The episode opens with Bijal talking about what creativity means to her. Bijal shares her earliest memory of being creative. We talk about her early career days in accounting and how she got interested in bibliotherapy. We chat about her reading routine and how she curates book lists. Bijal also shares a bit about her platform Book Therapy and some of the courses she teaches on there. We also talk about some of her favourite books. The episode ends with a piece written & narrated by Bijal.

Bijal Shah is a bibliotherapist, counsellor and author. She is the founder of Book Therapy, which offers individual, couples and group bibliotherapy, literary curation and personalised reading services as well as bibliotherapy training. Bijal's book recommendations have featured in the Guardian, Marie Claire, NBC News, among other publications. She's a member of the International Federation of Library Associations and the American Library Association, and has undertaken bibliotherapy workshops for the United Nations as well as various corporate organisations and libraries in the UK and the US. She is also the co-host of the podcast Raising a Reader & Storyteller. You can find her on Instagram @booktherapy_by_bijal

Sangeetha Menon a.k.a. The Moody Marshmallow is a writer, editor and podcaster. She currently handles the rights portfolio at Tulika Publishers, where she finds new avenues for stories to travel. She has worked with organisations like Bound, Karadi Tales, and Carve Magazine to name a few. You can find her on Instagram: @marshmallow.musings and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/menonsangeetha/

Mentions: Slow Hobbies, Kindle, audible, BBC Sounds, Bibliotherapy, Cinema Therapy, B.N. Goswamy, Rasa theory, Freud, Carl Jung, The Power Of Now, The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield, Love Matters, Judy Blume, The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ocean Voung, Tortoise Media, Sweet Bobby, Netflix, Black Wave, Kim Ghattas, A Peace To End All Peace, David Fromkin, Until August, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Patria, Laurence Blair, The List, Yomi Adegoke, Panchatantra, Jataka Tales, Brotherless Night, V.V. Ganeshananthan, women’s Prize for Fiction, Orbital, Samantha Harvey

Social Media:

Instagram - @theclosetwriterchronicles

Twitter - @TheMoodyMarsh

Email - theclosetwriterchronicles@gmail.com

Music:

Beat Provided By https://freebeats.io

Produced By White Hot