Shelf Life

Mobeena and Paul discuss all things Bibliotherapy. How can books and poetry help our well-being? And our first listener request for Dear Shelf Life, about books for introverts. Episode contents & timings: Intro 00:00 - 01:55 What have we been reading? 01:55 - 07:05 Dear Shelf Life: Books for introverts 07:05 - 13:10 "Book Doctor" project 13:10 - 19:05 Poetry 19:05 - 26:15 Library well-being collections 26:15 - 28:45 Further discussion on bibliotherapy 28:45 - 35:45 Outro 35:45 - End Book list & transcript coming soon

A recording of an online talk and Q&A with Sunday Times bestselling crime author Elly Griffiths (ellygriffiths.co.uk/) who discussed her recent novel The Night Hawks, and the craft of writing, in conversation with bestselling Bristol novelist Jane Shemilt (janeshemilt.com/) The Night Hawks Dr Ruth Galloway returns to the moody and beautiful landscape of North Norfolk to confront another killer. A devastating new case for our favourite forensic archaeologist in the thirteenth novel in this acclaimed and bestselling crime series. The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists, are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach in North Norfolk. At first Nelson thinks that the dead man might be an asylum seeker but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison. Ruth is more interested in the treasure, a hoard of Bronze Age weapons. Nelson at first thinks that Taylor's death is accidental drowning, but a second death suggests murder.Nelson is called to an apparent murder-suicide of a couple at the isolated Black Dog Farm.Local legend talks of the Black Shuck, a spectral hound that appears to people before they die. Nelson ignores this, even when the owner's suicide note includes the line, 'He's buried in the garden.' Ruth excavates and finds the body of a giant dog.All roads lead back to this farm in the middle of nowhere, but the place spells serious danger for anyone who goes near. About the Author Bestselling crime author Elly Griffiths worked in publishing before becoming a full-time writer. Her series of Dr Ruth Galloway novels, featuring a forensic archaeologist, are set in Norfolk and regularly hit the Sunday Times top ten in hardback and paperback. The series has won the CWA Dagger in the Library and has been shortlisted three times for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. There are twelve books in the series so far with number thirteen to be published in February 2021. Her Brighton-based mystery series set in the 1950s and 1960s is inspired partly by her grandfather’s life on the stage and the war magician Jasper Maskelyne, who claimed to have spent the war creating large scale illusions to misdirect the enemy. One of the two leading characters in the series Max Mephisto is based on Maskelyne.In 2017 she was the Programming Chair of Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Festival in Harrogate, the oldest and best-established crime fiction festival in the UK. In 2018 Elly wrote her first standalone novel The Stranger Diaries. The novel was a top 10 paperback bestseller, selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club and as a summer 2019 Richard and Judy book. Her second standalone The Postscript Murders came out in autumn 2020. In 2019 Elly published her first children's book in spring 2019 to great reviews with a second following in 2020. Elly Griffiths lives near Brighton with her husband, an archaeologist, and their two grown children. Transcript coming soon Shelf Life listener survey: https://bit.ly/ShelfLife_Survey

We talk with Mary Milton, an active member of the Sea Mills community, about Sea Mills 100: the centenary project that explores and celebrates this garden suburb’s social history. The project has culminated in a micro museum, a number of outdoor events, a podcast, and most recently, a book, entitled “How Lucky I Was: A book of Sea Mills memories.” It’s a fascinating journey into a place with a remarkable history. Built originally as a pragmatic but idealist council housing estate, for veterans of World War One, Sea Mills can tell us a lot about what housing can mean. We hear about what Mary learned, and what surprised her, as she developed Sea Mills 100. Find out more about the project here: seamills100.co.uk/ Transcript coming soon Please help inform future episodes by completing our listener survey: bit.ly/ShelfLife_Survey Thanks!

Words of Colour & Bristol Libraries present a panel discussion on the theme Politics, Power & Protest, with Muneera Pilgrim & special guests (Please scroll down for links, including reading recommendations) Based on the theme of Power, Protest and Politics in the BBC 100 Novels That Shaped Our World longlist, 'Power, Protest & Poetry' was a series of online literary events with international poet Muneera Pilgrim, encouraging participants to create works in response to the books and our times. In this podcast episode, we share with you the final event, 'Power, Protest & Poetry: The Bristol Edition'. It took place online, on Thursday 8th April 2021, and was a panel discussion on the theme Politics, Power & Protest with Heather from Words of Colour (see description below), Muneera Pilgrim (see bio below), and special guest Colin Ward, from the Bristol Radical History Group (https://www.brh.org.uk). There was also a reading of selected poems from the workshops, plus a special performance from Muneera Pilgrim. What does it mean to have witnessed the pulling down of the Colston Statue, and the 'Kill The Bill' protests? What does it mean to live in one of the most segregated cities in the country? If you were given a platform, what would you write? By its nature, this discussion was more political than our usual content, so just to remind you that any opinions expressed here are not those of Bristol Libraries, but rather the views of whoever was speaking. Muneera Pilgrim is a Bristol born international Poet, Cultural Producer, Writer, Broadcaster and TEDx speaker. She co-founded the Muslim Hip-Hop and spoken word duo Poetic Pilgrimage, and she is a co-founder of Black Muslim Women Bike. She regularly contributes to BBC 2’s Pause for Thought, she is a community artist with In Between Time, and alumni associate artist with The English Touring Theatre where she is writing her first play. Muneera’s first full poetry collection will be released late 2021 with Burning Eye books. Muneera has written for The Guardian, Amaliah, Huffington Post, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Black Ballard and various other platforms. She has been featured across the BBC network, as well as Sky News, Sky Arts, and Al Jazeera. In 2015 a documentary about her former group Poetic Pilgrimage was commissioned by Al Jazeera, “Hip-Hop Hijabis has been screened several times since. Find her on Instagram and Twitter (@MuniPilgrim). Words of Colour Productions is a Creative Development Agency for writers, artists, creatives and entrepreneurs of colour that collaborates with organisations and institutions who are ready to actively commit to systemic transformation programmes that inspire and facilitate inclusion and action. Find Words of Colour on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. BBC Novels That Shaped Our World: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/494P41NCbVYHlY319VwGbxp/explore-the-list-of-100-novels-that-shaped-our-world Muneera Pilgrim's Reading Recommendations: https://wordsofcolour.co.uk/power-protest-poetry-muneera-pilgrims-reading-recommendations/ Poetry showcase online: https://wordsofcolour.co.uk/power-protest-poetry-the-workshop-poets/ Transcript coming soon * Please help inform future episodes by completing our listener survey: https://bit.ly/ShelfLife_Survey Thanks!

We chat with Andy, a library assistant at Bishopsworth Library, about living with dyslexia and working in libraries, and what we can offer to support dyslexic readers. Shownotes and transcript for this episode coming soon On a separate note, we've launched a listener survey to help inform future episodes - please help us out by filling it in, if you can spare a moment - bit.ly/ShelfLifeListenerSurvey - thanks!

*Please note: this episode contains mild sexual references , so may not be suitable for all audiences.* We're excited to share with you our recording of an author event Bristol Libraries hosted during LGBT+ History Month this year. In this recording, Frank Wynne, a literary translator, writer, and editor, discusses his latest book ‘Queer: LGBTQ Writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday’ with writer, publisher, and co-chair of Out Stories Bristol, Cheryl Morgan. A little about Wynne’s book - ‘Queer’ is a compilation of 80 of the finest works representing queer love by LGBTQ authors. It contains stories, poems, extracts, and scenes from countries all over the world and throughout time, and is an unabashed, unapologetic anthology that gives voice to LGBT+ people, who, as we know, are often unfairly silenced. Shownotes and transcript coming soon.

Mum's Jumper is "a simple, heartfelt and ultimately uplifting book for anyone coping with loss" (https://www.bookisland.co.uk/products/mums-jumper) We talk with the book's author & illustrator, Jayde Perkin, and publisher, Greet Pauwelijn. We talked about how they created the book, the public’s response to it, and the power of books to process grief and start difficult conversations. They also discussed personal experiences of dealing with grief, sharing some useful tips & reflections, as well as some book recommendations. Booklist & Transcript: bit.ly/ShelfLife14Notes

An evening with bestselling author, broadcaster, classicist & comedian Natalie Haynes, discussing her latest book, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths. This episode was created from the recording of an event with Libraries Connected and Bristol Libraries on 20th November 2020. Transcript coming soon. More background : Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories. Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, from the Trojan War to Jason and the Argonauts. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost three thousand years ago. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men, and have routinely shown little interest in telling women’s stories. And when they do, those women are often painted as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil. But Pandora – the first woman, who according to legend unloosed chaos upon the world – was not a villain, and even Medea and Phaedra have more nuanced stories than generations of retellings might indicate. Now, in Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, Natalie Haynes – broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist – redresses this imbalance. Taking Pandora and her jar (the box came later) as the starting point, she puts the women of the Greek myths on equal footing with the menfolk. After millennia of stories telling of gods and men, be they Zeus or Agamemnon, Paris or Odysseus, Oedipus or Jason, the voices that sing from these pages are those of Hera, Athena and Artemis, and of Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Eurydice and Penelope. 'Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to, and how they sometimes made idiots of . . . but read on!' – Margaret Atwood About the Author Natalie Haynes is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of five books including A Thousand Ships, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, The Children of Jocasta and The Amber Fury, as well as a non-fiction book about Ancient History, The Ancient Guide to Modern Life. She has written and presented two series of the BBC Radio 4 show, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. In 2015, she was awarded the Classical Association Prize for her work in bringing Classics to a wider audience. A Thousand Ships: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020 One of the Guardian's and TLS's 'Best Books of 2019' In A Thousand Ships, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes retells the story of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective, for fans of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker. This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . . In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen. From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women embroiled in the legendary war. Powerfully told from an all-female perspective, in A Thousand Ships Natalie Haynes puts the women, girls and goddesses at the centre of the story. 'With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War' – Madeline Miller, author of Circe 'A gripping feminist masterpiece' Deborah Frances-White, The Guilty Feminist

We chat with Jill Parsons from Imayla CIC about building creative connections with children in St Paul's Library last summer. She discusses the challenges and rewards of letting children lead on creative projects, how to enthuse them about literature, and working with to process difficult emotions using art and books. We also talk about what we've been reading, and introduce a new feature, Dear Shelf Life, in which Jill asks us about book recommendations for young people's mental health. Read the transcript here: http://bit.ly/ShelfLife12Transcript Find out more about Imayla CIC here: http://www.imayla.com/

Richard Ovenden OBE discusses his latest book, 'Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack', a Radio 4 Book of the Week. "Libraries and archives have been attacked since ancient times but have been especially threatened in the modern era. Today the knowledge they safeguard faces purposeful destruction and willful neglect; deprived of funding, libraries are fighting for their very existence. Burning the Books recounts the history that brought us to this point." - Harvard University Press Transcript: http://bit.ly/ShelfLife11Transcript

The first episode of Season 2 of Shelf Life, the Bristol Libraries podcast. In this episode, we look back on the books we read in 2020 - those we loved, those we hated, comfort reads, challenging reads, and the books that helped us get through a difficult year. We talk about setting ourselves a new reading challenge and which books we’re most excited to read in 2021. Subscribe now wherever you find your podcasts: bit.ly/ShelfLife_Podbean Full Transcript and Book List here: bit.ly/ShelfLife10TranscriptandBookList

Shelf Life is the podcast from Bristol Libraries, where we talk about Libraries, Bristol and Books. In Season Two, we also share highlights from our online events, including talks and interviews with guests and authors. Subscribe here: bit.ly/ShelfLife_Podbean or wherever you listen to podcasts Every episode has a transcript. Here's the transcript for this trailer: Presenter: Shelf Life is the podcast from Bristol Libraries, where we talk about Libraries, Bristol and Books Clip: “I found that really powerful. Like, we talk about the power of reading for empathy, and this book really brought that home for me” Presenter: In Season Two We share highlights from our online events, including talks and interviews with guests and authors. Clip: “I love this idea that when women get together it’s intrinsically dangerous” Presenter: Subscribe to Shelf Life, wherever you find your podcasts

Did you know that Bristol Libraries have a podcast? 🎧 Shelf Life is all about our libraries, books and Bristol. Subscribe here: bit.ly/ShelfLife_Podbean or wherever you listen to podcasts Every episode has a transcript. Here's the transcript for this trailer: Presenter: Shelf Life is a new podcast from Bristol Libraries. And this is a podcast about libraries, books, and people. We talk about the books we’ve been reading… Clip: “Bernadine Evaristo’s Man Booker winner, yeah just a really interesting book” Clip: “Can I just say how brave you are to be reading 1984 in the middle of a pandemic! Haha!” Presenter: And we speak with people working in and outside our libraries, authors and organisations locally and nationally, and members of community groups, who share our love of books, reading, and libraries. For example, we spoke with founding member of the Reading Agency, Debbie Hicks,... Clip: “They love books and reading, but they also love people and understand local communities. So I think they’re absolute pioneers, on the rock face of reader development, and I take my hat off to them” Presenter: LC from WECIL, the West of England Centre for Independent Living... Clip: “Books can be such a powerful way to share disabled people's stories and for people to find out that they're not alone” Presenter: Pravanya and Naz from local youth employability organisation Babassa Clip: “Yes, I think we have to revolutionise libraries a little bit” Presenter: Local historian, writer, curator and performer Dr Edson Burton Clip - question: “Do you want to talk about Colston coming down?” Response: “Ooh, yeah! Hahaha!” Presenter: And people who have been working in NHS and domestic abuse support roles Clip: “It felt more like a war in that language, but it’s not a war, it’s helping people through a really really difficult time’ Presenter: So if you’re interested in books or in people, lend us your ears, and subscribe now to Shelf Life from Bristol Libraries

We talk with Joe, from the Bristol Short Story Prize, about how the prize was set up, how it's been working under a pandemic, and what makes a good story. Joe also tells us about his experience working in a bookshop, and with BRISTOL 24/7, and we all share book recommendations. Shownotes & transcript: http://bit.ly/ShelfLife9TranscriptandShownotes

In this episode, we speak to Ruth Myers from Local Learning and the cast of Meadows to Meaders, a Southmead based community soap opera. As May has been is Local and Community History Month, Paul, Sian, Katharine and Ruth discuss the importance of oral history, reveal this episode's 'Library Treasure' and share what they've been reading. Shownotes and transcript: bit.ly/shelflifeepisode4shownotesandtranscript

We discuss this year's Summer Reading Challenge, recommend children's books, and share the books we enjoyed as children, as well as those we've enjoyed recently Shownotes & transcript: http://bit.ly/ShelfLife8TranscriptandShownotes

In this episode we talk with two NHS nurses and a domestic abuse support worker about books, mental health, and their thoughts on COVID-19. Transcript and shownotes here: https://bit.ly/ShelfLife7TranscriptandShownotes

In this episode, we talk to writer, historian and performer Dr Edson Burton about Bristol, Books & Black Lives Matter. Shownotes & transcript here: bit.ly/ShelfLife6TranscriptandShownotes

We talk with Babbasa about their projects empowering young people in Bristol, their creative responses to the pandemic, plus their thoughts on libraries, and their favourite books Also, our regular features: What are we reading? Library Update Library Treasure Shownotes & Transcript here: bit.ly/ShelfLife5shownotesandtranscript

In this episode, we speak to Aiysha of @Aiysha_poetry (on Instagram), who works at Bristol Libraries and is a freelance poet. Aiysha shares with us their poetry and novel recommendations, talks about the Bristol poetry scene, and reads 2 original poems. Listen as Paul, Sian, and Katharine reflect on mental health and poetry, reveal their 'Library Treasure' of the episode, and share what they've been reading. Shownotes & transcript: bit.ly/shelflife3shownotesandtranscript