Our Streets Unmasked Podcast Stories

Our Streets Unmasked commissioned seven stories in three parts, asking young and emerging writers to write pieces that reflected the changing faces, real and imagined, of the places we live as they took off their masks and woke from their lockdown slumber. Notebook in hand, writers visited their chosen location on three dates to gather inspiration for their three-part story conjuring often surreal and magical changes within them. All commissioned writers received advice, editorial guidance and a small fee. More about Our Streets Unmasked here.

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

Ghost Town by Rebecca Payne
When the before people spoke about the city centre being a ghost town, they had no idea how accurate they were….
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…

Merchantgate Bus Stop by Cristina Rizzo
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.

Inner Pieces by Eve Naden
Let us take you by the hand and walk you through a rather surreal 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.

Bench Guy by Eliana Grundy
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.

The Time Travel Log by Lucy-Jo Finnighan
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 have imagined. Where have all the people gone? And why all the masks…?

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