Podcast Episodes

Poppies in October

Episode 67

‘A gift, a love gift / Utterly unasked for / By a sky’

This week, Sally has been reading Sylvia Plath’s ‘Poppies in October’ (1963). Join her for this brief mediation on living generously and the res…

Published on 1 year ago

The Painted Veil

Episode 66

‘There’s always hope where there’s poetry…’

This week, Sally is preparing for her narrowboat, Cerian, to journey upriver for maintenance. Join her in her engine room for a discussion of Somerset Ma…

Published on 1 year ago

Sadler's Birthday

Episode 65

‘Silence, quietness, that’s a way of living…’

This week, we join Sally in the attic room of her family home, where she has been reading Rose Tremain's first novel Sadler’s Birthday (1976). Follow her…

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago

The Gleaners

Episode 64

‘But the darkness is a kind of blanket, and she comforts me…’
This week, we join Sally on a sleepless night, on a journey through Millet’s The Gleaners (1857), via her character Pond Man. Follow her …

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago

Bleak House

Episode 63

‘London. Michaelmas Term lately over and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall…’

This week, Sally has been reading and teaching Charles Dickens’ Bleak House (1852). Follow her on a journe…

Published on 1 year, 2 months ago

The Weatherhouse

Episode 62

‘I’m wondering what happiness sounds like, these days…’

This week, Sally has been reading Nan Shepherd’s The Weatherhouse, and reflecting on her relationship with happiness and contentment. Join her …

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

Pond Man Beneath the Date Palm Tree

Episode 61

This week Sally is experimenting with location and atmosphere for her character Pond Man. She asks her friend Dylan, to come and join her, as they improvise their way into Pond Man's world. This epis…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

Mary Crow

Episode 60

“She glanced up at the great broken tower-columns of the vanished nave of the Abbey Church….” 

This week, Sally continues to read John Cowper Powys’ 1932 novel A Glastonbury Romance, dwelling on the …

Published on 1 year, 4 months ago

Cloud Patterns

Episode 59

“On this particular day the weather conditions had assumed a cloud-pattern…”

This week, Sally continues to read John Cowper Powys’ 1932 novel, A Glastonbury Romance, asking: how does writing produce …

Published on 1 year, 4 months ago

A Glastonbury Romance

Episode 58

‘There’s no life that frees anyone so completely from unhappiness as does the mystic life…’

This week, Sally has been reading John Cowper Powys’ 1932 novel, A Glastonbury Romance. Join her for a medi…

Published on 1 year, 4 months ago