I have been extremely unwell since the New Year; on top of my existing health issues. Beyond that, finances are really quite dire for my household and we need help. This country really keeps you in the gutter and food is growing increasingly expensive.

I’m existing on tins / cartons of soup and simple sandwiches. Though with this stomach bug I cannot eat at all.

I am hoping to get my health back on track this year so I can continue doing this and all I love.

I’m truly struggling both physically and mentally right now. If you can spare any donations towards my GoFundMe, I would greatly appreciate it.

—Courtenay x

In this episode I provide some much needed updates; such as what I’ve been reading and watching. I also discuss my feelings on approaching the end of my ‘20s.

Mentioned:

- Complete Plays by Aristophanes

- The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter

- Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky

- The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

- Ulysses by James Joyce

- I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here

- Big Brother

- Stranger Things S5 (SPOILER WARNING)

Support The Maple Moon Podcast:

- GoFundMe

- Amazon Wishlist

* For all press / PR enquiries, please contact me via email: [email protected]

In this episode I discuss the issues with writing competitions, why I don’t care to follow them, why I no longer enter poetry prizes, and the culture surrounding writing prizes.

Mentioned:

- Mslexia’s Instagram Post

- Hallowe’en Ghazal by Kit Buchan

- We Blue Stars by Courtenay Schembri Gray

- The Poetry Review

- Diane Seuss

- Full Fathom Five by Sylvia Plath

Currently Reading:

- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark

- The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

Support The Maple Moon Podcast:

- Ko-Fi

- PayPal

- Amazon Wishlist

* For all press / PR enquiries, please contact me via email: [email protected]

Mentioned:

- The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath (ed. Ted Hughes)

- Sylvia (dir. Christine Jeffs, 2003)

- The Letters of Ted Hughes (ed. Christopher Reid)

- Winter Landscape, With Rooks by Sylvia Plath

- Bucolics by Sylvia Plath

- Faun by Sylvia Plath

- Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark

- Sylvia Plath in Devon: A Year’s Turning by Elizabeth Sigmund and Gail Crowther

- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

- Ariel by Sylvia Plath

- Gilmore Girls

Support The Maple Moon Podcast:

- Ko-Fi

- PayPal

- Amazon Wishlist

* For all press / PR enquiries, please contact me via email: [email protected]

In this episode I discuss the problems with Arts Council funding, rewarding mediocrity, and the privileges of those with all the power in the writing world. I urge all my fellow writers listening to hear this message and speak out on the corruption going on in the arts. If we don’t fight for what we deserve then there will be nobody left other than those who hold all the cards.

‘I have no patience with the pretensions of would-be poets who contrive by toadying and underground influences to get their volumes placed on every drawing-room table.’ —The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

Mentioned:

- Rebecca Kenny’s Instagram post

- The Rest Is Entertainment episode: 16:34

- Majority of creative jobs go to friends or contacts in ‘closed’ process – BECTU by Katie Chambers for The Stage

- NPO championing marginalised writers to close by Chris Sharratt for Arts Professional

- The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

Places to Donate:

- Médecins Sans Frontières

- Help Kurt Transition and Survive!

Support The Maple Moon Podcast:

- Ko-Fi

- PayPal

- Amazon Wishlist

* For all press / PR enquiries, please contact me via email: [email protected]

In this episode I talk you through my paranormal experiences. As someone who has had plenty, I find it fascinating to talk about. I enjoy reading about other paranormal experiences; especially when it comes to literature.

Mentioned:

- Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene V)

- Two Girls One Ghost

- The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll (fit the second. the bellman’s speech)

Support The Maple Moon Podcast:

- Ko-Fi

- PayPal

- Amazon Wishlist

* For all press / PR enquiries, please contact me via email: [email protected]

In this episode, I discuss my experiences as an autistic person seeking diagnosis. Recent events have only made it more important to speak out about neurodivergence. I recently wrote a Facebook account about my own experiences; something I have been relatively quiet about. I wanted my family and friends to understand what it means to be neurodivergent. But most importantly, I wanted everyone to understand that those of us on the spectrum are NOT diseased people who need curing.

Mentioned:

- The Machinist (dir. Brad Anderson), 2004

- Ghazal: Mono America by Courtenay Schembri Gray

- WIP by Courtenay Schembri Gray

Support The Maple Moon Podcast:

- Ko-Fi

- PayPal

- Amazon Wishlist

For all press / PR enquiries, please contact me via email: [email protected]

In this episode, I discuss the short story, my own experiences of writing them and review After Midnight: a collection of Daphne du Maurier’s short stories, published by Virago Press. 

- Pain, Parties, Work by Elizabeth Winder

- After Midnight by Daphne du Maurier

- Virago Press

- Rebecca, dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1940)

- The Signalman by Charles Dickens

- The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster

- Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille

- Where Flowers Give Birth to Snow by Courtenay Schembri Gray

- Gail Crowther

For all press / PR enquiries, please contact me via email: [email protected]

If you would like to support the podcast by helping me on my way to purchasing a microphone, consider donating to Ko-Fi or PayPal / Alternatively you can purchase from my Amazon Wishlist!

In this episode, I discuss the concept of recording dreams, read from my journal, discuss my long distance relationship experience and mysticism in general.

Mentioned:

- The Diary of Samuel Pepys (Saturday 29th June 1667)

- Insomniac Dreams: Experiments with Time by Vladimir Nabokov

- Notes to John by Joan Didion

- Between Meals by A. J. Liebling

- Resolve by Sylvia Plath

- The Letters of Ted Hughes

Notes:

If you'd like to support me, you can donate via Ko-Fi or PayPal / Alternatively you can purchase from my Amazon Wishlist!

Podcast Recommendations:

Ear Biscuits

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

Not Just the Tudors

BBC Front Row

Weird in the Wade

TV Recommendations:

The Newsreader

Masterchef UK

Ancient Autopsy w/ Suzannah Lipscomb