A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley Podcast
1) A Conversation on Objects and Symbols
‘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...Show More
2) The Other Side of the Fire
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 pilg...Show More
3) The 27th Kingdom
‘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 na...Show More
4) The Green Lady
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 Oxfordsh...Show More
5) Being Handy
‘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 wo...Show More
6) Katherine Mansfield
‘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 charac...Show More
7) A Fragment
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 meani...Show More
8) Mrs Dalloway
‘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 P...Show More
9) Sightlines
‘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 o...Show More
10) Rhapsody
‘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...Show More