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The Shift with Sam Baker

Salena Godden on why 40-plus is where the party is

The Shift with Sam Baker

Sam Baker Ltd

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.8525 Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week's guest is acclaimed poet, author and activist, Salena Godden. Now in her late 40s, Salena has been writing and performing since 1994 when she moved to London seeking the bright lights and never looked back. In her evocative debut novel, Mrs Death Misses Death, the self-confessed “dreamer” brings death to life as a middle-aged black woman and combines prose, poetry and non-fiction to tell the stories of the invisible women society prefers to ignore. Over the next half hour, the woman once described as “everything the Daily Mail is terrified of” talks about "not being here for babies” (and how glad is she that she’ll never be asked THAT question again), being in the midst of “all the weather”, why she thinks menopause is a return to the magic of childhood and why 40+ is where the party is. The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Emily Sandford. I'd love to hear what you think - please rate and review, or let me know on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker. You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at Bookshop.org, including the book that accompanies this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too by Sam Baker and Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Jamie Lang and Sophie Haboo have arrived on Disney Plus.

0:04.5

We're having a baby.

0:05.5

We're having a baby.

0:07.2

I've always wanted to be mom.

0:09.4

And we're bringing you on our journey through everything.

0:12.4

I have no idea what we're doing.

0:13.6

Thank you. I have more of an idea.

0:15.6

I think of it like a Tamagocchi.

0:17.8

At the end of all of this...

0:20.0

We're going to have a little baby.

0:21.8

Raising Chelsea, a Hulu original series streaming exclusively on Disney Plus.

0:27.3

18 plus subscription required T's and T supply.

0:35.0

Hello and welcome to The Shift, the podcast that aims to tell the no-holds-barred truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by me, journalist and author Sam Baker.

0:45.6

Today I'm chatting to acclaimed poet, author and activist Selina Godden.

0:50.3

Now in her late 40s, Selena has been writing and performing since 1994, when she moved to London seeking the bright lights and never looked back.

0:58.9

In her evocative debut novel, Mrs. Death, Mrs. Death, the self-confessed dreamer brings death to life as a middle-aged black woman,

1:06.3

and combines prose, poetry and non-fiction to tell the stories of the invisible women society prefers to

1:12.1

ignore. Anyone that's worried about turning 40, I say hurry up and get here, this is where the

1:17.4

party is. This is the good place. Over the next half hour, the woman once described as everything

1:23.3

the Daily Mail is terrified of, talks about not being here for babies, and how glad is she

1:28.6

that she'll never be asked that question again? Being in the midst of all the weather,

1:33.5

why she thinks menopause has returned to the magic of childhood, and why 40 plus is where the party is.

...

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