A festive celebration of Northern voices and winter storytelling, by Northern Broadsides and Arvon
Northern Broadsides is thrilled to release this year’s festive podcast, Winter Tales, celebrating new short stories inspired by the season. Partnering with Arvon, the renowned creative writing organisation, the Yorkshire-based theatre company invited writers from across the North of England to submit their ‘winter’s tale’ as part of a short story competition.
The winning story, City Winter by Ellen McKeag, is now available as a professionally recorded podcast, read by Northern actor Neil Grainger. Two runners-up, Nutkin by Denise Eaton and The Sentinel by Gill Petrucci, are also showcased on Northern Broadsides’ website for readers to enjoy.
Ellen, a creative writing student at Leeds Arts University, shared her inspiration:
“I entered the competition primarily because I wanted to try my hand at a different sort of story. Thinking about a ‘winter’s tale’, I came up with an idea that was reflective of the winter I was living in Leeds. I have grown up in the country and am entirely unused to city living. The winter so far has felt extremely different to what I’m accustomed to and so I based the story largely around the difference between the urban and rural experience. Winter is my favourite time of the year and I wanted to write a little about how it makes me feel. I was extremely surprised to win but absolutely thrilled. It is a wonderful feeling to have something you have created recognised by others.”
McKeag, originally from North Yorkshire, draws from her rural upbringing and her time as a falconer to inform her writing.
The winning story is read by Middlesborough-born actor, Neil Grainger who began his career in ITV’s Crossroads, earning a 2002 Soap Award nomination. He performed extensively at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre under Sir Alan Ayckbourn and starred in the award-winning Crush. Neil’s TV credits include Hebburn, The Hunt for Raoul Moat, The Capture, and BBC sitcom Smoggie Queens, now on iPlayer.
Runner-up Denise Eaton is a Sheffield Hallam Creative Writing MA graduate, who has been recognised by the New Writing North Awards and Sky Writes programme. Her story, Nutkin, follows Brian as he retreats into the natural world, baffled by modern life, where the line between playmate and predator begins to blur.
Originally from Berwick-upon-Tweed, Gill Petrucci (the second runner-up) sets her debut short story, The Sentinel, on the North Sea coastline where a lighthouse keeper faces a monstrous storm and eerie events, revealing the true power of nature.
Helen Mellor Co-Director at Lumb Bank & Arvon at Home, praised the quality of submissions:
“It’s been magical reading all of the submissions, such a rich diversity of voices and stories and it was super hard to choose – such a lot of talent in the region! At Arvon North we’re passionate about championing new and emerging talent and are committed to supporting writers at all stages of their journey and have something for everyone in our programme – www.arvon.org. Congratulations to our winner and runners up and to all of you for taking part. It’s been a Christmas highlight.”
“It was a treat to read such a variety of responses to the brief that was is reflected in our winning entry and runners up. Ellen’s story boldly combined many things – it’s an absurdist fable warning us what we could lose, and a heart-warming modern Christmas tale about what is precious. It’s been wonderful to work with our friends at Arvon on our first ever Winter Tales competition. We hope everyone will enjoy the recording of the winning entry as a festive greeting from us all, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”
Winter Tales highlights Northern Broadsides’ and Arvon’s shared commitment to nurturing emerging writers and sharing stories that reflect the region’s unique landscapes, people, and imagination.
