17. Of Fairytale Soup and Female Storytellers - Kitchen Table Talks With Nao Sims (Part 1)

Kalliope's Sanctum

Brew a cup of tea and join me and my dear friend Nao Sims— women's sacred dance teacher and lifelong lover of old stories— as we discuss some of our late-night ideas about the rhythms of female myth-telling, why fairytales are kind of like soup-recipes, and why they were the only thing Nao wanted to read while she was pregnant. All while her little daughter sleeps on in the background! This conversation is the first in a series we will be recording throughout the autumn, for you to listen to and ponder around your own hearths. In the next episode, we will look more closely at one fairytale in particular, diving more deeply into the themes explored here. Stay tuned! You can find out more about Nao, and our joint work together, here: https://www.sylviavictorlinsteadt.com/erato ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PODCAST SOUND EDITING: Simon Linsteadt PODCAST ART: Catherine Sieck PODCAST MUSIC: Antonis Leontidis (Cretan lyra composition from the album Krifo: antonisleontidis.bandcamp.com/album/krifo) ABOUT THE PODCAST: Welcome to Kalliope's Sanctum, a story podcast hosted by writer Sylvia V. Linsteadt. This podcast is dedicated to Kalliope, primordial and first Muse of epic poetry and ecstatic song in ancient Greece. This podcast is a place of sanctuary for her oldest stories. It is a return to the wild garden, to the spring, to the ground of being & the source of inspiration in the Earth. Here, we honor Kalliope as Muse of Earth. Here, you will find some of the stories beneath the stories of Old Europe: short fictional/poetic pieces written and read by Sylvia that explore elements of indigenous Old European mythology, with a focus on pre-Hellenic (pre-Patriarchal) Greece. Come sit with us in the honeyed light, among the ripe pomegranates, in Kalliope's sanctuary, where the stories that arise directly from the ground of being and lifeforce can still be safely told and celebrated. Come lean against the sun-warmed stones, with the fragrance of propolis & myrrh in the air, and the trees heavy with autumn quince. This is the garden before the fall, a sanctuary for all hearts in this time. Join us, and be revived. ABOUT SYLVIA V. LINSTEADT: Sylvia V. Linsteadt is a novelist, poet, and scholar of ancient history, myth and ecology. She divides her time between California & England, where she is currently pursuing her PhD. Her published fiction includes the English/Greek collection The Venus Year (2023), the middle grade children’s duology The Stargold Chronicles— The Wild Folk (Usborne, June 2018) and The Wild Folk Rising (Usborne, May 2019)— Our Lady of the Dark Country, a collection of short stories (January 2018) and Tatterdemalion (Unbound, Spring 2017); her works of nonfiction include Lost Worlds of the San Francisco Bay Area (Heyday, Spring 2017) and The Wonderments of the East Bay (Heyday 2014). Website: www.sylviavictorlinsteadt.com Substack: sylviavlinsteadt.substack.com/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/sylviavlinsteadt/