Re-telling Mythology: Sally Magnusson and Kim Curran hosted by Di Speirs

Join us as we discuss re-telling mythology & fantasy writing with broadcast journalist, television presenter and writer Sally Magnusson, fantasy writer Kim Curran & Books Editor at BBC Audio Di Spiers to discuss Sally's latest releases norse mythology inspired The Shapeshifters Daughter and Kim's latest book The Morrigan based on Irish folklore. The evening will be hosted by legendary BBC Audio Books Editor Di Speirs.

About Sally Magnusson:

Bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster Sally Magnusson has written several books for adults and children, most recently her Sunday Times bestseller Where Memories Go (2014) about her mother’s dementia, The Sealwoman’s Gift (2018), her acclaimed debut novel, The Ninth Child (2020) and Music in the Dark (2022). The Shapeshifters Daughter (2025) is her latest release.

About The Shapeshifters Daughter:

Nothing, on earth or below it, freezes faster than the worthless heart. Before she was a hideous monster, the queen of the underworld was simply Hel. But cast as a girl out of lofty Asgard, realm of the gods, by Odin the Allfather, Hel's fate as the terrible goddess of death is sealed.

Half beauty, half crone, she has reigned for aeons in the starless darkness of Niflheim, grimly welcoming the most pitiful of death's travellers to her ice-locked prison. Until one day a memory shifts, and she is forced to seek out the sun in Midgard, where humans have made their home. Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Helen Firth makes the impulsive decision to return to Orkney after forty years to make peace with her past.

Under the wintering solstice sun, she reconnects with the ungainly but affable Thorfinn Coffin, who helps her address the real reason she has returned to the islands: to die. As Helen draws closer to death and ever closer to Thorfinn, Hel in turn is intrigued by Helen. She, too, has a past to confront and a lesson to learn: that perhaps who she believes herself to be isn't who she really is.

A powerful reimagining of the Norse myth of Hel, The Shapeshifter's Daughter celebrates the joy of reclaiming our stories.

About Kim Curran:

Kim Curran was born in Dublin and grew up in London. She holds a degree in Philosophy and Literature from Sussex University and is a freelance Creative Director and Royal Literary Fund Fellow. The Morrigan is her debut adult novel. She will be following up The Morrigan with Brigid in early 2026.

About The Morrigan:

From an ancient, storm-tossed sea, a tribe of gods reach the rocky shores of Ireland.
Among them, a strange, hungry, red-haired girl. A girl who can change shape, from bird to beast to goddess. A girl who dreams of battle, of blood, of death and power.

She does not know yet that her journey will take a thousand years. That her name will be remembered for a thousand more.

She is The Morrigan: a girl with rage coiled in her chest. Beautiful, powerful, ravenous rage. A rage that will live forever.

About Di Speirs:

Di Speirs is the Books Editor, BBC Audio and has spent the past three decades on a mission to discover and champion new authors and celebrate great books on radio. She produced the first ever Book of the Week and has directed scores of Book at Bedtimes, dramatisations and short stories. She now leads the London Books team and is the Editor for their audiobooks, Radio 4’s Open Book and BookClub, and World Book Club and World Book Café on the World Service. A long-time advocate of the formidable power of the short story, she has been integral to the BBC National Short Story Award since it began in 2005, is the returning judge on the panel and is also behind the BBC Young Writers Award. She has edited three story collections for the BBC. A regular literary judge including for the 2017 Wellcome Book Prize and the International Dylan Thomas Prize in 2019, she has been a nominator twice for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative (Literature) and is a board member of the Edinburgh City of Literature Trust.