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Stories and Stanza

Stories and Stanza

Abhra Pal 137 Episodes Oct 11, 2026

Stories and Stanza is a podcast for curious minds hosted by Abhra Pal, a poet, storyteller, and public speaker. The show explores the human experience through two distinct series: Between The Lines features intimate conversations with writers and creators about vulnerability, craft, and creative transformation, while Fail With Me presents raw, unfiltered discussions with doctors, psychologists, and mental health advocates on emotional intelligence, resilience, and rebuilding. With a focus on mental health and literary depth, the podcast aims to build awareness and break the silence around suffering.

Episodes

Lisa Lacy: What Did You Have to Perform to Survive?
Lisa Lacy: What Did You Have to Perform to Survive? Oct 11, 2026 2644 Send us Fan MailWhat did you have to perform in order to survive?That's the question writer, trauma educator and memoirist Lisa Lacy puts at the centre of this conversation. It's one that tends to stay with you long after the episode ends.For nearly three decades, Lisa worked in corporate healthcare education and ran a highly successful consulting business. From the outside she looked po
The Silence Men Keep — A World Mental Health Day Recap | Stories and Stanza Live ft. Joelle Camille
The Silence Men Keep — A World Mental Health Day Recap | Stories and Stanza Live ft. Joelle Camille Oct 11, 2026 638 Send us Fan MailWorld Mental Health Day Community Talk: Men’s Mental Health, Support Systems & Real Change | Stories and Stanza Live ft. Joelle CamilleHost Abhra reflects on Stories and Stanza’s second in-person community talk show event in Melbourne — held on October 10th, World Mental Health Day — with guest Joelle Camille, somatic therapist, men’s coach, and body-brain rewiring practitioner
Embrace the Mud: A Veteran Poet on Discipline and Craft
Embrace the Mud: A Veteran Poet on Discipline and Craft Oct 5, 2026 2230 Send us Fan Mail#StoriesAndStanza #BetweenTheLines #PeterGunn #EpicPoetry #CreativeDiscipline"Embrace the suck. Embrace the mud." Peter Gunn learned that lesson crawling under barbed wire in Air Force boot camp, and he's been living by it ever since.In this episode of Between the Lines, I sit down with Peter, a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran, bodybuilder, guitarist and poet, who is
Why "Use Your Words" Doesn't Work: How Children Learn Emotional Language | Dr David Marcus
Why "Use Your Words" Doesn't Work: How Children Learn Emotional Language | Dr David Marcus Sep 24, 2026 4078 Send us Fan Mail"Use your words," we tell our children. But what if they don't have the words yet? In this Fail With Me conversation, clinical psychologist Dr David S. Marcus explains why emotional language is a skill that has to be built, not something children simply pick up, and how parents can build it with them.Most of us parent the way we were parented, for better or worse. Dr
Why We Repeat Patterns We Know Are Hurting Us: Shadow Journaling, Self-Acceptance and the Reveal, Reclaim, Rewrite Method with Oliver Mann
Why We Repeat Patterns We Know Are Hurting Us: Shadow Journaling, Self-Acceptance and the Reveal, Reclaim, Rewrite Method with Oliver Mann Sep 24, 2026 3767 Send us Fan MailWhy doesn't self-awareness lead to change? Shadow journaling coach Oliver Mann, author of Shadow Journaling: A Field Guide to Personal Alchemy, explains why self-acceptance is the missing step between knowing your patterns and changing them.In his third conversation on Stories and Stanza, Oliver makes an uncomfortable point: awareness is only the first step, and on its own it
Navigating Redundancy: Grief, Identity and Finding Yourself Again
Navigating Redundancy: Grief, Identity and Finding Yourself Again Sep 12, 2026 2862 Send us Fan MailWhat happens to your sense of self when the job you gave years to suddenly no longer needs you? In this Fail With Me episode, Abhra sits down with Claire, a fellow writer, for an honest conversation about redundancy, job loss and the quiet grief that comes with it.Recorded at Sam Merrifield Library in Moonee Ponds, this is Stories and Stanza's first one-on-one in-person interv
Can You Predict How People Will Behave? Jim Marshall on Septemics
Can You Predict How People Will Behave? Jim Marshall on Septemics Sep 11, 2026 4972 Send us Fan Mail#StoriesAndStanza #Septemics #HumanBehaviour #SelfImprovement #EmotionalIntelligence"95% of the problems in industrialised society are because people don't understand people, including themselves." That conviction sits at the heart of Septemics, a system Jim Marshall spent decades building.In this episode, Abhra sits down with Jim to explore his book Septemics: Hiera
Art Is an Act of Survival — Dancer Alexandra Beller on Aloneness, Healing & Finding Your Voice
Art Is an Act of Survival — Dancer Alexandra Beller on Aloneness, Healing & Finding Your Voice Sep 6, 2026 2908 Send us Fan MailGNiYQGXxQongx5BIPosv"This is what it feels like to be alive. Does anybody recognise it?" Dancer and choreographer Alexandra Beller believes that's the question at the heart of all art — and the answer is what makes us feel less alone.In this episode of Stories and Stanza, Alexandra shares 25 years of lived experience inside the creative process — from performing with
From Trauma to the Page | A Nurse's Journey Through Writing & Forgiveness — Nancy Jasin Ensley
From Trauma to the Page | A Nurse's Journey Through Writing & Forgiveness — Nancy Jasin Ensley Aug 24, 2026 3086 Send us Fan Mail#WritingAsHealing #PTSD #MentalHealth #StoriesAndStanza #Resilience"I decided I didn't want to be afraid all the time." That one decision changed everything for Nancy Jasin Ensley — and it might change something for you too.In this episode of Stories and Stanza, host Abhra sits down with Nancy — a writer, registered nurse, teacher, and grandmother of fourteen from ru
What If Your Happiness Isn't Yours? Redefining Happiness With Charu Moorjani
What If Your Happiness Isn't Yours? Redefining Happiness With Charu Moorjani Aug 15, 2026 1907 Send us Fan MailWhat does it mean when your life looks perfect on the outside but something feels deeply off inside?In this episode of Fail With Me, I sit down with Charu Moorjani — Australian author of The Happiness Pathway, mindset coach, and wellbeing storyteller — for a conversation about what happens when the version of happiness you've been chasing was never actually yours.Charu's
Moonee Valley Writing Group on Craft, Community, Resilience & New Work
Moonee Valley Writing Group on Craft, Community, Resilience & New Work Aug 10, 2026 2564 Send us Fan MailWhat happens when you pass a mic around a library table and ask four writers why they keep showing up?This is the first ever in-person episode of Stories and Stanza — recorded live at Sam Merrifield Library in Moonee Ponds with the Moonee Valley Writing Group.Frances McKay talks about her published nonfiction Pieces of China and reads from her humorous novel-in-progress Postcards f
Writing Scary Books: What I Learned from NaNoWriMo
Writing Scary Books: What I Learned from NaNoWriMo Aug 9, 2026 2862 Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Stories and Stanza, host speaks with writer Diana Gunn about her writing journey from starting at age eight and using NaNoWriMo to build discipline and finish projects to publishing five books, including her recent Gothic horror vampire novel Woman of Sorrow and Blood. Gunn discusses planning versus drafting fast, how challenges like NaNoWriMo can help writers st

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