnight Magazine's 50th Anniversary special. As writing partners, Gina and Seón were both part of the 2022 BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices.

Writer: Gina Donnelly

Reader: Catherine Rees

Producer: Geraldine Smyth

Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A late-night call from a wrong number leads to a conversation with a stranger.

A chance encounter one night leads to a surprising connection and relationship. As time passes, the couple faces challenges and their story takes an unexpected turn.

A gardener is faced with hostility and scorn from a new client, until a moment of shattering vulnerability brings understanding...

An original short story commissioned for BBC Radio 4 from Louise Kennedy.

Set on the northwest coast of Ireland. Read by Liam O'Brien

Louise Kennedy is the award-winning author of Trespasses, her debut novel, as well as a collection of short stories, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac.

She grew up near Belfast but now lives in Sligo, Ireland, and worked as a chef for almost 30 years before becoming a writer.

Producer: Justine Willett

A moment of shattering vulnerability brings a gardener and his new client together.

A moment of shattering vulnerability brings a gardener and his seemingly hostile new client together. Read by Liam O'Brien.

An original short story commissioned for BBC Radio 4 from the award-winning author of Trespasses, set on the northwest coast of Ireland.

Reader: Liam O'Brien

Writer: Louise Kennedy is the award-winning author of Trespasses, her debut novel, as well as a collection of short stories, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac. She grew up near Belfast but now lives in Sligo, Ireland, and worked as a chef for almost thirty years before becoming a writer.

From the award-winning author of Trespasses, a new story set on Ireland's northwest coast.

[LISTEN NOW]

But is a magic potato really all it takes to bring home gold?

An original short story by Colin Walsh specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Read by Liam O'Brien

Colin Walsh grew up in Galway. In 2017, he won the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Award, was a prizewinner in the Bridport Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the Bath Short Story Award and the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award.

In 2018, he won the Doolin Writer's Weekend Flash Fiction competition. His stories have been published in the journal.ie and various anthologies.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A School Sport's Day provides a father and son with an opportunity to prove their worth.

An original short story for radio by Julia Armfield about open houses, onward chains and lingering presences.

Read by Caroline Lennon

Julia Armfield lives and works in London. She is a fiction writer and occasional playwright with a Master's in Victorian Art and Literature from Royal Holloway University. Her work has been published in Lighthouse, Analog Magazine, Neon Magazine and Best British Short Stories 2019.

She was commended in the Moth Short Story Prize 2017, long-listed for the Deborah Rogers Prize 2018 and was the winner of The White Review Short Story Prize 2018. Her debut collection, salt slow, was published by Picador in 2019.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

Open houses, onward chains and lingering presences. Read by Caroline Lennon.

'Some believe in saints, some believe in Santa Claus. Some worship the brute rewards of violence, others the quiet, constant hope for salvation.'

A modern-day twist on The Christmas Story, by award-winning poet Vanessa Kisuule.

Produced and directed by Becky Ripley.

A modern-day twist on The Christmas Story, by Vanessa Kisuule.

Some believe in saints, some believe in Santa'. A modern take on The Christmas Story written and read by Vanessa Kisuule.

Written and read by award-winning poet Vanessa Kisuule.

Director: Becky Ripley

Song and memory combine at Martinmas; a time for feasting marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.

Read by Wendy Seager

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Professor Zoe Strachan writes novels, short stories, essays, libretti and plays. She is a teacher of creative writing, editor of fiction anthologies and passionate about libraries and literacy.

It was the time of year for memories...' A new short work from Zoe Strachan.

New fiction from Zoe Strachan set at the thin time of year when past and present mingle. Read by Wendy Seager.

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

Three guided meditations for a new mother. Some people might picture a beach as their happy place but this woman sees an airport Wetherspoons.

Amy Mason's shows include Mass, Hollering Woman Creek and The Islanders and she is the author of a novel, The Other Ida.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

Three guided meditations for a new mother, picturing a rather unusual happy place.

Karen Quinn is an award winning writer and educator based in Donegal. She is one of BBC Writersroom's Belfast Voices 2022. She was longlisted for the Mammoth Screen TV Writer's Award 2021, and twice shortlisted for the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting award run by the International Emmy Committee, in both 2014 and 2015. She was also the winner and recipient of the Northern Ireland Comedy Writers programme in 2016, organised by Grand Scheme Media, and a shortlisted writer and director for Jameson First Shot 2016. She has toured her writing both nationally and internationally. She is also a published children's writer, with her work broadcast on television and published in short story collections. At the moment, her main focus of creative work is on young women's mental health.?

Writer: Karen Quinn.

Reader: Caolan McCarthy

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A young manager of a bowling alley struggles to relate to his menopausal employee.

Cherise Saywell won the V.S. Pritchett memorial prize in 2003, and was a runner-up in the Asham award in 2009 and the Salt prize for a short story in 2012. In 2023 she was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University. Cherise's short stories have appeared in the London Magazine and New Writing Scotland, as well as in anthologies including Waving at the Gardener and Salt New Writing.

Katie Leung is the acclaimed actor of stage and screen best known for her roles in the Harry Potter films, TV's Chimerica, The Peripheral, and more recently Annika.

Produced by Justine Willett and Elizabeth Allard.

In this specially written story there is a misunderstanding at an out of town play centre.

Cherise Saywell is an award winning writer and in this specially commissioned story there is a misunderstanding at an out of town play centre. Katie Leung is the reader.

Short stories from the best writers.

Alice Malseed is a writer and theatre maker based in Belfast. She has been writing and producing since 2014. Her work has appeared across the UK, Ireland, in Sri Lanka and New York. Alice was part of BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices group 2018-2019 and Lyric New Playwrights Programme 2018. She was awarded a Jerwood New Work Fund in 2019 and received the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Theatre Award in 2021.

Reader: Ruby Campbell

Producer: Michael Shannon

Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A young woman returns to London to meet an old friend.

Everything is laid bare in Eley Williams' short story written for radio.

Read by the author.

Williams' writing is 'elegantly droll without the kind of hipster quirkiness that makes me want to hurl books at the wall.' (Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent).

Producer: Becky Ripley

Morag only agreed to visit the Callanish Stones to get close to Felix. Instead, she's about to receive an unsettling gift in a short story from Camilla Grudova.

Read by Nicola Roy

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Camilla Grudova is based in Edinburgh. Her publications include the story collection, “The Doll's Alphabet ? and Women's Prize longlisted novel, “Children of Paradise ?. In 2023 she was named one of Grant's ‘Best of Young British Novelists'.

A tourist receives an eerie gift during an off season visit to the Callanish Stones.

An off season tourist receives an unsettling gift at the Callanish Stones, in a haunting short work by Camilla Grudova. Read by Nicola Roy.

Morag only agreed to visit the Callanish Stones to get close to Felix. Instead, she's about to receive an unsettling gift in a new story from Camilla Grudova.

An off season tourist receives an unsettling gift at the Callanish Stones, in a haunting new short by Camilla Grudova. Read by Nicola Roy.

[LISTEN NOW]

Copenhagen-born Heidi Amsinck has written numerous short stories for radio. Her collection, Last Train To Helsingør, was published in 2018. Her first novel, My Name Is Jensen, was published in 2021. The follow-up, The Girl In The Photo, is due out later in 2022.

Writer: Heidi Amsinck

Reader: Tim McInnerny

By Heidi Amsinck. A man takes a job in a very unusual bakery in Copenhagen.

Susannah Dickey is the author of four poetry pamphlets, I had some very slight concerns (2017), genuine human values (2018), bloodthirsty for marriage (2020), and Oh! (2022). Her poetry has been published in The TLS, Poetry London, and Poetry Ireland Review. Her short fiction has been published in The Dublin Review and The White Review. In 2019 she won the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize, and in 2021 she was longlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award. She is an Eric Gregory Award winner, a prize granted for a collection by poets under the age of 30. Her debut poetry collection, Isdal, will be published in 2023. She is the author of Tennis Lessons (2020) and Common Decency (2022), both published by Doubleday UK.

Reader: Lola Petticrew

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A mother and daughter try to make it through the airport in time to catch their flight.

Sophie Haydock's debut novel, The Flames (2022), was about the four muses who posed for Egon Schiele in Vienna. Her second, Madame Matisse, will be published in 2024.

Writer: Sophie Haydock

Reader: Bryony Hannah

By Sophie Haycock. A junior doctor takes up mudlarking on London's River Thames.

By Sophie Haydock. Seeking distraction from her work, a junior doctor looks to take up mudlarking on London's River Thames.

By Sophie Haydock. A junior doctor takes up mudlarking on London's River Thames.

Debbie feels oppressed by her new and demanding baby and relentless weather. She snipes with her supportive but ineffective partner, fails to connect with other women at the baby group and fields judgement from the professionals she meets. Online shopping tries to sell her a polished version of motherhood. Eventually she makes plans to climb a mountain with her baby and they set off, well equipped, into his future.

The Scottish writer and journalist has written two novels, Fishnet and Scabby Queen.

Read by Helen McAlpine.

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.

A woman grapples with motherhood and apocalyptic weather.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

A woman grapples with motherhood and apocalyptic weather. Read by Helen McAlpine.

On their fifth, disastrous, date, Jack takes Bryony to Stonehenge and is haunted by the voice of his dead father.

Produced by Natalie Steed for BBC Northern Ireland

Reader - Matthew Baynton

Producer - Natalie Steed.

On a disastrous date, a man is haunted by the voice of his dead father. By Donal Ryan.

In writer Ever Dundas' new original story, Joe's aunt gives a meaningful insight into their experiences with autism in a world built for neurotypicals.

Ever Dundas is a queer, disabled writer living in Edinburgh, predominantly writing literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With an academic background in Creative Writing, Psychology, and Sociology, Ever has had several short stories and dark fairy tales published, as well as two novels in recent years.

‘My Favourite Holobiont' is read by Ashley Storrie and produced by Bethany Woodhead. It is a BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

A new story from Ever Dundas about the challenges of living in a neurotypical world.

In a new original story from Ever Dundas, Joe's aunt reflects on her own experiences to help her autistic nephew stay true to himself and take on the world. Read by Ashley Storrie

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Leila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women's Prize for Fiction), she is the author of novels, including Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her collection of short stories Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila's work has been translated into fifteen languages, and her plays The Insider, The Mystic Life and others were broadcast on BBC Radio. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland.

A woman looks back on a formative relationship in a new piece from Leila Aboulela.

Amira Ghazalla reads a new short piece from Leila Aboulela, as a woman remembers a childhood gift from her beloved grandmother.

Leila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women's Prize for Fiction), she is the author of novels that include Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her collection of short stories Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila's work has been translated into fifteen languages, and her plays The Insider, The Mystic Life and others were broadcast on BBC Radio. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Luiza Sauma was born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in London. She is the author of two novels ‘Flesh and Bone and Water' (2017) and ‘Everything You Ever Wanted' (2019), both published by Viking. ‘Everything You Ever Wanted' was shortlisted for the Encore Award and recommended by Florence Welch's book club Between Two Books. Luiza's writing has been published in the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Independent and many others. She has an MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths, where she won the Pat Kavanagh Award.

Writer: Luiza Sauma

Reader: Thalissa Teixeira

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A woman decides to contact her mother who abandoned her as a child.

After she becomes pregnant, Paloma reaches out to her estranged mother who is now a famous artist. Read by Thalissa Teixeira.

[LISTEN NOW]

Aunty Flower is dumped in an asylum but retrieved by her family and returned to Uganda. But it is when Aunty Flower sets eyes on Biira that there is lucidity in her eyes.

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a Ugandan novelist and short story writer. In 2014, she won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story, Let's Tell This Story Properly, and her debut novel, Kintu was published in 2018.

Read by Babirye Bukilwa

Written by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Produced by Elizabeth Allard

Aunty Flower is dumped in an asylum but retrieved by her family. Read by Babirye Bukilwa.

Aunty Flower is dumped in an asylum but retrieved by her family and returned to Uganda. Read by Babirye Bukilwa.

The award winning writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's new short story, specially written for Radio 4, is all about a family secret. Babirye Bukilwa is the reader.

In Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's specially commissioned short story there's a family secret

But it's only when Aunty Flower sets eyes on Biira that there is lucidity in her eyes...

Short story written by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi.

Producer: Elizabeth Allard

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for radio by Jessica Andrews.

Jessica writes fiction and poetry. She grew up in Sunderland and has spent time living in Santa Cruz, Paris, Donegal, Barcelona and London.

She has been published by the Independent, Somesuch Stories, AnOther, Caught by the River, Shabby Doll House and Papaya Press, among others. She teaches Literature and Creative Writing classes and co-runs literary magazine The Grapevine, which aims to give a platform to under- represented writers.

Her debut novel 'Saltwater' was published in 2019.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

An original short work for radio about sisters and bodies by Jessica Andrews.

The writer Vesna Goldsworthy comes from Belgrade. Her books include a memoir, Chernobyl Strawberries, and the London-based novels Gorsky and Monsieur Ka. Her latest novel, Iron Curtain, was published in 2022.

Reader: Brana Bajic

By Vesna Goldsworthy. A couple go to Serbia for the Blooming of the Tisa.

Riley Johnston was first published in ‘The 32: An Anthology of Working-Class Voices' (2021) Her novel ‘A Holy Show' was long-listed in the Discoveries prize (2021) and Irish Writers Centre, Novel Fair (2023). Riley's short fiction has been published and won awards, including the Mairtín Crawford Award, 2022. Riley is supported by the Arts Council, Northern Ireland.

Writer: Riley Johnston

Reader: Tara Lynne O'Neill

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A woman tries to set aside some 'me time' for herself, only to end up in a Moroccan jail.

Busy mum-of-two Trisha decides to try a dating app. However, as a chronic people pleaser, she struggles to say no; even to the most unusual requests. Read by Tara Lynne O'Neill.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Aimée Walsh. Read by Nicky Harley.

The Author.

Aimée Walsh is a writer from Belfast. Her short stories have been longlisted for the London Magazine Short Story Prize and published in Extra Teeth. Her non-fiction and book criticism has appeared in The Irish Times, The Observer, RTÉ Culture, Dazed and The Independent amongst others. Walsh holds a PhD in Irish Literature and Cultural History. Her debut novel ‘Exile' was published in 2024.

Reader: Nicky Harley

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

Lou visits her elderly mother on a challenging day.

When Lou visits the nursing home, she is surprised to find her mother already hosting a visitor.

[LISTEN NOW]

A new, specially-commissioned short story for Christmas written by John Finnemore.

[LISTEN NOW]

Indira Varma reads an original short story for Radio 4 by this year's Booker Prize-winner David Szalay.

In Abu Dhabi airport, in the middle of the night, two people are thrown together again for the first time in decades. Now both middle-aged, they ponder missed chances...

Writer: David Szalay won the Booker Prize in 2025 for his novel Flesh. He has also been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and has won the Betty Trask Award and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize.

Reader Indira Varma

Producer: Justine Willett

From this year's Booker Prize-winner, David Szalay, a new story read by Indira Varma.

In an airport in the middle of the night, two people are thrown together again for the first time in decades, in this new story by this year's Booker Prize-winner, David Szalay.

Indira Varma reads an original short story for Radio 4 by the award-winning writer David Szalay.

Writer: David Szalay is an acclaimed writer of novels and short stories. He was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and has won the Betty Trask Award and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. He lives in Budapest.

Indira Varma reads a original short story for Radio 4 by the acclaimed writer David Szalay

In the middle of the night in Abu Dhabi airport two people are thrown together again for the first time in decades, in this new story by David Szalay, read by Indira Varma.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to mark Bealtaine, the Gaelic festival heralding the beginning of summer, traditionally held on the first day of May. Written and read by Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly.

The Author.

Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly is a writer from Donegal, who lives in Belfast. She is a member of the Duncairn Arts Centre's Creative Collective. She has read her work on stage and on BBC Radio Ulster.

Writer: Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly

Reader: Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

On the 1st May, a classroom assistant in Belfast celebrates the beginning of the summer.

A group of friends attempt to take part in a traditional festival marking the beginning of the summer, only to find their plans disrupted by some teenagers.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to mark Bealtaine, the Gaelic festival heralding the beginning of summer traditionally held on the first day of May. Written and read by Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly.

The Author.

Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly is a writer from Donegal, who lives in Belfast. She is a member of the Duncairn Arts Centre's Creative Collective. She has read her work on stage and on BBC Radio Ulster.

Writer: Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly

Reader: Deirdre Anna Rose Kelly

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

On the 1st May, a classroom assistant in Belfast celebrates the beginning of the summer.

Original short works for radio.

A group of friends attempt to take part in a traditional festival marking the beginning of the summer, only to find their plans disrupted by some teenagers.

[LISTEN NOW]

Rosemary Jenkinson is a playwright and short story writer from Belfast. She has published several short story collections and her work for radio includes 'Castlereagh to Kandahar' (BBC Radio 3) and 'Lives in Transit' (BBC Radio 4).

Reader: S退ain퀀n Brennan

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Caitlin is persuaded to try speed-dating on a night out in Belfast.

A mathematician shares her New Year rituals with a young visitor.

Read by Sarah Lam

In a life spent crossing cultures and settling in new habitats, Merryn Glover was born in Kathmandu and brought up in Nepal, India and Pakistan. She went to University in Australia, keeps returning to South Asia for love and work and has called Scotland home for over 25 years. She writes fiction, plays, poetry and non-fiction. Her first novel, A HOUSE CALLED ASKIVAL, is set in an Indian hill-station and her second, OF STONE AND SKY, is the story of a Highland shepherd who disappears into the mountains and is published in April 2021. Her current project is THE HIDDEN FIRES: A CAIRNGORMS JOURNEY WITH NAN SHEPHERD. A response to 'The Living Mountain' as a woman walking and writing in the Cairngorms today, it is due out with Polygon in 2022.

Sam Thompson is the author of the novels ‘Communion Town' and ‘Jott', the children's novels ‘Wolfstongue', ‘The Fox's Tower' and ‘The Forest Yet to Come', and the short story collection ‘Whirlwind Romance'. His work has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Edge Hill Prize and a British Science Fiction Association Award, has been shortlisted for the Encore Prize, has won a Spark School Book Award and a Literacy Association of Ireland Biennial Book Award. His short fiction appeared in Best British Short Stories 2019. He grew up in the south of England and now lives in Belfast, where he convenes the MA in Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen's University.

Writer: Sam Thompson

Reader: Richard Clements

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

At a music gig, Mark is surprised by someone he hasn't seen in over twenty-five years.

When Mark attends a music gig in Belfast, the sight of a familiar face in the crowd causes him to reflect on his younger days as an aspiring musician. Read by Richard Clements.

[LISTEN NOW]

Nian Zhen, a maths professor originally from China and now living in Glasgow, welcomes a child with special needs into her home at Hogmanay.

She provides regular respite weekends for the boy, Clyde's, foster parents.

They run through the usual routine and navigate tantrums and anger - on either side - and Nian Zhen reflects on the unlikely circumstances that allowed her to escape famine in Communist China and make a new life abroad.

Written by Merryn Glover.

Read by Sarah Lam.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Nian Zhen welcomes a child with special needs and reflects on her own life.

Nian Zhen, a Chinese maths professor living in Glasgow, welcomes a child with special needs into her home. Read by Sarah Lam.

Writer: Merryn Glover

Reader: Sarah Lam

Nian Zhen welcomes a child with special needs into her home and reflects on her own life.

[LISTEN NOW]

Open and Shut is AK Turner's second story for radio to feature Goth mortuary attendant Cassie Raven. It is also the prequel to a new series of crime novels featuring Raven which will be published in late 2020. Turner's first crime series, published under the author name Anya Lipska, followed the adventures of Janusz Kiszka, tough guy/fixer to east London's Polish community. Turner is a TV producer and former journalist.

Writer: AK Turner

Reader: Ellie Kendrick

By AK Turner. Cassie is unconvinced by the findings of a post-mortem.

The writer, Jenn Ashworthm was born in Preston. Her first novel, A Kind of Intimacy, was published in 2009 and won a Betty Trask Award. Her most recent novel, Ghosted, was published in 2021. She lives in Lancaster.

Reader: Hermione Norris

By Jenn Ashworth. Anna's day gets off to a bad start.

Pakistana is a specially commissioned story for Radio 4, written and read by Fatima Bhutto.

Produced by Karen Holden

Adrienne, a high-spec virtual assistant, explains its advantages to a new subscriber, and demonstrates its considerable power.

Adam Marek is the award-winning writer of two short story collections - Instruction Manual For Swallowing and The Stone Thrower. A specially-commissioned story, The Bullet Racers, featured on Radio 4 as part of the series Short Rides In Fast Machines. Another, Companions, appeared as part of Short Works in 2016. He was shortlisted for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and his story The 40-Litre Monkey was included in The Penguin Book Of The British Short Story in 2015.

Writer: Adam Marek

Reader: Teresa Gallagher

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2018.

A virtual assistant shows its power to a new subscriber.

A witty and moving short story by award-winning writer Francesca Reece, read by Aimee-Ffion Edwards.

Cleo worries her mother's fallen for a romance scam.

When Cleo's 84-year-old mother tells her daughter she's engaged, Cleo rushes to work out what's going on. Francesca Reece's story is read by Aimee-Ffion Edwards.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story by Anna Wood.

Anna Wood has written for Mojo, The Quietus, Dazed and Caught By The River, and has had stories featured in the Guardian, the Canongate anthology My Old Man and forthcoming in the 3 of Cups anthology Outsiders. She was the winner of the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize 2018/19. Her debut collection of stories YES YES MORE MORE was published in 2021.

Read by Caroline Catz

Produced by Anne Isger

When a woman starts getting bigger and bigger, she must reassess how and where to exist.

A short story by Anna Wood

Anna Wood has written for Mojo, The Quietus, Dazed and Caught By The River, and has had stories featured in the Guardian, the Canongate anthology My Old Man and forthcoming in the 3 of Cups anthology Outsiders. She was the winner of the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize 2018/19. Her debut collection of stories YES YES MORE MORE was published in 2021.

Reader Caroline Catz

Producer: Anne Isger

When a woman starts getting bigger and bigger, she must reassess how and where to exist.

When a woman finds herself getting bigger and bigger, she must reassess how and where to exist. Read by Caroline Catz.

Anna Wood's short story read by Caroline Catz.

When a woman starts getting bigger, she must reassess everything.

Before she leaves, she visits her ailing uncle, who asks her to bring something back.

Read by Monica Dolan.

Elizabeth J Kuti has written award-winning stage plays including The Sugar Wife and Treehouses.

Her most recent radio work was Sea Longing, for Drama on 3. She is the Head of the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2019.

Celine must do something for her ailing uncle.

Elaine Feeney is an Irish poet, novelist, and playwright. She has published three collections of poetry, Where's Katie?, The Radio was Gospel, Rise, and a drama piece, WRoNGHEADED, commissioned by Liz Roche Company. She teaches at The National University of Ireland, Galway and St Jarlath's College. Her work has been widely published and anthologised in Poetry Review, The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times and others. Her fiction debut 'As You Were' was featured in the Observer's Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020.

Reader: Maggie Cronin

Writer: Elaine Feeney

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

The story of an unlikely friendship between two neighbours in rural Ireland.

[LISTEN NOW]

The story of an unlikely friendship between two neighbours in rural Ireland.

Elaine Feeney's short story read by Maggie Cronin.

Elaine is an Irish poet, novelist, and playwright. She has published three collections of poetry, Where's Katie?, The Radio was Gospel, Rise, and a drama piece, WRoNGHEADED, commissioned by Liz Roche Company. She teaches at The National University of Ireland, Galway and St Jarlath's College.

Her work has been widely published and anthologised in Poetry Review, The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times and others.

Her fiction debut 'As You Were' was featured in the Observer's Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020.

Producer: Michael Shannon.

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in September 2020.

On the morning of her 80th birthday, Joan bumps into her 12 year old neighbour at the post box. Read by Maggie Cronin.

[LISTEN NOW]

A young bride-to-be longs to have her heart broken.

[LISTEN NOW]

With their rural house yet to join the National Grid, a couple disagree about what constitutes progress in this specially commissioned work for for radio.

Writer Jo Lloyd grew up in South Wales and won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2019 for 'The Invisible', inspired by the life of an 18th Century woman from Carnarvonshire. It is one of the stories included in her debut collection The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies which is published by Swift Books in February 2021

Reader: Amanda Lawrence

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

An original work for radio by winner of the 2019 BBC National Short Story Award, Jo Lloyd.

[LISTEN NOW]

Gwen is 82. Life should be quieter these days... but the Pwca has started visiting again.

An original short story by Carys Shannon, commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Carys Shannon is a Welsh writer whose work was shortlisted for the 2022 Rhys Davies Prize. Her debut novel Truth Like Water was published in 2025.

Writer: Carys Shannon

Reader: Sharon Morgan

Producer: John Norton

A BBC Audio Drama Wales Production for Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2023.

Gwen is 82. Life should be quieter these days... but the Pwca has started visiting again. Read by Sharon Morgan.

~Short Works.

Pwca's Garden by Carys Shannon.

Sound: Jonathan Thomas

An original short story by Carys Shannon. Read by Sharon Morgan.

An original short story by Carys Shannon. Gwen is 82. Life should be quieter these days - but the Pwca has started visiting again. Read by Sharon Morgan

Short Stories from the best writers.

Gwen is 82. Life should be quieter these days\u2026 but the Pwca is back.

[LISTEN NOW]

Sharon Dempsey is the author of three crime novels and two novellas. She graduated with a creative writing doctorate from Queen's University in 2023. Sharon has also published three non-fiction books and has many short stories published in anthologies, literary journals, magazines and broadcast on radio. Sharon was named as one of the Seamus Heaney Centre's inaugural Ciaran Carson Writing and the City Fellows for 2024-2025.

Writer: Sharon Dempsey

Reader: Eimear Fearon

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A teenage girl struggles to manage her homework and her best friend's love life.

Nancy always ends up helping her best friend Chloe with her maths homework, but can she also help her get the attention of a boy in their class?

Soula Emmanuel was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Greek father. She currently lives on Ireland's east coast. She has written for IMAGE magazine, Rogue Collective and the Project Arts Centre, and has had fiction published by The Liminal Review. She was longlisted for Penguin's WriteNow programme in 2020, took part in the Stinging Fly fiction summer school in 2021 and was a participant in the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency's mentorship programme for 2021-22. In 2024 her debut novel Wild Geese won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, and the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize at the UK Society of Authors Awards.

Writer: Soula Emmanuel

Reader: Holly Hanaway

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A presentation on inclusion in the workplace doesn't quite go as planned.

A trans woman called Ruby and her colleagues at an LGBTQ+ charity give a presentation on inclusion in the workplace. Read by Holly Hannaway.

[LISTEN NOW]

In Chris McQueer's new short story, the creators of ‘The Computer' are saying climate change has been reversed - but there's a catch... As the familiar slips away, a daughter and her father grapple with memories, silence, and something unspoken. A quiet, unsettling tale of transformation—where grief lingers, and nothing is quite as it was.

Written by Chris McQueer

Read by Anna Russell-Martin

Produced by Ellie Marsh

Chris McQueer is an award-winning short story writer, he has published two collections, Hings for which he won the Saboteur Award in 2018 and HWFG, both published by 404 Ink. His debut novel, Hermit, is out now.

An originally commissioned short work written by Chris McQueer.

In a new short work by Chris McQueer. The creators of ‘The Computer' are saying climate change has been reversed! But there's a catch...

[LISTEN NOW]

Kiare Ladner was shortlisted for the 2018 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University for Van Rensburg's Card. Her debut novel, Nightshift, will be published in late 2019. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies including Lightship Anthology 1, New Contrast and Wasafiri. Kiare was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and is now based in the UK.?

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

Melody takes part in an unusual yoga class and discovers something new about her mother.

Original Short Fiction by Alys Conran.

Little Angharad is caught between opposing tides - her depressed mother and Anti Mari - to escape she wanders the muddy edges of the Menai Strait, collecting sea snails.

Reader: Lisa Jên Brown

Production Co-ordinator: Eleri McAuliffe

Sound: Nigel Lewis

Producer: John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production

Little Anghararad is caught between opposing tides - her mother and Anti Mari.

Little Angharad is caught between opposing tides - her mother and Anti Mari. To escape she wanders the muddy edges of the Menai Strait, collecting snails. Read by Lisa Jên Brown.

[LISTEN NOW]

In an attempt to shield his daughter from the traumas of their ever-darkening predicament the father reminisces about the world they have left behind and quizzes her on what she would like to be when she grows up.

An original short work for Radio 4 written and read by Fatima Bhutto.

Sue Divin is originally from Armagh in the North of Ireland. With a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies and a career in Community Relations, her writing often touches on diversity and reconciliation. Her short stories, flash fiction and poetry, have been published in a range of literary journals. 'Guard Your Heart' is her first novel and in 2022 it won the Great Reads Award (Ireland) and was shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Award. 'Truth Be Told' is her second novel.

Writer: Sue Divin

Reader: Sue Divin

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A mother plans to help her son through a stressful week by sticking to their routine.

Ivor finds himself in a lavatory he knows not where, or why, apart from the obvious.

Increasingly anxious to remember not only his middle name, which is, he insists, on the tip of his tongue, he is also agitated about not recognising a series of people who address him in a friendly and familiar manner. And then there's this grand house and its elegant lawns, and that woman, dressed in white, who's the spit of his late wife. What IS going on?

Peter Bradshaw is a writer and has been chief film critic at the Guardian since 1999. This is his most recent short story for radio.

Read by Michael Maloney

Produced by Karen Holden

The tale of a middle-aged gentleman who has forgotten his middle name and much else.

Peter is a writer and has been chief film critic at the Guardian since 1999.

Producer: Karen Holden

The playful, poignant tale of a middle-aged gentleman who has forgotten his middle name and much else. Read by Michael Maloney.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the author Jan Carson. Read by Seamus O'Hara (‘Blue Lights').

Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in East Belfast. Her novel ‘The Fire Starters' was awarded the EU Prize for Literature 2019 and the author was acclaimed as “one of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation ? by the Sunday Times. Her most recent novel ‘The Raptures' was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Novel of the Year. She is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4 was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020, the An Post Irish Short Story of the Year and the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.

Writer: Jan Carson

Reader: Seamus O'Hara

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A writer spends a day shadowing an exorcist called Gordon.

Whilst researching his next novel, a writer spends a day shadowing an exorcist called Gordon as he makes his rounds at a nursing home. Read by Seamus O'Hara.

[LISTEN NOW]

Matthew McDevitt was the recent recipient of the Element Pictures NI Writer's Award. He was a participant in the BBC Writersroom's Drama Room and Belfast Voices schemes. His credits include BBC NI's ‘Soft Border Patrol', Radio Ulster's ‘Lock In' and the Radio 4 short story ‘Handy Number'. Matthew also has a series of failed musical projects behind him that may or may not have been 'ahead of their time'.

Reader: Nigel O'Neill

Producer: Michael Shannon

Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

As a teenager, Jimbo Doyle was a bass player in a punk band destined for fame.

A musician looks back at the punk band he left weeks before they hit the big time.

Karen Quinn is an award winning writer and educator based in Donegal. She is one of BBC Writersroom's Belfast Voices 2022. She was longlisted for the Mammoth Screen TV Writer's Award 2021, and twice shortlisted for the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting award run by the International Emmy Committee, in both 2014 and 2015. She was also the winner and recipient of the Northern Ireland Comedy Writers programme in 2016, organised by Grand Scheme Media, and a shortlisted writer and director for Jameson First Shot 2016. She has toured her writing both nationally and internationally. She is also a published children's writer, with her work broadcast on television and published in short story collections. At the moment, she is completing her PhD in Creative Writing with Ulster University.

Reader: Becccy Henderson.

Producer: Sylvie Conway

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

It's 27 December and whilst spirits are high, bank balances are low.

In the hopes of boosting Christmas cheer, or maybe Christmas revenue, the boss of the Merry Little Christmas Shop has promised a bonus to the staff member who makes the most sales.

Reader: Beccy Henderson.

It's 27 December, and while spirits are high, bank balances are low.

[LISTEN NOW]

Lisa is long married with children and wonders what it would be like to be free.

Karen is single and wanting to be in a relationship.

They discuss the relative merits of their situation as Karen braves the online dating scene, and reports back to Lisa on a series of dates, some of which hold promise, and others which very definitely don't.

Written by Diana Evans.

Read by Adjoa Andoh.

Producer: Karen Holden

Old friends meet up to discuss their love life and dating later in life.

An original short work for radio by Holly Corfield Carr about what to say when it's over.

Holly is a Bristol-based poet.

Her writing received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2012 and won the Frieze Writer's Prize in 2015. Her most recent publications are Subsong and Indifferent Cresses, published by the National Trust and Trust New Art.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

Laura-Blaise McDowell holds an MA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including The Irish Times, The Galway Review, HeadStuff, Honest Ulsterman and Still Worlds Turning, an anthology of new Irish writing from No Alibis Press. In 2020, she received an honourable mention in the Cúirt New Irish Writing Award. In 2021, her story 'The Lobster Waltz' came second in the Costa Short Story Award.

Reader: Eimear Keating

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A young woman decides it's time to move out of her parents' house.

When her parents' newly divorced friend Stan moves in with them, a young woman has no choice but to leave the family home and find her own place. Written by Laura-Blaise McDowell.

[LISTEN NOW]

When her parents' newly-divorced friend Stan moves in with them, a young woman has no choice but to leave the family home and find her own place.

Laura-Blaise McDowell's original short story read by Eimear Keating

Specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Irish writer Laura-Blaise holds an MA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including The Irish Times, The Galway Review, HeadStuff, Honest Ulsterman and Still Worlds Turning, an anthology of new Irish writing from No Alibis Press.

In 2020, she received an honourable mention in the Cúirt New Irish Writing Award. In 2021, her story 'The Lobster Waltz' came second in the Costa Short Story Award.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in October 2021.

A young woman decides it's time to move out of her parents' house.

When her parents' newly-divorced friend Stan moves in - a young woman has no choice but to move out. Read by Eimear Keating.

[LISTEN NOW]

Dervla Kirwan reads an original story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author of Trespasses, set in the West of Ireland.

A divorced couple do their best to remain civil for the sake of their daughter on a school visit – until a small volume of poetry unleashes powerful memories from their past -

Dervla Kirwan is an award-winning stage and screen actor, best known for her roles in Ballykissangel, and most recently The House of Guinness.

Author: Louise Kennedy is best known for her acclaimed debut novel, Trespasses, a searing story of forbidden love in 1970s Belfast set against the backdrop of the Troubles. It went on to win Eason's Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards, Book of the Year: Debut Fiction at the British Book Awards, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and Barnes and Noble Discover Prize. It has recently been made into a Channel 4 drama. Her short story collection, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac won the John McGahern Prize. Before she started writing, she spent nearly thirty years working as a chef.

Produced by Justine Willett

Dervla Kirwan reads a new story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author of Trespasses.

A volume of poetry stirs up powerful emotions on a school visit, in this new story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author of Trespasses, read by Dervla Kirwan.

The novelist Louise Kennedy's new story is specially written for Radio 4.

Louise Kennedy is best know for her acclaimed debut novel, Trespasses, a searing story of forbidden love in 1970s Belfast set against the backdrop of the Troubles. It went on to win Eason's Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards, Book of the Year: Debut Fiction at the British Book Awards, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and Barnes and Noble Discover Prize. Her short story collection, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac won the John McGahern Prize. Before she started writing, she spent nearly thirty years working as a chef.

Louise Kennedy's new short story written specially for Radio 4.

The acclaimed novelist Louise Kennedy's new story is specially written for Radio 4.

[LISTEN NOW]

'The coyote finds his next prey at a flea market on Tucson Avenue. One of the snowbirds who escape the bone chill of northern winters, driving down in the caravan of bright white RVs that powder the Arizona desert like snow.'

After the death of her husband, Betty takes to the road in an RV.

She's always dreamed of spending time in the vast desert landscapes of Arizona. She'd hoped to come here with Ron, but it was not to be.

When a young local offers to be her guide, she doubts his motives but allows him to circle closer.

As he tries to reel her in, he realises that Betty may be playing a game of her own.

Written by KM Elkes.

The Bristol-based author wrote the short fiction collection 'All That Is Between Us'.

His short stories and flash fiction have appeared in more than 50 literary anthologies and journals. His stories have won, or been placed, in international writing competitions including the BBC National Short Story Award, the Manchester Fiction Prize, the Royal Society of Literature VS Pritchett Prize and the Bridport Prize.

Read by Debora Weston.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

After the death of her husband, Betty drives to the Arizona desert.

In an Arizona desert town, a young local spots his next prey: a 'snowbird' heading south for winter. Read by Debora Weston.

Reader: Debora Weston

After the death of her husband, Betty drives south from Ohio to the Arizona desert.

After the death of her husband, Betty takes to the road in an RV. She's always dreamed of spending time in the vast desert landscapes of Arizona. She'd hoped to come here with Ron, but it was not to be. When a young local offers to be her guide, she doubts his motives but allows him to circle closer. As he tries to reel her in, he realises that Betty may be playing a game of her own.

Bristol-based writer K.M. Elkes is the author of the short fiction collection 'All That Is Between Us'. His short stories and flash fiction have appeared in more than 50 literary anthologies and journals. His stories have won, or been placed, in international writing competitions including the BBC National Short Story Award, the Manchester Fiction Prize, the Royal Society of Literature VS Pritchett Prize and the Bridport Prize.

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

In an Arizona desert town, a young local spots his next prey: Betty, a 'snowbird' heading south for winter. As he tries to reel her in, he realises she's playing a game of her own.

[LISTEN NOW]

Susannah Dickey is the author of the forthcoming debut novel 'Tennis Lessons' and two poetry pamphlets 'I had some very slight concerns' (The Lifeboat, 2017) and 'genuine human values' (The Lifeboat, 2018). Her poetry has been published in Ambit, The White Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Magma, The Scores, Hotel, and The Tangerine. In 2018 she was shortlisted for The White Review short story prize, and in 2017 she was the winner of the inaugural Verve Poetry Festival competition.

Reader, Clare Dunne

Produced by Celia de Wolff for BBC Northern Ireland

A mysterious host anxiously awaits her young guests. Read by Clare Dunne.

Food and farming seem to have become the heart of Megan and Gordon's long marriage. But is that enough?

Sharon Morgan reads an original story by Welsh writer Jane Fraser set on the Gower peninsula.

Sound design by Catherine Robinson

Producer: Emma Harding

A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2022.

Food and farming appear to have become the heart of Megan and Gordon's marriage.

Food and farming appear to have become the heart of Megan and Gordon's long marriage. But is that enough? Read by Sharon Morgan.

Food and farming seem to be the heart of Megan and Gordon's marriage.

Food and farming seem to have become the heart of Megan and Gordon's long marriage. But is that enough? Sharon Morgan reads an original story by Welsh writer Jane Fraser set on the Gower peninsula.

Produced by Emma Harding

Love, marriage and eggs. Sharon Morgan reads an original story by Welsh writer Jane Fraser

[LISTEN NOW]

Dazed by the primary colours of a local soft play centre, a parent finds it difficult to be fully present. She is distracted by something on her phone, a clip looping over and over of a gesture that has gone viral. She doesn't know how to interpret it, and its potential for harm, until an unexpected moment involving her five year old son forces her to confront its implications.

Eley Williams' short fiction appears in anthologies including The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story, and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. Her debut collection 'Attrib. and Other Stories' won the James Tait Back Memorial Prize for fiction, and her second collection 'Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good' is longlisted for this year's Dylan Thomas Prize.

Writer: Eley Williams

Producer: Becky Ripley

A BBC Audio Bristol Production for BBC Radio 4.

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

Rohan's best mate Elise is starting a cult. As if A-Levels, UCAS applications and a crush on her friend Sadia wasn't enough, now she's got ancient rituals on her to-do list.

Writer: Rachel Dawson

Reader: Emmy Stonelake

Producer: Alice McKee

A BBC Audio Wales and West Production for BBC Radio 4.

Three friends balance coming of age with starting a cult.

[LISTEN NOW]

Read by Katie Leung.

A specially commissioned short story of exciting literary talent Xuan Juliana Wang, which followed hot on the heels of the publication of her debut collection, Home Remedies.

Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Cut, The Brooklyn Rail and The Pushcart Prize.

Producer: Elizabeth Allard

In Xuan Juliana Wang's story Pei Pei seeks out a different kind of life.

An exciting announcement forces a woman to mull on love, choice and the delicate bonds of family.

Karen Campbell is the author of eight novels, including Radio 4 Book at Bedtime 'This Is Where I Am'. A former police officer, then Glasgow City Council press officer, she won the Best New Scottish Writer Award in 2009. She also teaches creative writing and has worked with young offenders, homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers, and was recently Writer in Residence at Dumfries and Galloway Council. Her recent novel, 'Paper Cup', is a compassionate and hopeful book about what it takes to turn around a life run off course.

A new story from Karen Campbell about love, choice and the delicate bonds of family.

An exciting announcement forces a woman to mull on love, choice and the delicate bonds of family. Ann Louise Ross reads a new story from Karen Campbell.

Ann Louise Ross reads a story from Karen Campbell.

A story from Karen Campbell about love, choice and the delicate bonds of family.

A funny and forlorn tale about working in a bar.

An original short work for radio by Max Sydney Smith.

Read by Rose Lucas.

Producer: Becky Ripley

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Northern Irish writer, Dawn Watson.

Read by Ian McElhinney. (Derry Girls, Game of Thrones.)

Dawn Watson was born in Belfast. In 2019, she published her debut poetry pamphlet The Stack of Owls is Getting Higher and has short stories in anthologies Still Worlds Turning and Belfast Stories.

Her stories and poems have been published in literary journals including The Stinging Fly, The Moth and The Tangerine.

Dawn is an AHRC PhD candidate at the Seamus Heaney Centre, writing a prose poem novel and researching prose poetics.

Producer: Michael Shannon

Outside a primary school in Belfast, Sonny waits for his granddaughter.

Just after giving birth, Sadia turns into a statue. At least, that's how she feels. One moment she's reaching out to pull the curtains shut, and the next she's frozen to the spot. All she can do is look out of the window – and try to understand what's happening to her.

Emma Smith-Barton's short stories have appeared in Mslexia and the Bristol Short Story Prize anthology. Her first novel, The Million Pieces of Neena Gill, was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award, and the Romantic Novelists' Association Debut Romanic Novel Award.

Reader: Mia Khan

Sound: Catherine Robinson

Producer: Fay Lomas

A BBC Audio Drama Wales Production

72 hours after giving birth, Sadia turns into a statue.

72 hours after giving birth, Sadia turns into a statue. Frozen to the spot, she tries to process what's happening to her. This short story by Emma Smith-Barton is read by Mia Khan.

[LISTEN NOW]

Hannah Vincent lives in Brighton. She began her writing life as a playwright and her first radio play Come to Grief was a re-working of one of her stage plays. It won the BBC 2015 Audio Award for Best Adaptation. She is the author of the novels Alarm Girl and The Weaning and the collection She-Clown, And Other Stories.

Writer: Hannah Vincent

Reader: Arthur Darvill

By Hannah Vincent. Stew's wife is planning an very unusual dinner for him.

By Hannah Vincent. Stew believes that the world is his oyster. He has large appetites for food and women. And his wife is planning a very unusual dinner for him.

Radio 4's celebration of the short story continues with the announcement of the 2023 BBC National Short Story Award, and with a new, specially commissioned by one of the nation's foremost writers. Jon McGregor is an award-winning novelist and short story writer. He has been nominated for the Booker Prize for three of his novels, including his 2002 debut If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, which also went on to win the Betty Trask Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and for the BBC National Short Story Award. His third novel, Even the Dogs (2010), earned McGregor the International Dublin Literary Award in 2012, whilst his 2017 work Reservoir 13 scooped up the Costa Book Award.

The shortlisted stories are broadcast from the 11th to the 15th September at 3.30 in the afternoon, and the winner is announced live on Front Row on Tuesday, 26th September. Still Life with Fruit and the shortlisted stories for the his years BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University are all available to listen to on BBC Sounds.

The producers are Elizabeth Allard and Di Speirs.

Penelope Wilton reads a new and specially commissioned short story by Jon McGregor.

[LISTEN NOW]

Straight Fire is written by Gurnaik Johal, who won the 2021/22 Galley Beggar Press short story prize, and has recently published his first collection. We Move.

The reader is Antonio Aakeel.

Producer: Nicola Holloway

A stag night with a difference in a new story by award-winning Gurnaik Johal.

Written and read by Josie Long.

Josie Long is an award-winning comedian, broadcaster and writer. She has recently published her first collection of short stories, Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't.

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

A student breaks up the tedium of her summer job in increasingly unhinged, ways.

A student breaks up the tedium of her summer job in inventive, and increasingly unhinged, ways. Written and read by Josie Long.

In this tragicomic tale - specially commissioned for Radio 4 and read by the author - a student breaks up the tedium of her summer job in inventive, and increasingly unhinged, ways.

A new short story specially commissioned for Radio 4 from writer and comedian Josie Long.

[LISTEN NOW]

Maggie has taken early retirement and left London to spend more time with her mother by the coast. After her city life as a doctor, she now faces her anxieties - while building her relationship with her not always easy mum.

By Elly Griffiths

Produced by Allegra McIlroy

A new short story from bestselling crime author Elly Griffiths. Read by Rosie Cavaliero.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by author Louise Kennedy.

Read by Cathy White.

Louise Kennedy grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland. Her short stories have been published in journals including The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, The Lonely Crowd and Banshee. Her work has won the Ambit Short Fiction (2015), Wasifiri New Writing (2015), John O'Connor (2016) and Listowel Los-Gatos (2016) prizes and was short-listed for the 2019 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award.

She is a PhD candidate at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast. She lives in Sligo with her husband and two teenage children.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A woman returns to Belfast to care for her dying grandmother.

When her grandmother falls ill, a woman is forced to reconnect with her estranged mother who abandoned her. Read by Cathy White.

Someone is watching over Sofie...

Short stories from Welsh writers. Richard Elfyn reads an original story by Ruqaya Izzidien

[LISTEN NOW]

Read by Chris Reilly

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Chris Kohler is from Glasgow, Scotland. His short stories have been published in 3am, Egress, The Stinging Fly, The Moth, Gutter, Dark Mountain and Minor Literatures. He was shortlisted for the VS Pritchett Short Story Prize 2023. His debut novel Phantom Limb is published by Atlantic Books.

An EcoAudio certified production from BBC Audio Scotland.

A holidaymaker struggles to unwind in a haunting new story from Chris Kohler.

A holidaymaker struggles to unwind in the sun in a haunting new story from Chris Kohler. Read by Chris Reilly.

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

A holiday in the sun isn't the relaxing break one couple were counting on.

Haunting new short work written by Chris Kohler.

Read by Chris Reilly

Chris Kohler is from Glasgow, Scotland.

His short stories have been published in 3am, Egress, The Stinging Fly, The Moth, Gutter, Dark Mountain and Minor Literatures. He was shortlisted for the VS Pritchett Short Story Prize 2023. His debut novel Phantom Limb is published by Atlantic Books.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

An EcoAudio certified production from BBC Audio Scotland.

A holidaymaker struggles to unwind in this haunting story.

A holiday in the sun isn't the relaxing break one couple were expecting. Read by Chris Reilly

[LISTEN NOW]

The Authorities: A Modern Elegy by Jenn Ashworth

There's a body on the beach. Various facts are unknown. But it also means the investigators must imagine certain events leading up to death..

Reader Caroline Catz

Producer Duncan Minshull

There's a body on a beach and the investigators are using their imagination.

Reader Nalini Chetty

Producer Bethany Woodhead

Helen McClory is an award-winning Scottish writer.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

A new short work from Helen McClory about a festival that has dystopian dark corners.

At a festival offering an escape from daily life, two friends enter a liminal space where strange happenings threaten reality. Reader Nalini Chetty. Written by Helen McClory.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish author, Caitriona Lally.

Read by Christopher Grant.

Caitriona Lally is the author of ‘Eggshells'. She studied English Literature in Trinity College, Dublin was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2018.

This is her first story for BBC Radio.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A story about love, obsession and baked beans by the Irish author Caitriona Lally.

Clare has recently moved to Lyme Regis with her young son as her marriage has fallen apart. She doesn't know anyone in the town but finds a moment of solace every day after the school run – a paddle in the sea, then a moment on the bench close to the beach café where she sits with a cup of tea. One day she leaves her cup on the bench and the next day there's a note pinned to it admonishing her for doing so, saying it's hazardous to wildlife. She is enraged and replies to the note saying it was a moment of absent-mindedness and what makes this person so perfect? She thinks that will be the end of it, but the next day there's a note of apology – the sender of the note, Daniel, is a bird-lover sick of teenagers leaving litter around. Over the next few weeks, Clare and Daniel begin to form a written friendship of sorts, leaving each other notes on the bench.

Clare is beginning to settle into her new life but is then distracted by her ex wanting to visit and a mysterious package left on the bench for her on Valentine's Day.

A story about courage and new beginnings.

Written and read by Isy Suttie

Produced by Alison Crawford

A story about new beginnings written and read by Isy Suttie.

An original short story about courage and new beginnings written and read by Isy Suttie.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for radio written by Olga Grushin.

Read by Emerald O'Hanrahan.

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2020.

A woman falls in love and then her furniture starts to sprout flowers and grass.

Kevin MacNeil is a novelist, poet and playwright

Produced by Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol

Carmen Maria Machado's award winning debut short story collection is Her Body and Other Parties. In 2018, the New York Times listed this collection as one of '15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century.' Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in a variety of publications including the New Yorker, the New York Times, and Granta.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard

In this short story by Carmen Maria Machado, a seduction exacts a high price.

A new story for Radio 4 by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri. Set in a remote Italian village, a teenage girl, of immigrant parents, wonders why her life is so different from those of the happy, glossy young families who come to holiday there.

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri has won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for her debut short story collection, The Interpreter of Maladies and the Frank O'Connor Award for her collection Unaccustomed Earth. She has recently been awarded the 29th PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short story

Reader: Deeivya Meir

Abridged and produced by Justine Willett.

A short story for Radio 4 by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri's short story about a teenage girl who wonders why her life is so different from the visitors to her village. Read by Deeivya Meir.

A new story for the BBC by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Jhumpa Lahiri's tale of a teenage girl in a remote village.

A teenage girl wonders why her life is so different from the visitors to her village. Read by Deeivya Meir.

[LISTEN NOW]

Set in the near-future, a man reflects on his life in an empty apartment block during a decade of pandemics.

Alex Preston is an author and journalist who lives in Kent. His personal anthology of nature writing, As Kingfishers Catch Fire, was published in 2017. His most recent novel, Winchelsea, was published in 2022.

Writer: Alex Preston

Reader: Colin Tierney

The Bubble Bursts by Alex Preston. In the future, a man lives through multiple pandemics.

A pair of spectacles made by a centaur have an extraordinary and magical effect on the human wearer.

Read by the author

Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane

Katherine Rundell is the bestselling author of Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and The Golden Mole and Other Living Treasure, shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year.

Her novels for children include Impossible Creatures, Rooftoppers, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer and The Good Thieves for which she has won the Costa Children's Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. Her books have sold over 2.5 million copies internationally.

A new story from the award-winning Katherine Rundell. A pair of spectacles made by a centaur have an extraordinary and magical effect on the human wearer. Read by the author.

A specially-commissioned story by Joel Morris for anyone who's ever formed a school band – or has listened to one.

Jed and Brady have found a cow shed, a cymbal on a rope and a plate of old ketchup, but they still haven't found the magic. And Spatch can't play, has no kit and, even worse, isn't actually there. But maybe aliens can help?

Read by Mathew Baynton

Producer: David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

A story by Joel Morris for anyone who's ever formed a school band - or listened to one.

Original short works for radio.

In a specially commissioned story by Joel Morris, Jed and Brady have found a cow shed, a cymbal on a rope and a plate of old ketchup - but they still haven't found the magic.

[LISTEN NOW]

A woman returns to her home village in Scotland but is haunted by the past.

Read by Lesley Hart

Mary Paulson-Ellis is an Edinburgh based writer. Her debut novel, The Other Mrs Walker was a Times Bestseller and Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2017.

An original short work for radio by Mary Paulson-Ellis. Read by Lesley Hart.

A new short work from award-winning writer Callum McSorley.

Labouring for your dad in the summer holidays is grim enough without factoring in a ruined cottage where normal rules don't apply.

Read by Scott Miller

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Callum McSorley is a writer based in Glasgow.

His short stories have appeared in Gutter Magazine, New Writing Scotland, Typehouse Literary Magazine, The Glasgow Review of Books, Monstrous Regiment, and many more. His debut novel, SQUEAKY CLEAN, featuring DCI Alison McCoist, won The McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2023. Its sequel, PAPERBOY, was published this year and is shortlisted for the same award.

The Cottage' is a BBC Scotland Audio Production for BBC Radio 4.

A young lad helps his dad renovate a cottage in the woods where normal rules don't apply.

Labouring for your dad in the summer holidays is grim enough without factoring in a ruined cottage where normal rules don't apply. Read by Scott Miller.

[LISTEN NOW]

Lucy Caldwell is the award-winning author of three novels, several stage plays and radio dramas, and most recently two collections of short stories: Multitudes (Faber, 2016) and Intimacies (Faber, 2021). She is also the editor of Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber, 2019). Awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the George Devine Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Imison Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the Irish Writers' and Screenwriters' Guild Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Award (Canada & Europe), the Edge Hill Short Story Prize Readers' Choice Award, a Fiction Uncovered Award, a K. Blundell Trust Award and a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Reader: Louise Parker

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Mary, recently returned home to Belfast, struggles to sleep. Written by Lucy Caldwell.

An original short story specially commissioned from Northern Irish writer, Lucy Caldwell.

Read by Louise Parker.

Lucy Caldwell is the award-winning author of three novels, several stage plays and radio dramas, and two collections of short stories. She is also the editor of Being Various: New Irish Short Stories.

Awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the George Devine Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Imison Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the Irish Writers' and Screenwriters' Guild Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Award (Canada & Europe), the Edge Hill Short Story Prize Readers' Choice Award, a Fiction Uncovered Award, a K Blundell Trust Award and a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2021.

Mary couldn't sleep until she woke to unexpected visitors.

Mary couldn't sleep until one day she woke to unexpected visitors. Short story read by Louise Parker.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 by the Northern Irish writer Lucy Caldwell.

Lucy Caldwell is the award-winning author of three novels, several stage plays and radio dramas, and two collections of short stories: Multitudes and Intimacies. She is also the editor of Being Various: New Irish Short Stories. Awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the George Devine Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Imison Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the Irish Writers' and Screenwriters' Guild Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Award (Canada & Europe), the Edge Hill Short Story Prize Readers' Choice Award, a Fiction Uncovered Award, a K. Blundell Trust Award and a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story by the Northern Irish writer Colin Carberry - specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Read by Aaron McCusker.

Colin Carberry is a writer of screenplays and fiction from Belfast. With Glenn Patterson, he co-wrote the film 'Good Vibrations' for which the pair won Best Script at the 2013 Irish Writers Guild Awards and were nominated for Outstanding Debut at the 2014 BAFTA Film awards.

His previous writing for Radio 4 includes the stories 'If I Only Had The Nerve' and 'Second Class, Signed For.

Producer: Michael Shannon

When two cousins meet in Belfast, the former best friends must confront their futures

A Christmas story about family, legacies and sibling rivalries.

[LISTEN NOW]

Born in Belfast, Lucy Caldwell is the award-winning author of four novels, several stage plays and radio dramas and the short story collections: Multitudes and Intimacies. She is also the editor of Being Various: New Irish Short Stories. In 2021 she won the BBC National Short Story Award with her story “All the People Were Mean and Bad. ? Her most recent novel, These Days, won the 2023 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Her new collection, Openings, was published in May 2024.

Writer: Lucy Caldwell

Reader: Jenn Murray

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A Belfast man inspires his young granddaughter to see the world differently.

Clare fondly recalls her Grandpa Andy, who liked to talk to trees and play opera arias to his vegetables. As read by Jenn Murray.

Read by Nicola Ferguson.

Helen McClory is a writer from Scotland who grew up between Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye. She has lived in Sydney, Australia and New York City. While in NYC, she worked as a dog walker and had the distinction of walking Lou Reed's dog. Her books include the Saltire First Book Award-winning On the Edges of Vision, Flesh of the Peach, Mayhem & Death and The Goldblum Variations, a book of microfictions on Jeff Goldblum. Her interests include cooking and absurdism.

A short story from Scottish writer Helen McClory marking the primal shift of the seasons.

Nicola Ferguson reads a new piece from Scottish writer Helen McClory. In spring, a traveller finds the ebb and flow of the natural world carries on without human interference.

Tom Basden is the writer of “Plebs ? and the recent award-winning adaptation of “Accidental Death Of An Anarchist ? and the reader is Jason Watkins, star of W1A, The Crown and The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

Reader: Jason Watkins

Producer: David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

www.pozzitive.co.uk

A heroic act turns meh.

A comic story about a useless man who finally commits a heroic act, only to meet his wife's irritation, his son's indifference and the object of his rescue's bafflement.

S退amas O'Reilly is a columnist for the Observer and writes about media and politics for the Irish Times, New Statesman, Guts, and VICE. His forthcoming first book is a memoir about his childhood entitled 'Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?'.

Reader: Nicky Harley

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A local tour guide becomes a Hollywood 'fixer' when a film crew comes to town.

Written by Lynsey May

Read by Victoria Liddelle

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Lynsey May lives, loves and writes in Edinburgh. Her debut novel, WEAK TEETH, was published in May 2023. She's the recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award and a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship.

The Festival is in full, noisy swing and Edinburgh resident Gail is determined to lie low.

It's Festival time in Edinburgh and Gail is determined to lie low, but an old friend has different ideas.

Reader: Liam O'Brien

Writer: Donal Ryan is the author of four novels and a short story collection. HIs fourth novel, From a Low and Quiet Sea, was longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2018.

Producer: Justine Willett

A new story for Radio 4 from acclaimed Irish writer, Donal Ryan. Read by Liam O'Brien.

An original short story by Alys Conran read by Dewi Wykes.

Sound by Catherine Robinson

Produced by Emma Harding

A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4.

Dewi Wykes reads Alys Conran's Snowdonia-set story of hidden depths, hidden desires.

A Snowdonia-set story of hidden depths and hidden desires.

The mission of 19th century botanist, Wil Boots, and the list of present-day teenager Rhun.

Writer: Alys Conran

Reader: Dewi Wykes

Sound: Catherine Robinson

Producer: Emma Harding

A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2022.

A 19th century botanist and a present-day teenager in Snowdonia.

Set in Snowdonia, the hidden depths and desires of a 19th century botanist and a present-day teenager. Read by Dewi Wykes.

[LISTEN NOW]

Friel originally wrote this story for BBC radio whilst he was still working as a maths teacher in rural Ireland. It was originally broadcast 1958, but hasn't been heard or read since.

Nearly 70 years later, the story has been rediscovered in the BBC Archives and newly recorded with actor Dermot Crowley. It has been specially commissioned by Radio 4 as part of a celebration of Brian Friel's work 10 years after his death, which also includes a new production of Faith Healer.

The Fishing Lesson shows Friel at his lyrical best, brimming with his trademark pathos, dry wit and a troubled relationship with the past which would later define his work. Though it was penned early in Friel's career, it tells the story of a regret-ridden man who is older but perhaps not, yet, wiser.

Reader: Dermot Crowley

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

A newly unearthed story by the 'Irish Chekhov'.

This very special edition of Short Works is a newly unearthed story by the 'Irish Chekhov' Brian Friel, read for the first time in nearly 70 years by Dermot Crowley.

[LISTEN NOW]

It's monsoon season, and as the rain turns into floods, a woman is trapped in her home. But is she really alone? The ghost in her house begs to differ. But it may not be as terrifying as it first appears; perhaps it can even help her with her grief. But will she escape the flood in time?

An Indian ghost story from an exciting new voice in fiction, Deepa Anappara.

Reader: Indira Varma

Producer: Justine Willett

It's monsoon season and a woman is trapped in her home. But is she really alone?

As the rain turns into floods in India, a woman is trapped in her home. But is she really alone? Read by Indira Varma.

[LISTEN NOW]

Nia believes in what's before her eyes. Tuna nicoise salad from M&S. Lavender bath salts. Instagram cat videos.

She does not believe in the supernatural.

Until something makes her change her mind.

Short story from Lisa Zahra, read by Kimberley Nixon.

Produced by Fay Lomas

Studio Manager: Rhys Morris

Production Co-ordinators: Eleri McAuliffe and Lindsay Rees.

Nia has never believed in the supernatural. Until now. Short story by Lisa Zahra.

Nia has never believed in the supernatural. Until now. Short story by Lisa Zahra, read by Kimberley Nixon.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish author David Park. Read by Chris McCurry.

The Writer

David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed authors. His first novel 'The Healing' won the Authors' Club First Novel Award; 'The Truth Commissioner' was awarded the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and adapted for film; 'The Light of Amsterdam' was shortlisted for the IMPAC Prize; 'The Poets' Wives' was Belfast's One City One Book and 'Travelling in a Strange Land' won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. He has received a Major Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and an Honorary Fellowship in the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast. His latest novel 'Ghost Wedding' will be published in May 2025.

Writer: David Park

Reader: Chris McCurry

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

Inspired by a woman called Eve, a lonely young man begins helping with a community garden project in Belfast.

[LISTEN NOW]

'He fell in love with a girl in a painting. His father had taken him to the gallery to get out of the rain on one of their weekend outings. Eli was drawn to her bare shoulder..'

As the years pass, this state of affairs intensifies. But to what end?

Reader Carl Prekopp

Producer Duncan Minshull

In Stephanie Victoire's story, 13-year-old Eli falls for the image of a girl.

Written by Linda Cracknell

Read by Andy Clark

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Linda Cracknell is a writer of fiction, narrative non-fiction and radio drama. Her work often combines travel and writing with a particular interest in landscapes, place and memory. Publications include essay collection and Radio 4 Book of the Week, 'Doubling Back' and fiction 'Call of the Undertow' and 'The Other Side of Stone'.

A man goes through a rough patch against the backdrop of a rewilding project.

Against the backdrop of a controversial rewilding project, one man quietly goes through his own rough patch. Written by Linda Cracknell. Read by Andy Clark.

[LISTEN NOW]

Tristan Sturrock reads Alison MacLeod's specially commissioned short story.

Alison is a novelist and short story writer.

Her recent collection is All the Beloved Ghosts. Her novel, Unexploded was long-listed for the 2013 Man-Booker Prize for Fiction. Her short fiction has been awarded The Society of Authors' Olive Cook Award and shortlisted for The BBC National Short Story Award and The Sunday Times EFG International Short Story Award. MacLeod is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester, UK.

Producer: Elizabeth Allard

In Alison MacLeod's specially commissioned story past and present are intimately linked.

An original short story by Irish novelist Louise O'Neill specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Read by Mark Doherty.

Louise's first novel 'Only Ever Yours' was awarded The Bookseller's inaugural YA Book Prize 2015.

Her follow up 'Asking For It' was voted Book of the Year at 2015's Irish Books Awards and spent 34 weeks in the Irish top 10 bestseller list. It has since been adapted for stage and is being developed for screen. Her third novel 'Almost Love' was published in 2018 to critical acclaim.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A weekend away at a meditation retreat offers Billy a respite from caring for his father.

Midway through a familiar journey at the end of an unremarkable day events take a turn, and a man is left combing the past in search of answers.

Read by Andy Clark

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Malachy Tallack is from Shetland and is a singer-songwriter as well as an award-winning writer of fiction and non-fiction.

An original short work for radio by Malachy Tallack.

A new short story by Malachy Tallack. Midway through a familiar journey on an unremarkable day events take a turn, and a man is left questioning everything. Read by Andy Clark.

Reader James Anthony Pearson

Producer Bethany Woodhead

Richard Smyth is a Yorkshire-based author and critic.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

A new short work from Richard Smyth about an itinerant inventor on a quest for justice.

A Victorian inventor pursues his former business partner and lover, believing her to have cheated him of a fortune. Reader James Anthony Pearson. Written by Richard Smyth.

In Richard Smyth's new short work, a disgruntled inventor pursues his former lover and business partner, only to unearth three shocking discoveries.

[LISTEN NOW]

Production Co-Ordinator.....Eleri Sydney McAuliffe

Sound Design.....Nigel Lewis

Producer......Ryan Hooper

A BBC Audio Wales production

Catrin struggles to enjoy a stolen weekend in Paris with her younger lover.

Catrin is living the dream. A stolen weekend in Paris with her younger lover. So why is she struggling to enjoy herself? By Francesca Rhydderch, read by Carys Eleri.

An original short work for radio

[LISTEN NOW]

A crew of miners sits around a decorated table in a mineral-encrusted chamber, deep beneath the Cornish sea bed. There's a sound above the pounding of the waves. It's coming from somewhere beyond the rockfall that has imprisoned this party of miners who, for the first time since breaking ground here, have entered their mine without their tools...

This is a story about our relationship with the ground beneath our feet, the choices we make to exploit the riches that live there, and the consequences of those choices.

Wyl Menmuir is a Booker-nominated novelist, and prizes for his non-fiction include the prestigious Roger Deakin Award, for The Draw of The Sea. His exploration of our relationships with trees, The Heart of The Woods, was released in 2024. His short fiction has been published in Best British Short Stories, and beyond.

A BBC Audio Bristol Production

Reader: Tristan Sturrock

Producer: Becky Ripley

Willow, a primary school teacher, likes her colleague Geoff. And Geoff likes her. But they are no good at reading each other's signals.

Originally from Malaysia, Elaine Chiew is a twice winner of the Bridport Short Story Competition. She is the author of the short story collection The Heartsick Diaspora. Her novel, The Light Between Us, will be published in May 2024.

Writer: Elaine Chiew

Reader: Phyllis Ho

By Elaine Chiew. Willow and Geoff can't read each other's signals.

By Elaine Chiew. Willow, a primary school teacher, likes her colleague Geoff. And Geoff likes her. But they are no good at reading each other's signals.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4

Willow and Geoff can't read each other's signals.

[LISTEN NOW]

The Author

Louise Farr is a teacher and writer from Northern Ireland. In 2018, she was won the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition and The Trisha Ashley Award. In 2019, she won The Ink Tears Short Story Competition and The Dalkey Writing Festival Short Story Competition. In 2020, Louise was shortlisted for the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition and her story ‘Tinder' was nominated for the An Post Short Story of the Year Award.

Reader: Roísín Gallagher

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A grieving woman is interviewed by the police about the theft of a statue from a church.

Following a tragedy, Clare tries to piece her life back together by following the advice of a statue in the grounds of her local church. Read by Roísín Gallagher.

[LISTEN NOW]

The Little Things is the latest short story by the accomplished author, Kiare Ladner. Shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, 2018 for her finely wrought story Van Rensburg's Card, her debut novel, Nightshift came out earlier in 2021 to critical acclaim.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard

In a new commission by the acclaimed short story writer Kiare Ladner, it's a special day.

It's a magical day for the creator of 'Egg on Toast' when the work goes on sale at the Summer Exhibition - but the artist longs to tell her mother all about it.

Shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, 2018 for her finely wrought story Van Rensburg's Card, Kiare Ladner's debut novel, Nightshift came out in 2021 to critical acclaim.

Producer: Elizabeth Allard

A special day begins when an artist gets her painting into the Summer Exhibition.

A struggling artist begins a magical day when her work is finally put up in the Summer Exhibition. Read by Teresa Gallagher.

Kamand Kojouri was a finalist for the Rhys Davies National Short Story Prize, 2024. Read by Zak Ghazi-Torbati.

Swansea market, Iranian poetry and photography collide in a new story from Kamand Kojouri.

David has more to learn than simply photography, when he does an internship with Kourosh in his shop in Swansea market. Short story by Kamand Kojouri, read by Zak Ghazi-Torbati.

[LISTEN NOW]

Sessions was a star of radio as well as screen and stage. This was his final recording for the medium he loved. Written for him by a long term friend and collaborator, it is a fitting tribute to the late, great comic actor.

Boyd is a multi-award winning novelist, short story writer and playwright. The author of 16 highly-acclaimed novels, including Any Human Heart and Restless, his latest Trio is set in Brighton during the swinging sixties, and has garnered rave reviews following its recent release.

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

John Sessions, the late great actor, reads William Boyd's wry new story for radio.

Read by Lesley Hart

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Heather Parry's debut novel ORPHEUS BUILDS A GIRL was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award and longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. From South Yorkshire, she's based in Glasgow. Her new novel, CARRION CROW, is published at the end of this month.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.

A cartographer redraws the map for her loved ones in a short piece for Valentine's Day.

In Heather Parry's short piece for Valentine's Day, a mapmaker moves the earth for those she loves. Read by Lesley Hart.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story of Somerset, sea and mystery written by Fiona Williams and read by Clare-Hope Ashitey.

It's a retelling of the North Somerset folk tale The Sea Morgan's Baby, exploring ideas of difference and belonging.

Fiona Williams is the author of The House of Broken Bricks. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from the University of Westminster and an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. She is the winner of the 2021 Bridport Prize, Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award. Originally from South-East London, she now lives with her family on the Somerset Levels.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea.

An original story of Somerset, sea and mystery written by Fiona Williams and read by Clare-Hope Ashitey. It's a retelling of the North Somerset folk tale The Sea Morgan's Baby.

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story written and performed by Javaad Alipoor, specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

It's a poetic monologue reflecting on those formative moments of childhood that stay with you, bright and ringing, into adulthood.

Javaad Alipoor is a writer, theatre maker and director who grew up in Bradford.

He is resident associate director at Sheffield theatres and an associate director of Bradford's Theatre in the Mill. He also writes poetry and prose. His essays and theory-fiction on global politics, philosophy and art have also been published.

When should you run away and when should you hide in a phone box?

Angharad waits at home. Becca is missing.

The year gets colder and colder, and still no Becca.

And then, one day, there is a knock on the door...

The Persephone myth is re-imagined to modern-day Wales in this powerful tale of a mother and her daughter.

Brennig Davies won the inaugural BBC Young Writers Award in 2015, the Crown at the Urdd Eisteddfod 2019, and was shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Short Story Award 2021. His work has been published in Poetry Wales, Litro USA, The Cardiff Review, and various anthologies, and in 2023 he was chosen as one of the Hay Festival's Writers at Work.

Reader: Mali Harries

Sound: Nigel Lewis

Producer: Fay Lomas

A BBC Audio Drama Wales Production

A modern Welsh retelling of the Persephone myth, by Brennig Davies.

A mother waits at home for her missing daughter, in this modern retelling of the Persephone myth, set in Wales. This short story by Brennig Davies is read by Mali Harries.

Baret Magarian was born in London of Armenian origin. His novel, The Fabrications, was published in 2017. His collection of stories, Melting Point, was published in 2019.

Writer: Baret Magarian

Reader: Edmund Kingsley

By Baret Magarian. An academic has a strange experience in Portugal.

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by writer Heidi Amsinck.

Read by Tim McInnerny.

Heidi Amsinck, a writer and journalist born in Copenhagen, has written numerous short stories for radio. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, Heidi lives in Surrey.

Her first collection of short stories, Last Train To Helsingør, was published in 2018.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2020.

Anders has doubts about the Copenhagen history tour.

Anders suspects that a historical boat tour will be a mistake, but never in the way it turns out. Read by Tim McInnerny.

[LISTEN NOW]

Andrew O'Hagan's story of lost love and enduring hope takes in the Clydebank Blitz, inconstant lovers and the poems of Robert Burns.

Read by Barbara Rafferty

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Andrew O'Hagan is a Booker-nominated writer of novels and non-fiction and editor-at-large for the LRB. An adaptation of O'Hagan's most recent novel, 'Mayflies', was broadcast on BBC1 over Christmas and is available on iPlayer.

A new story from Andrew O'Hagan about lost love, Robert Burns and the Clydebank Blitz.

Corinthia is starring in a new reality show called The Wife House. It keeps her SO busy – what with the preparations for the Galas, and throwing wine at all the other wives – that she barely even has time to think! Which is probably a good thing, because if she did have time to think, she might be wondering: why aren't any of the Wives allowed to leave the Wife House? Are there really monsters in the woods? And... is she even actually called Corinthia?

An uncanny new comedy by Andrew Doherty, read by Ambika Mod.

Andrew Doherty is the writer of Gay Witch Sex Cult (“the funniest fringe horror since Garth Marenghi ? – The Guardian)

Ambika Mod is a multi-award-winning actor and writer, and the star of One Day and This Is Going To Hurt

Directed by David Tyler

Produced by David Tyler and Katie Sayer

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

www.pozzitive.co.uk

Corinthia's starring in a new show - The Wife House. It keeps her so busy she barely has time to think! Thoughts like: why can't we leave? And what are the monsters in the woods?

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Northern Irish writer Dawn Watson. As read by Aoibh退ann McCann.

Dawn Watson published her debut poetry pamphlet 'The Stack of Owls is Getting Higher' in 2019. She has short stories in anthologies including 'Still Worlds Turning' and 'Belfast Stories'. Dawn has taught undergraduate Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre in Queen's University since 2018. She is a former national tabloid sub editor and lives in Belfast.

Reader: Aoibh退ann McCann

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

At a newspaper office in Belfast, a sub editor faces unrest in the city and her own life.

Two sub editors at a Belfast newspaper connect amid personal struggles against a backdrop of summer rioting in the city. Written by Dawn Watson.

[LISTEN NOW]

Two sub editors at a Belfast newspaper connect amid personal struggles against a backdrop of summer rioting in the city. An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Northern Irish writer Dawn Watson.

Dawn Watson published her debut poetry pamphlet 'The Stack of Owls is Getting Higher' in 2019. She has short stories in anthologies including 'Still Worlds Turning' and 'Belfast Stories'. Dawn has taught undergraduate Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre in Queen's University since 2018. She is a former national tabloid sub editor and lives in Belfast.

Reader: Aoibhéann McCann

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2021.

At a newspaper office in Belfast, a sub editor faces unrest in the city and her own life.

At a newspaper office in Belfast, a sub editor faces unrest in the city and her own life. Read by Aoibhéann McCann.

An original short work for the BBC by Northern Irish writer Dawn Watson.

At a Belfast newspaper office, a sub-editor faces unrest.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish poet, playwright and novelist Dermot Bolger.

Read by Owen Roe.

Dermot Bolger is one of Ireland's most respected authors whose awards include the Samuel Beckett Award and the AE Memorial Prize.

An acclaimed poet, playwright and novelist, his works have been staged and published in many countries.

His extensive radio credits include 'Hunger Again', 'The Kerlogue', 'The Night Manager' and 'The Fortunestown Kid'. The audio version of his own novel 'The Woman's Daughter' was awarded the Worldplay Award for Best Script.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A celebrated author visits a dying man who claims to have been his rival.

A new short story for Radio 4, inspired by the news that some GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are soon to be available in pill form. The Shrinking imagines a parallel world where women can shrink to their “perfect height ? with the help of a seemingly miraculous new medication. But the treatment has some unexpected side-effects.

Born in South Wales, Nicola Rayner is a novelist and journalist. She is the author of The Girl Before You, which was described as 'the new Girl on the Train ? by the Observer and translated into multiple languages. Her second novel, You and Me, another psychological thriller, was published in October 2020. A work of historical fiction, The Paris Dancer, was published in 2025. In her day job as a journalist, Nicola writes about dance and travel and her articles have appeared in a number of publications including the Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Stage and Dancing Times.

Read by Clare Corbett

Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

In a world where women seek to shrink to the 'perfect height', a miracle pill emerges.

Inspired by the news that some GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are soon to be available in pill form, The Shrinking imagines a parallel world where women can shrink to the 'perfect height

[LISTEN NOW]

'Extinction had sounded so irrevocable, but watching them alive in their old habitat felt like a beginning, a window into a countryside that was less complacent, in which there was space for - this.'

Ruby has returned home to Devon but is viewed by some in the rural community as an incomer. Tensions rise when she's tasked with culling a sounder of wild boar suspected of having been illegally released.

Writer Jade Angeles Fitton is a writer and journalist who lives in Devon. Her first book Hermit was published in 2023

Reader: Kirsty Cox

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Maggie Ayre

An original short work for Radio 4 by Jade Angeles Fitton

Rural ideologies clash over the release of wild boar onto Dartmoor

[LISTEN NOW]

Alex Tregear reads Lucy Wood's story.

Writer: Lucy Wood is the author of a critically acclaimed collection of short stories based on Cornish folklore Diving Belles.

She has been longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and was a runner-up in the BBC National Short Story Award.

Producer: Justine Willett.

Alex Tregear reads a story by Lucy Wood, acclaimed author of Diving Belles.

In The Stranger she weaves a gentle romantic story beginning with an unusual flatshare to save money, then twists it into a suspenseful thriller all in the space of 14 minutes - read by Saffron Coomber.

Saffron Coomber has recently starred in Sir Lenny Henry's Windrush drama Three Little Birds, was in Small Axe by Steve McQueen, and made her West End debut as Shakespeare's muse in Emilia by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Written by Daisy Johnson

Produced by Allegra McIlroy

A brand new short story by award-winning novelist and short story writer Daisy Johnson.

A brand new short story by award-winning novelist and short story writer Daisy Johnson. Read by Saffron Coomber.

Colin Carberry is a writer of screenplays and fiction from Belfast. With Glenn Patterson, he co-wrote the film Good Vibrations, for which the pair were nominated for Outstanding Debut at the 2014 BAFTA Film awards. They had previously won Best Script at the 2013 Irish Writers Guild Awards, and Best Script at the 2012 Dinard British Film Festival. They were also nominated for Best First Script of 2013 by the Writers Guild of Great Britain. He is currently working on a collection of short stories and is developing a number of projects for film, television and theatre.

Reader: Ro퀀s퀀n Gallagher

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Following her wedding, a woman promises to buy her father a new suit.

After a Sultan has his wife walled up in the garden for being unable to bear him a son he is forced to travel hundreds of miles on a quest to redeem himself. A Miniaturist instructs him to wash his face in five rivers in order to restore good fortune but he is destined to learn some hard lessons along the way.

Written and read by Mona Arshi.

Produced by Maggie Ayre.

A Sultan is forced to try and make amends after he abandons his wife.

A Sultan is forced to try and make amends after he abandons his wife for being unable to bear him a son. Read by Mona Arshi.

The poet, writer and former human rights lawyer Mona Arshi presents a dark fairytale. After a Sultan has his wife walled up in the garden for being unable to bear him a son he is forced to travel hundreds of miles on a quest to redeem himself. A Miniaturist instructs him to wash his face in five rivers in order to restore good fortune but he is destined to learn some hard lessons along the way.

Poet and novelist Mona Arshi reads The Sultan's Box of Sparrows

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short story by Joe Dunthorne read by Craig Roberts.

Sound by Catherine Robinson

Produced by Emma Harding

A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4.

Craig Roberts reads Joe Dunthorne's short story about a regular diner at the All Sky Cafe.

But the best thing about All Sky Cafe on the 35th floor is the waitress, Jeanette.

Joe Dunthorne's original short story read by Craig Roberts.

Sound by Catherine Robinson

Producer: Emma Harding

A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2022.

Tale about a regular diner at the All Sky Cafe.

Red pepper soup or kids' tagliatelle are the cheapest meals. But All Sky Café's best thing is Jeanette. Read by Craig Roberts.

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

Over 100 years after the Iolaire sank with the loss of hundreds of lives, Iain Finlay Macleod imagines the disaster through the eyes of a survivor.

An unnamed sailor is returning from the Great War and meets his brother on board the overcrowded yacht returning Naval Reservists home to Lewis.

He's on deck when they hit rocks at Holm and describes the confusion on board as the boat quickly sinks.

One man is able to secure a line to land and the narrator is the last man to make it ashore before the rope breaks.

He talks about the loss of his brother; how the fighting and subsequent disaster changed his feelings about war, God and loyalty to country.

Writer: Iain Finlay Macleod

Reader: Daibhidh Walker

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

An overcrowded yacht returning sailors home from the Great War is in trouble.

A sailor is returning from the Great War on the Iolaire, but they hit rocks. Can anyone survive? Read by Daibhidh Walker.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for radio about love, death and talking to trees, written and read by the novelist and poet SK Perry.

Especially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Sarah's debut novel Let Me Be Like Water was published in 2018 in the UK and the US by Melville House.

She is currently a PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University, funded to write her next novel and to research depictions of sex in literary prose by the NWCDTP. Born in Croydon, Sarah's background is in campaigning, education, and gender equalities. She currently lives in Leeds.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

Put your ear to the tree trunk and listen. An original short work for radio by SK Perry.

When her ex-boyfriend suddenly vanishes, forensic accountant Natalie decides to turn detective. She's done an online training course, and she's bought a vintage trench coat. So what could possibly go wrong? A brand new detective comedy from J.D. Brinkworth, read by Ada Player.

J.D. Brinkworth is an award-winning comedy writer, and the author of The Pie & Mash Detective Agency.

Ada Player (BAFTA nominee) is an actress and comedian, and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe.

Producer: Katie Sayer

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

Detective comedy about vigils, victims and vintage coats.

When her ex-boyfriend suddenly vanishes, forensic accountant Natalie decides to turn detective. What could possibly go wrong? A brand new detective comedy from JD Brinkworth.

When her ex-boyfriend suddenly vanishes, forensic accountant Natalie decides to turn detective. She's done an online training course, and she's bought a trench coat on Vinted. So what could possibly go wrong? A brand new detective comedy from J.D. Brinkworth, read by Ada Player.

Detective comedy about vigils, victims and Vinted.

[LISTEN NOW]

Zoe Gilbert is the award-winning author of Folk, published in 2018. Her stories have won prizes including the Costa Short Story Award, and have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Thought X, Spindles and Conradology. She has travelled to China and South Korea on writing projects for the British Council, and is completing a PhD exploring folk tales and new short fiction.

Writer: Zoe Gilbert

Reader: Peter Firth

The Wild Hunt by Zoe Gilbert. To impress a girl, a young man overnights in the forest.

Susanna Clarke won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020 with her second novel, Piranesi. She is well known for her novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell which was adapted for BBC television in a major production, and her short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard

A specially commissioned wintry short story by Susanna Clarke, the award-winning writer.

In the award winning writer Tahmima Anam's new story Shafiq learns an unexpected lesson during his sister's opulent wedding celebrations. The reader is Gavi Singh Chera.

Tahmima Anam is the author of the Bengal trilogy and a recipient of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book and the O. Henry Award. Her short story 'Garments' was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2016. She is a Granta Best of Young British Novelists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The producer is Elizabeth Allard.

A specially commissioned short story by the award-winning writer Tahmima Anam.

[LISTEN NOW]

The Writer

Colin Bateman worked as a journalist in Northern Ireland before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of many critically acclaimed novels, including the long long running Mystery Man series, children's books and films including ‘Divorcing Jack', ‘The Journey' and ‘Driven'. For television Colin created and wrote the long-running BBC crime series ‘Murphy's Law' starring James Nesbit and the 2024 series ‘Dead and Buried' starring Annabel Scholey Colin Morgan. In 2010 Colin was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Ulster for his services to literature.

Reader: Dan Gordon

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

When an ageing rocker dies suddenly, he leaves behind a surprising mystery.

At a wake for a beloved session musician, his widow asks for help making sense of her husband's recently uncovered secret passion.

Colin Bateman worked as a journalist in Northern Ireland before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of many critically acclaimed novels, including the long long running Mystery Man series, children's books and films including ‘Divorcing Jack', ‘The Journey' and ‘Driven'. For television Colin created and wrote the long-running BBC crime series ‘Murphy's Law' starring James Nesbit and the 2024 series ‘Dead and Buried' starring Annabel Scholey and Colin Morgan. In 2010 Colin was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Ulster for his services to literature.

[LISTEN NOW]

This Is Going To Hurt by Elizabeth Wetmore is read by Kelly Burke and produced by Nicola Holloway.

A brand new story from American novelist Elizabeth Wetmore

Lee Ann Metcalf lives in rural Texas, missing her only daughter, struggling to make ends meet, disappointed in her lot.

A surprising night time encounter in her backyard makes Lee Ann think anew about her life.

Elizabeth Wetmore's short story read by Kelly Burke.

Producer: Nicola Holloway

A surprise visitor in rural Texas changes Lee Ann's life. Read by Kelly Burke.

A surprise night time visitor in her backyard in rural Texas changes Lee Ann's life. Read by Kelly Burke.

[LISTEN NOW]

Original short story for radio, written and read by Henry C. Krempels.

[LISTEN NOW]

'As I run for the platform at Paddington, I know that even if I make the train I will still have missed it. For all the trains are evenly spaced and if you are in time for one, it means you were just too late for another.'

An original short story for radio, about one man's journey to the end of the line...

Writer: Michael Amherst, winner of the Hubert Butler Essay Prize and Stonewall Prize for Nonfiction. His debut novel, The Boyhood of Cain, was published by Faber in February.

Reader: Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong

Producer-Director: Becky Ripley

An original short story for radio, written by Michael Amherst.

[LISTEN NOW]

'Sundays at our house are always loud.'

[LISTEN NOW]

A haunting original short work by Jess Kidd.

Read by Katherine Press.

Jess was brought up in London as part of a large family from County Mayo. Her first novel 'Himself' was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards in 2016 and she was the winner of the Costa Short Story Award in the same year.

Her second novel 'The Hoarder' (also titled Mr. Flood's Last Resort') was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award. Her third novel 'Things in Jars' was published in 2019.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A woman uncovers a mysterious artefact whilst renovating her new home.

Peter Hollywood was born in Newry, Northern Ireland. He is the author of Jane Alley, Lead City and Other Stories, Luggage, Hawks and Other Short Stories and Drowning the Gowns. His stories have appeared in numerous journals and he has had stories featured in anthologies including ‘State of the Art: Short Stories by New Irish Writers', 'Krino - An Anthology of Modern Irish Writing' and ‘Belfast Stories'.

Reader: Stuart Graham

Writer: Peter Hollywood

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A magical story about aging and unwanted pests. Written by Peter Hollywood.

Hank likes to tell his grandchildren there are fairies living at the bottom of his garden, so he is affronted when he finds a rat has invaded his back yard.

An original short story from the author Peter Hollywood, read by Stuart Graham.

Peter was born in Newry, Northern Ireland, the author of Jane Alley, Lead City and Other Stories, Luggage, Hawks and Other Short Stories and Drowning the Gowns. His stories have appeared in numerous journals and he has had stories featured in anthologies including ‘State of the Art: Short Stories by New Irish Writers', 'Krino - An Anthology of Modern Irish Writing' and ‘Belfast Stories'.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2021.

A magical story about aging and unwanted pests.

Hank tells his grandchildren of fairies living in the garden, but then is affronted by a garden invader. Read by Stuart Graham.

[LISTEN NOW]

Read by Adjoa Andoh

Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol

Maria Thomas's story about a black academic who fears she's about to get the push

Mona Dash's short story read by Vineeta Rishi.

Mona works and lives in London. She is the author of A Roll of the Dice: a story of loss, love and genetics (2019) which won an Eyelands International Book Award for memoir.

Her debut short story collection, Let Us Look Elsewhere, was published in June 2021. Twenty-Five Years is her first story for radio.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2021.

Annika is a well organised widow. But a Facebook request sets her back

Annika, a widow, has a well-organised life. A Facebook friend request sends her spiralling into the past. Read by Vineeta Rishi.

Mona Dash' short story read by Vineeta Rishi.

Annika is a well organised widow. But a Facebook request spirals her into the past.

By Mona Dash. Annika, a widow, now has a well-organised life built mainly around her work in Central London. But a Facebook friend request sends her spiralling into the past.

Mona Dash works and lives in London. She is the author of A Roll of the Dice: a story of loss, love and genetics (2019) which won an Eyelands International Book Award for memoir. Her debut short story collection, Let Us Look Elsewhere, was published in June 2021. Twenty-Five Years is her first story for radio.

Writer: Mona Dash

Reader: Vineeta Rishi

By Mona Dash. A Facebook friend request takes Annika into her past.

By Mona Dash. Annika, a widow, has a well-organised life. But a Facebook friend request sends her spiralling into the past.

[LISTEN NOW]

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish author Anne Griffin.

Read by Mark Lambert.

Anne Griffin is the author of the Number One Irish best-seller 'When All Is Said'. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including The Irish Times and The Stinging Fly, and she was recently the awarded the John McGahern Award for Literature.

This is her first story for BBC Radio.

Producer: Michael Shannon

Julie Maxwell reads an original short story for BBC Radio 4 from Northern Irish writer, Rosemary Jenkinson.

Rosemary Jenkinson is a playwright and short story writer from Belfast. Winner of The Sunday Tribune's Hennessy Award for New Irish Writing, she has published several short story collections including 'Contemporary Problems Nos. 53 & 54', ' Aphrodite's Kiss' and 'Catholic Boy'.

Her work for radio includes 'Castlereagh to Kandahar' (BBC Radio 3) and 'The Blackthorn Tree' (BBC Radio 4).

Producer: Michael Shannon

A Belfast taxi driver finds her life thrown into chaos when her passenger falls ill.

Olivia Fitzsimons is from Northern Ireland and now lives in Wicklow but never lost her accent. She studied History at Trinity College Dublin and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands. The Quiet Whispers Never Stop (John Murray Press) is her first novel and was an Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair Winner in 2020. She has received a Literary Bursary from The Arts Council and a SIAP award from Northern Ireland Arts Council. Her short stories have been placed or shortlisted in many competitions including the Sunday Business Post/Penguin Short Story Prize and The Benedict Kiely Short Story Award. She has two feature films in development and is currently working on her second novel.

Reader: Aoibh退ann McCann

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A family holiday to France takes an unexpected detour. Written by Olivia Fitzsimons.

Robert Shearman has written five short story collections and, between them, they have won the World Fantasy Award, the Shirley Jackson Award and the Edge Hill Readers Prize. He was resident dramatist at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter and regular writer for Alan Ayckbourn in Scarborough, and his interactive BBC radio series The Chain Gang won two Sony awards. But he is probably best known for his work on Doctor Who, bringing back the Daleks for the BAFTA winning first series in an episode nominated for a Hugo Award.

Writer: Robert Shearman

Reader: Miles Jupp

A man dies but, at the Pearly Gates, he's sent back to earth.

‘Sometimes it feels like nothing changes, doesn't it? Like every day's the same. And then one day you wake up and you can't recognise a thing. Not even yourself.

Jacqui's lived in the same Southwest town all her life. She thought that she knew her neighbours, she thought that she knew herself. Turns out she was wrong.

A new story about self-discovery, courage and hope.

Written and read by Bita Taghavi

Produced by Alison Crawford

A story about self-discovery, courage and hope by Bita Taghavi.

A new story about self-discovery, courage and hope by Bita Taghavi.

[LISTEN NOW]

A cleaner labours in a large townhouse while her client strives for inner peace.

[LISTEN NOW]

In Vicki Jarrett's short work, a cleaner labours in a large townhouse while her client strives for inner peace.

Reader Molly Innes

Producer Eilidh McCreadie

Vicki Jarrett is a novelist and short story writer from Edinburgh. Her novel 'Always North' is a thriller set aboard an arctic icebreaker.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

A short work from Vicki Jarrett about spirituality, labour and top quality linen.

A cleaner labours in a large townhouse while her client strives for inner peace. Reader Molly Innes. Written by Vicki Jarrett.

[LISTEN NOW]

When Jalal loses his job, it triggers a series of changes to his life and to his sense of self.

Credits

Reader - ¦.. Zubin Varla

Producer - ¦.. Kirsty Williams

A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4

An original short work for radio by Isabella Hammad. Read by Zubin Varla.

Emma Glass was born in Wales in 1987 and is now based in London, where she writes and works as a children's nurse. Her debut novel Peach was published by Bloomsbury in 2018, has been translated into seven languages and was long-listed for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. Her second novel Rest and Be Thankful was published earlier this year.

Vehicle is read by the author and produced by Mair Bosworth

A woman goes to buy in a car in this unsettling short story for radio by Emma Glass.

Bernie McGill is the author of two novels and two short story collections. She has also written audio scripts for heritage projects and stage scripts for theatre. She studied English and Italian at Queen's University, Belfast and graduated with a Masters degree in Irish Writing. Her novel The Watch House was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature and The Butterfly Cabinet was named in 2012 by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year. Her first short story collection Sleepwalkers was short listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her second short story collection This Train is For was published by No Alibis Press in June 2022.

Reader: Julia Dearden

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

In the glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland, a stubborn recluse waits for her great-nephew.

Written and read by Anthony Joseph

Produced by Allegra McIlroy

By Anthony Joseph - Trinidadian-born musician, novelist and TS Eliot prize-winning poet.

A poetic and surprising story set in Trinidadian Creole and inspired by the landscape and imagination of the author's childhood visits to his grandparents' home. By Anthony Joseph.

Short Stories from the best writers.

An original short story from Kandace Siobhan Walker, read by Faith Alabi.

Produced by Naomi Walmsley

Kandace Siobhan Walker is a writer and film-maker. Her work has most recently appeared in bath magg and LUMIN and she was the 2021 winner of The White Review Poet's Prize. She grew up in Wales and lives in London.

A mysterious factory promises jobs and perfect happiness to the people of a small town.

Kandace Siobhan Walker's original short story read by Faith Alabi.

Kandace is a writer and filmmaker.

Her work has appeared in bath magg and LUMIN and she was 2021's winner of The White Review Poet's Prize.

Producer: Naomi Walmsley

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2021.

A mysterious factory is promising jobs and perfect happiness.

A mysterious new factory promises jobs and happiness to a small town, but a new worker is wary of change. Read by Faith Alabi.

Kandace Siobhan Walker is a writer and filmmaker. Her work has appeared in bath magg and LUMIN and she was the 2021 winner of The White Review Poet's Prize.

[LISTEN NOW]

Kit de Waal has won numerous awards for her short stories and flash fiction. Her first novel - ?My Name Is Leon' won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2017 and was shortlisted for numerous other awards including the Costa First Book Award and the Desmond Elliott Prize. - ?The Trick To Time' her second novel, was published in 2018 and longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Reader - ¦.. Don Wycherley

Producer - ¦.. Michael Shannon

On his wedding day, a groom explains how he lost his sight but found a wife.

[LISTEN NOW]

Nursing a broken heart, a woman turns to an AI dating coach for help - with unexpected results.

Writer: Naomi Wood is the winner of the 2023 BBC National Short Story Award, and author of three novels, including the award-winning Mrs Hemingway, and a new collection of stories, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.

Reader: Rose Robinson

Producer: Justine Willett

In a new story by Naomi Wood, a woman turns to an AI dating coach to mend her broken heart

Can an AI dating coach mend a woman's broken heart? Rose Robinson reads a new short story for Radio 4 by the award-winning writer, Naomi Wood.

Born in Trinidad, Ingrid Persaud won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2017 and the BBC Short Story Award in 2018. Her first novel, Love After Love, won the 2020 Costa Prize First Novel Award.

Writer: Ingrid Persaud

Reader: Ingrid Persaud

By Ingrid Persaud. Lani brings food to her mother in the care home.

Joy is in the late stages of dementia.

Every week, her daughter Lani visits her in the care home and tries to trigger her memory with food.

Written and read by Ingrid Persaud.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in January 2021.

**** Born in Trinidad, Ingrid Persaud won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2017 and the BBC Short Story Award in 2018. Her first novel, Love After Love, won the 2020 Costa Prize First Novel Award.

Lani brings food to her mother in the care home.

Joy has dementia. Each week, Lani visits her mother in a care home, trying to trigger her memory with food. Read by the author.

[LISTEN NOW]

David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. His first novel 'The Healing' won the Authors' Club First Novel Award. 'The Truth Commissioner' was awarded the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and adapted for film; 'The Light of Amsterdam' was shortlisted for the IMPAC Prize; 'The Poets' Wives' was Belfast's One City One Book and 'Travelling in a Strange Land' won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. He has received a Major Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the American Ireland Fund Literary Award. His latest novel 'Spies in Canaan' was published in 2022.

Writer: David Park

Reader: Maggie Cronin

Producer: Michael Shannon

Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A woman moves back to the village where she was born in search of a new purpose in life.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 written by Sam Thompson.

Read by Stuart Graham.

Sam was born in London in 1978. His first book Communion Town was published in 2012 and long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. His second book Jott was published in 2018. He's written for the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books and other periodicals, and has taught English Literature and creative writing at Oxford University, Oxford Brookes and Queen's University Belfast. He currently lives in Belfast.

Producer: Michael Shannon

On a sultry summer's day in London, a white convertible and the open road offer hope to two childhood friends...

Reader: Caleb Azumah Nelson

Writer: Caleb Azumah Nelson's debut novel, Open Water, won the Costa Book Award for First Novel, and his second, Small Worlds, won the Dylan Thomas Prize. His story, 'Pray', was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, 2020

Producer: Justine Willett

Acclaimed author Caleb Azumah Nelson reads his new story written for Radio 4.

On a sultry summer's day in London, a white convertible and the open road offer hope, in a new story for Radio 4 written and read by the award-winning Caleb Azumah Nelson.

Tim Pears grew up in Devon and is the award-winning author of the West Country trilogy and and the short story collection Chemistry and Other Stories. His novel In a Land of Plenty was made into a 10-part BBC TV series and his latest is Run to the Western Shore.

Writer: Tim Pears

Reader: Jasper Britton

Producer: Beth O'Dea

A BBC Audio Bristol Production for BBC Radio 4.

A man tells his doctor about his son's strange obsession, while another truth is revealed.

A man tells his doctor about his son's strange obsession, while another truth is revealed. An original short story for radio, written by Tim Pears and read by Jasper Britton.

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

It is late at night, and a young man is doing the graveyard shift in his father's convenience store. He doesn't mind working nights, but customers can often be unpredictable...

Writer: Ben Halls is the author of the acclaimed debut collection, The Quarry, based on a fictional working-class West London estate.

Reader: Nikesh Patel

Producer: Justine Willett

Nikesh Patel reads an original short work for radio by Ben Halls.

Writer - Trezza Azzopardi

Reader - Lisa Palfrey

Sound - Nigel Lewis

Producer - John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production

Wrecking Ball Swing by Trezza Azzopardi.

Short Stories from the best writers.

Booker nominated novelist Trezza Azzopardi returns to the Cardiff of her youth for this bittersweet story about childhood, demolition, resistance, change, and what remains of the lost landscapes of our past.

Writer: Trezza Azzopardi

Reader: Lisa Palfrey

Sound: Nigel Lewis

Producer: John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production for Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2022.

The lost landscapes of our past, explored through a childhood in Cardiff.

Cardiff. Childhood, demolition, resistance, change and what remains of the lost landscapes of our past. Read by Lisa Palfrey.

[LISTEN NOW]

Tara West is a writer from Co Antrim whose published works include two novels and a memoir. She is a doctoral student at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast and is one of BBC Writersroom's Belfast Voices.

Reader - Andrea Irvine

Producer - ¦.. Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

A woman becomes a carer for her estranged father.

University lecturer Claire finds herself responsible for the working class father she has barely seen in over 40 years.

An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Tara West.

Tara West is a writer from Co Antrim whose published works include two novels and a memoir. She is a doctoral student at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast and is one of BBC Writersroom's Belfast Voices.

Read by Andrea Irvine.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2021.

A woman becomes a carer for her estranged father.

University lecturer Claire becomes a carer for her estranged father. Short story read by Andrea Irvine.

[LISTEN NOW]

'I'm about to read you a list of five words. Please listen carefully. In a few minutes I'll ask you which you remember.'

A son speaks to his father across the airwaves, and across the years.

Caleb Klaces is the author of two poetry collections, and the novel Fatherhood (2019).

Produced by Mair Bosworth.

Caleb is the author of two poetry collections, and the novel Fatherhood.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

A son speaks to his father across the airwaves, and across the years. Written and read by Caleb Klaces.

Tom Vowler is an award-winning novelist and short story writer living in south west England. His debut story collection, The Method, won the Scott Prize, and his story Voyagers won the 2024 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. His novels include That Dark Remembered Day and Every Seventh Wave, and his latest title is The Trajectory of Ghosts.

Writer: Tom Vowler

Reader: Carl Prekopp

Producer: Beth O'Dea

A BBC Audio Bristol Production for BBC Radio 4.

An original short story for radio, written by Tom Vowler and read by Carl Prekopp. A son sits at his father's bedside and thinks of all the things that went unspoken between them.

An original short work for radio.

[LISTEN NOW]

Hattie Morahan reads Hannah Silva's short story.

Hannah Silva is a poet, playwright and performer. Her solo show Schlock! splices Fifty Shades of Grey with a novel by Kathy Acker, celebrating 'the slipperiness of words, reinventing them so that none of them are safe' (The Guardian). Silva has been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and has had three radio plays recognised in the Best Single Drama category at the BBC Audio Drama Awards.

Her debut sound poetry record 'Talk in a bit' was released in 2018. 'A Hint Of Heather' is her first short story for radio.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on March 2018.

Heather plans the colours for her new house with a perfectionist's eye.

Boys Grown Tall is an original short work for radio about fatherhood, raising daughters and playing the drums.

Matt Grinter is a writer and director working in both theatre and film. He was the winner of the Papatango Prize for new writing in 2016 for his debut play ORCA for which he was shortlisted for 'most promising new playwright' at the 'Off West End' awards. His play THE DOG AND THE ELEPHANT ran at the Bristol Old Vic Studio and Vault Fest, produced in conjunction with Ferment. Matt is currently one of the Open Session Writers on attachment at the Bristol Old Vic. His short films include TEA LEAVES, SMALL TALK, JESSIE and THE PARTY PHOTOGRAPHER. Matt is also the artistic director of Red Rope Theatre Company, which he formed in 2012 with actor-producer Rebecca Robson

Read by Stuart McLoughlin

Produced by Mair Bosworth.

An original short work for radio by the playwright and film-maker Matt Grinter.

Lesley Nneka Arimah is an award winning writer. She was the winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa in 2015 and has twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize. Her debut short story collection, What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, was published to acclaim in 2017.

The reader is Ony Uhiara.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard

A woman returns to Nigeria and cannot understand where her brother has got to.

A woman returns to Nigeria and really wants to see her younger brother. Read by Ony Uhiara.

In Lesley Nneka Arimah's specially commissioned short story something precious is lost.

[LISTEN NOW]

Writer: Celeste Ng is an acclaimed US writer. Her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, won multiple awards and was a New York Times bestseller, and Amazon's Number 1 Best Book of 2014. Her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere, has just been published.

Producer: Justine Willett

Reader: Laurel Lefkow.

By acclaimed US writer Celeste Ng. A woman questions her sister's romantic choices.

A young man confides in his grandmother about problems in his relationship. Unfortunately, she knows nothing at all about problems with robots.

Adam Marek is the award-winning writer of two short story collections - Instruction Manual For Swallowing and The Stone Thrower - which featured on Radio 4 Extra as The Stories Of Adam Marek in 2014. A specially-commissioned story, The Bullet Racers, was broadcast later that year on Radio 4 as part of the series Short Rides In Fast Machines. He was shortlisted for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. His story The 40-Litre Monkey was included in The Penguin Book Of The British Short Story in 2015.

Writer: Adam Marek

Reader: Lee Ingleby

By Adam Marek. A young man confides in his grandmother about his robot partner.

A short story commissioned for BBC Radio 4 by the acclaimed British author Chris Power.

Read by Lucy-Rose Leonard.

Chris Power's 'Brief Survey of the Short Story' has appeared in the Guardian since 2007.

Producer: Justine Willett

A young Australian woman in Cambodia fears she might be out of her depth.

Cassie Raven is a young mortuary attendant. She's used to having students shadowing her work - but there's something unusual about this one.

Anya Lipska's crime thrillers, set in East London, follow the adventures and investigations of Janusz Kiszka, tough guy and fixer to the Polish community, and sharp-elbowed young police detective Natalie Kershaw. The third novel in the series, A Devil Under the Skin, was published in June 2015. Anya is married to a Pole and lives in East London. Originally trained as a journalist, she now works as a TV producer. Her first story for radio, Another Kind Of Man, was part of the Angielski series in 2015.

Writer: Anya Lipska

Reader: Ellie Kendrick

By Anya Lipska. An unusual student shadows Cassie's work in the mortuary.

The novelist Joshua Ferris is best known for his acclaimed and award winning novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. His acutely observed debut short story collection The Dinner Party is published in June 2017.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

In Joshua Ferris's artful new story a novelist finds himself in a tough spot.

Kieran's whole life is card magic; showmanship, mathematics, slight-of-hand. Until a newcomer at the bar where he work disrupts the order of things, and his tricks take a turn for the worse.

Writer: Marietta Kirkbride

Reader: Oliver Bardell

Producer: Becky Ripley.

Cameron Raynes lives in Adelaide and teaches Aboriginal history at the University of South Australia. He is author of the short story collection The Colour of Kerosene and the novel First Person Shooter, which explores his personal experience of adolescent stuttering. Granny Flat is his first story for BBC radio.

Writer: Cameron Raynes

Reader: Richard Dillane

By Cameron Raynes. Dan's son is leaving, but might his dad take over the flat?

Dan is the stag at his own stag do. It's a surreal ordeal. He feels detached, anxious about the marriage but unable to speak about feelings to his fellow stags. He escapes to the roof of the bar and sees the people below in the streets of the city he loves. For the first time he notices them glow, leaving trails of light as they move. Perhaps he's found an answer to his doubts.

Producer Mary Ward-Lowery.

He escapes to the roof of the bar and sees the people below in the streets of the city he loves.

For the first time he notices them glow, leaving trails of light as they move. Perhaps he's found an answer to his doubts.

Written and performed by World Slam Poetry Champion Harry Baker.

Producer Mary Ward-Lowery.

Dan is at his own stag do but feels anxious about the marriage.

Dan is at his own stag do but feels anxious about the marriage. Written and performed by World Slam Poetry Champion Harry Baker.

[LISTEN NOW]

Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer and slam poetry champion of Afro-Caribbean descent. She is the author of the poetry collections Gil Scott Heron is on Parole and Nothing Here Needs Fixing. Her award winning debut short story collection, Foreign Soil was published in 2014, and The Hate Race, her powerful memoir about growing up black in white middle-class Australia was published in 2017.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

Maxine Beneba Clarke's specially written short story about the fallout from a hurricane.

Lianne should've known it was too good to be true.

A short story for radio by Laurie Penny.

Laurie is an award-winning journalist, writer, activist, internet nanocelebrity and author of six books, including Unspeakable Things and Everything Belongs To The Future. Laurie writes essays, columns and gonzo journalism about politics, social justice, pop culture, feminism, technology, mental health and a splash of sci-fi.

Producer: Becky Ripley

The things you'll do for a flat in Zone 2. A short story for radio by Laurie Penny.

Awarded the Hennessy Literary 'Hall of Fame' Award for his body of work, the New York Times number 1 Bestselling author has multiple Irish Book Awards including Children's Book of the Year, People's Choice Book of the Year and Short Story of the Year. He has also been awarded a number of international literary awards, including the Que Leer Award for Novel of the Year in Spain and the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize in Germany.

Writer - John Boyne

Reader - Peter McDonald

Producer - Michael Shannon.

A young man working in a London hotel struggles with an elderly co-worker called Nollaig.

Written and read by Eley Williams.

Sarah Perry - author of The Essex Serpent - says Eley's writing is:

'elegantly droll without the kind of hipster quirkiness that makes me want to hurl books at the wall.'

Producer: Becky Ripley

A continuity announcer veers drastically off course while reading The Shipping Forecast.

Susmita Bhattacharya was born in Mumbai and sailed the world on oil tankers before settling down in the UK. She is an associate lecturer at Winchester University and leads the SO:Write Young Writers' workshops in Southampton. Her first story for radio, The Summer Of Learning, was broadcast in 2015. Her debut novel, The Normal State of Mind, was published the same year. Her short stories and poems have been widely published in the UK and internationally. She lives in Winchester with her family and cat named after a Bollywood star.

Reader: Susmita Bhattacharya

By Susmita Bhattacharya. The author's life after breast cancer and chemotherapy.

Now here's the thing: I lose as well.. Just a bit.. Let me explain..' - and so the narrator does, which involves a neat new system, a betting shop heist, and moral retribution of sorts..

Reader Daniel Mays

Producer Duncan Minshull.

But Jim was different. He didn't take it seriously.

Isy Suttie reads a short story for radio by Anthony Adeane.

Anthony Adeane is a journalist and writer. His first book, Out of Thin Air, came out in March 2018.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Becky Ripley.

Alexa met Jim online. Jim didn't take it seriously. A short story by Anthony Adeane.

Producer - Michael Shannon.

An elderly veteran makes an unexpected request of his son: a trip to the seaside.

Tessa Hadley is the author of six novels, and three short story collections, the most recent is the critically acclaimed Bad Dreams and Other Stories.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

There is food for thought on the menu in Tessa Hadley's specially commissioned short story

It's 1974 and Alison is studying for her A Levels. To make a bit of money she cooks for friends of her mother when they have dinner parties.

This is how she meets Mia who is glamorous and beautiful - just the sort of woman Alison thinks she'd like to become.

But it isn't long before she discovers that Mia's life is really quite superficial and that beneath the façade lurks unhappiness.

Reader: Kate O'Flynn

Producer: Elizabeth Allard

In the 1970s, Alison meets Mia - a glamorous and beautiful woman. But is she happy?

A 1970s dinner party leads Alison to reflect on the truths obscured by glamour and privilege. Read by Kate O'Flynn.

[LISTEN NOW]

For most of the twentieth century, Eric Gill was known for his sculptures and drawings, printmaking and the iconic typeface that bears his name. But in 1989, Fiona MacCarthy's acclaimed biography of the artist - which included extensive research into Gill's private journals - revealed another side, including an incestuous relationship with his sister and the sexual abuse of two of his three daughters.

Since then, it has been difficult for many to approach his art in its previous light.

The Ditchling Museum Of Art And Craft mounted a major retrospective, Eric Gill: The Body, which ran from April to September 2017. This short story by Alison MacLeod, emerged from her time as one of the writers-in-residence for the exhibition. The voices sequence in the story is inspired by visitors' responses to the exhibition.

A work of creative non-fiction, Portrait: Eric Gill Dreaming imagines Gill in his house in Ditchling, asleep and dreaming about his work and life, and wondering whether or not they go together.

Which brings us back to the original question - the artist, or the man?

Alison MacLeod lives in Brighton. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2011 and her stories, including the series Imagining Chekhov, have featured previously on Radio 4. Her novel Unexploded was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and was broadcast as a Book At Bedtime. Her latest collection of stories, All The Beloved Ghosts, was published in 2017. Alison is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester.

Writer: Alison MacLeod

Reader: Indira Varma

By Alison MacLeod. The artist Eric Gill dreams about his work and life.

Jess Kidd was brought up in London as part of a large family from Mayo. Her debut novel 'Himself' was published in last year to rave reviews and she was recently awarded The 2016 Costa Short Story Award.

Writer - Jess Kidd

Reader - Tadhg Murphy

Producer - Michael Shannon.

The story of a monastery on a tiny island in the Atlantic and the holy relic found there.

While painting sunflowers on the coffin she has pre-emptively bought, Edna's friend Pearl makes a throwaway comment that leads Edna to reflect on a past holiday and the essential unknowability of other people.

Carys Bray was awarded the Scott Prize for her debut short-story collection, Sweet Home. Her first novel, A Song for Issy Bradley, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and winner of the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award 2015. She lives in Southport with her husband and four children.

Writer: Carys Bray

Reader: Susan Jameson

By Carys Bray. Edna reflects on the unknowability of other people.

Reader: Simon Donaldson

Writer: Emma Flint

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

Short story by Emma Flint, author of acclaimed debut novel Little Deaths.

But the road to fame is never simple...

Indira Varma reads the story commissioned by the BBC from acclaimed writer Lionel Shriver.

Lionel is an American author, best known for her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.

Producer: Justine Willett

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2018.

Two fame-hungry young film-makers try make it in London.

Two fame-hungry young film-makers try make it in London. But the road to fame is never simple. Read by Indira Varma.

[LISTEN NOW]

The Beautiful Girl is an original short work for radio by Sophie Townsend, a radio producer, writer and storyteller. Sophie is part of ABC Radio's Creative Audio Unit and has produced work for the BBC and the CBC. She lives in Sydney with her gorgeous daughters and beloved dog, Charlie.

Producer: Mair Bosworth.

An original short work for radio by Australian writer Sophie Townsend.

As a teenager, Sophie Townsend was swotty and awkward, bookish and unsophisticated. She used to watch the pretty, popular girls across the playground as if they were creatures from another planet.

Now a mother herself, she is mystified by her 14-year-old daughter, who is more interested in make-up than books, and who struggles with her grades at school. She is one of the pretty ones. Perhaps too pretty for her own good.

The Beautiful Girl is an original short work for radio by Sophie Townsend, a radio producer, writer and storyteller. Sophie is part of ABC Radio's Creative Audio Unit and has produced work for the BBC and the CBC.

Producer: Mair Bosworth.

As a teenager, Sophie was bookish, keen, but her daughter is more interested in make-up.

As a teenager, Sophie was bookish and keen, but her daughter is more interested in make-up. Written and read by Sophie Townsend.

[LISTEN NOW]

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri has won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for her debut short story collection, The Interpreter of Maladies and the Frank O'Connor Award for her collection Unaccustomed Earth. She has recently been awarded the 29th PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short story

Reader: Deeivya Meir

Abridged and produced by Justine Willett.

A short story for Radio 4 by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri.

Sarah Hall is a highly acclaimed and award-winning British novelist, whose works include: Haweswater (which won the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel, a Society of Authors Betty Trask Award), The Electric Michelangelo (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize) and Wolf Border (winner of the James Tait Memorial Prize). Her short story, Mrs Fox won the BBC National Shorts Story Award in 2014.

Produced by Justine Willett.

Read by Jamie Parker: an acclaimed British actor, who came to prominence as part of the original cast of Alan Bennett's The History Boys. He recently won a Best Actor Olivier Award for his role as Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Jamie Parker reads Sarah Hall's story set in a rural town in America's Northwest.

Agnieszka Dale is a Polish-born London-based author. Her stories Fox Season and A Happy Nation appeared on Radio 4 in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Her first collection, Fox Season and Other Short Stories, was published in October 2017.

Writer: Agnieszka Dale

Reader: Daniela Denby-Ashe

By Agnieszka Dale. Things come to a head over dinner with Annie's in-laws.

The Killers Come at Dusk' follows an Irish couple living in Lilongwe who, fearing that their child has contracted malaria, must confront every parent's nightmare as well as their own privilege.

Irish writer Eoin O'Connor has spent a number of years living in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2016 he was awarded the Imison Award for Best Radio Drama Script by a New Writer for his drama '30 Eggs'.

Reader - Jonathan Forbes

Producer - Michael Shannon.

A couple anxiously await the test results that will confirm if their child has malaria.

Joseph O'Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of eight novels as well as two collections of short stories and a number of bestselling works of non-fiction. He has received numerous awards including the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature.

Writer - Joseph O'Connor

Reader - David Wilmot

Producer - Michael Shannon.

On Christmas Eve, a beleaguered father searches for a present for his teenage son.

But when an older woman, Verity, starts using the same spot, the pair strike up a bitter territorial battle.

Bryony Hannah reads Julie Mayhew's short story.

Julie is the author of four novels - Red Ink, The Big Lie, Mother Tongue and The Electrical Venus. She's also a writer for Radio 4 including Polygamy For Girls, part of the feminist season, Riot Girls.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on March 2018.

When Annie skives off school, she hides in the cathedral.

Ben Norris is a poet, playwright and actor, originally from Nottingham. This is his Radio 4 debut.

Ben was the UK All-Star Poetry Slam Champion 2013 and has since performed his spoken-word across the country, from Latitude Festival to the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. His first poetry pamphlet was published in 2014 and his debut solo show, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Family', won the 2015 IdeasTap Underbelly Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before touring the UK extensively in autumn 2016, finishing with a sell-out run at Southbank Centre. He hosts 'Cadence,' a monthly poetry and music night in East London, and in March 2016 he launched PAW - his attempt to record and publish a Poem A Week on Youtube for a year. His debut short film was produced by Channel 4, for which Ben was nominated for Best New Talent at the 2016 Royal Television Society Awards.

As an actor he has performed with the National Theatre, Frantic Assembly, Birmingham Rep, Nottingham Playhouse, RSC, and National Theatre Wales, and his writing for the stage has been performed at Theatr Clwyd, Leicester Curve, Theatre 503 and the Royal Court. He trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, before which he studied English with Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham.

Produced by Mair Bosworth.

An original short work for radio by writer and performer Ben Norris.

Read by Paul Young

Written by Linda Cracknell

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

Story by Linda Cracknell. A retired cyclist helps a friend's son deal with a sad loss.

He decides to solve the problem by setting off on a journey...

Joe Sims reads Alex Preston's short story.

Alex is an author and journalist and teaches creative writing at the University of Kent. His novel, In Love and War, was on BBC Radio 4. His personal anthology of nature writing, As Kingfishers Catch Fire, was published in 2017. Alex lives in Kent with his wife and two children.

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2018.

A man goes on a journey in search of birdsong.

Since quitting his job as The Guardian newspaper's Rock Critic in 2000,Tom Cox has written eight books, including the Sunday Times top ten bestseller The Good, The Bad And The Furry, and the follow-up Close Encounters Of The Furred Kind. He is also the creator of the much-loved @mysadcat and @myswearycat Twitter accounts. His new nature book, 21st Century Yokel, will be published in autumn by Unbound.

Written & Performed by Tom Cox

Produced by Mair Bosworth.

An original short work for radio by Tom Cox, author of The Good, the Bad and the Furry.

Writer - Eva O'Connor

Reader - Eva O'Connor

Producer - Michael Shannon.

A story of twin sisters and midnight feasts from Irish writer-performer Eva O'Connor.

Federica Lugaresi is from Cesena, Italy, and now lives in London. In 2016 she graduated from Birkbeck with an honours degree in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in The Mechanics' Institute Review Online, and has been shortlisted for the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize and the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. The New World is her first story for radio.

Writer: Federica Lugaresi

Reader: Jonathan Coy

By Federica Lugaresi. Events make Gustav remember the Prague of his youth.

When a mother becomes separated from her children during a hike, the police begin the search for the missing children. However the outpouring of support on social media soon turns ugly when contradictions in the statements given to police come to light.

Emma Donoghue is an Irish-Canadian playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Her novels include 'The Wonder', 'Frog Music' and the best-seller 'Room' which was also a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.

Writer - Emma Donoghue

Producer - Michael Shannon.

A distraught mother makes a statement to the police after her children go missing.

When a mother becomes separated from her children during a hike, the police begin the search for the missing children.

However the outpouring of support on social media soon turns ugly when contradictions in the statements given to police come to light.

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from Emma Donoghue - the bestselling writer of 'Room', and its Academy Award nominated screen-adaptation.

Read by:

Christy Meyer

Isabella Mattera

Antonio Mattera

Georgie Glen

Philip Bretherton

Luke Bailey

Ryan Whittle

Emma is an Irish-Canadian playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Her novels include 'The Wonder', 'Frog Music' and the best-seller 'Room' which was also a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A distraught mother makes a statement to the police after her children go missing.

When a mother becomes separated from her family during a hike, the police begin the search for the missing children.

[LISTEN NOW]

Reader - Dermot Crowley

Writer - Niall Williams

Producer - Michael Shannon.

Once, the road to true love ran through the townland of Faha in the west of Ireland.

Julianne Pachico is a British-American writer who grew up in Cali, Colombia. Her debut collection, Lucky, was published to critical acclaim early in 2017. Each of the linked stories is set in Colombia between 1993 and 2013 which were especially violent years during the country's long conflict. The stories capture the harsh reality of growing up in a place where the guerrilla insurgency is never far from view, and at the same time they have a lyrical and hallucinatory quality to them that is both compelling and unsettling.

The producer is Elizabeth Allard.

In Julianne Pachico's short story, a Colombian summer's evening takes an unexpected turn.

Julianne Pachico's story is set in Medellin, the city renowned for the notorious drug cartel of the same name. A Canadian woman is invited to dinner at a Colombian doctor's family home. Events unfold awkwardly across the evening and it won't be long before a series of secrets and lies will be exposed shattering the lives of all.

Julianne Pachico is a British-American writer who grew up in Cali, Colombia. Her debut collection, Lucky, was published to critical acclaim early in 2017. Each of the linked stories is set in Colombia between 1993 and 2013 which were especially violent years during the country's long conflict. The stories capture the harsh reality of growing up in a place where the guerrilla insurgency is never far from view, and at the same time they have a lyrical and hallucinatory quality to them that is both compelling and unsettling.

Read by Joseph Balderrama

Producer Elizabeth Allard

A Colombian summer's evening takes an unexpected turn.

A Colombian summer's evening takes an unexpected turn. Read by Joseph Balderrama.

[LISTEN NOW]

Dermot Bolger is one of Ireland's most prolific writers. His radio plays for BBC Radio 4 include 'The Night Manager' and 'The Fortunestown Kid'. The audio version of his novel 'The Woman's Daughter' has been broadcast in seven countries and won the Worldplay Award for best script.

Reader - Ruth McCabe

Writer - Dermot Bolger

Producer - Michael Shannon.

A year after her husband's death, Evelyn learns a stranger has been posing as his widow.

Anthony Anaxagorou is an award-winning poet, short story writer, publisher and poetry educator. He has published several volumes of poems and essays, a spoken word EP and a collection of short stories whilst having also written for theatre. He was a judge for the 2016 BBC Young Writers Award and is currently the poet in residence at several London schools where he teaches poetry and creative writing. He founded Out-Spoken Live in 2012 and Out-Spoken Press in 2013.

Produced by Mair Bosworth

Written and performed by Anthony Anaxagorou

Music - Tareek 3treet by Yousef Kekhia & Bisher Hafez.

An original short work for radio by Anthony Anaxagorou.

Bee spends her evening driving back and forth and round the same roundabout, dropping off and picking up various family members, only to find her own thoughts inevitably circling back to an unspoken secret.

Danny Denton is a writer from Cork, Ireland. He has published fiction and non-fiction in various journals and publications including The Irish Times, Irish Examiner and The Stinging Fly. His first novel 'The Earlie King and the Kid in Yellow' was published in 2018.

Reader: Hilary Rose

Producer: Natalie Steed for BBC NI.

Three trips in her car offer Bee three chances to unburden herself. By Danny Denton.

Northern Soul and a crumbling modernist ruin come together in a story of missed chances and lasting love.

Written by Zoe Strachan

Read by Ann Louise Ross

Music: 'Long After Tonight Is All Over' performed by Jimmy Radcliffe

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.

Short story by Zoe Strachan, inspired by a piece of music. Read by Ann Louise Ross.

Jane Brennan reads acclaimed Irish writer David Hayden's story.

David Hayden's writing has appeared in gorse, The Yellow Nib, The Moth, The Stinging Fly, Spolia and The Warwick Review, and poetry in PN Review. His debut short story collection 'Darker With The Lights On' was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2018.

Producer: Michael Shannon

A dreamlike meditation on life and ageing from Irish author David Hayden.

Ian Sansom is the author of several books, including the popular Mobile Library Mystery Series. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 as well as a frequent contributor and critic for, among others, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The London Review of Books and The Spectator.

Writer - Ian Sansom

Reader - Ian Sansom

Producer - Michael Shannon.

A story of cluttered gardens, rotting memories and the many possible uses of a brick.