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About Last Mic
Downfall by Yvonne Battle-Felton
This is a short story before bedtime for adults. It's not so much a who done it, but an I done it. Downfall is the fictional story about a character pushed to the edge, and the character who pushes her over it.
It's part of a series of night-time audio read by me. I'm Yvonne. Writer, audio lover, and narrator.
About the author
Yvonne Battle-Felton is an award-winning author, academic, editor, podcaster, host, creative producer, and writer. Her debut, Remembered, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Not the Booker, and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Winner of The Shirley Jackson Award, Curdle Creek is her second novel. Former Commissioning Editor (literary fiction) at John Murray, Yvonne was a finalist in the Hurston Wright Foundation Legacy Zora Award for Fiction for Curdle Creek, a winner of the RSL Scriptorium Award, and is the Academic Director of Creative Writing at Cambridge University. She has six creative nonfiction titles in the Ladybird Series (children).
Yvonne is presenter of the Write Your Novel with Yvonne Battle-Felton series and podcast, Bookable Space. She aims to live a literary life and bring people together over stories.
More episodes
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5. Live Reading from Summer Book Launch 2026
04:43||Season 1, Ep. 5This is a recording from a live event celebrating books launched in Summer, 2026. In this episode of About Last Mic, Yvonne Battle-Felton reads from the US edition of Curdle Creek. In this extract, Osira finds herself a long way from home. Curdle Creek is a rural town with a population policy of one in, one out. Now that Osira is in England she is surprised to find that life outside of Curdle Creek is not so different as life inside her rural, ordinance-loving town. She is also surprised by who she has to become to survive it. Inspired by Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, Curdle Creek is the winner of the 2024 Shirley Jackson Award (novel).Yvonne Battle-Felton is an author, academic, and podcaster. Her debut, Remembered, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Not the Booker, and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Winner of The Shirley Jackson Award, Curdle Creek is her second novel. Yvonne was a finalist in the Hurston Wright Foundation Legacy Zora Award for Fiction, has been awarded the RSL Scriptorium Award, and lives in West Yorkshire, England. She aims to create a literary community bringing readers and writers together over wordsThis is a recording from a live event celebrating books launched in 2026. In this episode, I'm reading from the US edition of Curdle Creek. It's a section of the book that I don't often get to read from. In the book, Osira finds herself a long way from home. She's surprised by what she finds and by who she is when she's away from Curdle Creek.
4. Hula Hoops and Other Nostalgia
04:23||Season 1, Ep. 4Written and read by Yvonne Battle-Felton, This short piece is a short true story about hula hoops and the weight of memory.
3. Like Riding a Bike
03:58||Season 1, Ep. 3A tshort rue story written and read by Yvonne Battle-Felton. This piece is inspired by Grandmomming and forgetting.
2. Accommodating
07:42||Season 1, Ep. 2This is an after-open mic event where I share the piece I woujld have read if there had been time that evening. This piece is about making space for others, and for ourselves. .
1. About Last Mic
06:35||Season 1, Ep. 1In this episode, I share a true story loosing exploring the hosting of one of my last live open mic nights. This event sparked a podcast where I read pieces I would have read at the month's open mic.