For the final episode of season 4 I talk with undertaker and owner of the independent funeral service Natural Endings, Rosie Grant. After listening to several episodes of this season, Rosie reached out to me to suggest talking with me about her creative, personal, and as she described it ‘radical’, approach to honouring the lives of those we love. I have admired Rosie and her fellow undertaker Lisa’s work from afar, via social media, so this felt like a true honour to be invited over for a chat,...
Aug 09, 2024•1 hr 21 min
In this episode I talk with writer, poet and playwright, Cordelia O’Neill. We discuss Cordelia’s play ‘Anything is Possible if You Think About it Hard Enough’ about a young couple whose baby is born still. We discuss creativity as a tool for developing empathy and how experiencing loss can bring you closer to joy, love and hope. And we talk about the twist of fate where Cordelia’s life imitated her art. This episode includes swearing and an in depth and detailed conversation about our personal e...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 4 min
In this episode I talk with Yorkshire artist, Jess Kidd. We discuss Jess’ childhood as an acutely shy child who often lived in her own imaginary world, the comfort she found in creativity as a form of expressing herself, the challenges she experienced at art school and then being diagnosed with health issues that impacted her life dramatically. We also talk about cognitive behavioural therapy and the place it has in her creative process, her multi disciplinary practice and the solace she finds i...
Jul 12, 2024•36 min
In this episode I talk to photographer Jo Ritchie and writer Laura Mcdonagh. We talk about their work on Projecting Grief, a collection of stories and portraits from individuals who have found comfort, distraction or hope in a creative pursuit after losing someone they love. We also talk about how they came together creatively, their own experiences of grief and how it has changed them in defining ways, the power in sharing your own story of grief and the things we gain through loss. Welcome to ...
Jul 05, 2024•40 min
In this episode I talk with writer and disabled content creator, Helen Lear. Helen and I met at drama school in Manchester, sixteen years ago. Since then, a lot has happened. In her twenties, Helen dropped her life in the Uk to travel through Australia and New Zealand, envisioning a life of further international travel ahead of her. During this time she began to experience serious health issues that were impacting her day to day life, which led her to the difficult decision of moving back to the...
Jun 28, 2024•48 min
In this episode I talk with autoethnographic artist Hannah Turlington. We talk about growing up as a people pleaser, training as a teacher despite wanting to study textiles, eventually becoming a textile designer and realising it was no longer what she wanted, grieving the person that she thought she would one day be, Coming to terms with not being able to bear children and her experience of the adoption process. We also talk about her work with a creative mentor and later, Hannah was kind enoug...
Jun 21, 2024•34 min
In this episode I am talking to calligrapher, bookbinder and writer Gaelle Jolly. Gaelle and I have followed each other on Instagram for many years, and it was a joy to finally meet over zoom. In this chat we talk about our shared love of writing letters, Gaelle’s passion for getting lost in imaginary worlds, we talk about losing her husband and how instagram helped her process her grief We discuss the dangers of placing all our self worth into our creative process, and how fruit is only excitin...
Jun 14, 2024•48 min
In this episode I am talking to gardener and allotmenteer, Heidi-Lee Gregory. In 2020, having experienced a sequence of losses and readjustments in her life, Heidi turned her back on twenty years in the corporate world and decided to start from scratch and completely change direction with her path. We talk about Heidi’s move from her native South Africa to the UK, losing her father at a young age, then the process of losing her beloved grandparents, the realisation that she did not want to have ...
Jun 07, 2024•43 min
In this episode I talk with Susanna Amato, who describes herself as: actress, theatre maker, writer, clown and humanitarian. Susanna also has a podcast where she invites guests to bring a paper based memory to talk through and shred, based on her theatre piece Landfill of Memories. We discuss Susanna’s identity, how this forms a huge part of her creative process, she tells me about losing her father and sister, holding onto the memory of loved ones through objects and how much she loves both the...
May 31, 2024•47 min
In this episode I am talking with author, art historian and lecturer Joanna Wolfarth. Joanna was the first person I interviewed for this season. I was feeling nervous and out of practice, but Joanna’s gentle warmth and grace shone through my headphones and I immediately knew that this was exactly where I wanted to be. Sat, listening to her story. In our chat, we discussed Jo’s shifting approaches to writing throughout her life, we talk about her book ‘Milk: An intimate History of humanity’s firs...
May 24, 2024•43 min
In this episode I talk with my dear friend and neighbour, the author, Rozie Kelly. On a sunny autumn morning, Rozie and I headed out for a walk through the fields. We talked about about losing her dad in lockdown and how this time of enforced solitude helped her embrace her grief, and also, how Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured heavily in this process. We talked about her soon to be published debut novel Kingfisher. We talked about how the loss of her dad has impacted how she thinks about storie...
May 18, 2024•51 min
Hello and welcome to season 4 of ‘On the Irregular’ with me Java Bere. In previous seasons I have chatted to women from all walks of life about their unique, creative journeys. How they got here, and how their story has shaped their creative process. For this season, I wanted to specifically explore the way in which grief informs the creative process, how transformative it can be and how it weaves it’s way through our lives, in the many tangled ways. How it manifests in our work and how we navig...
May 17, 2024•10 min
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Dec 23, 2022•58 min
In this episode I chat to artist and community organiser Sapna Agarwal. Sapna is one of my oldest friends, having met in Manchester twenty years ago when we were both running around the city pretending to be the stars of a Jean Luc Goddard film. This was a soft, gentle talk, fitting for a rainy day across Yorkshire and Glasgow. Sapna tells me about dropping out of architecture school, how having children helped her understand her purpose and as she describes it 'the golden thread that runs throu...
Dec 02, 2022•58 min
In this episode I chat to Poet, Writer, Performer and Educator Fionna Inward Allen. I first met Fee around six years ago at a mutual friend’s picnic. As soon as she flashed her stellar smile, I knew I wanted to talk to her. And talk we did, all afternoon. We have since kept in touch via social media and on the 10th of September we finally met again when Fee performed a few of her beautiful poems at the podcast live event. Her words moved the audience between both tears and laughter. In our chat ...
Nov 20, 2022•1 hr 15 min
In this episode I chat to Life Coach, Speaker, Writer Syreeta Challinger. It’s an emotional one, Syreeta shares her unique story of love, creativity and transformation. We discuss growing up with a high level of academic expectations, her experience studying a degree in textiles in Manchester, the impact she believes the contraceptive pill had on her decision making in her twenties, her time in Hong Kong where she refound herself and met her husband Rob. And then we talk about Rob’s brain anyeur...
Nov 03, 2022•1 hr 11 min
In this episode I chat to writer, artist and creator of the Moon Journal, Jo Cauldrick. With her Moon Journal website, instagram, book and patreon, Jo has created a space full of resources and wisdom about working with the moon cycles and how these can help us find balance, rhythm and focus. Beautifully illustrated and full of inspiring writing, they are not only informative but also a delight to behold. Jo and I chat about her years of travelling around, searching for their dream home and how t...
Oct 21, 2022•1 hr 1 min
In this episode I chat to creative coach Kathryn Ho, or as she describes herself on Instagram 'Psychological witch and self-doubt coach’. This felt like a deeply thoughtful and delicate conversation. Kathryn’s meditative pace and considered answers to my questions led us to the big questions, the big feelings, the essence of it all, in many ways. We talked about her awareness of the arbitrariness of life from a very young age, her experience of art school, existential pain. Questioning the conce...
Oct 14, 2022•1 hr 4 min
This conversation comes with a trigger warning regarding baby loss. Eight Years ago, Jon and I lost our daughter Alma at six months in the womb through a late stage termination due to medical reasons. We discuss the pregnancy, the procedure, her birth and her funeral. At certain points we express a humour which could be uncomfortable for some listeners. This was, and still is, one of our ways of processing the grief, and as always, we try to be as honest as possible in sharing our experience, in...
Oct 10, 2022•50 min
In this episode I chat to Interior Designer, Diversity Consultant, Instagram Influencer and Location House Host, Natasha Landers. I first came across Natasha when I spotted her magnificent yellow kitchen floor on Instagram, and instantly fell hook, line and sinker for her sense of style both in her home and her dress sense. I’m not the only one who noticed. So did 14K other followers on instagram, Harpers Bazaar magazine, Stylist magazine, Reclaim mag and the Modern House. Born in Hackney, Natas...
Oct 04, 2022•1 hr 16 min
In this episode I talk to actor, writer and singer Sandra Cole. Once upon a time, many years ago, I had the honour of being Sandra’s acting agent. I adored Sandra and always knew there was more I’d like to talk to her about than audition times and self tapes. So, finally I got my chance. Sandra graced me with her gentle, winding thoughts on grief, the fear we often have of our own power, how her recent health has impacted her attitude to life, her experience as a Black woman in white Briton, the...
Sep 19, 2022•1 hr 20 min
In this episode I chat to Annie Ridout: journalist, author, poet and founder of the business community for women The Robora When I listened back to this conversation, recorded in July, I realised that Annie is such a natural coach that I had accidentally ended up talking more about myself than I usually would. Thankfully I managed to shut up long enough for Annie to find the space to talk to me about her varied career, starting from a very young age washing cars, passing through nightclubs in he...
Sep 17, 2022•1 hr 8 min
In this episode I chat to artist, designer, maker and soon to be qualified yoga teacher, my friend Lynne Morris. Throughout this conversation, amongst many things, you will witness Lynne’s ADHD in live, gorgeous, technicolour action, and you will also witness my giddy inability to stop cackling every thirty seconds. We grasshopper all over the place, covering: Lynne’s long lost career dreams of being an olympic athlete, her time creating Burlesque costumes in Melbourne, how she nearly became a t...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 36 min
In this episode, I talk to the singer songwriter, Josephine Oniyama. Born and bred in Manchester, Jo grew up listening to her mum’s record collection, never knowing a time when music and writing weren’t her focus. Starting gigging in her teens, her career took off very quickly, leading her to touring and working with huge names in the industry and eventually recording the widely applauded album ‘Portrait’. We talk about what it was like to start her career at such a young age, the support she re...
Jun 04, 2022•1 hr 2 min
This week I chat to Deborah Eydmann Beau, writer, model, life long creative. In this inspiring and at points, tear inducing chat, Deborah tells me about coming into her own at 55, her childhood in Yorkshire and how this formed her, a lifelong passion for drama, her life in France with her three children, successful careers in translation and blogging the three years she spent walking to find herself again, the cabin in the woods where she lived off grid for a year, her current life by the sea, t...
May 07, 2022•1 hr 15 min
This week I am chatting to baker, artist and empress of cushion embroidery Sharon Nagadya. Born in Uganda, Sharon moved to the UK age 11. After initially pursuing a career as a nurse/hairdresser, Sharon couldn’t ignore the fact that her passion was in the creative fields. We talk about family and cultural expectations, what she now considers to be the markers of success, her time caring for her fabulous mother in her early twenties, reclaiming the word ‘Immigrant’, how she wants to be perceived,...
Apr 29, 2022•52 min
This week I’m chatting to Grower & Florist Hattie Shackleton of Honour Farm Folk. In our conversation we touch upon Hattie’s experience of working in branding agencies and being a woman in the graphic design industry, then opening up her own shop ‘Maud’s House’ in the old market town of Skipton. We talk about what it’s like to have several skills and to allow yourself to hone in what you love, the impact of her dad’s passing and the elitism of the horticulture industry. And most excitingly, ...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 1 min
This week I’m chatting to writer and life coach, Nadia Karim. Nadia’s rich journey includes a passion for photography, social justice, an ongoing theme of storytelling and being one half of Edinburgh based shop Century General Store. We had a long chat about empathy, acknowledging the depths of our differences, the value of being quiet, her journey as a writer and story teller, interrogating the attitude of ‘one size fits all’ to wellbeing and her gentle approach to coaching. For more details on...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 20 min
This week I’m chatting to TV Camera Operator and photographer Lyndsey Harris. As a camera op, Lyndsey has worked on productions such as Coronation Street , Wimbledon and, in my opinion, the most exciting of all, Stars in Their Eyes . When she’s not filming, Lyndsey captures the world around her with her camera and a sharp documentary eye, honing in on the moments we often miss. We talk about growing up as a mixed race child on an all white council estate in Birmingham, the film that was the cata...
Apr 09, 2022•1 hr 4 min
This week I’m chatting to visual artist, community builder and photographer Jo Melia. Jo and I chatted about growing up and living with her mum’s alcoholism and the impact this had on her creative dreams, parenting and being part of a neuro-divergent family, her experience of art school, her years working full time in a bank, setting up a make-up business on her own with two young children, the value of community and the unique skills each of us have to offer. Since we recorded this episode in e...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr 9 min
