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SummaryHow do you speak the truth when nobody wants to hear it?
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, Jessie Huth speaks to writer, activist and broadcaster Yassmin Abdel-Magied about her debut adult novel, At Sea.
Set aboard an offshore oil rig on the brink of catastrophe, At Sea follows expert driller Zainab as she navigates a high-stakes world of danger, power, ambition and masculine hierarchy. But beneath the thriller lies a deeper story about belonging, courage and what it costs to speak when nobody is listening.
Drawing on her own experience as a drilling engineer, Yassmin reflects on life in one of the world's most male-dominated industries and the invisible emotional labour involved in being heard. She explores the strategies women develop to survive hostile environments and the exhaustion of constantly having to prove yourself.
The conversation also moves beyond the novel into Yassmin's own life. She reflects on experiencing public backlash at a young age, what it taught her about shame, and how she learned to distinguish between the shame that belongs to us and the shame that belongs to others.
They discuss identity and growing up with a powerful sense of possibility; the appeal of engineering and certainty in an uncertain world; and why finding your voice is accessing who you already are.
This is a conversation about power, prejudice and belonging, but also about resilience and the courage to keep speaking when the cost feels high.
Topics coveredThe inspiration behind At SeaLife as a drilling engineer on offshore oil rigsWhy technical disasters are often human disastersBeing a woman in a male-dominated workplaceThe hidden labour of being heardBelonging, exclusion and workplace power dynamicsGender, authority and emotional labourPublic shame and learning not to carry what isn't yoursBacklash, resilience and surviving difficult public experiencesFaith, confidence and growing up with a sense of possibilityFinding your voice when nobody wants to listenThe tension between truth, loyalty and self-preservationEngineering, certainty and the appeal of systems that make senseWriting fiction as a way of exploring power and human behaviourAbout Yassmin Abdel-MagiedYassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-born writer, broadcaster and award-winning author. Raised in Australia, she trained as a mechanical engineer and worked as a drilling engineer on oil rigs across Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States before turning her attention to writing full-time.
She is the author of numerous books for children and young adults, a memoir, essays and screenwriting projects. Her latest book, At Sea, is her first adult novel: a gripping literary thriller exploring gender, power, capitalism and the culture of the oil industry.
Yassmin now lives in London, where she also writes for television, including Emmerdale. You can find out more about Yassmin and her work at yassminam.com. There is more on At Sea here.
About the podcastHow You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices, on and off the page.
Through conversations with writers, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, silence and expression, creativity and courage, and the often messy journey of becoming.
Listen and followIf you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast and leave a review. It really helps more people discover the show and supports independent podcasts like this one.
If you'd like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, podcasts, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list.
You can also find us on Substack for behind-the-scenes reflections, extra conversations and explorations of voice, identity and transformation.
KeywordsYassmin Abdel-Magied interview, At Sea novel, Yassmin Abdel-Magied podcast, women in engineering, offshore oil rigs, women in male-dominated industries, gender and power, emotional labour, public shame, resilience, backlash and recovery, finding your voice, women and leadership, literary fiction, eco thriller, identity and belonging, workplace discrimination, female authority, courage and self-trust, How You Find Your Voice podcast
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Summary
"I feel I was sold a lie." A conversation about motherhood, female friendship, protest and finding yourself again
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, Jessie Huth speaks to novelist and journalist Tahmima Anam about her extraordinary new novel, Uprising, and the ideas that sit beneath it.
Set on a remote island brothel in Bangladesh, Uprising tells the story of a group of women who have been sold into lives of servitude and exploitation, and what happens when one woman arrives and refuses to accept the future that has been laid out for her. What follows is a story of rebellion, liberation and collective power.
Tahmima reflects on growing up in a family of revolutionaries and feminists, why she has become increasingly concerned about the direction of women's rights, and her feeling that she was "sold a lie" about society's progress towards greater equality.
Together, they explore motherhood and matrescence, the profound loss of self that can accompany becoming a parent, and the long journey back to feeling like yourself again. They discuss female rage, storytelling as a form of resistance, and why finding your voice is often inseparable from finding your community.
The conversation also touches on ageing, perimenopause, female friendship and the surprising freedoms that can come with getting older. Tahmima shares why she takes friendship so seriously, how a weekend with ten close female friends transformed her experience of turning fifty, and why she believes we need more ritual in modern life.
This is a conversation about protest and liberation, but also about identity, reinvention, friendship and what it means to become yourself more fully with age.
Topics coveredUprising and the real island that inspired the novelGrowing up in a family of revolutionaries and feministsWhy Tahmima feels she was "sold a lie" about progress and equalityProtest, liberation and collective actionFemale rage and writing as a way of processing the worldMotherhood, matrescence and the loss of selfThe long journey back to yourself after becoming a parentFinding your voice through storytellingFeminist utopias and imagining different futuresFemale friendship as a source of strength and belongingPerimenopause, ageing and caring less what people thinkWhy modern life needs more ritualTurning fifty and holding your own funeralToni Morrison and the writers who shaped herAbout Tahmima AnamTahmima Anam is an award-winning novelist, journalist and anthropologist. Born in Bangladesh, she is the author of the acclaimed Bengal Trilogy and a recipient of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the O. Henry Award. Her short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. She is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she trained as an anthropologist at Harvard University and now lives in London. You can read more about Tahmima and Uprising here.
About the podcastHow You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices, on and off the page.
Through conversations with writers, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, silence and expression, creativity and courage, and the often messy journey of becoming.
Listen and followIf you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast and leave a review. It really helps more people discover the show and supports independent podcasts like this one.
If you'd like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, podcasts, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list.
You can also find us on Substack for behind-the-scenes reflections, extra conversations and explorations of voice, identity and transformation.
KeywordsTahmima Anam interview, Uprising novel, Tahmima Anam podcast, motherhood and identity, matrescence, female friendship, women and ageing, finding yourself again, feminist fiction, female rage, women's rights, protest and liberation, Bangladesh literature, women and storytelling, Toni Morrison, perimenopause, female community, finding your voice podcast, women writers, identity and transformation
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SummaryWho gets to tell the story? A conversation about powerful women, myth and modern culture
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, Jessie Huth speaks to bestselling novelist, Jennifer Saint, about This Immortal Heart, her retelling of Aphrodite and Ares, and the enduring power of mythology to shape how women are seen.
Jennifer argues that many female figures from myth have been flattened into stereotypes: Aphrodite reduced to beauty and sexuality, Pandora blamed for humanity's suffering, Helen held responsible for a war started by men.
Together, they explore how these ancient narratives still echo through contemporary culture, from social media and trad-wife aesthetics to debates about women's power, agency and autonomy.
The conversation ranges from Greek goddesses and Amazon warriors to Taylor Swift, AI girlfriends, feminism, publishing, creative confidence and the stories societies tell about who women are allowed to be.
Jennifer also reflects on her own path to becoming a writer. After years of teaching English, she finally stopped waiting for permission and began writing Ariadne in stolen moments between work and motherhood. She talks about learning to trust her instincts, navigating criticism, and the challenge of protecting your creative voice once other people's opinions make themselves heard.
This is a conversation about myth, power, storytelling, creativity and what happens when women reclaim the narratives that have been written about them.
Topics coveredAphrodite, Ares and This Immortal HeartWhy powerful women are often diminished in storiesPandora, Helen and the myths women inheritTrad wives, modern culture and female agencyPygmalion as "the original incel"Amazon warriors and women who refuse prescribed rolesWhy stories shape what women are allowed to beGreek mythology as a living traditionTeaching, writing and becoming an authorThe unexpected success of AriadneReviews, criticism and protecting your creative voiceTrusted voices versus outside noiseFinding your voice through writingWhy the only way to become a writer is to writeAbout Jennifer SaintJennifer Saint is The Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne, Elektra, Atalanta, Hera and This Immortal Heart. A former secondary school English teacher, she is known for reimagining Greek myths through the perspectives of the women who have traditionally been sidelined, misunderstood or overlooked. Jennifer lives in Yorkshire, England, with her family. You can read more about Jennifer and This Immortal Heart here.
About the podcastHow You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices, on and off the page.
Through conversations with writers, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, silence and expression, creative risk and process, and the often messy journey of becoming.
Listen and followIf you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast and leave a review. It really helps more people discover the show and supports independent podcasts like this one.
If you'd like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, podcasts, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list. Or find us on Substack for behind-the-scenes reflections, extra conversations and forays into voice.
KeywordsJennifer Saint interview, This Immortal Heart podcast, Aphrodite and Ares, Greek mythology retellings, women in mythology, Pandora myth, Helen of Troy, feminist mythology, powerful women, trad wives, storytelling and power, women and agency, mythology podcast, writing and creativity, becoming a writer, Ariadne Jennifer Saint, finding your voice podcast, women and storytelling, Greek myths and modern culture
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Welcome to Season 2 of the How You Find Your Voice podcast. Expect more conversations on creativity, identity and voice, on and off the page.Summary
What does it mean to become a writer, especially when writing can feel precarious, uncertain and difficult to sustain? And how do stories, communities and shared imagination help us find hope?
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, host Jessie Huth speaks with writer Naomi Ishiguro about her dazzling new fantasy novel The Rainshadow Orphans.
Inspired by anime, Japanese folklore, yokai stories, coding clubs, bubble tea and the young people Naomi taught as a secondary school teacher, The Rainshadow Orphans blends cyberpunk and fantasy into a richly imagined world of dragons, hackers, sun spirits and resistance movements.
Together, Jessie and Naomi explore the themes running beneath the novel: found family, friendship, hope, revenge, inequality, technology and the tension between individualism and community. Naomi reflects on how teaching teenagers shaped both the emotional heart and imaginative energy of the book, and how studying Jane Eyre in granular detail became an unexpected masterclass in writing fiction.
The conversation also explores world-building, Japanese folklore and animism, the influence of anime and storytelling traditions, and why Naomi sees fantasy as a way of asking questions rather than providing answers. Naomi talks honestly about the realities of publishing, creative burnout, imposter syndrome and the difficulty of sustaining a writing life, even after publication. Naomi also shares why she believes being a writer has nothing to do with external validation and everything to do with the act of writing itself.
This is a conversation about imagination, hope, creativity, storytelling, and what it really means to find your voice as a writer.
Topics CoveredThe inspiration behind The Rainshadow OrphansAnime, manga and Japanese pop culture influencesYokai, animism and Japanese folkloreBuilding fantasy worlds and magic systemsCyberpunk, fantasy and speculative fictionTeaching creative writing and working with teenagersBubble tea, coding clubs and robotics teamsFound family, friendship and communityCollective values versus individualismWriting across cultural influences and traditionsWorldbuilding in a culturally sensitive wayFantasy as a way of asking questionsRevenge, justice and strategic thinkingHope as a creative and political actAI, technology and human creativityDragons, dragon pearls and mythological influencesWriting without rigid genre boundariesTeaching Jane Eyre and learning narrative craftCreative burnout and disillusionment with publishingImposter syndrome and creative identityWhat makes someone “a writer”External validation versus artistic integrityFinding your voice through writingAbout Naomi IshiguroNaomi Ishiguro is the author of the novel Common Ground and the collection of stories Escape Routes. She’s a graduate of the University of East Anglia’s MFA Creative Writing program, and has worked as both a secondary school English teacher and a freelance creative writing teacher. She also spent two lovely years in her early twenties working as a bookseller and bibliotherapist at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath. You can find out more about Naomi and The Rainshadow Orphans here.
About the PodcastHow You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices.
Through conversations with writers, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, silence and expression, creative risk and process, and the often messy journey of becoming.
Listen and FollowIf you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast and leave a review. It really helps more people discover the show and supports independent podcasts like this one.
If you’d like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list here.
You can also follow along on Substack for longer reflections, or on Instagram for clips and updates.
KeywordsNaomi Ishiguro interview, The Rainshadow Orphans podcast, Japanese folklore fantasy, yokai and animism, cyberpunk fantasy novel, Studio Ghibli inspired books, anime influences in fiction, found family fantasy, speculative fiction podcast, writing and identity, creative burnout and publishing, fantasy world-building, dragons and mythology, hope in fiction, women and creativity, literary podcast, fantasy writing process, Japanese mythology books, finding your voice podcast, writers on writing
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Welcome to Season 2 of the How You Find Your Voice podcast. Expect more conversations on creativity, identity and voice, on and off the page.Summary
What happens when you lose your connection to music, to sound, and to yourself? And how do you learn to listen again?
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, host Jessie Huth speaks with writer and journalist Alice Vincent about her most recent book, Hark: How Women Listen.
After more than a decade as a music journalist, Alice found herself burnt out and unable to listen to music at all. What began as an attempt to reconnect with music became something much deeper; a search for meaning, identity, and a new way of listening to the world and to herself.
Together, they explore how motherhood, trauma and major life transitions can fundamentally change the way we hear and process the world. Alice reflects on her experience of PTSD following her son’s illness, and how sound became both a trigger and a lifeline during that time.
The conversation also looks at the idea of listening as a gendered experience, namely, how women are often taught to be good listeners, while their own voices and experiences are overlooked. They discuss the difference between patriarchal and more intuitive ways of listening, and the overlooked soundscapes of women’s lives, from baby groups to hospital wards.
They also talk about matrescence, liminal states, and the cyclical nature of women’s lives, from adolescence to motherhood to menopause and how these shifts shape identity, perception and voice.
This is a conversation about sound, silence, motherhood, trauma, and the process of learning to listen to yourself again.
Topics CoveredLosing connection to music and identityBurnout and stepping away from the music industryListening as a practice and a way of understanding the selfMotherhood and matrescenceThe sensory and emotional impact of becoming a parentTrauma, PTSD and auditory triggersThe role of sound in processing difficult experiencesWriting as a way of making sense of traumaThe pressure to “move on” after difficult experiencesLiminal states and identity shiftsAdolescence, motherhood and other transitional phasesMisophonia and heightened sensitivity to soundPatriarchal listening vs intuitive or embodied listeningWhy women are taught to be good listenersThe invisible soundscapes of women’s livesCommunity, connection and shared listening experiencesSilence, quiet and the search for stillnessNature, environment and listening beyond the humanCyclical identity and women’s changing inner worldsFinding your voice through listeningAbout Alice VincentAlice Vincent
Alice Vincent is a writer, broadcaster and multi-platform storyteller fascinated by the often-overlooked parts of life. Her books include the bestselling Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival, which was shortlisted in the 2023 Books Are My Bag Readers Awards and Rootbound, Rewilding a Life. Both were longlisted for the Wainwright Prize. You can learn more about her latest book, Hark: How Women Listen here.
A career journalist, she was a writer and editor on the arts desk of The Telegraph before joining Penguin as an editor. Now a columnist for The Guardian and Gardens Illustrated, Alice has offered readers her fresh approach to nature, gardening and life in the city as a columnist for The Telegraph and The New Statesman. She writes for titles including Vogue, The Financial Times, The Sunday Times and The Observer.
Beyond the page, Alice is the host of the Why Women Grow podcast – which topped the British podcast charts during its first week and unearths stories of the land with inspiring women – and In Haste, a fresh new books podcast and platform dedicated to exploring how books really get written.
Her weekly newsletter Savour offers thousands of readers a moment to pause and appreciate the delicious things in life.
About the PodcastHow You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices.
Through conversations with writers, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, silence and expression, creative risk and process, and the often messy journey of becoming.
Listen and FollowIf you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast for future episodes.
If you’d like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list here.
You can also follow along on Substack for longer reflections, or on Instagram for clips and updates.
KeywordsAlice Vincent interview, Hark How Women Listen, listening and identity, motherhood and matrescence, PTSD and trauma, sound and perception, women and listening, music journalism burnout, finding your voice podcast, writing and identity, female experience and voice, liminal states and transformation, misophonia and sound sensitivity, patriarchal listening, motherhood and creativity, writing through trauma, literary podcast, women writers, identity and change
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Episode Summary
What does it mean to grow up inside a utopian experiment, and how do you find your voice afterwards?
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, host Jessie Huth speaks with writer, essayist and clinical arts therapist Susanna Crossman about her memoir Home Is Where We Start and her novel, The Orange Notebooks.
Susanna grew up in a politically radical community in the late 1970s that set out to reinvent family, gender roles and society itself. In this conversation, she reflects on the reality of that upbringing, the gap between utopian ideals and lived experience, and how long it took to find the language for what it really was.
Together, they explore masking, people pleasing and the idea of the “false self”, and why growing up in a collective environment can make it difficult to know who you are. They also discuss silence, untold stories, and the power of language in expressing what often feels unspeakable.
The conversation also turns to The Orange Notebooks, a deeply moving novel about maternal grief, and the challenge of writing about the loss of a child, one of the most taboo and difficult subjects to give voice to.
This is a conversation about identity, grief, language, and the long, complex process of finding your voice.
Topics CoveredGrowing up in a utopian communityCommunes, cults and collective livingThe impact of alternative childhoods on identityThe gap between ideology and lived experienceFamily dynamics and the dismantling of the nuclear familyMasking, people pleasing and the false selfLearning a script and unlearning itSilence, secrecy and untold storiesWriting memoir as a way of understanding the pastFinding your voice after a silenced childhoodThe role of language and etymology in expressionGrief, motherhood and The Orange NotebooksWriting about the loss of a childClinical arts therapy and working with patientsHelping others find their voiceAbout Susanna CrossmanSusanna Crossman is an award-winning Anglo-French fiction and non-fiction writer, published internationally in print and online. She’s author of the the acclaimed memoir Home is Where we Start, (Fig Tree/Penguin, 2024), about her childhood in a utopian commune, a Guardian 2024 “Book to Look Out For!” Her new novel, The Orange Notebooks was published by Bluemoose Books (UK) and Assembly Press (NA) in 2025. She has recent work in The Guardian, Aeon, Vogue, Paris Review, Electric Literature & elsewhere. A published novelist in France, she was a 2022 Hawthornden Fellow, and resident at Hosking Houses Trust in 2025. Winner of the 2019 LoveReading Short Story Award, she was nominated for Best of The Net Non-Fiction and is a member of the Dangerous Women project. Susanna grew up in an international commune. Alongside her writing, she works as clinical arts-therapist on three continents, teaches and mentors writers.
About the PodcastHow You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices.
Through conversations with writers, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, silence and expression, creative risk and process, and the often messy journey of becoming.
Listen and FollowIf you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast for future episodes.
If you would like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list here.
You can also follow How You Find Your Voice on Substack for longer reflections on voice, creativity and the ideas behind the podcast, or on Instagram for updates.
Keywordsfinding your voice podcast, Susanna Crossman interview, Home Is Where We Start memoir, The Orange Notebooks novel, growing up in a commune, utopian community childhood, cult vs community, masking and people pleasing, false self psychology, silence and voice, grief and motherhood, writing trauma and memory, literary podcast, women writers, clinical arts therapy, identity and belonging, language and expression, untold stories
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Episode Summary
What happens when you lose a friend who felt like a soulmate?
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, Jessie Huth speaks with novelist and Harvard professor, Tara Menon, about her brilliant debut novel, Under Water. It's a moving and beautifully written book exploring the themes of friendship, loss and the natural world.
Set between two approaching storms, the 2004 tsunami in Thailand and Hurricane Sandy in New York, the novel explores the aftermath of losing a friend, and the ways memory, grief and trauma shape how we move through the world.
Tara reflects on the absence of language around friendship grief, the influence of literary traditions from Tennyson to the flâneur novel, and the challenge of writing fiction after a career spent analysing it.
Together they explore ecological loss, the emotional resonance of the sea, and what it means to let go of control in the creative process.
This is a conversation about grief, memory, observation and the long process of finding your voice.
Topics CoveredGrief and the loss of a close friendThe absence of language around friendship griefDual timelines and writing towards catastropheThe 2004 tsunami and Hurricane SandyMemory, trauma and how they shape perceptionThe natural world, coral reefs and ecological griefWriting the sea and underwater environmentsManta rays and animal behaviourGreek mythology and literary referencesMale entitlement and the experience of women in citiesTourism, colonialism and exploitationMoving from literary criticism to fiction writingLetting go of control in the creative processFinding your voice as a writerAbout Tara MenonTara Menon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Nation, Paris Review and Public Books, where she co-edits the Literary Fiction section. Tara was born in India, grew up in Singapore, spent a decade in New York, and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. You can read more about Tara Menon and Under Water here.
About the PodcastHow You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices.
Through conversations with writers, activists, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, doubt and silence, creative risk and process, as well as the messy business of becoming.
Listen and FollowIf you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast for future episodes.
If you would like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list here.
You can also follow How You Find Your Voice on Substack for longer reflections on voice, creativity and the ideas behind the podcast, or on Instagram for updates.
Keywordsfinding your voice podcast, Tara Menon, Underwater novel, friendship grief, ecological grief, literary fiction podcast, women and grief, writing trauma and memory, coral reefs and climate change, female friendship novels, Harvard English professor, novelist, creative writing process, literary influences Tennyson, flaneur, voice and identity, how you find your voice podcast
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Episode Summary
What happens to a love story that has nowhere to go? And who has the right to tell it?
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, host Jessie Huth speaks with novelist Sarvat Hasin about her novel Strange Girls, a story about female friendship, creative ambition and the complicated emotions that can exist between admiration and rivalry.
The book follows two young women who meet at university and become deeply entwined in one another’s lives. Their friendship is creative, admiring and competitive all at once. It is the kind of relationship that can leave a permanent imprint.
Jessie and Sarvat talk about the emotional complexity of intense friendships, the strange grief of friendship breakups and the ways our lives gradually move in different directions as we grow older.
They also discuss creative ambition, the realities of becoming a writer and the ethical questions that arise when fiction draws on shared experiences. Who owns a story when two people have lived it together?
This is a conversation about creativity, longing, rivalry and the things that are often left unsaid between friends.
Topics Covered
• Intense female friendships and formative relationships• The emotional complexity of friendships formed in youth• Creative admiration and rivalry between friends• The strange grief of friendship breakups• The ethics of fictionalising shared experiences• Who owns a story when two people have lived it together• Creative ambition and the realities of becoming a writer• The role of circumstance, time and opportunity in creative life• Writing towards questions you do not yet know the answer to• Sarvat’s approach to writing by “chasing the feeling” of a moment
About Sarvat Hasin
Sarvat Hasin is a novelist and dramaturg from Pakistan. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. Her first novel, This Wide Night, was published by Penguin India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second book You Can't Go Home Again was published in 2018 and featured in Vogue India's and The Hindu's best of the year lists. Her third novel, The Giant Dark (Dialogue Books, Hachette UK) won the Mo Siewcharran Prize was shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award. She lives in London. You can read more about Sarvat Hasin and Strange Girls here.
About the Podcast
How You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests, mostly women, how they found or reclaimed their voices.
Through conversations with writers, activists, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they have made, the lives they have lived and the inner transformations that made it possible.
We talk about turning points and resistance, doubt and silence, creative risk and process, as well as the messy business of becoming.
Listen and Follow
If you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast for future episodes.
If you would like to stay connected to these conversations and hear about upcoming events, salons and gatherings, you can join the How You Find Your Voice mailing list here.
You can also follow How You Find Your Voice on Substack for longer reflections on voice, creativity and the ideas behind the podcast, or on Instagram for updates.
Key Words
Sarvat Hasin, Strange Girls novel, female friendship in literature, creative rivalry between friends, women writers podcast, writing fiction process, ethics of storytelling, creative ambition, literary podcast, finding your voice podcast
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Episode Summary
What happens when you lose your voice, not just creatively but literally?
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, host Jessie Huth speaks with singer, songwriter, DJ and producer Ngaio Anyia about the journey of losing and reclaiming voice over time.
Ngaio shares how childhood bullying once led her to stop speaking altogether, and how years later a physical vocal crisis forced her into silence again. Both moments became turning points that reshaped her relationship with music, identity and creative power.
Together they explore women in music production, creative confidence, rave culture, as well as the work of growing into your voice and finding your joy. This is a conversation about creative identity, rest, resilience and what it really means to find your voice in different seasons of life.
Topics Covered
Losing your voice both literally and metaphoricallyChildhood bullying and early silenceMusic as ritual, connection and communityWomen in music production and representationCreative control and stepping into productionVoice texture and how it changes over timeRave culture and safer dancefloorsBuilding Booty Bass in BristolCreative burnout and recoveryWhy rest matters for creative longevityAbout Ngaio Anyia
Ngaio Anyia is a multi-hyphenate creative: a singer, songwriter, DJ, producer, community creator and inclusion and diversity consultant. Ngaio is a versatile artist, known for her bass-heavy DJ sets, as well as her powerhouse vocal range. Her music oozes with intricate jazz harmonies, African percussion and truth-laden spoken word. Ngaio confronts the politics of black bodies, whilst poetically unravelling her mixed-race identity. You can read more about Ngaio and her work here.
About the Podcast
How You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests (mostly women) how they found or reclaimed their voices, on every level.
Through intimate conversations with writers, activists, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they've made, the lives they've lived and the inner transformations that made it all possible. We talk about turning points and resistance, doubt and silence, creative risk and process, as well as the messy business of becoming.
Listen and follow
How You Find Your Voice
If you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast for future episodes.
You can also follow How You Find Your Voice on Substack for longer reflections on voice, creativity and the ideas behind the podcast. Or simply follow on Instagram for the latest updates.
Keywords
finding your voice podcast, Ngaio Anyia, women in music production, female creativity podcast, creative confidence, voice and identity, Booty Bass Bristol, women reclaiming their voice, creative process podcast, women in electronic music
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A conversation about myth, survivors, voice and power under patriarchy.
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, host Jessie Huth is joined by poet and author Nikita Gill to discuss her latest book Hekate, a mythic coming-of-age story rooted in exile, survival and the politics of power.
They explore Hekate as the goddess of liminal spaces and the vulnerable, why Gill chose to tell a story from the “losing” side of war, and what happens to women and children when history is written by victors.
The conversation also touches on female rage, the fear it provokes, and why stories are never neutral.
Ranging across Greek myth, modern politics, displacement, trauma and freedom, the episode examines the deep relationship between language, justice and voice.
Topics covered
What drew Nikita to Hekate, goddess of crossroads, keys, liminal spaces and magic.How Hekate begins with exile and displacement after the Titanomachy, echoing the realities of refugees and conflict in the modern world.How family history shaped Nikita’s politics and interest in displacement.What happens to women and children on the losing side of war, and why history often erases it.Why Nikita spoke to modern worshippers of Hekate and what she learned.Hekate as a goddess of survivors, including survivors of sexual assault and abuse.How patriarchy attempts to neutralise rage and why female anger is politicised.Mothers, the absence of a village, and why maternal voices are ignored.How stories and language shape politics, and how populists use narrative.What it means to find your voice when the world wants you to shrink.Quotes to Listen For
“There is no point making yourself so small, that you live half a life, to appease a beast that hates you anyway.”“Poets are the emotional historians of humankind.”“If you want to find where fascism starts, it starts in language.”About Nikita Gill
Nikita Gill is an Irish-Indian poet who has the attention of 840,000 Instagram followers worldwide for her work. Her work offers a shift of perspective which centres women in both Greek and Hindu myth as well as folklore. She has given a TEDx Talk, spoken at every major literary festival in the UK and been shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Award in poetry three times, the Childrens Poetry Award two times and longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Gill has written seven poetry collections.
Links
For more on Nikita Gill's book, Hekate see here.Follow Nikita on Instagram here.
About the Podcast
How You Find Your Voice is the podcast that asks brilliant guests (mostly women) how they found or reclaimed their voices, on every level.
Through intimate conversations with writers, activists, artists, thinkers and entrepreneurs, we explore the work they've made, the lives they've lived and the inner transformations that made it all possible. We talk about turning points and resistance, doubt and silence, creative risk and process, as well as the messy business of becoming.
Listen and follow
How You Find Your Voice
If you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast for future episodes.
You can also follow How You Find Your Voice on Substack for longer reflections on voice, creativity and the ideas behind the podcast.
Keywords:
Nikita Gill, Hekate, feminist mythology, female rage, survivors, women’s voices, patriarchy, power, myth and politics, exile and refugees, displacement, storytelling and justice
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In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, host Jessie Huth is joined by best-selling novelist, journalist and broadcaster Sally Magnusson MBE, to talk about myth, memory, and the creative courage it takes to begin again.
Sally’s latest novel, The Shapeshifter’s Daughter, reimagines the Norse mythological figure of Hel, ruler of the underworld, a character long caricatured as monstrous and rarely allowed a voice of her own. Together, Jessie and Sally explore why the Norse goddesses deserve their time in the limelight, how feminist retellings can reclaim silenced figures, and what myth can teach us about death, ageing, and becoming.
They also talk about memory as both a personal and cultural force, Sally’s move into fiction later in life, and the imaginative leap required to trust your own voice, especially after decades spent telling other people’s stories.
Topics covered
Why Sally was drawn to the Norse figure of HelFeminist myth retellings and reclaiming silenced voicesNorse mythology vs Greek mythologyMemory, storytelling and cultural inheritanceWriting fiction later in life and why creativity has no expiry dateThe courage to leap into imagination and inhabit characters fullyHolding light and darkness together in art and life.Keywords
How You Find Your Voice, Sally Magnusson, Norse mythology, Hel, feminist retellings, myth and memory, creativity in midlife, women’s voices, storytelling, fiction writing, imagination
About the guest
Sally Magnusson MBE is a novelist, journalist and broadcaster. She is the author of several acclaimed novels including The Seal Woman’s Gift, Music in the Dark, and The Shapeshifter’s Daughter, as well as the memoir, Where Memories Go, written after caring for her mother through dementia. Her work frequently explores myth, memory, identity and the stories that shape us. You can read more about Sally Magnusson and her work here.
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A longer introduction to the ideas behind How You Find Your Voice and what led me to make it.
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Introducing the How You Find Your Voice podcast and what to expect in the first episodes.
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Who was Pamela Churchill Harriman? Only the biggest political player you've never heard of.
In this episode of How You Find Your Voice, I'm joined by bestselling biographer and journalist, Sonia Purnell to explore the remarkable life of Pamela Churchill Harriman.
Branded the greatest courtesan of the twentieth century and dismissed for decades as a socialite or footnote, Pamela Churchill Harriman was in fact hugely influential behind the scenes. As Sonia's book Kingmaker reveals, she played a fundamental role in shaping twentieth-century politics, diplomacy and power. And she's finally getting her due.
Topics covered
The extraordinary life of Pamela Churchill HarrimanWhy so many influential women have been written out of historyThe cost of being in the room when power belongs to men How biography can restore voice, authority and complexitySonia's painstaking process as biographerWhat women like Pamela Churchill Harriman still have to teach us todayThe uneasy echoes of the period leading up to the Second World War and our present moment.This is a conversation about power, silenced voices, the truths history chose not to tell and why it's essential we hear them now.
Keywords
Women in history, Sonia Purnell, Pamela Churchill Harriman, Kingmaker, women and power, female biography
About Sonia Purnell
Sonia Purnell is an award-winning biographer and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, known for shining a light on extraordinary women history tried to forget. Her books include A Woman of No Importance, the New York Times bestseller about WWII spy Virginia Hall, and First Lady, a ground-breaking biography of Clementine Churchill. Kingmaker has been named one of the Best Books of the Year by The Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian, and many more.
Sonia Purnall has been called “one of the most accomplished biographers of our time” (Liza Mundy) and brings journalistic rigour, vivid storytelling, and feminist insight to all her work.
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Writer Lily Dunn joins host Jessie Huth for a wide-ranging conversation about writing memoir, finding a voice, and what it takes to tell the truth on the page.
Drawing on her latest book Into Being Lily reflects on the power and transformative potential of memoir, the role of editing in shaping a voice, and why memoir is rarely about revelation alone. She speaks candidly about writing her critically acclaimed memoir, Sins of My Father: A Daughter, a Cult, a Wild Unraveling, the emotional and ethical complexity of writing about family, and what happens when private stories enter the public world.
Together they explore authenticity, memory, and the vulnerability of publication, as well as the ways in which writing can be empowering and sustaining. This is a thoughtful, honest conversation about creativity, self-inquiry, and finding your voice as narrator.
Topics covered
Into Being and the long process of developing a writing voice Sins of My Father and the complexities of writing about familyThe role of editors in shaping memoirPsychoanalysis, reflection, and self-inquiry in writingAuthenticity, vulnerability, and being readWriting as an empowering and healing practiceKeywords
voice, women’s voices, writing, creativity, memoir, personal narrative, family, truth-telling, Lily Dunn, Sins of My Father, Into Being
About Lily Dunn
Dr Lily Dunn is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, an editor and a lecturer at Bath Spa University. Her memoir, Sins of my Father: A Daughter, a Cult, a Wild Unravelling won The Guardian Nonfiction Book of the Year in 2022. Her latest book, Into Being: the radical craft of memoir and its power to transform is an essential guide to writing memoir as a radical and empowering practice.
Lily co-founded the London Lit Lab at Birkbeck University in London, where she teaches creative writing. Her specialisms include memoirs, personal essays and narrative nonfiction.
Books mentioned
Into Being by Lily Dunn
Sins of My Father by Lily Dunn
Read more here
About the guest
Lily Dunn on Substack
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How You Find Your Voice
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