Words to live by and finding hope in the face of terrible suffering, the life of the anchoress or hermit Julian of Norwich, the power of walking and nature to heal and art that replaces adverts with words of love – all part of this special Bank Holiday Woman’s Hour. 650 years ago a woman we only know as Julian of Norwich produced a book written while she was voluntarily walled up in a hermit’s cell which challenged the ideas of the time about sin and suffering.  It presented a radical vision of love and hope that “All Shall Be Well and All Shall Be Well and All Manner of Thing Shall be Well”. We hear about her life, how it has helped one woman through cancer treatment and inspired the lives of others, and we hear from listeners about the words that they turn to for motivation and encouragement.  Nuala McGovern speaks to Claire Gilbert author of a new novel I Julian; Dr. Hetta Howes senior lecturer in medieval and early modern literature at City, University of London; Sally-Anne Lomas Trustee of The Friends of Julian and creative director of The Cloth of Kindness project and to Faye Smith founder of Hope Walking. And, the British Kenyan artist Grace Ndiritu explains why she emblazoned the words 'Wherever you are I hope you have found peace' on 30 billboards around Birmingham. Producer Caroline Donne

Julian of Norwich and the power of inspirational words in tough times

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The broadcaster Zeinab Badawi joins Krupa Padhy to discuss her first book, An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence.  The book has taken her seven years to research, travelling across 30 countries.  She explains how the female African leaders that shaped their countries have often been written out of history.  At the start of the year, acclaimed opera singer Sophie Bevan took to Twitter to ask if other female singers also had voice struggles around the time of their periods. This led to her discovery of premenstrual vocal syndrome, which is when hormone changes cause vocal issues. She talks about the impact this has had on her career, alongside Dr Alan Watson, specialist in the biology of performance at the University of Cardiff. Democrats in the US state of Arizona are attempting to repeal a law from 1864 that bans nearly all abortions. Also the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in an Idaho hospital case, on whether hospitals can override state abortion restrictions in order to save a mother’s life. New York Times correspondent Elizabeth Dias explains how abortion rights are shaping this year’s presidential election and which camp could benefit from the abortion debate.   Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Olivia Skinner

Zeinab Badawi, Singing and periods, How is the debate over abortion shaping the US election?

Ten Men, A Year of Casual Sex is a new book from the author Kitty Ruskin. It follows a year of her life when she attempts to embody Samantha from Sex and the City and enjoy all the advantages of being young, free and single. As she details 10 men in 10 chapters, the stories range from sexy and funny to at times deeply confronting and violent, including rape. Kitty joins Krupa Padhy to discuss. Today, the government has accepted an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill they say could be a big step forward for rape victims. The amendment will help ensure extra protection for victims’ counselling notes, by raising the threshold that needs to be met for the police to ask for them. It’s something that charities like Rape Crisis and the End Violence Against Women Coalition have been campaigning for. Joining Krupa is Baroness Gabby Bertin, the Conservative peer who tabled the amendment. According to new research, people who are 65 think that old age begins just before you turn 75. However, 74-year-olds think old age starts at 77. Women think old age starts later than men do. So when are you 'old' and what does 'old' mean? Krupa speaks to Steph Daniels who re-joined her local hockey team at 75, after a 40-year gap, and has just started managing a band again. ARFID stands for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Commonly underdiagnosed as picky eating, we’ll hear how the eating disorder manifests in children and what it’s like for parents. Krupa speaks to a mother, Lisa Hale, whose son has the condition and Professor Sandeep Ranote, Clinical Spokesperson for the eating disorders charity BEAT. An adaption of Muriel Spark’s novel The Girls of Slender Means is currently on at The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Set in the summer of 1945, it follows the adventures of a group of young women who are caught between hope and unhappiness. As each girl grapples with what happened in the war, they begin to imagine what lies ahead of them in peacetime. Actress and writer Gabriel Quigley tells Krupa how she felt adapting the words of one of the greatest British novelists.

Kitty Ruskin's year of casual sex, The Girls of Slender Means, ARFID

The Kenyan distance runner Peres Jepchirchir won yesterday’s elite women's London Marathon, breaking the women’s only record with her time of 2:16:16. She beat the previous record set in 2017 of 2:17:01. This was the fastest time in a race without male pace makers. More than 50,000 people ran and some gave themselves an even bigger challenge than just running the course. Laura Bird from St Ives in Cambridgeshire ran with a fridge strapped to her back - aiming to earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Peres and Laura both join Krupa Padhy. Rhianon Bragg spoke to Woman’s Hour back in February about her concerns for her safety regarding the imminent release of her ex-boyfriend from prison, despite the fact that a Parole Board ruled a few months earlier that such a move would not be safe. In February 2020, Gareth Wynn Jones was given an extended determinate sentence of 4.5 years in prison, with an extended licence period of five years for the crimes of stalking, false imprisonment, making threats to kill and possession of a firearm. Now two months since his release and coinciding with National Stalking Awareness Week, we hear from Rhianon and also Emily Lingley Clark of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, has just been released. We thought it was a great excuse to look at the female poets, past and present, who could be considered ‘tortured’… Or is it more of a male trope? Classicist and author of Devine Might, Natalie Haynes, and Irish Indian poet Nikita Gill discuss. A BBC investigation has traced how a deadly form of synthetic drugs have been getting into the UK from China - and exposed the role of major social media platforms. Nitazenes, which are illegal in the UK, have been linked to more than 100 deaths in England and Wales since June 2023. We hear from Claire Rocha, whose son died after taking drugs unknowingly laced with Nitazene, and Caroline Copeland, a senior lecturer in toxicology and pharmacology at King’s College London. Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
Studio Manager: Emma Harth

Peres Jepchirchir, Rhianon Bragg and stalking, Nitazenes, Tortured poets

Over the past few weeks, Woman’s Hour has been telling the stories of young people, staff and parents involved in SHiFT in Greater Manchester. SHiFT is a new approach to helping young people at risk of getting into serious trouble and it is all about relationships. Skilled professionals called ‘guides’ work with teenagers for an 18-month period and they just keep showing up. Our reporter Jo Morris went out and about with the team and spoke to teenagers and a mum about the impact of this new approach. In this special podcast episode, our presenter Nuala McGovern guides you through the stories you might have missed. Presenter: Nuala McGovern  Reporter:  Jo Morris  Producer: Erin Riley

Woman's Hour special: Breaking The Cycle

This week, Ruth Wilson explains why she’s running this year’s London Marathon for an Alzheimer’s research, following in the footsteps of her father who ran the first London Marathon in 1981. Tuesday was the deadline to register to vote in the local elections on May 2nd. The most recent data suggest that 4.3 million young people in England aren’t currently registered.  We hear from Sharon Gaffka, who’s supporting the Give an X campaign, that's calling on young people to get involved. A survey by the youth led charity My Life My Say also says that fewer than 1 in 6 of young women trust politicians and more than four in 10 believe their vote won’t make a difference in an election.  We also hear from Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, to explain the trends behind the latest data. Social media platform Meta disabled Soul Sisters Pakistan for 43 hours earlier this month due to an intellectual property violation. Soul Sisters Pakistan was set up 11 years ago by the entrepreneur and activist Kanwal Ahmed as a support system for women to discuss topics considered taboo in Pakistani society, such as sex and divorce. In the past, the group has been accused by some of promoting divorce and 'wild' behaviour. With over 300,000 members, who dub themselves soulies,  In 1927 journalist Sophie Treadwell attended the sensational trial of Ruth Snyder, a New York woman accused murdering her husband. Ruth was found guilty, along with her accomplice lover Henry Judd Gray, and both were executed by electric chair in January 1928. Those events inspired Sophie Treadwell to write the play Machinal, which premiered on Broadway later that year. A recent production has just transferred from the Theatre Royal Bath to the Old Vic in London and its star, Rosie Sheehy, along with US academic Dr Jessie Ramey join Jessica to discuss the case of Ruth Snyder and why Machinal still resonates with audiences today. Professor Netta Weinstein of the University of Reading, is the co-author of a new book, Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone and joins us to discuss the benefits of solitude. Jing Lusi stars as DC Hana Li in ITV’s new thriller Red Eye, set on a plane flying between London and Beijing. She joins Jessica Creighton to talk about what it’s like to play a lead role for the first time, and how important it is to see British East Asian women as the main progatonist Presenter Anita Rani 
Producer Annette Wells

Julian of Norwich and the power of inspirational words in tough times

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