Story Radio Podcast

In this episode of Story Radio, Tabitha is joined by Miki Lentin, whose new novel Bird in Space is published on 2 February 2027 by Afsana Press. The book follows Jerry, a man in his late forties, who is sent by his mother on what seems an impossible quest: to travel through Romania and Ukraine and save a carved wooden house built by his grandfather before the Second World War.
Miki talks about the family stories and 1980s photographs that sparked the book, why Jerry is the age he is, and how he wove surreal and uncanny moments into a realist novel.
He also discusses the two women closest to Jerry, the friends he makes along the way, the symbolism of painted eggs, the influence of the Romanian New Wave, what happens to the memories held in the houses we leave, and why the novel begins and ends with Brancusi’s sculptures.
He finishes with a look at his next project, then reads from chapters 1, 5 and 18.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:11 About the novel
02:19 Writing inspiration
04:19 Jerry’s midlife crisis
06:20 Surreal elements
09:40 The women in Jerry’s life
12:12 Friends in Romania
14:52 Symbolism
17:32 Romanian New Wave cinema
20:31 Houses and heritage
23:09 Brancusi’s sculptures
25:42 Next project
26:28 Reading: Chapter 1
28:39 Reading: Chapter 5
32:31 Reading: Chapter 18
34:44 Closing

About Miki Lentin
Miki Lentin took up writing while travelling the world with his family. His first novel, Winter Sun, was published in 2024. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London, and has been placed in the Fish Publishing Short Memoir Prize and the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Award. He also volunteers with Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life programme, supporting refugees and asylum seekers with their creative work.
Book details
Bird in Space by Miki Lentin will be published 2 February 2027 by Afsana Press.
Credits
The producer was Tabitha Potts
Tabitha Potts is a podcaster, short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel was published by Rowan Prose Publishing in June 2026.
About Story Radio
Story Radio is the podcast for readers, writers and lovers of literature everywhere. Find out more at storyradio.org. Story Radio is taking a break for Christmas and will return in the New Year.
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
Support Story Radio Podcast

In this Halloween-themed episode, Story Radio talks to author S.A. Sizemore about her debut horror novel, Whispers of the Pale Witch, the first instalment in the Beckett Coven trilogy, published by Rowan Prose Publishing.
Partially inspired by Sizemore's own ancestral connection to the Salem witch trials, the novel is released on 29 September 2026 and has already won several awards, including American Fiction Awards Winner for Best Occult/Horror Novel and Finalist for Best LGBTQ Novel.
S.A. Sizemore was drawn to the stage from an early age and began writing professionally while studying theatre arts in college. After producing several plays regionally in Southern California, she pivoted to the themed entertainment industry before turning to fiction. You can find her at her author website, beckettcoven.com.
This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.
Tabitha Potts is a podcaster, short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel was published by Rowan Prose Publishing in June 2026.
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Visit our our website Storyradio.org

Tabitha Potts interviews Beulah Van Rensburg, who helps run the writers' and artists' residency at the Chateau d'Orquevaux, about its history and aims. We then hear a selection of poets' and writers' works-in-progress.
Alison Clarke is a poet, historical fiction and fantasy author, and visual artist. She is the author of M: The Mystical Odyssey of Harriet E. Wilson and Phillis: A Poetry Collection (University of Calgary Press, 2020), a #1 Amazon bestseller, as well as the award-winning YA fantasy series The Sisterhood, for which she won Diversity Magazine's 2016 Writer of the Year. She received the 2020 Fil Fraser award for her contributions to literary and visual art, and was a panellist at Seattle Worldcon 2025. Alison believes that stories can change the world.
Buy M: The Mystical Odyssey of Harriet E. Wilson:
UK: amzn.eu/d/f1sUgPn
USA: a.co/d/6NqDbom
Canada: a.co/d/1i8bo2f
Eli Schaub: Eli is a fourth year creative writing major at the University of South Dakota, yet has been writing since his sophomore year of high school. He has written poems, plays, and short stories over the years. His goal when he graduates is to become a fantasy author, although he also loves writing stories in different genres and modes.
Sophia Bea: @sophiabea.dot on Instagram
Karin Hadadan is a three-times author, filmmaker, speaker and teacher, and the author of When Nothing Makes Sense: Finding God in the Gap Between Prayer & Answer. She also runs the PORTAL app and a Substack newsletter. Follow her at @icietnu on Instagram.
Michelle Lizet Flores is the author of the chapbook Cuentos from the Swamp, alongside the titled works Invasive Species, Places We Build in the Universe and Carlito the Bat. Follow her at @shellyflowers on Instagram.
Anna Maria Manalo is a recipient of the Denis Diderot award as a literary artist in residence at the Chateau d'Orquevaux, and holds a residency at Studio Faire for autumn 2027. She is the first Filipina-American author writing in the supernatural historical suspense genre, and the first to bring a creative nonfiction approach to it. A former screenwriter and therapist, her screenplays Under Tango Road, The Tulpa Effect and Uncharted Darkness have placed as quarterfinalists and top-ten finishers in competitions. Drawing on true accounts of the paranormal gathered across 27 countries, she is the Amazon bestselling author of Haunted Heirlooms and Unholy Structure. She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Follow Anna Maria at annamariamanaloauthor.com or @TheSinisterArchives on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Substack. To contribute a true encounter to her blog, email cinescriber@gmail.com.
Tabitha Potts is the host of Story Radio and the author of the gothic novel The House of Dust and Shadows (Rowan Prose Publishing), as well as the short story collection A Book of Short Stories (Wish Hounds Press). She holds a creative writing MA from Birkbeck and attended a residency at the Chateau d'Orquevaux, where she began work on her second novel, The Devil's Picture Book, a historical novel set in 1980s Oxford. In this episode, she reads from her work in progress.

This month on Story Radio, Tabitha Potts and Martin Nathan talk to Marc S. Perlman about his debut novel, The Riddle of the Trees, published by Koehler Books on 10th March 2026.
The novel opens with two journeys that will soon collide. In Belarus, a physicist is murdered by a KGB agent; in America, Jack Miller boards a flight to Eastern Europe hoping to understand the rift that has divided his Holocaust-surviving father and grandfather for decades. Before too long, their stories intersect in a tense international conflict focused on the Polish and Belarusian borders which meet in the Belavezskaya Forest. It's a fast-paced espionage novel with a fascinating backdrop.
We talk to Marc about how he was inspired to write the novel while cycling through the Belavezskaya Forest from Poland into Belarus, about how he worked on the motivations for his main character and how he researched the spycraft used in the story.
Marc S. Perlman lives with his wife and son in New York City, where he works as a lawyer and does much of his writing after his son finally agrees to go to bed. A graduate of Bowdoin College and Cardozo Law School, he has a lifelong interest in history and has travelled extensively throughout Eastern Europe. The Riddle of the Trees is his first novel.
Produced by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel, A Place of Safety, is published by Salt Publishing.
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
Support Story Radio Podcast

In this episode, 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.

Donate
We are a volunteer-led organisation and appreciate any donations towards our running costs.
Buy us a coffee
Become a patreon
Contact us
Visit our our website Storyradio.org
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.