Podcast Episodes

India Knight on finally gaining a sense of self in her 50s - from the archives

Episode 260

(This episode first aired in November 2023)

Today’s guest is the Sunday Times’ Style’s beauty columnist India Knight. Every week thousands of women turn to her column for beauty advice - not beauty j…

Published on 3 hours ago

Hilma Wolitzer: 80 years of writing – and not done yet (from the archives)

Episode 259

(This episode first aired in August 2022.)

My guest today is the writer Hilma Wolitzer. Born in 1930, Hilma had her first poem published at the age of 9. She then shelved that ambition in favour of m…

Published on 1 week ago

Caryn Franklin on why fashion still fails older women - from the archives

Episode 258

(This episode was first published in November 2022.)

Today's guest is one of my personal heroes, Caryn Franklin. Caryn started her career in the 80s as a fashion editor before moving into TV where sh…

Published on 2 weeks ago

Lisa Jewell on hitting a golden seam of success in her 50s - FROM THE ARCHIVES

Episode 257

(This episode first aired in September 2022.)

Today’s guest is one of Britain’s best loved novelists, Lisa Jewell. Her career started with a smash hit debut novel Ralph’s Party - which she started wr…

Published on 3 weeks ago

Thomasina Miers on the midlife Mexican escape that rebuilt her

Season 18 Episode 256

Hello and welcome to the final episode of season 18. 18!!!!

My guest today is the cook, Thomasina Miers.

Despite being taught to cook as a child, Tommi didn’t really embrace her love of food until …

Published on 4 weeks ago

Laura Lippmann is having a second coming at 60

Season 18 Episode 255

A few weeks ago, I was pootling around on substack where The Shift newsletter lives - https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/ - and I noticed I had a DM from a new subscriber. It turned out to be …

Published on 1 month ago

Charlotte Mendelson – middle-aged women are entitled to want more

Season 18 Episode 254

This season is dedicated to helping you pick your summer reads and my guest today is the novelist Charlotte Mendelson whose writing has been compared to “late Shakespeare meets Modern family!” So you…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Betsy Lerner is on a mission to destigmatise mental health in her 60s

Season 18 Episode 253

My guest this week is the novelist Betsy Lerner. 

Now Betsy is here to talk about her critically acclaimed debut novel, Shred Sisters, which takes us from the 1970s to the 90s and tells us the story…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Nicola Sturgeon on life after leadership

Season 18 Episode 252

This week I’m delighted to welcome back to The Shift one of my most listened-to guests, Nicola Sturgeon.

When we last spoke, at the start of 2022, Nicola was First Minister of Scotland - the first w…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Sarah Perry on "becoming a woman who didn't have children"

Season 18 Episode 251

My guest today is the award-winning novelist Sarah Perry.

Sarah is the internationally bestselling author of four novels, but the one you will almost definitely heard of (and may well have watched) i…

Published on 2 months ago