A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley

In the Bleak Midwinter

This week, we join Sally in the middle of a winter night. Follow her reflections on festive traditions, via Christina Rossetti, and on seeing the world through illness, with Emily Brontë, and John Milton.
Rossetti’s poem can be read here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53216/in-the-bleak-midwinter
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

A Difficult Balance With Pain

For Demi.
‘And the heaviest nuns walk in a pure floating / Of dark habits, / keeping their difficult balance.’
This week, Sally has been living with Richard Wilbur’s ‘Love Calls Us to the Things of the World’, and reflecting on living with pain. Balance with her on the precipices we all exist on…
The poem can be read here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43048/love-calls-us-to-the-things-of-this-world
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

What are Days For?

For Keyang.
‘Where can we live but days?’
This week, Sally has been reading and living with Philip Larkin’s poem ‘Days’, from The Whitsun Weddings. Join her for a meditation on how we spend our days, drawing on prayer, hope, hymns, and reading.
The poem can be read here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48410/days-56d229a0c0c33
Miss Cull, a frequent guest on the podcast, can also be found in Sally’s latest book, The Green Lady, available from all good booksellers.
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

The Narrow Passage

‘This is how I prefer to live…inside a narrow passage…’
Sally is still living with Wuthering Heights this week, as she meditates on the nature of life in confined spaces, both in fiction and on her narrowboat. Join her as she muses on the narrow passages that we live in and move through, reflecting on the nature of freedom, grief, and love.
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

An Announcement, and a Story

‘I can’t live without story now…it feels like breathing.’
This week, Sally is travelling to Sicily, for a conversation with Marina Warner on ‘Life Writing, Memory and Fiction.’ Before leaving, she offers a brief meditation on the local artist Gabriella Bailey, telling us a story of two figures outside a city, and the spaces outside of life.
The painting described can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CoKavmGtbl-/?igshid=MWFzaTYzano3eTN5cg%3D%3D
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.
The podcast will return, as normal, next week…

Wuthering Heights

‘Are you brave enough to follow me there?’
This week, Sally has been reading Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights. Fixated on the dreams of its narrator, join her for her reflections on rage, the histories of homes and places, and the distracting intrusions of life into writing.
The beautiful piano music in the middle and closing sections is by Paul Clarke.
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

Shoreham

For Alice Colquhoun.
In this episode, Sally muses on J.M.W. Turner’s famous 1830 painting, Shoreham. Join her for reflections on art, life, and on writing from the faint lines of existence.
Turner’s work makes frequent appearances in Sally’s latest book, The Green Lady, available from all good booksellers.
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

Searching for Verity

‘A writer’s notebook is full of the sound of atmosphere…’
This week, Sally is teaching a course on detective fiction. Emerging from her meditations on Wilkie Collins’ novel The Moonstone, follow her on a journey through the light and the dark places of the world, and the variegated truths of writing and life.
Miss Cull, a frequent guest on the podcast, can also be found in Sally’s latest book, The Green Lady, available from all good booksellers.
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.