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PODCAST

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley

Sally Bayley, Andrew Smith

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

arts books

All Episodes

21:46

Arrivals

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/10/04

‘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 those in L.P. Hartley’s 1957 novel, The Hireling. Listen for a meditation on the choreography of writing and the arrangement of characters, including those featured in Sally’s forthcoming work, Mrs Parnell. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson,

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47:19

A Conversation on Difficulty and Ambiguity

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/09/20

‘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 to indulge in such an orgy of concentrated thought, that these three or four hours lengthened themselves out into something beyond all human measurement.’We rejoin Sally this week in conversation with the producer, James Bowen, discussing how to navigate, and ultimately teach, ‘difficult’ literature,

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15:21

Mrs Parsons

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/09/13

‘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 housekeeper Mrs Parsons encounters a figure on the stairs. But who is this figure? An intruder? A suitor? Or even, perhaps, a reimagining of Gabriel Conroy, from Joyce’s short story ‘The Dead’ (1914)? Listen for an immersion in Sally’s creative process, developing an image and its home in a

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50:13

A Conversation on Objects and Symbols

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/09/03

‘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 something.’A special episode this week, as we join Sally in conversation with James Bowen, the podcast’s producer and a fellow teacher of literature. Listen for a conversation on the role of objects in narratives, and the way in which characters reduce one another to symbols in modernist literature, ranging

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23:36

The Other Side of the Fire

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/07/18

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 pilgrim cloud wept a few chill tears.’ This week, Sally is once again in the world of Alice Thomas Ellis. Listen for a close reading of the opening of Ellis’ fourth novel, The Other Side of the Fire (1983), focusing on the construction of space, character, and intimacy between writer, narrator, and

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23:15

The 27th Kingdom

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/07/03

‘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 navigating the world of Alice Thomas Ellis’ absurdist novel, The 27th Kingdom (1982), exploring the parallel lives of its two central women. Listen for a meditation on building character, society, and our means of placing ourselves in the world around us. More information on Ellis and her work can be

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15:21

The Green Lady

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/06/14

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 Oxfordshire Mind’s evening of ‘Connections.’ Listen for an invocation of character, both in fiction and of those figures in our own lives that become part of our stories. Both Gladys and J.M.W. Turner feature in Sally’s recent novel, The Green Lady (William Collins, 2023). This episode was edited and

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28:56

Being Handy

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/06/01

‘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 working with her hands, who will feature in Sally’s forthcoming imagined biography, provisionally titled Mrs Parnell. Listen for a reflection on the routines and rhythms of life and work, interspersed with the moments from Sally’s own life that provide her inspiration. The image of the cat by Edward Lear

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28:44

Katherine Mansfield

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/05/19

‘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 characters in her short fiction. Listen for a masterclass on openings, writing characters through objects, and making connections between and through them. The full text of the stories Sally reads can be found here. The passage read in the final section comes from Sally’s forthcoming fictional biography,

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11:00

A Fragment

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/05/02

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 meaning in art. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

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23:48

Mrs Dalloway

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/04/27

‘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 Peter…’This week, we join Sally reflecting on the arrangement of character. Listen for a journey, via Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925) through perspectives, cityscapes, and the means by which we navigate everyday life. The music accompanying the initial discussion of Mrs Dalloway is ‘Friday’, by

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30:38

Sightlines

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/04/04

‘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 on narrative, childhood, and a unique perspective of and from The Dreaming Spires… The text of the Sylvia Plath poem Sally references can be found here. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

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29:01

Rhapsody

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/03/11

‘I try to live my life as though I were stitching together a book of songs.’This week, Sally offers us a tour through the stitched-together songs of her life, reflecting on the form of rhapsody. Join her for a series of vignettes on art, education, memory, and connection. This text of this episode is based on an address Sally gave at Wadham College Chapel, part of an evening of ‘Taking Heart in Poetry & Song’ for St David's Day. More information can be found here. The full text of Dylan

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21:27

The Painter

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/02/01

‘I see that she is thinking most of her canvas, and how she will get there…’This week, we join Sally after visiting her friend, the artist Emma Neuberg. Listen for a reflection of friendship, travel, and the connections art offers us. More information on Emma and her work can be found here. She can also be found on Instagram @emmaneuberg. The beautiful piano music in the closing section is ‘Tuesday’, by Paul Sebastian. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew

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28:44

Blithe

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2025/01/12

‘Blithe came to me, not in flashing red or pink neon, but in pastels… in soft, painterly tones…’This week, Sally has been inspired by a dream of the word ‘blithe.’ Listen for a meditation on the relationship between words, language, and the memories they ignite. The Muir poem Sally reads can be found here. The music used in the opening and closing section is, respectively, ‘Sunday’ and ‘Thursday’, by Paul Sebastian. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew

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25:16

On Rhythm

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2024/12/11

‘Rhythm seems to be the first or formal relation of part to part in any whole…’This week, Sally has been thinking about rhythms, in her life, writing, and the works of others. Listen for a meditation, via James Joyce, Jean Rhys’ Good Morning, Midnight (1939), and Sally’s work in progress, on the suturing of experience, and the spaces between moments of being. Joyce’s reflection on rhythm, among others, can be found in full here. Sally is currently in the early stages of writing out the rhythms and

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21:34

Orphan Power

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2024/11/23

This week, Sally has been reflecting on her ‘orphan power’, a phrase once applied to her by Will Self, and her relationship with orphaned literary characters such as Jane Eyre. Listen for a meditation on isolation, belonging, and the communities that art can provide.The extracts performed here involving Jane Eyre and Miss Marple are from Sally’s first coming of age novel, Girl with Dove (William Collins, 2018). The wonderful piano music in the opening section is 'Rain', by Paul Sebastian. This

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16:14

Playing in the Sun

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2024/11/15

This week, we join Sally at home, on a sunny autumn day. Listen for a meditation on play, weather, and our relationships with everyday objects.The passage from David Copperfield can be found here. More from Sally on the kaleidoscope mentioned early in the episode can be found here. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

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19:28

Calpurnia's Dream

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2024/10/29

‘Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, / Yet now they fright me.’This week, we join Sally in the early morning, after a Shakespearean dream. Listen for a meditation on the boundaries between sleeping and waking, dreams and reality, and confidence and hubris. Calpurnia’s full speech can be found here. The wonderful piano music in the opening section is ‘Tuesday’, by Paul Sebastian. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer,

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17:32

On Walking

A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley ·

2024/10/19

‘I hate walking, it seems so pointless to me…’This week, Sally has been musing on the importance of mobility, reflecting on the increasing role of her blue scooter in her life. Listen for a meditation on the importance of transport, both physical and imaginative, via Thomas Bernhard, Agatha Christie, and Elizabeth Bishop. Miss Marple of Bourne End has previously appeared in Sally’s first novel, Girl with Dove (2018). Available from all good booksellers. The guitar music in the opening section is by

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