The Bibliotherapists

Welcome to the finale episode of The Bibliotherapists! We couldn’t have asked for a better guest to close out Series 3. This week we’re joined by writer, Anna Wharton . A Sunday Times bestselling author and long-time ghostwriter, Anna has spent decades working with words in all their glorious forms: journalism, memoir, fiction, and an award-winning Substack, White Ink , where writing craft meets f...

It’s the penultimate episode of The Bibliotherapists Series #3, and we’re not sorry that your reading list is about to get a lot longer. This week we’re joined by Natasha Poliszczuk , a writer and journalist, Editor-in-Chief of industry bible, BookBrunch, and the voice behind the brilliantly bookish Substack, Book(ish) . Natasha has spent her career shaping conversations across the media landscape...

This week we’re talking to Sarah Knight , 47, a bestselling self-help author, editor, and professional truth-teller who’s made a career out of saying the things most of us are thinking but are far too polite to admit out loud (especially us Brits). Sarah is the author of the No F* cks Given Guides series, known for helping millions of readers care less about what doesn’t matter and focus on what d...

Welcome to a new episode of The Bibliotherapists. This week we’re in conversation with Caroline Donahue , a writer, coach, and book witch joining us from her home in Berlin. Caroline has spent years helping writers move through fear and into their creative work, and in this conversation she offers something grounding AND magical; a way of thinking about books not just as stories, but as spells cas...

Welcome to a new episode of The Bibliotherapists. This week Toni and I were joined by Katie Clapham , bookseller, writer, and the voice behind the popular Substack, Receipt from the Bookshop . Receipt from the Bookshop is a brilliantly wry weekly column observing life at Storytellers Inc., the small bookshop that Katie runs with her mum, Carolyn, in St. Annes on Sea, Lancashire, And in this interv...

Welcome to a new episode of The Bibliotherapists. This week Tanya and I were joined by coach, author and life design expert, Selina Barker , whose work has had a huge impact on how we both think about energy, burnout and what it really means to thrive. Selina is the author of Burnt Out , Time to Thrive , a nd the much-loved Goodbye Hello journals, a nourishing self-development New Year ritual for...

Welcome back to The Bibliotherapists. Where this week we had a full circle kind of conversation. Tanya has been following Penny Wincer ’s work for years, since stumbling across her podcast Not Too Busy To Write back in 2021. That discovery was the catalyst for huge change in the direction of Tan’s business, Ease Retreats, leading to collaborations with memoirists like Cathy Rentzenbrink and Clover...

Hello everybody, We’re back! Series Three of The Bibliotherapists podcast opened STRONG with a brilliant bookish conversation with Poorna Bell , journalist, author, and creator of Substack publication As I Was Saying . Poorna joined us live on Substack to talk about her new book, She Wanted More , a bold exploration of what happens when women stop waiting for permission and start asking for more f...

Welcome to the second series of The Bibliotherapists, and our FINAL episode, featuring MATT TRINETTI , a community builder, publisher, TED talker and the cofounder of London Writers’ Salon & Writers' Hour - aka the friendliest corner on the internet for writers. A must-listen for aspiring writers and people considering a new adventure. - 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Matt 1. Writing as...

Welcome to the second series of The Bibliotherapists, and our seventh episode, featuring Jennie Godfrey, the Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things . This is a lovely conversation on reinvention, recovery, and the power of words to change lives (our own and others). 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Jennie 1. It’s Never Too Late to Begin Jennie started writing her...

Welcome to the second series of The Bibliotherapists, and our sixth episode, featuring Stacey Heale , a writer, speaker, curator, fashion academic, and campaigner known for her honest discussions on womanhood, grief, and rebuilding after loss. This is a (surprisingly?) uplifting conversation about life, love and rebuilding. 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Stacey 1. Grief is a Portal, Not...

Welcome to the second series of The Bibliotherapists, and our fifth episode featuring Helen Marie , a professional therapist sharing thoughts from the therapy room. This episode is a must-listen for anyone feeling overwhelmed, depleted and/or disconnected and looking for tools to soothe. 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Helen 1. Regulation is the Foundation of Everything Helen explains ho...

Welcome to the second series of The Bibliotherapists, and our fourth episode featuring Donna Lancaster , an author, life transitions coach, group facilitator and spiritual mentor with 36 years experience. This episode is a balm for anyone navigating loss, longing or big life transitions. 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Donna 1. Grief is Not a Problem—It’s a Process Donna reframes grief n...

It's a new series of The Bibliotherapists, and for our third episode we're joined by Daisy Buchanan, award-winning author, journalist, podcaster and writing coach. In this uplifting conversation, Daisy talks about the healing power of fiction, the joy of reading as ritual, and how she uses books to support her mental health. 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Daisy 1. Books Can (should!) Be...

It's a new series of The Bibliotherapists, and for our second episode we are joined by Sam Baker; journalist, author, broadcaster, professional bookworm and creator of The Shift. Having spent decades in magazine land, today Sam, 59, is known for ‘endlessly banging the drum for women in midlife and beyond’. 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Sam 1. Midlife Can Be a Catalyst Sam challenges th...

It's a new series of The Bibliotherapists, and for our first episode we are joined by Clover Stroud, a bestselling author who writes on the way life feels. Clover writes about the big stuff - creativity, grief, joy, motherhood, sex, death - as well as life’s small but meaningful moments. 🎧 5 takeaways from our conversation with Clover 1. Grief as Catalyst for Creativity Clover’s writing often eme...

Welcome to our 10th and final episode of season one of The Bibliotherapists, a podcast hosted on and celebrating the people of Substack. And we are closing out in style 🥳🥳🥳 with a conversation with one of the platform’s big success stories and biggest evangelists, Emma Gannon . Emma, 35, is a bestselling and award-winning author of seven books: including The Multi-Hyphen Method, The Success Myt...

This week’s podcast episode is a brilliant double date, with Tanya and Toni joined by Salima Saxton and Jennifer Cox aka the founders of the feminist mental health platform, Women Are Mad . Salima and Jen have been best friends since they met at Cambridge University, bonding over both being state school kids who didn’t quite fit. Today, Salima is a relationship dynamics coach and Jen is a Kleinian...

Tamu Thomas , is a transformational and embodiment coach, workshop facilitator, podcaster and somatic movement practitioner. Tamu helps over-functioning, over-working, high-achieving women to establish boundaries, find their purpose AND make good money. Toni interviewed Tamu about her first book, Women Who Work Too Much : Break Free from Toxic Productivity and Find Your Joy , in April last year, a...

Our seventh episode of the podcast is actually the first one we recorded. And I (TJ) secretly think that scoring an interview with this guest was my co-host Tanya’s main motivation for embarking on this whole podcast journey. Listen to the interview and you’ll hear her girlcrushing hard on the author, professor, and Substack’s poster girl for midlife adventures, Anne Boyd. SHOW NOTES: In this epis...

Our sixth episode of the pod is definitely one for our writers friends out here. Whether you’re a published author or have just started posting on Substack, today’s guest, the writer, photographer, book seller and fog lover, Laura Pashby has SO MANY gems to inspire and support your writing. Laura’s new book, Chasing Fog , is out now, and in this conversation she reveals how she manages her time be...

It’s time for the fifth episode of our chart-topping new podcast, and we're SO glad we’re sharing this episode ahead of the Christmas holidays, because you’re going to need some serious down time to make any kind of dent in this guest’s EPIC reading list. Professional reader and writer Lucy Pearson lives and works between Bondi (Australia) and London (UK), curating libraries and book collections f...

It’s time for a new episode of The Bibliotherapists, and today’s conversation is a really rather special one, because it features Claire Venus, a huge inspiration to our hosts Tanya and Toni, and the reason this podcast exists. It’s also a total celebration of taking the time to get to know ourselves and what makes us happy on the inside, in order to be able to best serve and ultimately create suc...

We're so excited to introduce you to our third podcast episode, and our very first celebrity guest, the wonderful Beth Kempton . Today’s episode is a joyous and juicy conversation featuring personal stories and odes to poetry, piles of book recommendations and - of course - a lot of Substack love. Beth has written SIX non-fiction books, including several bestsellers and several focused on her love...

The Bibliotherapists, is a new podcast from Substackers and community builders Tanya Lynch (EASE Retreats) and Toni Jones (The Shelf Help Club) exploring the healing power of words. You can read all about how our story began in Episode #1 and our first post (in which host Toni interviews host Tanya). And in this episode we continue the intros, with Tanya interviewing Toni, and we learn all about h...