In this special, first ever interview-episode, I'm sharing a recent conversation between myself and my beloved friend Nao Sims—teacher of women's sacred dance for over 25 years, beekeeper, gardener, homesteader, mother, and lover of poetry and myth— as a celebration and announcement for our March 2nd & 3rd in-person workshop on Vancouver Island, Swan Stories, as well as Nao's Six Swans dance series running from January 22nd- February 26th 2024, which will include a writing workshop with me!

For more details on these offerings and to register, you can either email Nao directly at [email protected] or follow the link here —https://www.sylviavictorlinsteadt.com/podcast — or here — https://sylviavlinsteadt.substack.com/p/a-season-of-swans or contact me at [email protected]

----------------------------------------------------------------------PODCAST SOUND EDITING: Simon LinsteadtPODCAST ART: Catherine SieckPODCAST 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.comSubstack: sylviavlinsteadt.substack.com/Instagram: www.instagram.com/sylviavlinsteadt/Newsletter: tinyletter.com/sylvialinsteadt