Lena Mattheis

Queer Lit

About the show

Queer Lit is a podcast about LGBTQIA+* literature and culture. In each episode, literary studies researcher Lena Mattheis talks to an expert in the field of queer studies. Topics include lesbian literature, inclusive pronouns and language, gay history, trans and non-binary novels, intersectionality and favourite queer films, series or poems. New episode every other week! Recent transcripts here: https://lenamattheis.wordpress.com/queer-lit-transcripts/ queerlitpodcast@gmail.com https://lenamattheis.wordpress.com/queerlit Twitter and Instagram: @queerlitpodcast Music by geovanebruny from Pixabay

Newest episodes

“Changing Gender LIVE” with Susan Stryker

Nov 3, 2026 51 min

What is the future of gender? The iconic Susan Stryker joins us for a live recording to see where this question might lead us and speak about how she investigated it in her new book Changing Gender. Susan explains why gender is in fact a Humanities problem, not a science problem, and how thinking about animacy, grammar and psychedelics might get us closer to understanding the work that gender does as a concept. If you’re into trans rights and a bit of a grammar nerd, this will be your dream episode. References: Susan Stryker’s Changing Gender: The History and Future of a Concept (Serpent’s Tail, 2026) Susan Stryker’s “My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix” Screaming Queens Susan Stryker’s Transgender History New House Art Space Blossom LGBT Katherine Hubbard David Griffiths Clare Butler Papermoon Books Whitechapel Gallery Heather Love Lena Mattheis’ Queer Forms and Pronouns (Oxford University Press, 2026) Talia Mae Bettcher Ursula K. (Kroeber) Le Guin Alfred Kroeber Franz Boas Greville Corbett Surrey Morphology Group James Anderson’s “Grammatical Disquisitions” (1792) David Ricardo Justus Liebig Karl Marx Mel Y. Chen’s Animacies: Biopolitics, Racial Mattering, and Queer Affect George Lakoff’s Metaphors We Live By Ornette Coleman Maria Lugones Pod Save the UK Compton’s Cafeteria Riot (1966) Stonewall Riots (1969) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What does Susan say about autobiographical writing in her work? Why is this important? Susan introduces Talia Bettcher’s WTF concept. What does this mean to you? Please also look up Bettcher’s definition and/or listen to our Queer Lit episode with Bettcher. What does grammar have to do with gender? How does animacy impact language and pronoun use? Susan uses the example of a river to explain how our cosmologies and worldviews shape the way we use words and perceive categories. Can you think of another example of this? What do you think about...

“Shameless Vampires” with RJ Wade and Sarah Prescott

Oct 19, 2026 48 min

Welcome, children of the night, to a particularly shameless spooky special all about an eternally queer-coded fan favourite: the vampire. RJ Wade and Sarah Prescott join me to speak about bookish bloodsuckers, raunchy revenants, and sapphic succubi. The dramatic reading of a yet unperformed Carmilla play had me at the very edge of my seat and I also learned a lot about both the cultural and the literary history of vampirism. References: Quite Shameless: Cultural Reflections on the Vampire https://library.leeds.ac.uk/events/event/1900/galleries/1085/quite-shameless-cultural-reflections-on-the-vampire RJ Wade’s An Exhibition History of Victorian Leeds (Liverpool UP, 2023) https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781802078541 University of Leeds Cultural Collections Bram Stoker’s Dracula Animated Activism: Women Empowered https://library.leeds.ac.uk/events/event/1900/galleries/844/animated-activism-women-empowered Hamilton Deane’s Dracula (1924) Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872) The Dark Blue Byron Dracula Society https://www.thedraculasociety.org.uk/ Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness (1928) Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (1928) Dora Mary Patrick Quincey Morris Van Helsing Stage@Leeds https://stage.leeds.ac.uk/ Christopher Craft’s “‘Kiss Me with those Red Lips’: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker's Dracula” (1984) https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928560 Chris Latham Revenant Wharram Percy Maurice Beresford Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Josephine Butler @lulgalleries C.E. McGill’s Our Hideous Progeny https://cemcgill.com/our-hideous-progeny/ BorrowBox Libby Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Ally Wilkes’ All the White Spaces The Bookish Type https://thebookishtype.co.uk/ Kit Heyam https://kitheyam.com/ Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What might make a vampire queer? Which literary vampires do we speak about in the episode? When Sarah talks about a ‘pleasing terror’, what kind of experience is described and...

“Against Ageism” with Simon(e) van Saarloos

Oct 5, 2026 47 min

Have you ever thought about your age as being assigned at birth? In this episode, Simon(e) van Saarloos and I explore how queer thought might allow us to move beyond preconceptions of age, but also about the manifold and intersectional consequences of ageism. Simon(e) reflects on how trans narratives might work without reliance on linearity and why age is such a powerful category when it comes to agency. CW: Around minutes 11 to 13, there is a nongraphic mention of sexual violence. References: Simon(e) van Saarloos’ Against Ageism: A Queer Manifesto (2023) Simon(e) van Saarloos’ Playing Monogamy (2019) Simon(e) van Saarloos’ Take ‘Em Down: Scattered Monuments and Queer Forgetting (2021) Simon(e) van Saarloos’ Give Piss A Chance: A Willing Suspension of Consequences Trans Despair (2027) Samantha Nye MU Hybrid Art House in Eindhoven Mona Eltahawy Ira Kip KIP Republic Denise Ferreira Da Silva Roe vs Wade Crip time Mel Y. Chen Chrononormativity (Elizabeth Freeman) Alison Kafer JJJJJerome Ellis Fred Moten Fumi Okiji @svansaarloos Jordy Rosenberg’s Night Night Fawn Saketopoulou, A. (2026). Exigent Sadism. Social Text, 44(1), 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-12195785 Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What does Simon(e) mean by ‘change-phobic’? I really love when Simon(e) explains that “linear time is mapped onto the body and we call that age.” – How could we understand age in other ways? What might a queer approach to age be? Simon(e) mentions age-segregated institutions. What are examples of these and how does age shape institutions? How do race and colonialism play into age? How often do you think about age? Do you perceive age differently in and outside of queer and trans community?

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All episodes

“Changing Gender LIVE” with Susan Stryker

Nov 3, 2026 51 min

“Shameless Vampires” with RJ Wade and Sarah Prescott

Oct 19, 2026 48 min

“Against Ageism” with Simon(e) van Saarloos

Oct 5, 2026 47 min

“Queering Prehistory” with S. K. Marley

Sep 21, 2026 39 min

We all know that trans people have existed throughout history, but what about before that? S.K. Marley does fascinating research on queerness and transness that predates written history and joins me to speak about what antler headdresses and wooden dolls might teach us about transness. We also discuss how transness, walking and wellbeing are entangled, which landscapes are the most nonbinary, and why ‘prehistory’ is a contested term in itself. Since we’re chatting in a beautiful park in York, this episode has some bonus bird song and squirrel mischief. References: Out and Wild https://www.outandwild.co.uk/ Our Transcapes https://skmarley.co.uk/our-transcapes/ Ballachulish Goddess Braak Bog Figures The Wittemoor Figures Shigir Idol https://skmarley.co.uk/ @sk____marley Our Flag Means Death Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What does ‘prehistory’ mean? Why does S.K. speak about being trans and being in nature? What does this have to do with wellbeing? S.K. speaks about notions of truth in contemporary trans debates and about colonial perspectives in academia. Why is their focus on British prehistory important in both of these contexts? Why are the antler headdresses S.K. talks about a turning point in their research and their thinking about duality? Why are bogs trans? What is the most trans or nonbinary landscape you have ever encountered?

“Hyperpop and Queer Noise” with C. Jade MacDonald

Sep 7, 2026 42 min

What does sound have to do with sexuality? C. Jade MacDonald has some fascinating insights on the queerness of noise, on trans voices in hyperpop, and on sound in literature. Learn about the queer kinship created by remixes and covers in contemporary music, but also about which sound technologies are historically entangled with sexology. My favourite bit: hearing about how Gertrude Stein resonates with SOPHIE. References: C. Jade MacDonald (2024) “The Alien Resonances and Queer Obscurities of Hyperpop’s 100 gecs” Journal of Popular Music Studies, 36.2, pp. 76-98. C. Jade MacDonald (2025) "'A Story that Wasn’t in the Words’: Music, Mothering, and Minor Figures" in The Crossroads of Music and Literature: New Essays on the Muse of Song, edited by Kelly Baron and Andrew DuBois, pp. 113-28. C. Jade MacDonald (2027) "Their Lover's Noise: Modernism's Queer Phonographies" in Routledge Companion to Literature and Sound, edited by Birgitte Stougaard Pedersen and Maria Engberg. Foucault’s The History of Sexuality Saidiya Hartman Julie Beth Napolin’s "Unrecordable Sound: Media History, Technology and the Racial Unconscious" in Anna Snaith, ed. Sound and Literature (Cambridge UP, 2020) Jonathan Sterne’s The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction (Duke UP, 2003) Sara Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology Althusser Gertrude Stein SOPHIE 100 gecs’ “money machine” Wendy Carlos Dorian Electra Charli xcx A.G. Cook Kodwo Eshun’s More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction (Quartet Books, 1998) alien sonorities Alice B. Toklas Edmund Husserl Alexander G. Weheliye’s Phonographies: Grooves in Sonic Afro-Modernity (Duke UP, 2005) Grace E. Lavery’s Pleasure and Efficacy: Of Pen Names, Cover Versions, and Other Trans Techniques (Princeton UP, 2023) Perverse sincerity Simon & Garfunkel Shakira Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc” @C.jademacdonald cameronjade.macdonald@utoronto.ca Aoife Josie Clements’ Persona (Little Puss Press, 2026) Questions you should be able to respond to aft...

“Lavender Sounds” with Stacey Copeland

Aug 24, 2026 43 min

Listen, this episode is as delightful as it sounds. Audiophile Stacey Copeland tells me all about feminist soundwork, radical radio, and lesbian podcasts – all of which Stacey writes about in the excellent new book Lavender Sounds. Tune in for the sonic histories, stay for the moment when Stacey illustrating the crafted intimacy of podcasts will make you a little weak in the knees. If you are interested in the politics and potential of audio media, you will absolutely love this episode. References: Stacey Copeland’s Lavender Sounds: From Lesbian Radio to Queer Feminist Soundwork (University of Michigan Press, 2026) Amplify Network Copeland, Stacey "Sustaining queer joy and potentiality: Through independent production with homoground music podcast." Journal of popular music studies 35.4 (2023): 111-124. Betty Friedan Lavender Menace Michele Hilmes Bluestockings Cooperative bell hooks Hannah McGregor The Lesbian Show Fonds are held at the City of Vancouver Archives https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/the-lesbian-show Kaitlin Prest Jennifer Lynn Stoever’s The Sonic Color Line (NYU Press, 2016) Silva Tenenbein’s original interview with Stacey aired on FemRadio in 2018 https://soundcloud.com/scopeatryerson/the-lesbian-show Dykes on Mykes is back on the airwaves at CKUT Montreal https://ckut.ca/playlists/DM The ArQuives - https://arquives.ca/ ‘Temporal drag’ is a reference from Elizabeth Freeman’s Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories (Duke University Press, 2010) The Heart’s “Lesbian Separatism is Inevitable” - https://www.theheartradio.org/solos/2020/1/15/lesbian-separatism-is-inevitable NK (Nicole Kelly) Phoebe Unter staceycopeland.com Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives - https://www.nfb.ca/film/forbidden_love/ Studio D – The women’s film studio founded in 1974 under the NFB (National Film Board of Canada) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: How does Stacey define lavender sounds and why is the colour...

LIVE at Out and Wild with Ayse and Queer Girls Book Club

Aug 10, 2026 39 min

Meet Ayse, founder of Queer Girls Book Club, defender of the heated debate, and dyke of the people. In this live recording from the amazing Out and Wild festival, Ayse tells me about why running a queer book club is not just about putting LGBTQIA+ titles on your reading list, all the work she is doing to nurture her bookish community, and a why disagreeing is a good skill to have. To quote Joelle Taylor: That’s community, babe! References Out and Wild https://www.outandwild.co.uk/ Housmans Joelle Taylor’s The Night Alphabet Emily Witham Grace Flahive Polly Shute Gillian Anderson Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Spent Gay on Wye Carol Ann Duffy’s Rapture and “Forest” Jackie Kay Lamya H’s Hijab Butch Blues Zoë Berryman Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Why did Ayse start Queer Girls Book Club? Have you ever thought about starting a group? What was/would have been your motivation? What does Ayse say about contributing to community? How do you feel about this? We speak about literature as being a protected space to practice debate and disagreement. Have you ever experienced this? Which example does Ayse give? How does Ayse speak about marginalised voices in the publishing industry? What can we as readers do to promote change? Are you coming to our next live recording?

“Spin Cycle” with Zofia Zerphy and Rhiannon Bell

Aug 3, 2026 41 min

In the sapphic launderette play Spin Cycle, the washers are loaded and so are the questions. Penned by Zofia Zerphy, Spin Cycle is an absurdist exploration of intense connections, queer memory and lesbian storytelling. In this summer special, I am joined by Zofia and Rhiannon Bell, who play the main characters and speak to me about crafting a play in queer community, why queer narratives can operate in different realms of sense and meaning making, and why exploring flawed characters is vital to queer and trans representation. References: Berserk Theatre The L Word Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Mitski’s “Washing Machine Heart” Act On Tap Bethan Rose Edinburgh Dyke Bar Ros Watt’s Trans People Are Awful Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness Joe Carstairs Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Zofia and Rhi speak about the different responses queer and non-queer audience members had to the play’s absurdist elements. What do they say about queer narratives making sense and what is your take? Which trope(s) of sapphic storytelling do we mention in the episode? We speak about Spin Cycle using memory and forgetting in queer ways. What could queer memory mean? What does it mean to you? Rhi highlights the importance of showing flawed trans and nonbinary characters on stage. How do you feel about this? Can you think of another example of a flawed LGBTQIA+ character in literature or theatre? Have you ever seen yourself represented on stage? What was that like?

“Cisgender” with Perry Zurn

Jul 20, 2026 45 min

Who coined the term cis and why are some people calling it a slur? Amazing return guest Perry Zurn joins me to discuss what the concept of cis does, why it’s helpful to look at its origins and etymology and where it might oversimplify the project of gender. Not one to be missed! References: Perry Zurn’s Cisgender: Disorienting a Category (Duke UP, 2026) Perry Zurn’s How We Make Each Other: Trans Life at the Edge of the University (Duke UP, 2024) John Hollister Riva Lehrer’s Golem Girl Marquis Bey’s Cistem Failure: Essays on Blackness and Cisgender (Duke UP, 2022) Stephanie Clare’s Nonbinary: A Feminist Autotheory (Cambridge UP, 2023) Jonathan Ned Katz’s The Invention of Heterosexuality (1995) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What does cis mean? Which term is older: cis or trans? When does the term cis emerge? Which community coined the term cisgender and why? What is Perry saying about simplified notions of cis and which example does he give? How does Perry put disability and race in dialogue with cisness and transness?

“Queer Wales” with Emily Garside

Jul 7, 2026 43 min

From popstars to rugby players, this episode has all the Welsh queer icons you could want. Emily Garside teaches me about H from Steps, Russel T. Davies, the Ladies of Llangollen and so many other fascinating LGBTQIA+ people from Wales. We talk about whether wondering if you’re queer enough is similar to wondering if you’re Welsh enough and how the prejudice against ‘sounding gay’ relates to sounding Welsh. Books by Emily Garside: Rainbow Wales: Queer Icons Past and Present (Calon, May 2026) Out of the Box: Queer TV through the Decades (Manchester University Press, January 2027) Gay Aliens and Queer Folks: How Russell T Davies Changed TV (Calon, 2023) Seasons of Love: Why Rent Matters (Applause) You Are My Happy Ending: Schitt’s Creek and the Legacy of Queer TV (Applause) Angels in America at the British National Theatre (McFarland) Love that Journey for me: The Queer Revolution of Schitt’s Creek (404 Ink) Other References: Russel T Davies Ladies of Llangollen Edward II. Piers Gaveston Steps Ian ‘H’ Watkins Elliot Page Luke Evans Eisteddfod Cymru Marquess of Anglesey Viscount Tredegar Norena Shopland Jan Morris’ Conundrum Ivor Novello Colin Jackson Connie Orff Alun Saunders Natha Wyburn Queer As Folk It’s A Sin Lisa Power Section 28 @emigarside (IG) https://thenerdynotebook.substack.com/ https://emilygarside.com/ Surrey Rainbow Choir https://www.rainbowchoir.co.uk/ Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Is there such a thing as a cohesive Welsh queer identity? What are Emily’s thoughts on this and what is her approach? Emily speaks about parallels between attitudes towards Welsh and queer identities. Which one does she discuss? Is there a facet of your identity that feels similar yet different from your queerness? What is an eisteddfod? Please look it up if you’re not familiar because we forgot to explain the term in the episode. Have you ever askes yourself whether you are queer or trans enough? How do we speak abou...

“A Black Queer History” with C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost

Jun 22, 2026 43 min

If you have not read A Black Queer History of the United States yet, you are so lucky to have this fantastic book in your future! And lucky for me that this is also an excellent opportunity to speak to two dream guests: C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost speak about gender trouble in the Black queer archives, how Black and queer histories need to be thought together and why grounding oneself in community is part of what it means to survive. References: C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost’s A Black Queer History of the United States (2026) C. Riley Snorton’s Nobody is Supposed to Know: Black Sexuality on the Down Low (U of Minnesota Press, 2014) C. Riley Snorton’s Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity (U of Minnesota Press, 2017) Darius Bost’s Evidence of Being: The Black Gay Cultural Renaissance and the Politics of Violence (U of Chicago Press, 2019) Cathy J. Cohen “Deviance as Resistance: A New Research Agenda for the Study of Black Politics” (2014) William Cathay/Cathay Williams Phil Black The Funmakers Ball Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman Erica R. Edwards Marsha P. Johnson Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) Combahee River Collective National Black Justice Coalition “Black Lesbian Thought” with Briona Simone Jones @c.rileysnorton dbost@uic.edu @windycitybq Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s Neptune Frost Jellicle Ball Essex Hemphill’s Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Why do Black and queer history need to be thought of together? How are they sometimes separated? Darius speaks about the book having two parts. What is each about? Riley speaks about gender and sexual deviance as forms of survival or escape. What does this mean? Can you name an example? What does Darius say about the relationship between civil rights ideology and non-normative gender? Why is it important to speak about collectives as well as individuals when engaging with Black queer...

“Rainbow Trap” with Kevin Guyan

Jun 9, 2026 46 min

Who designs the rules of inclusion? Kevin Guyan has given a lot of thought to this question in his excellent book Rainbow Trap, which thinks through the many categories that fall under the rainbow umbrella and how they might include, exclude, limit, and even harm the people they are supposed to benefit. Listen now to learn more about why our future might hold fewer boxes to tick and how we can break boundaries to get there. References: Kevin Guyan’s Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion (2025) Kevin Guyan’s Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action (2022) https://kevinguyan.com/ @kevin.guyan on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kevin.guyan/) kguyan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kguyan/) Gender Recognition Reform Bill Gender Recognition Act Kit Heyam Geoffrey Bowker and Susan Leigh Star – in particular, Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences (1999) Ian Hacking Looping effect Sara Ahmed – in particular, On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life (2012) A Black Queer History of the United States (2026, C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost) Gender and Sexuality Data Lab (https://gensexdatalab.com/) Queer Data Showcase Mystika Glamoor Dean Spade’s Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law (2011) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is a rainbow trap? Have you ever been trapped in one? Kevin speaks about ‘the dark sides of being included’. What does this mean? Have you experienced this form of categorisation? What does Kevin think about in the chapter on health and fitness? How are labels multidirectional? What are ‘looping effects’ in this context? What is a box breaker? Are you one?

“The Dinner Party” with Cat Fitzpatrick

May 25, 2026 45 min

We’re all still here, still ready to love, and to build community with trans books! In this extremely fun conversation, Cat Fitzpatrick talks about her poetry, her work with Little Puss Press, and a person called Crabstick. If you are wondering how all these things can go together and if you want to hear a fantastic poet speak about her favourite lyric forms as well as her favourite forms of activism, this episode is for you. References: Cat Fitzpatrick’s The Dinner Party (Seven Stories Press, 2026) Little Puss Press Cat Fitzpatrick’s The Call-Out Cat Fitzpatrick’s Glamourpuss Meanwhile, Elsewhere (edited by Cat Fitzpatrick and Casey Plett) https://www.catfitzpatrick.net/ @intermittentcat Chiara Pellegrini The Earl of Rochester “A Letter from Artemesia in the Town to Chloe in the Country” Richard Barnfield Uxorious Virgil Aphra Behn Gwen Aube’s Missed Connections with Tall Girls Violet Allen’s Plastic, Prism, Void Sybil Lamb’s I’ve Got a Time Bomb Jeanne Thornton’s A/S/L Shola von Reinhold’s Lote Imogen Binnie’s Nevada Sophia Dahlin’s Glove Money Futurepoems Joss Barton's Goodbye to a Dream Believed Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Cat and I speak about several poetic forms in this episode. What is Cat’s take on poetic form and the patriarchy? What is yours? Which kinds of love do we speak about in the episode? Cat describes part of her writing process as “I hold on to my feelings until I can make use of them.” Can you relate to this? What does Cat mean when she talks about books as time capsules? How can literature help us build community and engage with trans rights?

“What A Girl Wants” with Roxy Bourdillon

May 12, 2026 47 min

If you want to know what Roxy wants, this episode is a great place to start. Diva’s fabulous editor in chief joins us for a chat about her lovely memoir What A Girl Wants, which is just as heartwarming, insightful and fun as the author herself. Roxy and I speak about femme invisibility, queer timelines, body image and lesbian breakups. Not one to be missed. References: DIVA Out and Wild Zoe Berryman Caitlin Moran Dolly Alderton Ann Bannon’s I Am A Woman (1959) The Beebo Brinker Chronicles Carol Cate Blanchett Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Roxy’s book regularly employs direct address of the reader. What does Roxy say about this? Why was this formal feature important for writing this book? Roxy and I speak about queered timelines. What do we suggest and what do you think about this topic? How does Roxy speak about approaching chronology and structure in memoir?

“Neopronouns and It Pronouns” with Teagan Bradway (Queer Forms and Pronouns Series)

Apr 28, 2026 53 min

The final episode of the Queer Forms and Pronouns series got a bit more personal than I expected. The incredible Teagan Bradway and I speak about misgendering ourselves, giving the gift of language to our loved ones and why not just the function but also the beauty of gender-nonconformity pronouns is politically and personally significant. We speak about my anxieties about it pronouns and how this plays out in different genres from speculative fiction to memoir. Teagan’s insights into narrative agency and pronominal shifts are incredibly helpful in taking one last deep dive into the world of pronouns. This conversation is part of a miniseries that accompanies my book Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026). I hope you like hearing more from your host, but not to worry: we will be back to our usual format after this one. References: Bradway, Teagan. "Queer Narrative Theory and the Relationality of Form." PMLA 136.5 (2021): 711-727. Bradway, Teagan, and Elizabeth Freeman, eds. Queer Kinship: Race, Sex, Belonging, Form. Duke University Press, 2022. Bradway, Teagan. "Introduction: Queer Metarelationality." differences 35.3 (2024): 1-13. Bradway, Teagan. "Queer Formalism." The Palgrave Handbook of Feminist, Queer and Trans* Narrative Studies. Palgrave, 2025. 95-109. https://teaganbradway.com/ Les Feinberg Torrey Peters’ Stag Dance Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer Diane Watt Jack Halberstam Dana Luciano Mel Y. Chen Spivak pronouns (E/em/eir) Isaac Fellman Andrea Gibson Hekanaho, Laura. "A thematic analysis of attitudes towards English nonbinary pronouns." Journal of Language and Sexuality 11.2 (2022): 190-216. Mattheis, Lena. "Nonbinary Narration." The Palgrave Handbook of Feminist, Queer and Trans* Narrative Studies. Palgrave, 2025. 25-39. Vera Nuenning Corinna Assmann Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What does...

“Pronouns in Two-Spirit Literature” with Jas Morgan (Queer Forms and Pronouns Series)

Apr 14, 2026 40 min

The fantastic Jas Morgan is back for a conversation about pronouns in Two-Spirit literature! We think about how kinship is reflected in language, what role pronouns take on in translation and how they can easily be misunderstood, especially when working across cultures and languages. Our conversation is based on a dialogic chapter of Queer Forms and Pronouns, which I co-wrote with Kai Minosh Pyle. This conversation is part of a miniseries that accompanies my book Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026). I hope you like hearing more from your host, but not to worry: we will be back to our usual format in just a few weeks. References: Kai Minosh Pyle Jas Morgan’s “My Pronouns are Kiy/Kin” https://web.archive.org/web/20210416065231/https://aabitagiizhig.com/2016/05/13/red-rising-my-pronouns-are-kiy-kin/ Jas Morgan’s nîtisânak Riot Grrrl Robin Wall Kimmerer Wahkohtowin Joshua Whitehead’s “A Queer Geography of Woundings” Billy-Ray Belcourt Lambda Literary Awards Kin (web series) Justin Ducharme Aalayna Ta’Kaiya Blaney https://jasmorgan.com/2020/10/25/sewing-circle-kin-web-series/ @notvanishing (IG) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Why might pronouns work differently in Two-Spirit literature? What do pronouns have to do with kinship? How are pronouns connected to animacy? We speak about pronouns in translation between languages that attach gendered notions to them or not. How might this affect communication? Are pronouns gendered in your favourite language? What does Jas mean by ‘I am not a metaphor’?

“Mixing Pronouns” with Sue Lanser (Queer Forms and Pronouns Series)

Mar 31, 2026 46 min

Come along for a deep dive into mixed pronouns in queer, trans and nonbinary narratives with none other than Sue Lanser, your favourite narratologist’s favourite narratologist. Sue and I talk about why we might need to rethink the concept of gender disguise narratives, where we find mixed pronouns in literary histories and why mixed pronouns often become sensual in literature. My favourite bit: Sue asks me about my personal hero, the Grinch. This conversation is part of a miniseries that accompanies my book Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026). I hope you like hearing more from your host, but not to worry: we will be back to our usual format in just a few weeks. References Sue Lanser’s The Sexuality of History Sue Lanser’s Narrative Theory Unbound Sue Lanser’s “Trans-forming Narratology” Narrative 32.2 (2024) Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body Le Roman de Silence Michel de Montaigne’s Journal de Voyage Margaret Cavendish’s Assaulted and Pursued Chastity Lyly’s Galatea Chevalièr(e) d’Éon Alex Myers’ Revolutionary Deborah Samson Jenny Fran Davis’ Dykette Isaac Fellman’s Dead Collections Spiel, Katta, Os Keyes, and Pınar Barlas. 2019. ‘Patching Gender: Non-Binary Utopias in HCI’. Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 2, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3310425. The Grinch Dr Seuss Jim Carrey Benedict Cumberbatch Les Feinberg Maggie Nelson Harry Dodge Jen Manion Dean Spade Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What role does narrative agency play in the difference between external and intrinsic pronoun ascription? Why does Susan suggest that we need to revisit Shakespeare’s and other’s gender disguise narratives? Susan mentions how characters that are perceived as masculine but use she/her are much more frequently ridiculed than characters viewed as feminine who use he/him. Why do you think that...

“Ambiguous Pronouns” with Susan Stryker (Queer Forms and Pronouns Series)

Mar 17, 2026 47 min

It was an incredible honour to have THE Susan Stryker join me for a chat about ambiguous pronouns, trans literature and linguistic creativity. Susan’s wealth of knowledge on pronouns across languages and literary history was incredibly enriching and allowed me to speak about some of my favourite examples of ambiguous pronoun use in literature. This conversation is part of a miniseries that accompanies my book Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026). I hope you like hearing more from your host, but not to worry: we will be back to our usual format in just a few weeks. References: Susan Stryker’s “My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix” Susan Stryker’s Transgender History Susan Stryker, Stephen Wittle, Aren Aizura (eds) The Transgender Studies Reader Susan Stryker’s Changing Gender: The History and Future of a Concept (August 2026) Sara Taylor’s The Lauras Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s The Sleeping Hermaphrodite (1620) Teagan Bradway Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer (2019) Lal Zimman Rivers Solomon Aphra Behn’s “To The Fair Clorinda” and “The Widow Ranter” Thomas(ine) Hall Nathaniel Bacon Mel Y. Chen Andrea Lawlor’s Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl Andrea Gibson’s “Your Life” Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Which pronouns are ambiguous when it comes to gender in English? Which ones are ambiguous in your first or favourite language? What creates ambiguity when we use pronouns? How might this ambiguity be productive? Susan explains why gendered pronouns in English function in an unusual way compared to other languages. What is something new you learned about this? We speak about why literature can teach us something about pronoun use that we might overlook when focusing on grammar. What is that? Can you name one of the examples of ambiguous pronoun use in literature we discuss?

“Singular They” with Laura Paterson (Queer Forms and Pronouns Series)

Mar 3, 2026 46 min

Welcome to a miniseries about gender nonconformity pronouns in literature! In this episode, the amazing linguist Laura Paterson asks me many clever questions about singular they in literature. We talk about the function of pronouns, common misunderstanding about singular they, and neutral versus gender-nonconforming use of this fantastic third person pronoun. Whether you would like reading recommendations (Virginia Woolf, Lamya H, Rae Spoon…) or some insight into what singular they can do in creative and academic writing, this episode might have some answers – or questions – for you. References Lena Mattheis’ Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026) Laura Paterson (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Pronouns (Routledge, 2023) Anna Livia Lamya H’s Hijab Butch Blues (2023) Rae Spoon’s Green Glass Ghosts (2021) Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body (1992) Anne Garréta’s Sphinx (1986) Charlie Josephine’s I, Joan (2022) The Globe https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/identity-in-i-joan/ Kit Heyam Laura Paterson and Georgina Turner (eds) Approaches to Discourses of Marriage (Routledge, 2024) Lal Zimman Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is a pronoun? How does Lena define gender-nonconformity pronouns? Why is it relevant whether a narrator comments on pronoun use or not? Which examples does Lena provide? Which literary texts do Laura and Lena mention? Which one would you like to read and why? What do Laura and Lena discuss about pronouns in academic writing? Do you have an established practice for this?

“Queer Food” with Alex Ketchum and Megan Elias

Feb 17, 2026 47 min

What is queer food, you ask? Let’s find out! Alex Ketchum and Megan Elias tell me all about the connections between gender and food, cooking and sexuality, and recipes and community. The amazing book Queers at the Table is a product of the queer food conference Alex and Megan ran in 2024 (returning in 2026!) and consists of essays, stories, comics and endlessly inspiring reflections on queer cooking and intellectual inquiry. Lesbian chefs, feminist cafes, queer community cookouts – this episode has them all. References: Queers at the Table (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) Alex Ketchum’s Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses (Concordia UP, 2022) https://press.library.concordia.ca/projects/ingredients-for-revolution (open access) Megan Elias’ Food on the Page (Penn Press, 2017) Queer Food Conference https://www.queerfoodconference.com/ @queerfoodconference Alex Ketchum’s How to Organize Inclusive Events and Conferences (Microcosm, 2026) https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/63461 Alex Ketchum’s Digital Queers and High Tech Gays (MIT Press, 2027) @dr.alexketchum http://alexketchum.ca Alex Ketchum’s Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication (Concordia Uni Press, 2022) https://press.library.concordia.ca/projects/engage-in-public-scholarship (open access) https://www.justfeministtechandscholarshiplab.com/ Greggor Mattson Prism Comics Queer Food Foundation The Female Glaze @thefemaleglaze The Nonbinarian Bookstore https://thenonbinarian.gay/ Bishakh Som’s Spellbound Cait McKinney’s Information Activism: A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies The Ripped Bodice Casey McQuiston’s The Pairing Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: How do Megan and Alex define queer food? Megan thinks about what ‘not queer food’ might be and whether we would want to define this. What is your opinion? Is there ‘straight’ food? How is gender connecte...

“Lean Cat, Savage Cat” with Lauren J. Joseph

Feb 3, 2026 37 min

The incredible author Lauren J. Joseph joins me to talk about her new book Lean Cat, Savage Cat – out on 26 February 2026. Lauren talks about the genre-bending ambiguity of the novel, about characters that have followed her from the stage to the page, and about writing across languages. We touch on the intricacies of first-person narration, but also on what it’s like to write a novel versus writing a PhD. References: Lauren J. Joseph’s Lean Cat, Savage Cat (2026) Lauren J. Joseph’s At Certain Points We Touch (2022) Ben Robbins Alexander Geist David Bowie Bryan Ferry Morrissey Hildegard von Bingen Marty Supreme Timothée Chalamet Essen Dortmund Karstadt KaDeWe Romy Haag Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy: Low, Heroes, Lodger Narcissus and Echo Céleste Albaret Proust American Psycho Pedro Lemebel’s My Tender Matador Jean Genet

“Queer Exiles” with Ben Robbins

Jan 20, 2026 47 min

From Christopher Isherwood to Djuna Barnes, some of the most prolific queer writers of the 20th century wrote in exile. Ben Robbins joins me to explain how and why queer writers connected with each other in exile and how (in)voluntary movement shaped their stories. Ben shares some surprising encounters from the archives and paints a picture of some of the locations of queer exile: Berlin, Tangier and Capri. References: Networked Narratives: Queer Exile Literature 1900-1969 Funded by the Austrian Science Fund/FWF (Project DOI: 10.55776/P35199) https://www.uibk.ac.at/projects/networkednarratives/ Ben Robbins’ “‘Marriages ought to be secret’: Queer Marriages of Convenience and the Exile Narrative” JAAAS: Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, Dec. 2023, pp. 100–122, https://doi.org/10.47060/jaaas.v5i1.173. Networks of Anglophone LGBTQ+ Exile Writers http://queerexilelit.uibk.ac.at/ Robbins, Ben, and Ralph J. Poole. "Introduction: Queer Ruralisms." AmLit – American Literatures 4.2 (2024): 4-21. Ben Robbins’ Faulkner's Hollywood Novels: Women between Page and Screen (University of Virginia Press 2024) https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5855/ Queer Second Cities Maria Sulimma Ben Robbins’ “Christopher Isherwood in Exile” https://www.huntington.org/verso/christopher-isherwood-exile Harry Ransom Center Bryher (Annie Winifred Ellerman) Oscar Wilde W. Somerset Maugham E.F. Benson John Ellingham Brooks Romaine Brooks John Ellerman Robert McAlmon Djuna Barnes’ Nightwood Natalie Barney Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin Stephen Spender’s The Temple Jane Bowles’ Two Serious Ladies W.H. Auden Patricia Highsmith Allen Ginsberg Claude McKay Thornton Wilder Ben Robbins. "Space, Sexuality, and Thornton Wilder's Villa Rhabani." Thornton Wilder Journal 5:1, November 2024, pp. 99-119. DOI: 10.5325/thorntonwilderj.5.1.0099 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/thornton-wilder/article-abstract/5/1/99/392187/Space-Sexuality-and-Tho...

Queer Lit on Amplified

Jan 6, 2026 24 min

Time for a cross-over! I had the absolute pleasure on being invited to join the Amplified network and appear on their superb podcast. Here is our episode and Amplified's show notes: "Amplified is an audio blog series about the sounds of scholarship from our team here at the Amplify Podcast Network. This month on Amplified, Stacey Copeland and Hannah McGregor are joined by Lena Mattheis to kick off a brand new series featuring the latest additions to our sustained cohort of podcasters. Lena is the creator and host of Queer Lit, a podcast about LGBTQIA2S+* literature and culture. In this conversation, we reflect on podcasting as a tool for community building and queer scholarly practice, tracing how Queer Lit emerged from Lena's teaching practice and a commitment to accessible feminist and queer knowledge creation."

Festive Special Part 2

Dec 23, 2025 30 min

What is the queerest thing you did this year? Listen to the festive special to find out how queer our guests and listeners made 2025! References: Liz Breslin How To Read podcast https://www.howtoreadpodcast.com/elaine-auyoung-one-sided-relationships/ Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (OUP, March 2026) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/queer-forms-and-pronouns-9780198974116?q=lena%20mattheis&lang=en&cc=gb Susan Stryker Louise Siddons’ Good Pictures Are A Strong Weapon https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517910730/good-pictures-are-a-strong-weapon/ Category is Books (Glasgow) Lighthouse Books (Edinburgh) The Bookish Type (Leeds) Kit Heyam Royal Vauxhall Tavern All Of Us Strangers Nick Cherryman European Gay Ski Week Oliver Slate-Green’s The Way Blood Travels Leah Davidson Listenqueer.co.uk Out and Wild Leilah King Coast is Queer Jack Gieseking Our Dyke Histories podcast Julie Enszer Lesbian Lives Sinister Wisdom The Essential Poems of Pat Parker (The 87 Press) Caro de Robertis’ The Palace of Eros Joelle Taylor’s Maryville Alison Bechdel’s Spent Allan Johnson https://thisisallan.medium.com/elf-and-safety-2b061323dbc1 Flora Johnson’s Christopher Popinkins

Festive Special Part 1

Dec 16, 2025 23 min

What is the queerest thing you did this year? Listen to the festive special to find out how queer our guests and listeners made 2025! References: Happiest Season Kristen Stewart Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid Joe Jukes https://www.hiss.sydney/ Virginia Gay’s Cyrano Qtopia Sydney Queer Britain @guildfordgaybookclub New House Art Space (Guildford) Juno Dawson’s Stay Another Day Layla McCay’s The Queer Bookshelf: A Reader’s Guide (June 2026) Libro.fm Pillion Arzner @Arznercinema

Queerest thing you did this year?

Nov 18, 2025 2 min

Share the queerest thing you did this year by 6 December to be featured on the end-of-year special and for the chance to win a special gift (if you are based in the UK). Send an email or voice recording to queerlitpodcast@gmail.com by 6 December. I can't wait to hear from you!

“Ancient Myths and Lesbian Legends” with Mara Gold

Nov 11, 2025 56 min

Medusa, Medea, Artemis… we’ve all heard their stories before but what do they sound like when not told by (or centred on) men? Mara Gold, the sapphic scholar, is here to tell us all about these figures and about how there is always more than one side to a story and more than one reading to a myth. Come for the lesbian legends, stay for the witty witches and follow us @queerlitpodcast and @sapphic_scholar. References Mara Gold’s Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men (2025) Mara Gold’s “Rebels Against the Tyranny of Men’: Women Performing Greek Comedy in Early Twentieth-Century Britain” in Women Creating Classics (2025) https://mara-gold.com/ @sapphic_scholar Beyond the Binary Pitt Rivers Museum https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/beyond-the-binary Ashmolean Museum Rebellious Bodies audio tour https://app.smartify.org/en-GB/tours/ashmolean-rebellious-bodies-tour?utm_campaign=ashmoleansmartifywebpage&utm_medium=webpagelink&utm_source=ashmoleanwebsite&utm_content=rebelliousbodiestour Smartify Hélène Cixous’ “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1975) Femme fatale Gorgons Apotropaic figure Athena Hera Natalie Haynes’ Stone Blind Madeleine Miller’s Circe Rosie Hewlett Pat Barker Madeleine Miller’s Circe Sirens Odyssey Durham Castle Hans Christian Andersen Selkie Demeter Penelope Medea Maenad Dionysus Bacchus True Blood Amazon Atalanta Nataly Barney Lesbos-en-Seine Artemis Double Slice https://doubleslice.studio/ Actaeon Callisto Zeus Aphrodite Jason Argonauts Glauce Suranne Jones Doctor Foster Gentleman Jack Children of Srikandi (2012) Hector and Hephaestus Radical Book Fair Lighthouse Books Edinburgh The Bookish Type Caper bookshop The Magicians Persephone Cassandra Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is sapphism? What is classical reception? How is this relevant to Mara’s work? What are the archetypes that Mara uses to structure the book? Which one are you most interested in and why? What does Mara say about Srikandi and Srikandi’s role...

“The Queer Victorian Gothic” with Brontë Schiltz

Oct 28, 2025 46 min

Are you ready to descend into the weird world of queer Gothic writing, spooky sexology, and gay ghouls? Brontë Schiltz is an expert on all of these and so much more. We speak about the televisual Gothic and about several of Brontë’s favourite Victorian writers, including masc heartthrob Vernon Lee. If you’re into fun facts about blood transfusions and half-human, half-snake main characters, this episode is for you. References: Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies Vernon Lee (1856-1935) Ali Smith Sarah Waters Televisual gothic A Ghost Story For Christmas M.R. James “The Dead Room” Mark Gatiss The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales Chris Baldick Nigel Kneale Matthew Lewis’ The Monk Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Jen Beagin’s Big Swiss Karl Heinrich Ulrichs’ Manor Sexology “Plain Reasons Against Sodomy” Horace Walpole John Addington Symonds Dracula George Haggerty’s Queer Gothic John Singer Sargent Clementina Anstruther-Thomson Affect studies Vernon Lee’s Hauntings “A Wicked Voice” “Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady” Megan Milks Ali Smith’s Hotel World Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies The Horse Hospital https://www.thehorsehospital.com/events/miskatonic-televisualgothic Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is the Gothic? What did you know about the Gothic before listening and what did you learn from Brontë? How is the Gothic queer? Why is the Victorian period an interesting time to look at queerness? How does Brontë speak about queerness in relation to illness? What is your favourite spooky story?

“Taylor’s Version Pt 2: Showgirls” with Stephanie Burt

Oct 14, 2025 56 min

Are you ready to become a showgirl? Poet, scholar, and Swifty extraordinaire Stephanie Burt joins me to talk about Taylor Swift’s musical genius, queer fandom and relationship to femininity. There was simply too much to squeeze into one episode, so make sure to listen to part one first and hear all about the Gaylors, before switching to part two, to learn about Taylor's relationship to femininity, class and race. Stephanie will also tell you why she thought the “You Need To Calm Down” video was a big mistake… Follow Stephanie and myself at @notquitehydepark and @queerlitpodcast for even more content! References Stephanie Burt’s We Are Mermaids (Greywolf Press, 2022) Stephanie Burt’s Super Gay Poems (2025) Stephanie Burt’s Taylor’s Version: The Poetic and Musical Genius of Taylor Swift (Basic Books, 2025) Stephanie Burt’s “Prayer for Werewolves” Poetry Unbound John Donne Katherine Philips Geoffrey Chaucer Walt Whitman Charlotte Mew Sarah Records Heavenly Tender Trap Blueboy Ella Darling Motown Carole King Dolly Parton “You Belong With Me” Red Reputation Miss Americana (2020) Lover Rachel Hartman’s Tess of the Road Gaylorism Gaylors and Hetlors “When Emma Falls in Love” “All Too Well” Joe Jonas Taylor Lautner Jake Gyllenhaal “Back to December” John Mayer The Life of a Show Girl Elizabeth Taylor Katharine Hepburn Ophelia Hamlet Julia Serano Frozen Mononormativity Evermore “Tis The Damn Season” The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection “Christmases When You Were Mine” Crass Grace Petrie Taylearning podcast “Clara Bow” Britney Spears Miley Cyrus “You Need to Come Down” Adeem the Artist Journey to Fearless Lara Heimert @notquitehydepark Rachel Gold’s In the Silences Imogen Binnie’s Nevada X-Men Gold 30 D.A. Powell Team Dresch’s Captain My Captain Slater Kinney Heartbreak High Sex Education Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: How does Stephanie speak about the relationship between poetry, lyrics and music? Where does...

“Taylor’s Version Pt 1: Gaylors” with Stephanie Burt

Oct 7, 2025 40 min

Are you ready to become a showgirl? Poet, scholar, and Swifty extraordinaire Stephanie Burt joins me to talk about Taylor Swift’s musical genius, queer fandom and relationship to femininity. There was simply too much to squeeze into one episode, so make sure to listen to part one first and hear all about the Gaylors, before switching to part two, to learn about Taylor;s relationship to femininity, class and race. Stephanie will also tell you why she thought the “You Need To Calm Down” video was a big mistake… Follow Stephanie and myself at @notquitehydepark and @queerlitpodcast for even more content! References Stephanie Burt’s We Are Mermaids (Greywolf Press, 2022) Stephanie Burt’s Super Gay Poems (2025) Stephanie Burt’s Taylor’s Version: The Poetic and Musical Genius of Taylor Swift (Basic Books, 2025) Stephanie Burt’s “Prayer for Werewolves” Poetry Unbound John Donne Katherine Philips Geoffrey Chaucer Walt Whitman Charlotte Mew Sarah Records Heavenly Tender Trap Blueboy Ella Darling Motown Carole King Dolly Parton “You Belong With Me” Red Reputation Miss Americana (2020) Lover Rachel Hartman’s Tess of the Road Gaylorism Gaylors and Hetlors “When Emma Falls in Love” “All Too Well” Joe Jonas Taylor Lautner Jake Gyllenhaal “Back to December” John Mayer The Life of a Show Girl Elizabeth Taylor Katharine Hepburn Ophelia Hamlet Julia Serano Frozen Mononormativity Evermore “Tis The Damn Season” The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection “Christmases When You Were Mine” Crass Grace Petrie Taylearning podcast “Clara Bow” Britney Spears Miley Cyrus “You Need to Come Down” Adeem the Artist Journey to Fearless Lara Heimert @notquitehydepark Rachel Gold’s In the Silences Imogen Binnie’s Nevada X-Men Gold 30 D.A. Powell Team Dresch’s Captain My Captain Slater Kinney Heartbreak High Sex Education Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: How does Stephanie speak about the relationship between poetry, lyrics and music? Where does...

"No" with Sara Ahmed

Sep 23, 2025 1 hr 1 min

Our favourite feminist killjoy is back! Sara Ahmed joins me to talk about her brand-new book No Is Not A Lonely Utterance: The Art and Activism of Complaining. In her first ever (how special are we) public conversation about the book, Sara speaks about becoming a feminist ear and a complaint collector, sharing stories of her own complaints as well as those shared with her in community. Explaining how the power of complaining lies in creativity and collectivity, Sara shows why saying no is a powerful queer method. References: Sarah Ahmed’s No Is Not A Lonely Utterance (Allen Lane, 2025) Sarah Ahmed’s The Feminist Killjoy Handbook (Penguin, 2023) Sarah Ahmed’s Complaint! (Duke, 2021) Sarah Ahmed’s What’s the Use (Duke, 2019) Sarah Ahmed’s On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life (Duke, 2012) Onomatopoeia Jean Porcelli Race Relations Amendment Act CARD Complaint Against Racial Discrimination Kennetta Hammond Perry’s London is the Place for Me: Black Britons, Citizenship and the Politics of Race (2018) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/london-is-the-place-for-me-9780190909949?cc=gb&lang=en& Heather Love’s Feeling Backward Chelsea Watego’s “Always Bet On Black (Power)” (2021) https://meanjin.com.au/essays/always-bet-on-black-power/ Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is a feminist ear? How might you become one? We speak about the role of energy in complaining. Where can energy come from or disappear to? To quote Sara: ‘puff, puff’ How does Sara define institutional fatalism and why might it be an illusion? What makes complaint a queer method? This is a question from Sara’s book: What is the first complaint you remember making? How do you feel about it now?

“Love Lies Bleeding” with Michelle Devereaux

Sep 9, 2025 42 min

How many times have you watched the sweaty lesbian fever dream that is Love Lies Bleeding? As you might be able to guess from this episode, Michelle Devereaux and I have stopped counting. Michelle is a feminist film-philosophy expert who joins me to talk about Rose Glass’s super queer neo noir, the interplay of genre conventions and gender dynamics, and all the fun intertexts and easter eggs that we found in Love Lies Bleeding. Whether you’re into bodybuilding and gender transgression or lesbian romance against all odds, this episode is for you. References Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding (2024) Devereaux, Michelle. "Suspicious Minds and Dead Bodies: Queer Romance and Skepticism in Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding." Film Quarterly 78.2 (2024): 24-32. Devereaux, Michelle. The Stillness of Solitude: Romanticism and Contemporary American Independent Film. Edinburgh University Press, 2019. Devereaux, Michelle.“‘A lot of people are creative’: Process, Perfectionism and the Everyday Sublime in Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up and First Cow”. Kim Wilkins and Bruce Isaacs, eds. A24: Culture, Aesthetics, Identity. Edinburgh University Press, 2026 (expected). Devereaux, Michelle.“Inherited Trauma, Postcolonial Scepticism and the Harmony of Voice in Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale”. Film-Philosophy and Australian Cinema. Saige Walton and Matilda Mroz, eds. Edinburgh University Press, 2026 (expected). Devereaux, Michelle and Lash, Dominic (eds.). Love, Desire and Stanley Cavell. London: Routledge, 2026 (expected). MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture: www.maifeminism.com Russian Doll Sofia Coppola Cavell, Stanley. Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Harvard University Press, 1981. Cavell, Stanley. Contesting Tears: The Hollywood Melodrama of the Unknown Woman. Harvard University Press, 1996. Comedies of Remarriage Screwball Comedy Out and Wild Sleater-Kinney Bristol Butch Bar Lindner, Katharina. Film Bodies: Queer Feminist Encounters with Gender and Sexuality in...

“Lighthouse” Queer Space Special with Mairi Oliver

Aug 26, 2025 21 min

If you can’t find me, I’m probably still browsing shelves of queer joy at Lighthouse, Edinburgh’s superb radical bookshop. The delightful owner Mairi Oliver took some time to chat with me about the long history of radical and queer bookshops that have come before and exist alongside this absolute gem of a queer space. We speak about queer spaces changing hands and transforming, rather than disappearing, about the magic of queer and trans book events, and about why radical booksellers are so important for local community. References: Word Power Elaine Henry Constant Reader Bookshop Lavender Menace West & Wilde Sigrid Nielson Bob Orr J une Thomas’s A Place of One’s Own Jane Cholmeley’s A Bookshop of One’s Own Silver Moon Bookshop James Ley’s Love Song To Lavender Menace Naomi Klein Sara Ahmed Radical Book Fair Category is Books (Glasgow) Gay’s The Word (London) Housmans (London) Five Leaves (Nottingham) Alliance of Radical Booksellers https://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/ Bread and Roses Award Jake Hall’s Shoulder to Shoulder: A Queer History of Solidarity, Coalition and Chaos N.S. Nuseibeh’s Namesake Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Mairi speaks about how Lighthouse builds on a lineage of queer spaces. How do you feel about queer spaces transforming versus disappearing? In this context, we also speak about the higher expectations for queer spaces. Have you experienced this? Do you think queer spaces should be held to a higher standard? What is the effect of this? When we speak about the relationship between readers, booksellers and authors, Mairi makes some interesting points about how the role of writers is changing. What struck you as particularly important here? Mairi ends the episode with a note on the urgency with which we need to address current political discussions. How can books and bookshops help us do this?

“Queer Hong Kong” with Alvin K. Wong

Aug 12, 2025 47 min

What makes Hong Kong queer? Alvin K. Wong joins me to speak about how queer and decolonial thought can help us better understand Hong Kong and its relation to the Sinophone world, to Eurocentric queer theory, and to global protest culture. Alvin speaks about queer and trans photography, films and novels from Hong Kong and sprinkles in some excellent theory reading recommendations. Listen now to learn more about Hong Kong and why it is such a frequent site of (unruly) comparison. References: Wong, Alvin. Unruly Comparison: Queerness, Hong Kong, and the Sinophone (Duke UP, 2025) Wong, Alvin. “Transgenderism as a Heuristic Device: On the Cross-historical and Transnational Adaptations of the Legend of the White Snake,” in Transgender China, ed. Howard Chiang (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 127-158. https://complit.hku.hk/index.php/faculty/alvin-wong/ akhwong@hku.hk Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures Society of Sinophone Studies Michel Foucault Judith Butler Rey Chow Ackbar Abbas Umbrella Movement in 2014 Milton Friedman Roderick Ferguson José Esteban Muñoz Queer of colour critique Gayatri Gopinath’s Impossible Desires (Duke UP, 2005) and Unruly Visions (Duke UP, 2018) Emily Apter’s The Translation Zone (Princeton UP, 2006) Nelson Tang Chak-man’s Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? (2019-20) Ann Stoler Jacques Derrida Anjali Arondekar Wong Bik-wan’s Lienü tu 烈女圖 (Portraits of martyred women, 1999) Ma Ka Fai’s Long tou feng wei 龍頭鳳尾 (Once Upon A Time in Hong Kong, 2016) Lisa Lowe Scud Mak Yan Yan’s Butterfly Jun Li’s Tracey (2018) W v. Registrar of Marriages A Woman is A Woman Mimi Wong Chen Ran’s A Private Life Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What happened on 1 July 1997? Why was 2019 a central year in Hong Kong’s history? Why is Hong Kong such a frequent site of comparison? What makes Hong Kong (seem) exceptional? What does Alvin observe about Eurocentrism in queer studies? Which other po...

“Category is Books” Queer Space Special with Bug and Fin

Jul 29, 2025 21 min

You know I love a queer bookshop and this Glaswegian dream of a queer space is absolutely delightful. Bug and Fin started Category is Books in 2018 to create the kind of space they were craving in their own neighbourhood. As the name promises, Category is Books has some exquisite shelving categories: from ‘Dyke Aching’ to ‘Trans Lit’ to the extensive poetry and theory sections, Bug and Fin show off their excellent taste on their shelves. In the recording, you can hear just how popular the shop is and how many people from near and far love to stop by for a browse and a chat. I’m telling you: this is a real treasure. References: Dr Eamon McCarthy (new favourtite person) Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities https://www.sgsah.ac.uk/ Section 28 Kelly Gardiner Adrian’s Bar Pluto Q Community Reading Room https://www.plutoq.com/ Hazel Jane Plante’s Little Blue Encyclopedia Sam Szabo’s Enlightened Transexual Comix Shola von Reinhold’s Lote Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Why do we need specialist bookshops? Why did Bug and Fin want to open one? Why do Bug and Fin mention Section 28? Please look this term up if you are not familiar. What is your favourite category, section or genre in a bookshop? Why should you check Category is Books’ opening times before you go on your own queer pilgrimage there?

“Transitions” with Ava L. J. Kim

Jul 15, 2025 43 min

What do transitions have to do with the nation state? More than you think! Ava Kim joins me to speak about how conceptions of gender are deeply (and problematically) entwined with the nation. Ava speaks about powerful examples of transition narratives from Chile, Vietnam and Argentina to illustrate this and gives us a sneak peek into her forthcoming book on trans genre. References: Ava Kim’s Still / Life: Trans Genre and the Politics of Anti-Development (forthcoming) Ava Kim’s “The Future is Child’s Play” GLQ (2025) Davy Knittle Mellon Foundation Christoph Hanssmann Stem the Tide: Trans Liberation in an Age of Fascism Travesti Nyke Slawik Lucía Puenzo’s XXY (2007) Marlene Wayar Mauro Cabral Grinspan Winnicott’s space of play Paz Errázuriz Gina Apostol’s Insurecto Jessica Hagedorn’s Dream Jungle and Dogeaters Trans subterfuge Balangiga Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman/ Una Mujer Fantástica Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Are you familiar with the term travesti? Please look it up and find a helpful definition. Which forms of transition does Ava talk about? How do they relate to one another? In how far is transition a narrative form? What does this have to do with the nation as a form? How does Ava define trans subterfuge? What are some of the connections between nation and gender Ava and I speak about? Can you think of others? Have you ever been affected by any of them?

“Hungry for Androgyny” LIVE with Leilah Jane King

Jul 1, 2025 43 min

Coming to you live from the Spoken Word stage at Out and Wild, the UK’s biggest festival for lesbian, bi, trans and queer women and those who are non-binary! This conversation with the delightful Leilah King has everything you could hope for: laughing, rhyming, swooning, and a whole lot of poetry reading. Tune in to hear Leilah speak about gender nonconformity in football, her journey as a neurodivergent performance poet, and how being half-Iranian affects her experience as a queer woman. CW: mental health, manic state, gendered violence References: Midnight Picnics in Tehran (2019) We Are Hungry for Androgyny (2023) Polari Press Mary Oliver Sam Kerr Audre Lorde’s Zami Travis Alabanza John Steinbeck’s East of Eden The Grapes of Wrath Charles Bukowski Ivan Coyote’s The Tomboy Survival Guide James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room John Betjeman Philip Larkin Soft Butch Time of the Month Gay on Wye Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Leilah reflects on being a writer as well as a performer. How does performance affect her writing? What was Leilah’s open mic night called and why did she set it up? Who are some of the writers that have inspired Leilah? Who inspires you? Leilah speaks about her intersecting experiences of being queer, neurodivergent and half-Iranian. How does your queerness relate to other parts of your identity?

“Spent” with Alison Bechdel

Jun 17, 2025 41 min

Come along on this deep dive into Alison Bechdel’s new autofictional comic novel Spent, that will give you everything from Edward Gorey Easter eggs to Harriet the Spy content. Alison teaches me things about myself (I’m a bottom-up thinker. Who knew!) and reflects on what Alison, the character, learns from finally meeting the much beloved Dykes to Watch Out For on the page. Whether you are a fan of goats, wood chopping, reality TV or Virginia Woolf – this episode has something for every kind of anti-capitalist dyke. References: Alison Bechel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength Alison Bechel’s Fun Home Alison Bechel’s Dykes to Watch Out For Carmen Maria Machado Karl Marx’s Das Kapital The Guilty Feminist podcast Queer Eye Tidying Up with Marie Kondo Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse Nicole Coenen Grant Wood’s American Gothic Edward Gorey’s The Unstrung Harp The Gashlycrumb Tinies T his Queer Book Saved My Life Jonathan Cape Foyles https://www.foyles.co.uk/events/cape-graphic-novels-mini-con Anna Trench’s Florrie Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy Questions you should be able to respond to: What are some of Alison Bechdel’s most well-known texts? How does Alison reflect on intergenerational queer community? In a lesbian version of Queer Eye, what would the five lesbians’ areas of expertise be? If you could fictionalise a detail of your life, what would you invent for yourself?

“Trans Life and Story-Led Theory” with Perry Zurn

Jun 3, 2025 44 min

The beauty of trans life is that it flourishes in unexpected spaces. This fortnight’s guest Perry Zurn has written a beautiful book about how trans life creates spaces for itself in the cracks, at the edges and in other liminal spaces. We speak about trans life at the university, trans poetics, and the problematisation of trans inclusion. Perry tells me about how he was able to rethink methodologies and the role of the researcher by working with story-led theory. Tune in now to attune yourself to trans thinking, histories and ourchives. References: Perry Zurn’s How We Make Each Other: Trans Life at the Edge of the University (Duke University Press, 2025) Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett’s Curious Minds: The Power of Connection (MIT Press, 2022) Ren-yo Hwang Enoch Page Jack Gieseking Andrea Lawlor Jen Manion Cavar’s “In Praise of -Less” https://azejournal.com/article/2022/8/4/in-praise-of-less-transmad-shouts-from-absent-places Amherst Collee, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and University of Massachusetts Amherst Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What might trans poetics be? How does Perry define this term? Why does Perry like thinking through problems? What are two problems we speak about on the podcast? Perry describes what story-led theory is and how this method is, in a way, the opposite of how philosophy traditionally uses stories. Can you explain what story-led theory is and how it is different from other theory? How does Perry use the term ‘attunement’? Perry explains finding thematic clusters such as pebble, dust and glue. What is an object or entity you associate with trans life?

ListenQueer Launch Special: "Queer Britain" with Mark King

May 20, 2025 16 min

Please listen to this super special episode to meet Mark King from Queer Britain and also to hear all about the upcoming sold-out launch of ListenQueer, the accessible LGBTQIA+ history app! listenqueer.co.uk queerbritain.org.uk https://www.outsavvy.com/event/26049/listenqueer-walking-tour-and-app-launch

“Beyond Personhood” with Talia Mae Bettcher

May 6, 2025 46 min

Meet Talia Bettcher, the amazing philosopher who gave us canonical essays like “Trapped in the Wrong Theory” and “Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers,” and has now published a paradigm-shifting book about trans philosophy. Talia tells me about why personhood may be overrated, why the existential WTF lead her to this realisation, and how it’s really all about relationships. We also discuss three of Talia’s highly influential concepts: reality enforcement, the wrong body account, and the beyond the binary model. CW: transphobia, violence, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual abuse while unconscious (from 28 mins) References: Beyond Personhood: An Essay in Trans Philosophy (University of Minnesota Press, 2025) Bettcher, Talia Mae. “Trapped in the Wrong Theory: Rethinking Trans Oppression and Resistance” (Signs 39.2, 2014) Merryleggs, the Magical Pony Bettcher, Talie Mae. “Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers: On Transphobic Violence and the Politics of Illusion” (Hypatia 22.3, 2007) Gwen Araujo The existential WTF Reality enforcement Interpersonal spatiality María Lugones Marilyn Frye John Locke Peter Singer Phoria Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera Jay Prosser’s Second Skins Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is reality enforcement and how does it express transphobia? What is personhood? Why is it generally perceived as a positive concept? Why does Talia put a focus on relationships instead? Talia speaks about two ways of viewing transness: the “beyond the binary” model and the “wrong body” account. What are these and why is Talia critical of both of them? How can you show up to support trans rights?

“All She Wrote Books” with Christina Pascucci-Ciampa

Apr 21, 2025 41 min

Welcome to a brand-new queer space special! Come along to visit All She Wrote Books, a fabulous queer feminist bookshop, located in Somerville, MA, an area that is historically significant for feminist literary activism. Owner Christina Pascucci-Ciampa tells me about what it was like turning All She Wrote Books from the queer literary pop-up that unicorn dreams are made of into a (yellow) brick (road) and mortar shop and community space. We also learn about Ruby, the bookshop’s Chief Barking Officer, and about what made Christina believe in the magical powers of storytelling. References: https://www.allshewrotebooks.com/ @allshewrotebooks New Words Kristen Hogan’s The Feminist Bookstore Movement (Duke UP, 2016) American Booksellers Association Emma Straub Books Are Magic Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt (Carol) Audre Lorde Adrienne Rich bell hooks Julie Enszer Sinister Wisdom Feminist Bookstore News https://sinisterwisdom.org/FBN Malinda Lo Ruby, Chief Barking Officer https://www.allshewrotebooks.com/friendsofruby Crafty Queer Studio https://www.craftyqueerstudio.com/ The Wizard of Oz Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House/Her Body and Other Parties This Queer Book Saved My Life podcast Lindy West Sarah Schulman Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Christina speaks about why pop-up bookshops were an important part of All She Wrote’s journey. What are some benefits of a pop-up bookshop? If you could host a book pop-up at any location, where would it be? Why are libraries great? What are some of their limits? Why do we need specialist bookshops? Why are they spaces of activism?

“Queer AI?” with Daniella Gáti

Apr 8, 2025 46 min

What does AI have to do with queerness? And how could the use of machine learning affect our lives and our rights as LGBTQIA+ people? Daniella Gáti shares the answers to these questions and more. Daniella is an expert in narrative, creative computing, and brings a unique transdisciplinary perspective to both. We touch on facial recognition, what is happening in Hungary, and speak about common misconceptions about AI. References: Gáti, Daniella. ‘Theorizing Mathematical Narrative through Machine Learning’. Journal of Narrative Theory, vol. 53, no. 1, 2023, pp. 139–65. Gáti, Daniella . “AI, Queerness, and Humanity: How AI Reshapes the World and What We Can Do about It” (8 February, 2025, TedX Talk) The Palgrave Handbook of Feminist, Queer and Trans* Narrative Studies (Vera Nuenning and Corinna Assman, eds) Nicola Dinan’s Disappoint Me Thon (19th century gender-neutral pronoun) Dennis Baron’s What’s Your Pronoun: Beyond He and She Jordy Rosenberg’s Confessions of the Fox Erzsébet Galgóczi’s A törvényen kívül és belül (Another Love) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Why might AI not be compatible with queer thought? How can facial recognition affect rights of LGBTQIA+ people? What is a common misconception about AI? What is machine learning? What role might narrative play in all of this?

“Sinister Wisdom” with Julie Enszer

Mar 25, 2025 45 min

Meet Julie Enszer, editor of Sinister Wisdom, dyke poetry superstar, and protector of the lesbian archives. Julie and I speak about shared queer cultures, lesbian feminist publishing, and all of the amazing queer archiving projects Julie is involved in. We also speak about the importance of sharing knowledge and practices of resistance, especially at a time like the present moment. Since Julie is particularly invested in sharing these practices internationally, she is part of the team that is bringing the Lesbian Lives conference to New York in October 2025… Tune in for the details. References: https://julierenszer.com/ Sinister Wisdom https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/ @sinister_wisom (IG) Julie Enszer’s The Pinko Commie Dyke (Indolent Books, 2024) with illustrations by Isabel Clare Paul OutWrite: The Speeches that Shaped LGBTQ Literary Culture (ed. Julie Enszer and Elena Gross, Rutgers UP, 2022) The Complete Works of Pat Parkers (ed. Julie Enszer, Sinister Wisdom/A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2016) Fire-Rimmed Eden: Selected Poems by Lynn Lonidier (ed. Julie Enszer, Sinister Wisdom, 2023) Sinister Wisdom 128: Trans/Feminisms Reveal Digital Archives https://about.jstor.org/revealdigital/ The Lesbian Poetry Archive http://lesbianpoetryarchive.org/ Feminist Bookstore News Archive https://www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org/fbn Carol Seajay Women in Print Movement Catherine Nicholson Harriet Desmoines Hillary Clinton Lesbian Lives Conference Ella Ben Hagai The Journal of Lesbian Studies Olu Jenzen CLAGS (The Centre for LGBTQ Studies, CUNY) https://www.gc.cuny.edu/clags-center-lgbtq-studies Matt Brim Grace Nichols’ The Fat Black Woman’s Poems Heresies http://heresiesfilmproject.org/archive/ Cheryl Clarke https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/cheryl-clarke Tim Retzloff https://michiganlgbtqremember.com/842-2/ Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home Marilyn Hacker’s Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons (1986) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: 1. How d...

"Pronouns" with Laura Paterson

Mar 18, 2025 42 min

Whether you share them, prefer them or avoid them – pronouns are everywhere. As Laura Paterson, a linguist who specialises in pronouns, tells us, this is a. because they are an essential part of grammar and b. because they are particularly sexy right now. Laura tells us what exactly a pronoun is and why third-person personal pronouns can cause so much controversy, despite the fact that their main job is just to point to things. References: Paterson, Laura L. The Routledge Handbook of Pronouns. (Routledge, 2024) Paterson, Laura L. and Gregory, Ian N. Representations of Poverty and Place: Using Geographical Text Analysis to Understand Discourse. (Palgrave, 2018) Paterson, Laura L. British Pronoun Use, Prescription, and Processing: Linguistic and Social Influences Affecting 'They' and 'He' (Palgrave, 2014) Ann Leckie Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time Ashley Reilly-Thornton Susan Stryker Lal Zimman Gardelle, Laure. “Pronoun Activism and the Power of Animacy” The Routledge Handbook of Pronouns. (Routledge, 2024) Journal of Language and Discrimination (https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JLD) Dennis Baron’s What’s Your Pronoun (Liveright, 2020) Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists (‎G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:What is a pronoun?Why can pronouns ‘humanise’ characters?Which two uses of singular they do we speak about? Can you think of others?When might the pronoun ‘it’ become important in activism?What are combined pronouns and why are they no longer in fashion?What are some considerations around pronoun sharing that Laura touches on? How do you feel about this?

“Qtopia” with George Savoulis

Mar 4, 2025 29 min

Would you like to hear about a 100-year-old public Art nouveau toilet turned queer art gallery? Or about the police station that went from a site of protest and oppression to a place of LGBTQIA+ storytelling? Then this is the episode for you. George Savoulis, director of Qtopia Sydney, is taking us all the way to Australia to tell us all about the magic of queer history, reclaiming of space, and the beauty of queer creativity. References: https://qtopiasydney.com.au/ Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Darlinghurst Police Station Troughman Virginia Woolf’s Orlando Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras? Where did the 1978 protests take place and what were they about? What is the pink triangle? If you could choose any space to turn into a queer gallery, museum or performance space, which space would that be?

"Good Pictures Are a Strong Weapon" with Louise Siddons

Feb 18, 2025 45 min

Join me and Louise Siddons, professor of visual politics par excellence, to learn about Laura Gilpin, the lesbian photographer who spent 30 years creating her book The Enduring Navaho in and with both queer and Navajo community. Louise speaks about the lesbian gaze in Gilpin’s photographs, the lesbian networks of Santa Fe, where Gilpin and her partner lived, and the intersectional methods that Louise brings to writing about these. The thoughtful (and fun) observations Louise shares about Gilpin’s work and voice will stay with you. Come for the fascinating content, stay for the free writing advice, and get more of both by following @lsiddons.bsky.social and @uni_southampton_wsa (on Instagram). Stay up-to-date about the podcast on Instagram @queerlitpodcast or on Blue Sky (@lenamattheis.bsky.social). References: Louise Siddons’ Good Pictures Are a Strong Weapon: Laura Gilpin, Queerness and Navajo Sovereignty (University of Minnesota Press, 2024) Louise Siddons’ Centering Modernism: J. Jay McVicker and Postwar American Art (University of Oklahoma Press, 2018) Laura Gilpin’s The Enduring Navaho (University of Texas Press, 1968) Wanda Corn, professor emerita, Stanford University Clarence Hudson White, photographer (American, 1871-1925) Elizabeth Forster (public health nurse and Gilpin’s partner, American, 1886-1972) Amon Carter Museum of American Art Helen Langa, emerita, American University Lesbian gaze Herbert Blatchford (Diné (Navajo), dates unknown) Karen-edis Barzman, scholar in residence, Newberry Library Heather Love, University of Pennsylvania Mara Gold, University of Oxford Laura Gilpin, The Summer Shelter of Old Lady Long Salt (published in The Enduring Navaho, gelatin silver print, 1953) Bean Yazzie (Diné (Navajo), b. 1978) Refugee Tales David Herd, University of St. Andrews Janice Gould’s Doubters and Dreamers (University of Arizona Press, 2011) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Who is Laura Gilpin? Why are lesbian...

"Black Trans Feminism" with Marquis Bey

Feb 4, 2025 49 min

Do we perhaps deserve the impossible? This is only one of the many beautiful questions Marquis Bey asks in this poem of an episode. Marquis is an exquisite thinker who joins me to speak about the incredible book Black Trans Feminism and share thoughts about why such a feminism is for everyone. Marquis speaks about how literature allows us to imagine new possibilities to exist in the world and see how everything is entangled with everything else. Join me to learn from Marquis, to think about abolition, coalition, fugitivity and traniflesh, and to imagine what the world could be beyond the realistic and the possible. References: https://www.marquisbey.com/ Marquis Bey’s Black Trans Feminism (Duke UP, 2022) Marquis Bey’s Cistem Failure (Duke UP, 2022) Marquis Bey’s The Problem of the Negro as a Problem for Gender (University of Minnesota Press, 2020) Marquis Bey’s “RE: [No Subject]—On Nonbinary Gender.” Qui Parle: Critical Humanities and Social Sciences (2022) Saidiya Hartman Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ M Archive and Undrowned Lauryn Hill Denise Ferreira da Silva Toni Morrison N.K. Jemisin Octavia Butler Rivers Solomon Andrew Cutrone Sarah Jane Cervenak Fred Moten Roxane Gay Stefano Harney Jack Halberstam Tina Campt Ralph Ellison Traniflesh Emma Heaney Hortense Spillers’ “Mama’s baby, papa’s maybe” K. Marshall Green Treva Ellison Tranifest Spillers, Hortense, et al. "" Whatcha gonna do?": Revisiting ‘Mama's baby, papa's maybe:’ An American grammar book": A conversation with Hortense Spillers, Saidiya Hartman, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Shelly Eversley, & Jennifer L. Morgan." Women's Studies Quarterly 35.1/2 (2007): 299-309. Abraham Weil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua_Hm6wePro Ciara Cremin Transgender Theory (Bloomsbury) https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/series/transgender-theory/ A Nonbinary Life (forthcoming) Asterisk (Duke UP) https://www.dukeupress.edu/series/asterisk-gender-trans-and-all-that-comes-after Jian Neo Chen Susan Stryker Eliza Steinbock C. Riley Snorton’s Bla...

“Autotheories” with Alex Brostoff

Jan 21, 2025 46 min

You’ve read Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts but have you heard of the scholar who puts the auto in theories? Meet Alex Brostoff, my new favourite autotheorist. Alex is here to clear up common misconceptions about autotheories and tell us more about biomythography, teoría de la noche, and reading beside. I was also intrigued to learn about intertextual kinship and hear Alex’s (beautifully phrased) thoughts on co-writing and co-translating. References: Alex Brostoff and Lauren Fournier (eds) Autotheory (special issue of ASAP/Journal, 2021) Alex Brostoff and Vilashini Cooppan (eds) Autotheories (MIT Press, 2025) Alex Brostoff’s Unruly Relations: A Critical Reframing of Autotheory (Columbia University Press, forthcoming) Alex Brostoff and rl Goldberg (eds) Trans Literature (special issue of College Literature, 2025) Alex Brostoff and rl Goldberg (eds) Reassignments: Trans and Sex from the Clinical to the Critical (Fordham University Press, forthcoming) Stryker, Susan. "Transgender studies: Queer theory's evil twin." GLQ: A journal of lesbian and gay studies 10.2 (2004): 212-215. Intertextual kinship in Brostoff’s “An Autotheory of Intertextual Kinship: Ambivalent Bodies in the Work of Maggie Nelson and Paul Preciado.” Special issue, “Dissident Self-Narratives: Radical and Queer Life Writing,” ed. Aude Haffen. Synthesis: An Anglophone Journal of Comparative Literary Studies 14 (2021): 91-115. Kai Minosh Pyle trans*temporal kinship Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts Roland Barthes Paul Preciado’s Testo Junkie On the Eve of This Death Freccero, Carla. "The ‘Auto’ of Theory." in Autotheories (MIT Press, 2025) Foucault Derrida Gloria Anzaldúa This Bridge Called My Back Borderlands/La Frontera Theory in the flesh Autohistoria-teoría Audre Lorde’s Zami Biomythography María Moreno’s teoría de la noche (theory of the night) Sedgwick’s reading beside Lauren Berlant and Kathleen Steward’s The Hundreds Heather Love John Money Richard Green Judith Butler’s Who’s Afraid of Gender Camer...

"Cyrano" with Virginia Gay

Jan 5, 2025 37 min

Are you in the mood for queer joy and lots of panache? Come, come, listen to this episode about Virginia Gay’s Cyrano, an excitingly fun, gender-twisting play that you will love to the moon and back. Virginia talks about why this play resonates so much for queer people, how James McAvoy made her want to write it, and why theatre should always be hot, weird, funny and no more than a 90-minute experience. To keep up-to-date with this beautiful production, follow @cyranolive and @thatsmsgaytoyou on Instagram. @queerlitpodcast is there too. References: Cyrano de Bergerac Fried Green Tomatoes Park Theatre London @parktheatrelondon James McAvoy Jamie Lloyd Steve Martin Roxanne (1987) Daryl Hannah L’esprit de l’escalier Jessica Whitehurst Joseph Evans The Handmaiden Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith Roxane Gay Virginia Gay’s Cyrano (Spotify) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Uayz56Nzmdekj1rry7rIP Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Virginia’s Cyrano is what one might call a gender-swap moment. Can you think of other plays, rewrites, or adaptions that alter the story by changing the protagonist’s gender? We use three different pronouns for Cyrano in the episode. Which one is your favourite and why? Virginia speaks about several moments of metatheatre. Can you look up what metatheatre means and name one example? What does ‘l’esprit de l’escalier’ mean and how does it relate to writing? Virginia speaks about the complicity of the audience in problematic stories. Have you ever wanted to apologise to a character? What playlist (or play) gives you queer joy?

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Podcast details

Created by: Lena Mattheis
Status: Active
Latest episode: Nov 3, 2026
Episodes: 172
Release period: Every two weeks
Avg. episode length: 39 min
Explicit: No
Language: English

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