The Women's Podcast

Cancer is life changing in many ways, but our guest this week found that her devastating diagnosis in 2017 set her off on a new career path. Georgie Crawford, mother of one, lives with her husband Jamie in Dublin and is the host of the hugely successful The Good Glow podcast. She started the podcast as she struggled to come to terms with her cancer diagnosis and treatment and found that talking to others about their life changing stories helped her to deal with what was a very difficult time in her life. Thanks to the success of the podcast she was able to leave her job in radio and make a very successful living creating content that has struck a chord with millions. As she launches a spin off The Good Glow Health, Roisin Ingle talked to her about her illness and recovery and about her life now as one of Ireland's most popular podcast hosts. We're also still looking for happy stories so do send us news of any uplifting things that have happened to you during the pandemic. Email us on thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com or find us on social @itwomenspodcast and the best story will win a bundle of books from us here at The Women's Podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After six months of a global pandemic we needed some good news so this episode features Mimi Wilcox, a young filmmaker from Chicago who after a whirlwind weekend romance in her home town with an Irish man decided to visit him in Ireland for five days. The only problem was, Leo Varadkar announced Lockdown the day she arrived. Air travel was cancelled and Mimi was stuck in Ireland with David Michael McKernan, a man she barely knew. What happened next? We find out in the film they made together about their Lockdown experience How to Fall in Love in a Pandemic. Mimi came on the podcast to tell Roisin Ingle the whole story. Speaking of good news, has anything great happened for you or your family in the last six months? If it has we want to hear about it as an antidote to the gloom. Tell us by emailing thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com and the best bit of good news will win some great new books to keep you going through Autumn. If you don’t want to email send us your good news on instagram, twitter or facebook @itwomenspodcast put Good news! In the subject line and let us know your happy happenings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Artist’s Way was first published in 1991 by screenwriter and teacher Julia Cameron. A classic guide to creativity, the book has sold over five million copies and has recently been redesigned and relaunched for a new generation. Hailed by celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Russell Brand and Reece Witherspoon, it’s key ideas include Morning Pages, a daily ritual designed to declutter the mind, and the Artist’s Date, a commitment to set aside time each week to nurture your creative soul. Even if you feel like you haven’t a creative bone in your body, Cameron maintains ‘there is no such thing as a non-creative person’. In this conversation with Róisín Ingle, the author explains how the book came about after her recovery from alcoholism, how the practises work to move past creative blocks and why you're never too old to try something new. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By age sixty-four, Jenni Murray's weight had become a disability. The broadcaster and author avoided the scales, wore a uniform of baggy black clothes and refused to make connections between her weight and health issues. A successful author and the host of BBC Woman’s Hour, Murray appeared to have it all, but in private she lived with a growing fear that she wouldn’t even make it to seventy. In this episode, she speaks to Kathy Sheridan about the life changing surgery which helped her lose eight stone in less than a year and why she decided to document her weight loss journey in the new book, Fat Cow, Fat Chance. This latest offering from Murray is a refreshingly honest account of what it’s like to be fat when society dictates that skinny is the norm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last Big Night In of our first season took place on Zoom last Saturday night with author, literary historian and playwright Emma Donoghue. The Room-author joined us from her home in Ontario, Canada where she lives with her partner and two teenage children. Donoghue has just released The Pull of the Stars, a novel set 100 years ago in Dublin during The Great Flu. The pandemic setting was a complete coincidence she told Roisin Ingle, explaining that the book had been written and submitted before Covid-19 hit. She spoke about her writing life, going to the Oscars, sexuality, parenting and her swotty tendencies which began in childhood. This was our last Big Night In for a while so we wanted to thank our sponsor Green & Blacks for providing gorgeous hampers of chocolate and every single one of you who joined us over these distracting, joyful and entertaining Lockdown conversations. We'll definitely be bringing The Big Night In back. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yoga has had an excellent pandemic. There's been a boom in online classes and even President Michael D Higgins was still getting his downward dog on in the Áras during Lockdown. So it's the perfect time for a free online yoga festival and in this episode we talk to Cathy Pearson, the woman behind the Celtic Woodland Yoga Festival, a three day gathering for people who love yoga or who are just yoga curious. Pearson spoke to Roisin Ingle about the festival, about how she went from a job in the film industry to a life in the healing arts in the jungles of Thailand and about how she juggles her practice and motherhood. For more details and to register for free go to celticwoodlandyogafestival.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Roisin Ingle talks to Susannah Dickey, the author of a stunning debut novel Tennis Lessons which is set in Northern Ireland and follows a young woman as she struggles to find her place in the world. Dickey is an award-winning poet from Derry but her new novel shows her gift for the longer novel form. She has written a fantastic book containing rich dialogue and a gritty, authentic coming of age story. We follow the unnamed protagonist from the age of 3 right up to her late twenties, as she deals with the break-up of her parents marriage, various sexual encounters and trying to reconcile the life she imagined for herself with the one that is playing out. It's also the story of friendship, the kind that puts you back together when you are lost. Also, in this episode Ingle announces our final Big Night In with special guest Room-author Emma Donoghue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's episode, we are talking about life, death and grief in the time of Covid-19. This is a fraught issue, not just for those who've lost loved ones to the virus but for those with friends or relations that died during this very strange time of socially distanced funerals where numbers are severely limited. Roisin Ingle spoke to Orla Keegan at The Irish Hospice Foundation’s Bereavement Support Line which launched on the 9th June to provide a confidential space for people to speak about their experience or to ask questions relating to the death of someone during the COVID-19 pandemic or a previous bereavement. Also, back in March The Irish Times put forward an open call to readers to share their personal experiences of bereavement during the pandemic. Some of those who contributed also shared their story on the confronting coronavirus podcast. Today we bring you some of those recordings to shine a light on the very different kind of mourning that has been happening at this time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Roisin Ingle talked to Green Party Councillor Hazel Chu who has just been elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, only the 9th woman in the city's history to take on the role. On a Zoom call from her new home the Mansion House in Dawson Street, Chu told Ingle why being the first person of colour in the role is important and reflects the rich diversity of the city. She spoke about her experience of racism, why she wants her daughter Alex to grow up being proud of her Chinese heritage and the Green Party leadership challenge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For many women the Spring and Summer of 2020 will always be the time when their much anticipated weddings were prevented from happening because of the pandemic. While not exactly life or death, there’s no getting away from the fact that the cancellation of these special and meticulously planned days were a cause of disappointment for everyone involved. In this episode, two almost-brides author Laura de Barra and Women’s Podcast co-producer Suzanne Brennan talk about how they feel about their weddings not happening, what they did to mark the day and whether the pandemic has changed their approach to the postponed Big Day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.