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Show Notes
This week I chat with Dr Samantha Rayner, Vice Dean of Wellbeing and Director of Publishing at UCL. We talk about how books affect our wellbeing and how we reach for different books for different reasons. We dive through historical fiction and make a quick stop in the world of mediaeval literature.

Sam has edited a new book on Georgette Heyer which you can find here

Authors and works mentioned in the episode:
Authors:
Georgette Heyer
Robin Hobb
J.R.R. Tolkien
Dorothy Dunnett
Margaret Campbell Barnes
Anya Seaton
Chaucer

Works:
Wilding by Isabella Tree
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Selected Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Katherine by Anya Seton
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Abelard and Heloise by  Peter Waddell
Love Without End: A Story of Heloise and Abelard by Melvyn Bragg
La Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Pearl

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Show Notes
David Fox of MOXI Health and Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown join me to discuss physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace.
We talk about what wellbeing is and how to define it and why it’s important to be self aware of our physical and emotional states. understand the consequences of stress and poor wellbeing.

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Show Notes
I chat with the lovely Nadya Menuhin this week all about theatre, playwriting, and agenting. We discuss favourite books, mental health, the power of theatre and so much more in a fabulous interview. There’s even some fun squirrel facts at the very end.

Nadya’s twitter
Hive Mind project

Authors and works mentioned:
Authors
David Sedaris
Jeanette Winterson
A. M. Homes
Rachel Cusk
Max Frisch
André Breton
Simon Stevens
Christopher Hampton
Simon McBurney
Yuval Noah Harari
Joseph Conrad

Works
Graceling  by Kristin Cashore
Santaland Diaries  by David Sedaris
Written on the Body  by Jeanette Winterson
This Book Will Save Your Life  by A. M. Homes
Homo Faber  by Max Frisch
Nadja  by André Breton
Art  by Yasmina Reza
Sapiens  by Yuval Noah Harari
Homo Deus  by Yuval Noah Harari
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

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Show Notes
I chat with Jonny Geller, literary agent and CEO of Curtis Brown. We talk all about agenting and the stresses attached to it, what books Jonny likes to read (and re-read!) and why as well as about the benefits on mental health of a large literary agency and the difficulties of agenting in a pandemic.
(Jonny’s picture by Dean Belcher)

Link to Curtis Brown Group – Literary Agency
Link to Jonny’s twitter
Link to Curtis Brown twitter

List of authors and works mentioned:
Authors:
Susanna Clarke
Taschen (Publisher)
Gustav Flaubert
Marcel Proust
Ivan Turgenev
Gabriel García Márquez
Tracy Chevalier
David Nicholls
Matthew Syed
John le Carré
William Boyd
David Mitchell
Jane Austen
Anton Chekhov

Works:
Yes, but is it Good for the Jews?  by Jonny Geller
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell  by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi  by Susanna Clarke
Anna Karenina  by Leo Tolstoy
One Hundred Years of Solitude  by Gabriel García Márquez
A Fine Balance  by Rohinton Mistry
Girl with a Pearl Earring  by Tracy Chevalier
Short stories by Chekhov

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Show Notes
Our first Work & Life episode sees me chatting with Michael Chivers about his global journey in HR. How Michael learned to ask ‘how can we help?’ and focused in on the importance of caring for employees as an HR Director for companies such as Sony and Maersk.

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Trailer for the new Work & Life wellbeing podcast from UCL 

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Show Notes
In this Shelf Healing interview we chat to Clare Balding, author, broadcaster, and advocate for women in sport. We talk about books that help us understand ourselves better, the power of animals and animals in books, audio and walking, and getting around to reading newspapers.

Link to Clare’s website
Link to Clare’s twitter

Links to charities, people, and podcasts mentioned in the episode:
Strength and Learning Through Horses
Ted the Assiantance Dog
Ebony Riding School
RDA (Riding for the Disabled)
Fortunately
Economist Radio 

Authors and works mentioned in the podcast:
Heroic Animals by Clare Balding
How to Win a Life Without Losing Yourself by Dr Pippa Grange
The Long Win: The search for a better way to succeed by Cath Bishop
The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
My Animals and Other Family by Clare Balding
After You’ve Gone by Maggie O’Farrell
One Day by David Nicholls
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Triumps and Turbulence by Chris Boardman
A Few Wise Words
The History of the World in 100 Animals by Simon Barnes