A Room Of Your Own – Détails, épisodes et analyse

This week I talked to Bettina Farack who has spent the last few years telling the story of the Higher Institute for Jewish Studies in Berlin. The Higher Institute was a centre for learning and a really important cultural hub for the Jewish community in Berlin before it was looted by the Nazis during the holocaust, and its books confiscated and distributed. Remarkably, in the last few years thousands of those original books have been collected from around the world, with each one not only telling the story of its origins, but also tracing a fascinating line to the present of books lost travelling around the world to private collections, libraries and flea markets.

This is a fascinating conversation with someone who is wholly engrossed in the lives of lost books.

This week I caught up with Meg Rees – who’s known as one of the most creative and expressive tattoo artists in London, and puts an element of the personal into everything that she does. People also may recognise her from her sex and relationships podcast – You’ve Gotta Be Joking – which dives deep into the trials of dating, and will be really relatable to a lot of young Londoners.

I met Meg a couple of years ago when she gave me my first tattoo, and I’ve been following her work ever since. In this episode we talk making her own space in East London, the objects around her house that act as reminders of friends and family, as well as delving into the book she is in the process of writing.

Find her on Instagram @bunnystattoos to see more of her tattoo work, painting, and fits from her ever-expanding wardrobe.

I was very lucky to be joined this week by Christen Pears. Christen is known for having created a beautiful home that she has created in the West of Cornwall, and for sharing this space with guests at her B’n’B. More recently, she has announced that she will be running reading retreats - for guests to unwind in an inspiring atmosphere, to take time for themselves. 

In this episode we talk about how Christen has found creating her own home and sharing her lifestyle online, as well as what inspired her to make her space available for reading retreats, and the pleasure that comes with dedicating time to carving out that time for yourself.

If you want to find out more about these reading retreats, do follow Christen on Instagram at ‘christenpears’, or go to her website middlecolensofarm.co.uk.

Additionally if you enjoy this episode and would like to find out more about the work that I do with clients to create dedicated spaces for reading and relaxing in their homes, you can find me at www.aroyo.org. Or do follow me on instagram @aroyo.pod for regular posts on how to make the most of your space and to find out how to read the spaces around you for what they say about you and your life. 

I was very lucky to be joined this week by author Alice Maddicott - whose work explores and mulls over our search for the meaning of place, largely through travels and the places that she has fallen in love with - Tblisi, Belgrade, Istanbul - as well as her own home deep in the West Country.

We go on to have a really important discussion on the therapeutic role that the mind can play when creating an imaginary world as a refuge that can’t be touched by the outside. 

If you want to understand more about the process of building dream reading spaces in your home and how I can work with you, do see contact information below:

Website - www.aroyo.org

Instagram - @aroyo.pod

Email - aroyo.podcast@gmail.com

 In this week’s episode I’m joined by Dr Isabella Rosner - who holds the impressive title of curator at the Royal School of Needlework. Once I managed to drag her away from her favourite topics of 18th Century tea-caddies, we discussed her favourite reading spaces - and took a long tangent to imagine the dream bathroom.

Isabella is a proper expert as well as an extremely lively, approachable and funny person. It was such a pleasure to have her on.

If you want to understand more about the process of building dream reading spaces in your home and the process involved, do see contact info below:

Website - www.aroyo.org

Instagram - @aroyo.pod

Email - aroyo.podcast@gmail.com

This week, I’m joined again by author and columnist for Country Living Magazine Sally Coulthard.

Sally is the author of over 20 non-fiction titles on nature, craft, design and the history of the countryside. Her latest book - A History of the Countryside in 100 Objects - delves deep into 100 curious objects that act as keys to the past.

In this episode, we will take all of those themes discussed in part 1, and build Sally’s dream family drawing room. A rag-tag collection of worn and comfortable furniture all pointing towards a large open fire, surrounded by walls of books, family photographs and fascinating objects dug up or recovered.

If you want to understand more about the process of building dream reading spaces in your home and the process involved, do visit my website:

A Room Of Your Own

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by author and columnist for Country Living Magazine Sally Coulthard.

Sally is the author of over 20 non-fiction titles on nature, craft, design and the history of the countryside. Her latest book - A History of the Countryside in 100 Objects - delves deep into 100 curious objects that act as keys to the past.

In our conversation we delve into her memories of reading and writing, of her favourite objects collected from beaches and roadsides, and her experience of making a home on a farm in the landscape of North Yorkshire. We also delve into why Eileen O'Shaughnessy makes the perfect downstairs-loo companion.

Next week’s episode will cover Sally’s dream writer’s escape. If you want to understand more about the process of building dream reading spaces in your home and the process involved, do visit my website:

A Room Of Your Own

This week’s episode is a chat with poet Supriya Dhaliwal about her work, the authors that have inspired her, and the meaning of place and belonging when finding your voice.

We go on to discuss her dream hideaway - a writer’s room hidden in the Wicklow Hills outside of Dublin - where she can write overlooking a garden and be surrounded by figures - some lost to history and others richly celebrated - through the words they have written.

If you want to find out more about my work as a library curator, and are curious about building a collection for yourself or for a loved one, please do visit my website: A Room Of Your Own

This week I chat with historian, author and podcaster Jackson Van Uden about History, Dictators and George Orwell. We discuss the books he has received as gifts, and the people who have given them, drawing stories out of these gifts to paint a brief picture of the people closest to him.

We go on to discuss his dream hideaway - a modernist beach house with sauna and pool looking over a calm ocean, with a classic library room tucked away with fire, large wooden desks, and a book collection that would serve him to keep exploring the world through its histories.

To find out more about Jackson and his podcast, visit: History With Jackson

And if you want to find out more about my work as a library curator, and how I might be able to work for you, do visit my website on: A Room Of Your Own

In this week’s episode, I introduce a new element to the show. Each month, I will take on a new theme, and build from scratch an ideal library that makes sense of it. The space will be vividly described from the ground up - so that you can imagine the sights, sounds and smells as if you were there. The second part of the episode will explore the ideal books to fill the shelves and to explore the theme.

This month, I have focused on Biophilia - our relationship with nature, and selected readings from some of my very favourite naturalists. Set in a vast subterranean cave that contains every possible landscape, I delve deep into our relationship with the living world through its books and through the wild places that constantly inspire us.

If you would like to see a more comprehensive reading list on the subject of Biophilia, or buy a curated selection of titles on the subject, these can be found within the episode page on my website: www.aroyo.org