Queer Lit

This episode is all about both/and: both trans and queer history, both kinship and relationships, both the past and the present. Mo Moulton, our illustrious guest this fortnight, is an expert in all of them. Mo is a historian of community, who is particularly interested in nonbinary methods to approach gender nonconforming figures of the past. In this episode, Mo talks about a queer and trans desi...

Nonbinary Jesus. Did that get your attention? If so, this episode is for you. Historian extraordinaire Leah DeVun joins me to talk about the pre-modern history of nonbinary gender, about intersex brides, transitioning saints and what terms such as androgyne and hermaphrodite might tell us about conceptions of sex, gender and sexuality. Leah explains how thinking about nonbinary gender was and is a...

How can we imagine a trans future? Kit Schuster joins me to talk about how transgression in fiction can help us think new futures. We speak about trans, nonbinary and gendernonconforming characters, norms and settings in science fiction, but Kit also stresses that their definition of trans is not limited to gender. Instead, Kit invites us to have our queer minds blown in all kinds of ways by futur...

The queerest thing you did in 2023: Part Two Are you ready for 2024? I absolutely am not but to prepare for another queer year, I listen to more of your voice notes and I give you what you probably have not been waiting for: the queerest thing I did this year. References: ListenQueer https://listenqueer.wordpress.com/ Kit Schuster Jack Jen Gieseking American Studies Meeting Lindsey Freeman Trans C...

We're revisiting a holigay chat from two years ago, talking to a wonderful friend about how hard the festive season can be for queer and trans people. CW: grief, death, trauma, religion, violence, antiqueerness, antitransness, family trauma

It’s here! It’s here! The Queer Lit end-of-year special has arrived and it comes in two parts. One you’ll get now and the other we’ll save for Christmas Eve. Tune in to hear me gush about all the lovely messages I received and listen to this year’s Queer Lit guests talk about their supergay highlights of 2023. References: Maria Sulimma Queer Perseverance https://www.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/event...

This extraordinary queer space special makes all my dreams come true: I get to hang out with Erica Gillingham in the basement of Gay’s The Word! Sitting between towering stacks of books and boxes of GTW archival material that goes back all the way to the birth of this magnificent LGBTQ+ bookshop in January 1979, Erica shares some highlights of the turbulent and inspiring history of GTW. She also t...

What can you do when the language for who you are doesn’t exist yet? Kai Minosh Pyle’s answer: write gorgeous poetry about it! In this episode, Kai reads one of their multilingual pieces, but they also talk about the benefits of using words that ‘kind of’ fit, and about finding trans*temporal kinship with Two-Spirit ancestors in creative writing and scholarly research. Kai introduces us to some le...

You may think that second wave feminism and trans activism are mutually exclusive but guess what: there is actually a whole lot of diversity in second wave feminist theory, writing, activism and print culture. Emily Cousens has done lots of archival research to highlight trans thinking and the way it has informed and shaped second wave feminism. Listen to our conversation to learn more about the g...

If you would like to be a part of the Queer Lit winter tradition, let me know about the queerest thing you did this year and/or any queer winter/holiday traditions and reading recommendations by the end of November. Can't wait to hear from you at queerlitpodcast@gmail.com!

We’re so done with scary trans villains and monsters – or are we? Cáel Keegan explains why we might be able to learn lessons about trans liberation from Buffalo Bill and why The Silence of the Lambs , upon its release, was actually protested for homophobia. Cáel speaks about transfixing and spellbinding media, from The Matrix to Buffy to video games. Dark Willow makes an appearance. Not to be miss...

Get the garlic, sprinkle the holy water, but please, leave the antiqueer racism out of my Gothic romance! Dr Maisha Wester (Sheffield/Indiana University) explains why Horror films are so interesting to study, what Brexit has to do with Zombies, why King Kong film posters reveal blatant racism, and why ghosts are not always gay but most definitely queer. Lusty lesbian vampires, Cat People (are thos...

It’s time to be real. In this episode with queer studies luminary Heather Love, it’s all about what you find, what you feel, what you knooooow(-ah) to be real. We talk about feeling and looking backward while shifting paradigms, about the semiprivate space of the queer classrooms, about the entanglements of queer, trans and disability studies and so much more. Tune in now and follow @queerlitpodca...

Have you asked yourself lately: What could I do to make my October really super extra queer? Sarah Boira and Vedrana Velickovic have THE festival for you. Listen to this episode to learn all about The Coast is Queer, the UK’s first LGBTQIA+ literary festival that celebrates all texts queer. Some of the events to get excited about: a panel on queer Ukraine, an event about invisible identities, a zi...

This episode takes us deep, deep into the queer ocean. Alexis Pauline Gumbs submerges us in Black feminist thought, takes us on a deep dive into queer creativity, and, most importantly, allows us to rethink our breathing through gills, lungs, mouths, and bills. Listen now to learn about how Audre Lorde, June Jordan and M. Jacqui Alexander have influenced Alexis Pauline’s work and why marine mammal...

Did you know that yew trees can (and do) change sex? And that many trees are nonbinary? Genderqueer greenery is only one of the fascinating (tree) topics this conversation branches off into. If you want to em-bark on a journey into queer ecologies, this is the sapisode for you. Cate talks about leafing through the herbal archives at Kew Gardens, the role of storytelling in understanding ecologies,...

What did queer life look like in Soviet Russia? Rustam Alexander has written two whole books about gay oppression in Russian history and is here to share what they learned in the archives, from diaries, and from doctors’ records. From the revolution to the ‘gay propaganda’ law of 2013, Rustam talks about the state and the history of Russian queerness. We discuss gay activism, the medicalisation of...

A dog walks into a lesbian bar. I am not sure there is a punchline but there is definitely a podcast episode here. Listen to this chat with my lovely friend and colleague Maria to hear about the conference we will be hosting together, about queerness and/in the city, about seriality and sexuality, and about Maria’s fascinating take on TV and identity. Follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and help...

We know that queer and trans people have always been around, but how do you go about finding them? Diane Watt is here to show us how it’s done: all you need is lesbian methodology, queer philology, and tiny curtains. Intrigued? Tune in to learn more and to listen to Diane and I discuss shared butch lesbian and transmasculine histories, lesbian nuns, and medieval dildos. If this all sounds too good...

Join @DrNChakrabarty and I in the magic teapot at @OutandWildlgbtq to talk about reading in queer spaces, writing about race hate crimes, and community at queer events. We also reflect on academic structures and queer encounters, critical race theory and cultural differences in talking about race. It was such a pleasure running into Elizabeth again and if you’re not a fan already, you will be afte...

In this trip to the Queer Lit archives, (the) Prof Terry Castle (Stanford University) joins me to discuss a corpus I don’t usually think about: lesbian content produced by cis-male authors. We talk about what’s great and not so great about these texts, which moments in literary history opened new doors for queer representation and why literature is such an apt medium to understand the fluidity of...

If you haven’t been to the Common Press yet, you’re missing out! But not to worry, Alfonzo and I will transport you there. The Common Press is an intersectional bookshop and event space at the end of Brick Lane and I wish I could live there because the curation of events and books is amazing and the chai latte is fabulous and I found all of my favourite new reads there. References: Chris Mounsey V...

In one of the first Queer Lit episodes ever, I got to chat with LaVelle Ridley (University of Michigan) about her doctoral research on black trans life narratives in this one and I must say, she’s a tonic. From important observations on the role of storytelling in political and community activism to the deeply personal process of healing that appropriate representation can initiate, LaVelle covers...

Do you think you can tell someone is queer by listening to their voice? Dr Fabio Fasoli is here to tell us all about gay voice stereotypes, auditory gaydar, and voice-based bias. We talk about gay voice acting in 90s sitcoms, learn surprising facts about lesbian voices and employability, and discuss the intersection of foreign accents and gender-nonconforming voices. References Fasoli, F., Dragoje...

Hold on to your pussyhats! The incredible Prof Susan Stryker joins me for this whirlwind through trans histories, nows, and futures, in which we talk about the power of narrative and affect in research and media and about what transness might teach us about possible ways of existing in the world. Susan shares rather entertaining insights from her ground-breaking publications and films, as well as...