Queer Lit

Come for the indigenous activism, stay for the queer joy – the delightful Dr Jas M. Morgan (Toronto Metropolitan University) is here for both. In this deep dive into queer indigeneity in literature, art and academia, Jas talks about their brilliant writing, their creative communities, their kick-ass students, and how their trans nonbinary perspective shapes their work. Jas also explains why talkin...

In this special bonus episode, Sarah Wingrove (University of Surrey) is back to tell us more about Anne Lister and Gentleman Jack and about all the impressive efforts the fan community is putting into reviving the HBO/BBC TV series Gentleman Jack after a surprising cancellation. F-Annes around the world are demanding to see more of the 19th century gender nonconforming lesbian, whose detailed diar...

Ever wondered what the 2S inLGBTQIA2S+* stands for? Then this is the episode for you. Two-Spirit is an umbrella term that some native people in Canada and the US use to describe something that may look like non-binary gender on the outside but, like a rainbow cake of gender expansiveness, is filled with entirely different contexts and rich histories. In this first part of a double feature on queer...

THE Prof Lee Edelman (Tufts) joins me to talk about one of my favourite topics: nothing. Lee’s extremely clever (and incredibly influential) work in queer studies has most recently led him to write an entire book about all the things that nothing can mean and what this has to do with queer life, film, and literature. Lee also talks about his previous work on reproductive futurism and No Future, ab...

“When the earth spoke to me, I was moved to compose a collection of love letters between Black women.” -- This is how Dr Briona Simone Jones (University of Connecticut) describes their work in the introduction to their mind-expanding anthology Mouths of Rain. In this episode, Briona tells me how and why they took on the feat of publishing this book while also finishing a PhD on Black lesbian aesth...

“Sometimes a kiss can make you feel free.” This beautiful line by Prof GerShun Avilez (University of Maryland) was one of the many, many reasons I wanted to learn more about his book Black Queer Freedom. In addition to the freeing potential of queer kisses, GerShun talks about how literature can help us better understand the ways in which Black queer bodies are harmed every day. He also explains w...

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 entertaining insights from her ground-breaking publications and films, as well as the cre...

In this special treat of a minisode, you will get to meet one of the amazing architects of Lesbian Lives: Prof Katherine O’Donnell (University College Dublin), who is herself an activist, artist and academic. Katherine tells me about her research, the rich queer history of Cork, about colonialism and queerness in Ireland, and she reveals Fiona Shaw’s real name… If you’re as intrigued by Katherine’...

Do you know what it feels like for a butch? Join Dr Melissa Hidalgo (California State University) and me for a brief interlude between Lesbian Lives panels to find out. Melissa is interested in barbershops, pubs, sports venues and other typically male connoted spaces. She explores how inclusive they are for female, butch, and brown bodies and shares some of her own experiences of California vs Ire...

Dungarees, monocles, vegan boots and carabiners: lesbian fashion historian Ellie Medhurst (Brighton University) is intimately familiar with all of these staples of sartorial Sapphism. In this minisode, Ellie, aka @dressigndykes, will teach you how you too can look like cool lesbian. Ellie mixes tasty tidbits from queer Japanese fashion history with DIY political t-shirts in an audio(visual) melang...

Did you know most people start to transition before they decide to transition? Louka Maju Goetzke (Frankfurt Uni) shares research on transition practices, as well as all kinds of fascinating findings on transitioning, forming the desire to transition, and other activities surrounding gender. Louka interrogates the making and crossing of boundaries which produce gender transitions and the distincti...

Warning! This episode will haunt you. Naoise Murphy (Cambridge University) tells me all about novels inhabited by spectral spinsters and Sapphic spirits and explains what these ghostly queers have to say about the carceral system and the colonial project. I am obsessed with (or possessed by?) Naoise’s brilliance and would recommend a listen, especially if you’re into Irish women writers. There’s s...

Did you know that a lot of the research on Anne Lister’s famously queer diaries was in fact done by fan researchers? Sarah Wingrove (Surrey University) explains why the fan community’s specialist knowledge and meticulous fact-checking should not be underestimated and how she herself got into Anne Lister aka Gentleman Jack. My favourite part: a new euphemism for masturbation, fresh from Miss Lister...

Have you ever thought to yourself: how come radical feminism sounds so good but often tastes so bad? Dr Finn Mackay (UWE Bristol) is here to explain why that is. Come along to our Lesbian Lives chat to learn about female masculinities, tomboys and trans* mascs, and to hear about why Finn wanted to write a book that answers all the introductory questions people who are not queer academics might hav...

Live like a lesbian: in solidarity. This little episode gives you a brief and desperately incomplete introduction to the happening that was the 25th Lesbian Lives conference. Under the magnificent motto “Solidarity!” so many wonderful talks, workshops, walks and connections took place, I could not even begin to claim an exhaustive summary. I do, however, have recordings from a keynote by the extre...

Call. Me. Mother. But what on earth does that word even mean? Dr Teagan Bradway (SUNY Cortland) takes us down the magnificent and multifaceted rabbit holes of queer kinship to chat about trans* motherhood, kinlessness, polyamory, race and kinship, queer kids, and the deep traumas and shiny possibilities attached to all of these. We discuss whether we really ‘choose’ our chosen families, how instit...

A PhD on Grindr? Yes, please! Dr Carl Bonner-Thompson (Brighton University) did just that and is an expert, not just on queer data, but also on queer geographies shaped by data and dating apps. Follow us into the gay matrix to learn about the everyday interactions of queer people with data, how data affects physical touch, in which ways tracking apps may reshape cruising spaces, and why Carl and I...

How do you decolonise your syllabus and create a queer book fest at the same time? Dr Vedrana Velickovic (Brighton) shares the amazing origin story of the queer literature festival ‘The Coast is Queer’ and tells us about the many authors, activists, students and creatives that shape the programme every year. We talk about our favourite activist bookshops, about exciting queer books from Eastern Eu...

Can you identify a bear with a fur-tive glance? Will a bearitone voice coax you out of hibernation? Join the cub! In this real-life (!) conversation, Dr Nick McGlynn (Brighton University) tells me all about bears -- generally speaking, a larger, hairier variety of queer men, who you may have seen flying the paw flag at your local pride event. Human geographer by trade, Nick has collected lots of u...

We love a good ‘both and’: both cake and ice cream, both dogs and cats -- Meg-John Barker, who is both extremely clever and very warm and kind! Meg-John is an activist, writer, scholar, therapist, and expert on everything beyond the binary. In this episode, as well as in their multiple graphic guides, MJ explains how rigid binaries harm our bodies, limit our minds and how many benefits life beyond...

How can we queer up the countryside? No need, says Joe Jukes (Brighton University), it’s already gay as folk! In this arcadian episode, Joe teaches me all about the dynamic nature of the countryside, about rural erotics and counter urbanization, and about how all of this relates to asexuality and non-sexualities in their research. If you want to learn about queers in the wild (and if you want to h...

Just in time for queer history month, the Queer Lit podcast and the CTSG, the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender (Brighton University), have a special collaboration in store: Every Tuesday, you will get to meet a remarkable member of the CTSG and learn about their research and reading interests right here on the Queer Lit podcast. Our conversations cover topics ranging from the queer cou...

Do you know the secret butch nod? In this delightful episode, Dr. Amy Tooth Murphy (Royal Holloway) teaches me about the nod, the queer double take, and all the other sources of queer joy butch lesbians encounter when they brave the streets. Amy lets us enter this magical dyke world via the medium of oral history and explains why queer interactions often remain invisible to straight folk, why it i...

Get ready for the ultimutt dream team: Dr Sarah Parker (Loughborough) and Dr Hannah Roche (York) share their clever mewsings on queer pets and their keepurrs in this pawesome episode. Although a cat called Winky, a poodle named Basket and Whym Chow, the chow, are clearly the alphas of this episode, other Modernist animals and their human companions feature as well: from Gertrude Stein to Radclyffe...

This fine boxing day, I’m introducing you to my queer family: My partner Christian graciously agreed to crunch some candy cane with me for part II of the Holigay Special – and of course the reincats make an appearance as well. Together, we listen to messages from @ibiprofane of Drag & Panto episode fame, from listener @willowcabins, who shares her queer Carol-ling tradition, and from author @c.gem...