s4e5 Tony Cranston, Talking Stories Radio
Joe Lovano, Glenis Redmond, Eileen Tabios
s4e5
February 5th, 2026
Featured Guest in the Audio Garden: Tony Cranston, host of “Talking Stories Radio” on East London Radio, joins us in the audio garden to share his passion for storytelling. We explore universal themes found in myths and folk tales across cultures, such as creation and flood stories. He narrates his first published story, “A Dragon’s Wish,” a Chinese folk tale about a kind-hearted girl named Mei Mei who saves a dragon and is granted three wishes.
Music Feature: An exclusive live recording from Berk’s Jazz Fest, featuring Jason Miles, Ingrid Jenson , Mike Clark, Buster Hemphill, Lionel Loueke, Hernan Ramiro Rodriguez Sierra and Joe Lovano.
From the Archives: Poetry readings by Anna Castro Spratt, a former Youth Poet Laureate of Greenville, South Carolina, and Glenis Redmond, the Poet Laureate of Greenville, who shares her poem “Forefather for David Drake,” inspired by the potter David Drake. Eileen Tabios, author of The Balikbayan Artist on aesthetics and didacticism, Olga Kavran on international law. Meredith Leigh, author of The Ethical Mead Handbook, about food systems and regional resilience.
CREDITS– HOSTS: Martha Cinader, Tony Robles, Hernan Ramiro Rodriguez Sierra. FEATURED GUEST: Tony Cranston AUTHOR QUOTES: Zakiyya Modeste, Eileen Tabios, Olga Kavran, Craig Harris, Elizabeth Perlman, Meredith Leigh. POETRY: Anna Castro Spratt, Glenis Redmond, Martha Cinader. STORY: A Dragon’s Wish told by Tony Cranston. MUSIC: The Eye of the Storm by Jason Miles, with Jason Miles – keyboard, Ingrid Jenson – trumpet, Mike Clark drums, Buster Hemphill – bass , Lionel Loueke – guitar, Joe Lovano – tenor sax, Hernan Ramiro Rodriguez Sierra – bass clarinet, tenor sax. ORIGNAL SOUNDTRACK, MIXING, MASTERING, SOUND DESIGN: Hernan Ramiro Rodriguez Sierra. Executive Producer, Martha Cinader.
VIDEOS
FEATURED GUESTS
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Tony Cranston – Author, Teacher, and Storyteller
Read more: Tony Cranston – Author, Teacher, and StorytellerTony Cranston is a renowned author, storyteller, and teacher with over 40 years of experience worldwide. Originally stationed in the UK, Cranston has traveled to over 50 cities, reading stories and collecting many as he goes.
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International Criminal Law Expert – Olga Kavran
Read more: International Criminal Law Expert – Olga KavranOlga Kavran is a Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel completing a PhD on the topic of international criminal courts’ obligation to provide information to the public, and the Founding Director of IUSTICOM, established in 2021 as the first non-governmental organisation dedicated to communicating justice.
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Zakiyyah Modeste
Read more: Zakiyyah ModesteZakiyyah’s creative journey began as a child when, at the age of three, she won her school’s Valentine’s Day Poetry Contest. Early exposure to the arts through Mount Vernon’s Creative Arts Program allowed her to act in plays alongside talented peers, including saxophonist Michael Philips. Outside the program, she trained under Tina Satin—who also taught…
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Elizabeth Perlman – Writing Teacher
Read more: Elizabeth Perlman – Writing TeacherElizabeth has a BA in Media Arts and a Masters in Transformative Arts, the study of creative expression for healing, connection, and growth. She is also a certified Group Leader in The Amherst Writing Method. Before launching TIWP in 2013, Elizabeth worked for over a decade as a graphic designer and art director in the advertising…
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Craig Harris – Trombonist, Composer
Read more: Craig Harris – Trombonist, ComposerCraig Harris, trombonist, composer, bandleader, and sonic shaman. … his musical journey began with the Sun Ra, … place among creative music’s … leaders.
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Martha Cinader, Author, Performance Artist
Read more: Martha Cinader, Author, Performance ArtistMartha Cinader is a poet and author living in Harlem, NY. Her young adult novel, Marq and the Queen Fish, is forthcoming in 2026 from Atmosphere Press. Cinader is the founder and Director of the Listen & Be Heard Network, where she hosts and produces The Listen & Be Heard Hour, and Beyond Borders, both non-commercial podcasts and syndicated radio shows…
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Glenis Redmond – The First Poet Laureate of Greenville, South Carolina
Read more: Glenis Redmond – The First Poet Laureate of Greenville, South CarolinaGlenis Redmond is the First Poet Laureate of Greenville, South Carolina. She is a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist, and a Cave Canem alumni. She has authored six books of poetry: Backbone (Underground Epics, 2000), Under the Sun (Main Street Rag, 2002), and What My Hand Say (Press 53, 2016), Listening Skin (Four Way Books), Three…
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Eileen R. Tabios
Read more: Eileen R. TabiosEileen R. Tabios has released collections of poetry, fiction, art, essays, and experimental writings from publishers around the world. Recent releases include her second novel The Balikbayan Artist; an autobiography, THE INVENTOR; a poetry collection Because I Love You, I Become War; an art monograph, Drawing the Six Directions; a flash fiction collection (in collaboration…
FEATURED BOOKS
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Word Magic – Elizabeth Perlman
Read more: Word Magic – Elizabeth PerlmanWord Magic: The Power of Writing to Reframe Your Story & Reclaim Your Intuition by Elizabeth Perlman is a self-help book that uses writing as a tool for self-discovery, healing, and empowerment, drawing from her “Intuitive Writing Project” for women and girls. It offers practical guidance and over 150 writing prompts to help readers trust…
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Talking Stories – Hosted By Tony Cranston
Read more: Talking Stories – Hosted By Tony CranstonTalking Stories is a global storytelling platform rooted in east London, bringing together voices from local communities and across the world. With an equal focus on London-based creators and international storytellers, the program showcases poets, writers, elders, and emerging voices from every continent, creating a rich dialogue between place, memory, and imagination.
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Sorry I’m Late – Elizabeth Perlman
Read more: Sorry I’m Late – Elizabeth PerlmanThis compilation of 27 poems was written over the course of 25 years, from 1998 to 2023. (The title is reflects the author’s extreme delay in sharing her work—and yes, that is a unicorn finger puppet, taking time to smell the azealas!) The main theme of every poem is self-empowerment: remembering who we really are…
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Po’azz Yo’azz – Living It!
Read more: Po’azz Yo’azz – Living It!Living It! is Martha Cinader’s debut as the producer of her own album, and features an eclectic array of arrangements and musical styles. It was recorded in part in a studio in New York City, part in a studio in Hamburg, and part live at the Mojo Club in Hamburg, throw in some bonus tracks…
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Glenis Redmond – The Listening Skin
Read more: Glenis Redmond – The Listening SkinHewing close to the bone, the incendiary poems in Glenis Redmond’s The Listening Skin explore how an artist dares to dance and create through a pain-riddled body. Corporeal and spiritual, immediately personal and deeply historical, Redmond’s latest collection details how generational cycles of poverty, mental and physical illness, and systemic racism impact the self, the family, and…
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When the Body Calls
Read more: When the Body CallsThis book is a vessel/holding liquid for thirsty desirers/in the empty spiral of the universe/where detail is opinion/one moment is all it takes to answer/when the body calls. This book is just one answer in a life of calling. The storyteller lives inside the breath of home. Whatever home is chosen, whatever breath is owned.…
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Dreamscape, Real Dreams Really Make a Difference
Read more: Dreamscape, Real Dreams Really Make a DifferenceA collection of biographical stories and poems about fascinating people in history whose real dreams made a real difference. Developed in performance, these stories bring old tales to life for contemporary readers in a way that is both entertaining and informative.
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Praise Songs for Dave the Potter, Art and Poetry for David Drake
Read more: Praise Songs for Dave the Potter, Art and Poetry for David DrakeDavid Drake is recognized as one of the United States’ most accomplished nineteenth-century potters. Yet, though his pots—many inscribed with original verse—sit in museums across the nation, he is too often passed over when considering the early foundations of African American poetry. Born in South Carolina at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Drake produced…
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Meredith Leigh – The Ethical Meat Handbook
Read more: Meredith Leigh – The Ethical Meat HandbookEthical Meat is meat from an animal that had a good life, a good death, a good butcher, and a good cook. Ethical Meat is a movement that seeks to repair entire regional meat supply chains, and much work is underway by brave hardworking farmers, butchers, processors, chefs and cooks. Working to create the capacity…
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