"Train Cancellation" by Maeve Deegan, read by Emma Boniwell. Everything changes. For everyone.

Birmingham Lit Fest Presents presents six separate stories, all set late on the same night at Wolverhampton train station. Written by Wolverhampton's Spark Young Writers, the tales are funny, serious, scary -- and every character is in for a surprise during the concluding story.

Produced by William Gallagher.

Wolverhampton Spark Young Writers are part of the Spark Young Writers programme which is a project of Writing West Midlands. Spark Young Writers aims to encourage and inspire young people from the region to write creatively and experience a wide variety of writing genres. There are 17 groups running this year: three online and the rest meeting in person. We have fun in the sessions, with the focus being on creativity not grammar and spelling, and offer a supportive community of young writers with a sincere love of writing.

The Wolverhampton Group meets in Wolverhampton Art Gallery once a month for ten months of the year. The group is lead by professional writer William Gallagher and the assistant writer is Lisa M Billingham.

You can find out more about the programme by visiting www.sparkwriters.org

"Eight Minutes" by Doroti Polgar, read by Lisa M Billingham. You can put the world right in eight minutes, but the world never listens to you.

Birmingham Lit Fest Presents presents six separate stories, all set late on the same night at Wolverhampton train station. Written by Wolverhampton's Spark Young Writers, the tales are funny, serious, scary -- and every character is in for a surprise during the concluding story.

Produced by William Gallagher.

Wolverhampton Spark Young Writers are part of the Spark Young Writers programme which is a project of Writing West Midlands. Spark Young Writers aims to encourage and inspire young people from the region to write creatively and experience a wide variety of writing genres. There are 17 groups running this year: three online and the rest meeting in person. We have fun in the sessions, with the focus being on creativity not grammar and spelling, and offer a supportive community of young writers with a sincere love of writing.

The Wolverhampton Group meets in Wolverhampton Art Gallery once a month for ten months of the year. The group is lead by professional writer William Gallagher and the assistant writer is Lisa M Billingham.

You can find out more about the programme by visiting www.sparkwriters.org

"Apologies for Any Inconvenience" written and read by William Gallagher. Anger can keep out the cold, but not forever.

Birmingham Lit Fest Presents presents six separate stories, all set late on the same night at Wolverhampton train station. Written by Wolverhampton's Spark Young Writers, the tales are funny, serious, scary -- and every character is in for a surprise during the concluding story.

Produced by William Gallagher.

Wolverhampton Spark Young Writers are part of the Spark Young Writers programme which is a project of Writing West Midlands. Spark Young Writers aims to encourage and inspire young people from the region to write creatively and experience a wide variety of writing genres. There are 17 groups running this year: three online and the rest meeting in person. We have fun in the sessions, with the focus being on creativity not grammar and spelling, and offer a supportive community of young writers with a sincere love of writing.

The Wolverhampton Group meets in Wolverhampton Art Gallery once a month for ten months of the year. The group is lead by professional writer William Gallagher and the assistant writer is Lisa M Billingham.

You can find out more about the programme by visiting www.sparkwriters.org

"The 23: 48 to Birmingham New Street" written and read by Lisa M. Billingham. We can hide from ourselves, but not from handsome strangers.

Birmingham Lit Fest Presents presents six separate stories, all set late on the same night at Wolverhampton train station. Written by Wolverhampton's Spark Young Writers, the tales are funny, serious, scary -- and every character is in for a surprise during the concluding story.

Produced by William Gallagher.

Wolverhampton Spark Young Writers are part of the Spark Young Writers programme which is a project of Writing West Midlands. Spark Young Writers aims to encourage and inspire young people from the region to write creatively and experience a wide variety of writing genres. There are 17 groups running this year: three online and the rest meeting in person. We have fun in the sessions, with the focus being on creativity not grammar and spelling, and offer a supportive community of young writers with a sincere love of writing.

The Wolverhampton Group meets in Wolverhampton Art Gallery once a month for ten months of the year. The group is lead by professional writer William Gallagher and the assistant writer is Lisa M Billingham.

You can find out more about the programme by visiting www.sparkwriters.org

"Departures" by Erin Oakley, read by William Gallagher. Not everyone's intended destination is at the other end of this train ride.

Birmingham Lit Fest Presents presents six separate stories, all set late on the same night at Wolverhampton train station. Written by Wolverhampton's Spark Young Writers, the tales are funny, serious, scary -- and every character is in for a surprise during the concluding story.

Produced by William Gallagher.

Wolverhampton Spark Young Writers are part of the Spark Young Writers programme which is a project of Writing West Midlands. Spark Young Writers aims to encourage and inspire young people from the region to write creatively and experience a wide variety of writing genres. There are 17 groups running this year: three online and the rest meeting in person. We have fun in the sessions, with the focus being on creativity not grammar and spelling, and offer a supportive community of young writers with a sincere love of writing.

The Wolverhampton Group meets in Wolverhampton Art Gallery once a month for ten months of the year. The group is lead by professional writer William Gallagher and the assistant writer is Lisa M Billingham.

You can find out more about the programme by visiting www.sparkwriters.org

"23:48" by Maeve Deegan, read by Emma Boniwell. An eight-minute train delay is increasingly tense for one young woman -- but what has happened to her tonight?

Birmingham Lit Fest Presents presents six separate stories, all set late on the same night at Wolverhampton train station. Written by Wolverhampton's Spark Young Writers, the tales are funny, serious, scary -- and every character is in for a surprise during the concluding story.

Produced by William Gallagher.

Wolverhampton Spark Young Writers are part of the Spark Young Writers programme which is a project of Writing West Midlands. Spark Young Writers aims to encourage and inspire young people from the region to write creatively and experience a wide variety of writing genres. There are 17 groups running this year: three online and the rest meeting in person. We have fun in the sessions, with the focus being on creativity not grammar and spelling, and offer a supportive community of young writers with a sincere love of writing.

The Wolverhampton Group meets in Wolverhampton Art Gallery once a month for ten months of the year. The group is lead by professional writer William Gallagher and the assistant writer is Lisa M Billingham.

You can find out more about the programme by visiting www.sparkwriters.org

This week, we’re joined by Lucy Hannah from UNTOLD Stories, and Afghan poet Parwana Fayyaz,
who talked to festival team member Olivia Chapman. Lucy and Parwana worked on My Pen is the
Wing of a Bird, a new collection of short stories written by Afghan women before and after the
brutal resurgence of the Taliban in August 2021.

You can download our podcast episodes from all the places you would normally get your podcasts every Thursday and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @bhamlitfest. All of our festival events can be found on our website www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org.

For more information on Writing West Midlands, visit https://writingwestmidlands.org/

Follow the festival on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @BhamLitFest

Credits

Curator: Shantel Edwards (Festival director)
Production: 11C/ Birmingham Podcast Studios for Writing West Midlands

This week’s episode is our specially-curated Writing from a Warzone event. The Birmingham
Literature Festival team brought together novelist Priscilla Morris, whose family fled Sarajevo during
the 1992 siege, with poet Parwana Fayyaz, who is an Afghan refugee. The event also included an
interview with Ukrainian novelist Lyubko Deresh, who is still in Ukraine. They were speaking to Dr
Amanda Beattie, from the Centre for Migration and Forced Displacement at Aston University.

You can download our podcast episodes from all the places you would normally get your podcasts every Thursday and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @bhamlitfest. All of our festival events can be found on our website www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org.

For more information on Writing West Midlands, visit https://writingwestmidlands.org/

Follow the festival on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @BhamLitFest

Credits

Curator: Shantel Edwards (Festival director)
Production: 11C/ Birmingham Podcast Studios for Writing West Midlands