A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley

Sally Bayley, Andrew Smith

Episodes 94
Avg. Duration 21m
Activity Highly Active
Apple Rating 5.0 (12)
Since Dec 2022
Latest Episode Jun 2026

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Features Guests

Publishing Details

Schedule
Monthly
Format
Episodic
Consistency
64%
Hosting
feed.podbean.com

About This Podcast

Acclaimed writer Sally Bayley lives on a narrowboat, surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature, sustained by reading and writing. In this series, she invites us into her life, showing us how books have the power to change your life. Sally has recently been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, but this is not a misery memoir podcast; she shows us how literature and connection to nature can console and give courage and insight. The series is produced by Andrew Smith, James Bowen, Lucie Richter-Mahr, and Dylan Gwalia. To find out more about Sally please visit: https://sallybayley.com.

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Recent Episodes

Night Contradicts the Day

Jun 08, 2026 1h 24m

‘Hölderlin’s lovely blueness you hold to you, it is tensile   through the smeared glass’   This week, we join Sally in conversation with poet, critic, and translator Stephen Romer, following the…

On Doubt

May 16, 2026 21m

‘To find a way in, through the door, beyond the doubt…’ This week, we join Sally wrestling with the problem of doubt, having just sent her latest novel, Pond Life, to the printers. Listen for a…

Poppies in October Revisited

Mar 22, 2026 23m

‘Even the sun-clouds this morning cannot manage such skirts.’ This week, Sally returns to Sylvia Plath’s ‘Poppies in October.’ Listen for a mediation on the mouth, sound, and their essential role in…

Worm in the Bud: A Fable

Feb 22, 2026 52m

‘Enter Lillian…’ This week, we join Sally once again in conversation with the producer, James Bowen, on the subject of Sally’s latest work, Worm in the Bud: A Fable. Listen for a conversation on…

Sweeping and Editing

Jan 24, 2026 21m

‘A paragraph made up of waiting…’ We join Sally this week in the process of editing her forthcoming work, Mrs Parnell, focusing in particular on a single paragraph. Listen for a meditation on the…

On Living in Hundred Acre Wood

Jan 02, 2026 20m

For “Husband Ron” and Christopher Robin — may he come by again soon. This week, we join Sally at home, seeing in the New Year in the company of the residents of A.A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood. Listen…

River Ruminations

Nov 30, 2025 15m

‘Writing for me is always an embodied experience of flow…’ This week we join Sally at home, as she prepares to start her day, thinking in particular about her morning swim. Listen for a meditation on…

The Choreography of Writing

Nov 16, 2025 23m

‘A kind of choreography of intimacy, which I return to again and again…’ This week, we join Sally on a cold winter’s morning, as she tries to settle into the rhythm of the day and develop an image…

Arrivals

Oct 04, 2025 21m

‘She brought so little personality with her that she seemed scarcely to disturb the air…’ This week, marking the arrival of Autumn, Sally has been thinking about literary arrivals, in particular…

A Conversation on Difficulty and Ambiguity

Sep 20, 2025 47m

‘From Waterloo Station to the small country town of Ramsgard in Dorset is a journey of not more than three or four hours, but having by good luck found a compartment to himself, Wolf Solent was able…

Mrs Parsons

Sep 13, 2025 15m

‘The fate of the writer is to dwell in that realm of shadows and apparitions and half-seen thoughts…’ This week, we join Sally sketching a scene for her new novel, Mrs Parnell, in which the stern…

A Conversation on Objects and Symbols

Sep 03, 2025 50m

‘He stood still in the gloom of the hall, trying to catch the air that the voice was singing and gazing up at his wife. There was grace and mystery in her attitude as if she were a symbol of…

The Other Side of the Fire

Jul 18, 2025 23m

For Gabriella Kelly Davies. ‘On the last day of summer Mrs Bohannon fell in love. The poplars, fallaciously pathetic, looked horrified, their branches rising on the wind like startled hair, and a…

The 27th Kingdom

Jul 03, 2025 23m

‘Mrs Mason looked now through Aunt Irene’s rich windows, sparking like spring water and framing fat pink shrubs that grew with child-like health in the tiny London garden.’ This week, we join Sally…

The Green Lady

Jun 14, 2025 15m

For Miss Braithwaite, who gave me eloquence. ‘I need to summon the spirits of place…’ This week, we join Sally in rehearsal for a performance, given last week at Somerville College as part of…

Being Handy

Jun 01, 2025 28m

‘Enid’s hands are always kept busy caring for other people…’ This week, Sally continues her theme of developing characters from objects by presenting a portrait of Enid Bagot, a young woman used to…

Katherine Mansfield

May 19, 2025 28m

‘His straw hat hurt him, it pinched his forehead and started a dull ache in the two bones just over the temples…’ This week, Sally has been reading and teaching Katherine Mansfield, focusing on…

A Fragment of May

May 02, 2025 11m

For Emilie: may you always sing. We return this week, for a special micro-episode, to Mrs Dalloway’s London. Listen for a brief meditation on the fragmentation of life, interruption, and finding…

Mrs Dalloway

Apr 27, 2025 23m

‘Now it was time to move, and, as a woman gathers her things together, her cloak, her gloves, her opera-glasses, and gets up to out of the theatre into the street, she rose from the sofa and went to…

Sightlines

Apr 04, 2025 30m

‘Sightlines produce a story, an avenue, a walkway, a space to move through…’ This week, we join Sally reflecting on the idea of the sightline, and the stories they structure. Listen for a meditation…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley have?

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley has published 94 episodes since December 2022, covering topics in Arts, Books.

Is A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley still active?

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley is currently highly active with new episodes monthly. Average episode length is 21m.

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