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

Our first reading is 'Members of Dead Libraries' written by Declan Geraghty. He is a working class writer and poet from Dublin. He’s had poetry published in Shanghai Poetry Lab, Epoque Press, Militant Thistles, Cry of the Poor and the Brown Envelope Book. His latest short story featured in Lumpen London issue 11. He has won a mentorship with Words Ireland, and their national mentoring program for new writers. He's recently won a scholarship place with The Stinging Fly Play It Forward Programme, and been awarded a mentorship with Skylight 47. The story is read by Simon Roberts.

Our next reading 'All Saints' is by Lindsay Gillespie. Lindsay was born in South Wales, and lives in the South Downs. In between she has been a graphic designer and illustrator, lived in New Delhi, Washington DC, France and taught English in Tokyo. In 2018-2019, she was enrolled in the Creative Writing Programme of New Writing South. She writes short and not-so-short stories and was a Costa 2021 Short Story Award finalist. A year later, she was a finalist for the Bridport Short Story Prize. Other short stories have been shortlisted in nine competitions in recent years including Fiction Factory, Exeter, Oxford Flash Fiction, Fiction Factory Flash, Rhys Davies, Frome, ChipLit, Edinburgh and Fish.

Martin Nathan reads his short story, 'D is for Dentist'. Martin’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.

Simon Roberts, based in West London, performs his short story 'Does the world need any more novels?' alongside Jananne Rahman. Simon Roberts writes short stories and flash fiction. His story Dirty Chicken & Rice was a 2024 Plaza Prizes finalist, and his adaptation of The Slaves of Solitude was produced by Questors Theatre in 2024. He was a finalist in this year's Fish Flash Fiction Prize.

‘The Library’ written and read by Martha Stutchbury explores the transformation / decline of a university library, through the eyes of a librarian working on the special collections floor. Martha Stutchbury is an events producer living and working in London. She studies creative writing part-time at Birkbeck University, and has worked as a researcher on creative non-fiction projects including Kate Summerscale’s ‘The Book of Phobias and Manias’, commissioned by the Wellcome Foundation.

Finally, founder and co-host of the Story Radio Podcast, Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, and has been published in various literary magazines and anthologies. She received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize for her story Poppet and is publishing her debut novel in 2026 with Rowan Prose Publishing. She reads from her original short story 'The Hum'.

The photograph used as the podcast cover for this episode was taken by Tabitha Potts and shows the Library at Charleston House.

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

The first major exhibition on mudlarking, it explores fascinating finds from the Thames foreshore, an internationally important archaeological site, and the role of mudlarks in uncovering thousands of years of human history. Historically a trade of the Victorian poor, in recent years mudlarking has grown to be a popular hobby for history lovers, with licensed mudlarks uncovering many significant new finds from the Thames.

We spoke to artist Amy-Leigh Bird about her work, inspired by everyday items she finds along the foreshore, Tom Ardill, Curator (Paintings, Prints and Drawings), who told us more about the artworks that were commissioned for the exhibition, and mudlark Tim Miller, Chairman of the Society of Thames Mudlarks.

There is one swear-word in this episode. The mudlarking world has its controversies!

The episode ends with an exclusive reading by Martin Nathan from his novel, The Pain Clinic, which has a scene set by the Thames.

The photograph used to illustrate this podcast is © Alessio Checconi /London Museum. It shows the neck from a stoneware bottle with a bearded face known as a Bartmann bottle 1500s – 1600s. The bearded face decorating the neck lies half-buried on the foreshore.

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

Kristin Burniston is a graduate of the MA Screenwriting program at the University of Arts London. In 2023, her short film scripts TREE and HAIRY MARY were selected by the City of Angels Film Festival, WOFFF (where HAIRY MARY placed 2nd), and Best-Script, London.

Recently, Kristin‘s script EGGS was made into a short film and will soon be released on to the festival circuit. Currently, Kristin is working on a London-based children’s animation, a crime fiction TV series, and a feature film script based on her menopausal rite-of-passage novel.

Lindsay Gillespie was born in South Wales, and lives in the South Downs. In between she has been a graphic designer and illustrator, lived in New Delhi, Washington DC, France and taught English in Tokyo. In 2018-2019, she was enrolled in the Creative Writing Programme of New Writing South. She writes short and not-so-short stories and was a Costa 2021 Short Story Award finalist. A year later, she was a finalist for the Bridport Short Story Prize. Other short stories have been shortlisted in nine competitions in recent years including Fiction Factory, Exeter, Oxford Flash Fiction, Fiction Factory Flash, Rhys Davies, Frome, ChipLit, Edinburgh and Fish.

Miki Lentin completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck and was a finalist for the 2020 Irish Novel Fair with Winter Sun. His short stories have been published in Litro and Story Radio. He released his short story collection Inner Core in 2022, and his debut novel Winter Sun was published by Afsana Press.

Lana Citron is a prize-winning author and scriptwriter with twenty years’ professional writing experience. She has published five novels, two non-fiction books and numerous short stories, plays, poems, film scripts, articles and book. Extracts read today are from her book Edible Pleasures, a Textbook of Aphrodisiacs.

Martin Nathan‘s short fiction and poetry have appeared in various journals. His novel A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke Award and the Woodward International Prize. Martin will be reading from a new short story.

Founder and co-host of the Story Radio Podcast, Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist. She received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize for her story ‘Poppet’ and is publishing her debut novel The House of Dust and Shadows in 2026 with Rowan Prose Publishing.

The podcast is recorded live in the Colony Room Green bar.