The Making of Audio Drama

In our last episode of Season 3, we're very excited to be featuring a conversation between two wonderful creatives, Shilpa Varma and Adam Fitzgerald, about our upcoming audio drama, When the Forest Watches.Shilpa Varma, who you may already know if you are familiar with the podcast, is Flame Tree’s writer in residence and the writer of When the Forest Watches. She is a London-based South Asian writer and storyteller whose work explores memory, folklore, and diaspora identity through intimate, atmospheric narratives. Working across audio, theatre, and performance, she is drawn to stories rooted in oral traditions and everyday rituals. Her practice blends cultural specificity with psychological depth, often examining what is inherited, remembered, and quietly carried across generations.Adam Fitzgerald, the director of our audio drama, is an Australian-British writer, director and award-winning actor based in London. His audio experience includes productions with BBC Radio 3 & 4, Audible, and AAA video games. As a writer, his audio drama Ore received multiple awards and nominations on the 2023-24 International WebFest circuit. Alongside his creative work, Adam works as a freelance audio tutor at several top drama schools.Subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media to be the first to hear any updates about When the Forest Watches. .....................................................................................................................................Music is an extract of Sunbeams by Allen Stroud, from his Fractal Series album, licensed courtesy of fpl-digital 2025.This podcast is hosted and sometimes narrated by Beatrix Ambery (also audio editor), Olivia Jackson (also podcast coordinator), Shilpa Varma and Nick Wells (also producer). Chosen from hundreds of wonderful tales, short stories such as these are selected by our short window open submission process, giving opportunities to writers of all levels of experience, culture and location. Look out for our submission announcements, and see the full list here:  flametreepublishing.com/gothic-fantasy-book-series-list.htmlOur full range of thematic short stories, epic tales, mythology and folklore titles are available at all good bookstores, online and in retail, and at flametreepublishing.com Flame Tree Publishing, Best Indie Press 2024 & 2025 (British Fantasy Society). Beautiful Books, Timeless Storytelling, Fresh Perspectives.The Flame Tree Myth and Fiction podcast is created and © copyright 2025 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd.