{"podcast":{"title":"The Shift with Sam Baker","slug":"the-shift-with-sam-baker-1305838","podcast_index_feed_id":1305838,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/AUDD5911261185","website_url":"https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/ca307044-48da-11ef-bc54-4b542b9ff10c/image/eb51c7bae8ff572c9c63cd96c36f576f.jpeg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Sam Baker Ltd","episode_count":296,"summary":"The Shift is a podcast that aims to tell the truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker. Did you ever wonder why you stop hearing so many women's voices once they pass 40? That's where The Shift comes in - a frank, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest look at what it means to be a woman in midlife and beyond. Work, life, love, health, sex, money, identity, body image... What does it all mean when everything around you (and inside you...) is changing? Each week, award-winning author and journalist Sam Baker asks a different woman how she got here, where she's going - and how it feels to be where she is right now. Expect intimate conversation, big laughs, occasional tears and an awful lot of ripping up the rule book and stamping on it... Past guests have included Nicola Sturgeon, Marian Keyes, Guilty Feminist Deborah Frances-White, Minnie Driver, Philippa Perry, Anita Rani, Tracey Thorn, Isabel Allende, Bobbi Brown, Barbara Blake-Hannah and many more, talking everything from confidence to career reinvention, mental health, menopause and so much more. If you enjoy The Shift podcast, and you'd like to show the love, you can buy…","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shift-with-sam-baker-1305838"},"episode":{"title":"Elif Shafak on the power of older women & why menopause can be the end of shame - THE SHIFT REVISITED","slug":"elif-shafak-on-the-power-of-older-women-why-menopause-can-be-the-end-of-shame-the-shift-revisited","published_at":"2026-03-31T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shift-with-sam-baker-1305838/elif-shafak-on-the-power-of-older-women-why-menopause-can-be-the-end-of-shame-the-shift-revisited","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shift-with-sam-baker-1305838","url":"https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/AUDD5447999236.mp3?updated=1774272735","summary":"This episode of The Shift first aired in August 2021. My guest today is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful people I’ve ever interviewed - and I’ve interviewed A LOT. Writer and academic, Elif Shafak has written 19 books and 12 novels and been shortlisted for countless literary prizes, including the Booker Prize. Known for her bravery and outspokenness in the face of oppressive regimes, she has almost 2million followers on social media and is the best-selling female novelist in Turkey - a country to which she has been unable to return for the past 5 years after being put on trial for, amongst other things, insulting Turkishness. Her latest novel, The Island of Missing Trees, about the partition of Cyprus, is also about love, longing, exile and the environment. I think it might be the most beautiful thing she’s ever written, but you’ll have to judge for yourself. Elif talks about what home means to her, the importance of freedom and sharing your truth, the two very different women who made her, the importance of lifelong learning and the art of storytelling, and why menopause signals the end of “ayip” (shame). Oh, and being a middle-aged metalhead! * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠, including The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak and her most recent bestseller, the gorgeous There Are Rivers In The Sky, as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus load…","meta_description":"This episode of The Shift first aired in August 2021. My guest today is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful people I’ve ever interviewed - and I’ve in…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2865,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-shift-with-sam-baker-1305838/episodes/elif-shafak-on-the-power-of-older-women-why-menopause-can-be-the-end-of-shame-the-shift-revisited/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shift-with-sam-baker-1305838/elif-shafak-on-the-power-of-older-women-why-menopause-can-be-the-end-of-shame-the-shift-revisited.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}