Two Minute Stories with Chris Neilan & Helen Mort

Vicky Morris is an award-winning poet and the founder of Hive Young Writers, an organisation for young writers in South Yorkshire. She received a 2014 Northern Writers Award, and won 1st prize for poetry in the 2020 Aurora Prize. Monique Roffey's 7th novel, The Mermaid of Black Conch, was released in April 2020 to widespread acclaim. She was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2010, won the OCM BOCAS Award for Caribbean literature in 2013, and has been shortlisted for the Orion Award and the COSTA Fiction Award.

Trinidadian-British poet Vahni Capildeo's poetry collections include No Traveller Returns (2003), Undraining Sea (2009), Dark and Unaccustomed Words (2012), Utter (2013), Measures of Expatriation (2016), which won the 2016 Forward Prize, and Venus as a Bear (2018). Michelle Green's multi-award nominated short fiction collection, Jebel Marra, about her time as an aid worker in Darfur, is published by Comma Press. Her work has also appeared in the Comma Press anthology Protest! Stories of Resistance, on BBC Radio 4, and in Short Fiction Journal, with poetry appearing in numerous anthologies.

A doctor of neuroscience by training and a former Royal Society fellow at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Rachel Genn's debut novel The Cure was published by Corsair in 2011. Her second novel, What You Could Have Won, is due for publication in 2020 by Sheffield-based publisher And Other Stories. She teaches creative writing MA programmes at Sheffield and the Manchester Writing School. Keith Hutson's much anticipated debut collection, Baldwin's Catholic Geese, was published to acclaim by Bloodaxe in 2019. A prolific comedy writer for stand-ups including Les Dawson and Frankie Howerd and a scriptwriter for Coronation Street, Keith has had more than 150 poems published in journals and anthologies. His pamphlet, Troupers, was selected by Carol Ann Duffy as a Laureate's Choice publication.

Natalie Burdett was selected by Carol Ann Duffy as a Laureate's Choice Poet for 2018, with her pamphlet Urban Drift published by The Poetry Business. She is currently studying for a Creative Writing PhD at MMU's Writing School. Crime novelist Oliver Harris is the author of three novels featuring the London detective Nick Belsey (The Hollow Man, Deep Shelter, and The House of Fame), and one featuring intelligence officer, Elliot Kane, 2019’s A Shadow Intelligence.

Helen Mort, former co-host of Two Min Stories, is the author of two collections of poetry, a novel (Black Car Burning) and a collection of short fiction (Exire). She is also a dramatist and an academic, and a regular BBC broadcaster. Emily Oldfield is a highly regarded young poet whose first pamphlet, Grit, was published by Poetry Salzburg in March 2020.

Michelle Green's multi-award nominated short fiction collection, Jebel Marra, about her time as an aid worker in Darfur, is published by Comma Press. Her work has also appeared in the Comma Press anthology Protest! Stories of Resistance, on BBC Radio 4, and in Short Fiction Journal, with poetry appearing in numerous anthologies. Seán Hewitt is a fiction reviewer for The Irish Times and a Leverhulme Research Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin. His debut pamphlet Lantern (Offord Road Books, 2019) is a Poetry Book Society Summer Pamphlet Choice for 2019. His debut collection is forthcoming from Jonathan Cape.

Emma McGordon is an award-winning poet, performer and community artist. Her many awards and nominations include the 2017 Julia Darling Award from New Writing North and the longlist for the National Poetry Award 2019. Ian Walker was also longlisted for the National Poetry Award 2019 and was the Apprentice Poet-in-Residence for the Ilkley Literature Festival 2018. He received his MFA in Poetry from the Writing School at MMU.

Novelist and flash fiction maestro David Gaffney, and author Polly Checkland-Harding join Chris and guest co-host Mark to read their contributions to the Two Minute Stories cannon, and chat about storytelling, writing practice, and how to write flash.

A special episode in conjunction with the Sheaf Poetry Festival 2019, featuring Vahni Capildeo, Warda Yassin, Ian Humphreys, Rebecca Tamas, Young Poet-in-Residence Georgie Woodhead and Rachael Allen. Co-hosted by Mark Pajak.

Bella Fortune is a writer, poet & performance artist. A former writer-in-residence for Theatre Bristol, she has performed all over the UK, including at Carol Ann Duffy and Friends at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre. ​ Crime novelist Oliver Harris is the author of three novels featuring the London detective Nick Belsey (The Hollow Man, Deep Shelter, and The House of Fame), all published by Jonathan Cape. His new novel, A Shadow Intelligence, will be released on May 4th. ​ Mark Pajak continues as guest co-host.

Emily Oldfield is hotly-tipped young writer and poet whose work has been described as weird, dark and wonderful. She is currently an editor at Haunt Manchester, and is a researcher on the Writing Manchester map. She is working on her first pamphlet. Keith Hutson's much anticipated debut collection, Baldwin's Catholic Geese, was published to acclaim by Bloodaxe this year. A prolific comedy writer for stand-ups including Les Dawson and Frankie Howerd and a scriptwriter for Coronation Street, Keith has had more than 150 poems published in journals and anthologies. His pamphlet, Troopers, was selected by Carol Ann Duffy as a Laureate's Choice publication.

Natalie Burdett was selected by Carol Ann Duffy as a Laureate's Choice Poet for 2018, with her pamphlet Urban Drift published by The Poetry Business. She is currently studying for a Creative Writing PhD at MMU's Writing School. ​John Fennelly currently works, alongside Mark Pajak, as 'House Poet' at MMU's Writing School. John was also chosen as a Laureate's Choice poet for 2018, and his pamphlet Another Hunger was published by The Poetry Business.

Andrew McMillan's debut poetry collection, Physical, was the first ever poetry collection to win the Guardian First Book Award. It also won a Somerset Maugham Award, and Eric Gregory Award and a Northern Writers Award, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Award, the Costa Poetry Award, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2016, the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Roehampton Prize and the Polari First Book Prize. His second collection, Playtime, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2018 and is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Autumn 2018. A doctor of neuroscience by training and a former Royal Society fellow at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Rachel Genn's debut novel The Cure was published by Corsair in 2011. Her second novel, What You Could Have Won, is due for publication in 2019 by Sheffield-based publisher And Other Stories. She teaches creative writing MA programmes at Sheffield and the Manchester Writing School.

Anna Chilvers is currently working on her PhD in creative writing at the Manchester Writing School, aided by Two Minutes Stories' co-host Helen Mort. She is the author of two novels published by Blue Moose books: Tainted Love and Falling Through Clouds. ​ Poet Mark Pajak's pamphlet Spitting Distance was a Laureate's Choice publication for the Poetry Business. He has been a House Poet at the Manchester Writing School, and won first prize for poetry in the 2016 Bridport Prize.

Joe Stretch, former lead singer of Manchester band Performance, is the author of three novels: Friction, Wildlife and The Adult, the last of which won the Somerset Maugham award in 2013. ​ Adelle Stripe's debut novel, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile, explored the life of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar, and won the K Blundell Trust award for fiction. She is the author of three chapbook collections of poetry, the most recent of which, Dark Corners of the Land, was 3:AM Magazine’s Poetry Book of the Year.

Anjum Malik is a poet and scriptwriter based in the Manchester Writing School. She recently adapted Claudia Roden's cookbook for BBC Radio 4, and is currently developing feature film and TV drama projects. ​ Poet Kim Moore's outstanding collection The Art of Falling won the Geoffrey Faber memorial prize in 2017. This episode carries a trigger warning for content related to sexual assault.