A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley

Blindness

‘If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one…’
This week, Sally has been reading José Saramago’s Blindness, and thinking about the ways we see, or don’t see, the world around us. Drawing on J.M. Barrie, join her for a reflection on seeing and writing through the dark places of the world.
The wonderful piano music in the opening section is by Paul Sebastian, and the guitar music was written and performed by D. Gwalia.
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Kris Dyer, Violet Henderson, and Maeve Magnus.

The Face in the Mirror

‘Where do images come from?’
This week, Sally is thinking about the importance of sound and rhythm to writing. Join her for a discussion of George Orwell’s Coming Up for Air (1939) and a reflection on how to find your writing voice. 
Guitar music composed and performed by Dylan Gwalia.
This episode was produced by Lucie Richter-Mahr. 
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

Writing and Holding

‘Let words pass through you in a small contained space’
This week, we join Sally for a meditation on creating and inhabiting a space in which to write, and to be held, via the work of the novelist V.S. Pritchett. Follow her as she begins to lay out her meditative practice of reading and writing, drawing on the restorative power of words on the page.
An account of Pritchett and his work can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/feb/22/vspritchett
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

Insomnia

‘Perhaps she's a daytime sleeper.’
 
This week, Sally is reading Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘Insomnia’, a poem full of shifting, uncertain geographies and marvellous depths. How do we navigate the strange land of sleeplessness? Join Sally as she meditates on the power of reading closely and the solace of poetry as a place of rest.  
 
‘Insomnia’ is available to read here: https://allpoetry.com/poem/8493531-Insomnia-by-Elizabeth-Bishop
 
This episode was produced by Lucie Richter-Mahr. 
 
For Summer and Dylan, both students. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

The White Rabbit

‘I shall be late!’
Sally has been following the White Rabbit this week, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and reflecting on the ever-increasing demands on the writer’s time. Follow her down the rabbit hole on a journey through time, lateness, and rest…
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
The wonderful piano music in the closing section was composed by Paul Clarke.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

New Year’s Night

‘How do you remember people first?’
We join Sally on New Year’s Night, staying with a relative in Chichester, a familiar city from her childhood. Join her for a meditation on embodiment, memory, and authority, via a vision of John Milton’s hell from the epic Paradise Lost.
Satan’s speech, read partway through the episode, can be found here: https://poets.org/poem/paradise-lost-book-i-lines-221-270
This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.
Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

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.