The Hatch Podcast

Hive poet Anzal Omar interviews Forward Prize shortlisted poet Juana Adcock (collection: I Sugar the Bones) at the Young Poets Summit 2025. Thanks to Lucy Macnab and Tolu Agbelusi.

Sheffield Hallan University Creative Writing student, Lauren Wright, recently interviewed multi-award-winning young adult fiction writer Paula Rawsthorne about all things fiction. Paula chatted with Lauren about everything from how she found her way into becoming a writer, and what it's been like working with publishers, to how she develops her ideas and what advice she has for young writers starting out.

My Name is Adebiyi by Najma Ahmed

Read by Kenneth Omole

The following monologue started life in a workshop working with actor and writer John Rwoth-Omack

"The truth is, even when they aren't driving their trucks up, snooping around my stall laughing, just the thought of them chokes me. I hate seeing them and feeling powerless, standing with my head down so I don't catch their eye. It's why I'm here."

 

 

 

Morgan Westwood-Cook takes us on a gorgeous poetic journey through the beauty of a city waking from lockdown. As it stretches out of its quiet corners, it realises it is somewhat changed – but are its people? Division Street by Morgan Westwood Cooke

When the before people spoke about the city centre being a ghost town, they had no idea how accurate they were….
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Things must be bad when even York’s ghosts are noticing! Rebecca Payne explores the relationships and the brilliantly comic dynamics of the dead who are struggling to live without the living… Ghost Town by Rebecca Payne

A poetic dance through York: located around Merchantgate bus stop on three different dates showing us three very different faces. We’ve all been changed, in some ways, by lockdown – Cristina Rizzo magnificently shows us we’re not the only ones to take our masks off and find ourselves… different. Merchantgate Bus Stop by Cristina Rizzo

Let us take you by the hand and walk you through a York trying to wake up and find its feet. Delighting in the small details that show us so much, this York finds itself something different, something… new. Inner Pieces by Eve Naden

Ever wondered just who that person you see every day is? Why they take that particular train or… sat on that particular bench through lockdown? Eliana Grundy dives into discovering who one of these strangers is, showing us that really, none of us are ever quite as alone as we think. Bench Guy by Eliana Grundy

A rip-roaring yarn from Yarm, where an intrepid Victorian explorer falls into a curious time-slip – finding himself in a future he could never imagine. Where have all the people gone? And why all the masks…? The Time Travel Log by Lucy-Jo Finnighan

 

A stunning piece of realism, examining the effects of lockdown on family – each generation with their own sets of problems. The Silent Disease by Ilona Galloway-Dutton