Story Radio Podcast

In this episode, Martin Nathan and Tabitha Potts speak to Darren Coffield, artist, author and host at the Colony Room Green, about his book Hen, Mistress of Mayhem: A Portrait of Henrietta Moraes. We learn about Moraes' appalling childhood, her work as a writer, her life in Bohemian Soho, her friends, lovers and husbands and what it was like to be a muse and model for Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling.
This episode was produced by Martin Nathan.Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.

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Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.

Tabitha Potts is interviewed by Martin Nathan about her debut novel, The House of Dust and Shadows, published by Rowan Prose Publishing on June 16th 2026.
The House of Dust and Shadows is a Gothic mystery novel about the death of a famous painter and how it affects his three daughters when he disinherits all three of them in favour of someone else. We discuss ghosts, art and monstrous fathers in our first ever video interview.
The House of Dust and Shadows is available for pre-order and is being published by Rowan Prose Publishing on June 16th, 2026.
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.

In Wolf.Normal., a divorced mother impulsively decides to go on a challenging wilderness hike with a group of strangers. Over a day's hiking and a night sleeping in a remote cabin, she finds a strength and power within herself that she never realised existed before.
Wolf. Normal was written and read by Lynne Curry. The producer was Tabitha Potts.
The short story was first published in Literally Stories on March 27, 2026.
Alaska/Washington author Lynne Curry—nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology, the 2024 Pushcart Prize and Best Microfiction—founded “Real-life Writing,” https://bit.ly/45lNbVo and publishes a monthly “Writing from the Cabin” blog, https://bit.ly/3tazJpW and a weekly “dear Abby of the workplace” newspaper column. Curry has published twenty-six short stories; seven poems; two articles on writing craft, and six books.
Sound:
Wolves - Yellowstone National Park by Nivatius -- https://freesound.org/s/519592/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Photo of wolf courtesy of Scott Liddell at Morguefile.com
It has come to our attention that individuals posing as Story Radio have been approaching writers asking for payment to be on the show. We never ask writers to pay to submit to us; you can visit our Submissions page and send us a story for free or contact us via email to offer us an author interview. If you want to support us, we do have a Patreon and other ways to donate on our website (below).
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Ava Glass: The Hiding Season
This week on Story Radio, Tabitha Potts and Martin Nathan talk to Ava Glass (shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger and dubbed "the new Queen of spy fiction" by The Guardian) about her compelling new novel, The Hiding Season, published by Penguin on 26th March 2026.
The Hiding Season marks a bold departure from Ava's acclaimed Emma Makepeace series. Where those novels followed a trained British intelligence officer, this book places an entirely ordinary woman — Maya Landry, recently escaped from a broken marriage and working at a remote Montana ski resort — at the centre of a deadly conspiracy. When Maya witnesses a murder and finds herself with no one to believe her, she is forced to abandon her identity, her home, and everything she knows in order to survive.
In this conversation, we find out what drew Ava to write a different kind of spy story, told in the first person, set firmly on American soil, and focused on the collateral damage an intelligence operation can inflict on those who stumble, unwittingly, into its path. We learn about the craft decisions behind The Hiding Season: the novel's distinctive time structure, which resists a straightforward linear narrative; the challenge of writing a resourceful but untrained protagonist; and the atmospheric weight that the landscapes of Montana, Texas, and Chicago bring to the story.
We also talk about what it means to reinvent yourself — a theme that resonates far beyond the world of espionage — and about the two figures at the novel's heart: Maya, who must outwit her pursuers on instinct alone, and Riley Maguire, the FBI agent whose motives she cannot quite bring herself to trust.
Drawing on her years working alongside British intelligence and her earlier career as a crime reporter in America, Ava Glass brings a rare depth of knowledge to The Hiding Season, her most personal novel yet.
Produced by Martin Nathan.Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.

Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
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In this episode of Story Radio, we are delighted to welcome Lottie Moggach to discuss her gripping new novel, Mrs Pearcey (published by Phoenix Books on 5th February 2026).
Inspired by the true crime that scandalised 1890s London, the novel follows Hannah Teale, a bright young woman whose life becomes entwined with the trial of Mary Pearcey - a woman accused of a brutal double murder in Camden Town. When Mary's fiance Cosmo, a journalist, is undercover in an asylum, Hannah decides to try to help him by investigating the case and writing about it herself.
We discuss researching historical novels and learn about Moggach's fascinating connection to the real life Mrs Pearcey, how Fleet Street journalism evolved, how close Hannah is to being a Victorian 'New Woman' and the reasons for our cultural obsession with true crime.
I inhaled Mrs Pearcey. What an incredible book. Gripping and creepy and compulsive, yet deeply touching . . . brilliant - Sabine Durrant
About Lottie Moggach
Lottie Moggach is the acclaimed author of Kiss Me First, Under the Sun, and Brixton Hill. She lives in North London with her husband, son and dog.
This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts. Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.

Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.