Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Monika Radojevic. Monika is a Brazilian-Montenegrin writer, award winning poet and women's rights advocate. In 2019, she became the inaugural winner of the Merky Books New Writers' prize for her poetry, and her debut collection, teeth in the back of my neck was published in 2021 with Penguin Random House. Her writing has been described as a "vital contribution to literature" by Huck Magazine and "courageous and arresting...a poet to watch" by the Independent. In 2022, Monika launched 'Feminist Invoicing', a poetry project and workshop series about power dynamics and what we're owed from systems of oppression. Her debut short story collection, 'A Beautiful Lack of Consequence' and debut novel, 'Strangerland' have just been acquired by Penguin, and will be published in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

We discuss Monika's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a wonderful guest list; artist Frida Kahlo, author Carmen Maris Machado, and writer Arundhati Roy. Set in Brazil against a soundtrack of Sergio Mendes, Taylor Swift, and Mika, they start with burrata soaked in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, basil and tomato, followed by beans, rice and Brazilian steak with a side of plantain cooked by her grandma, and finishing with a selection of the sweetest, ripest, juiciest, tropical fruit; mango, pineapple, papaya, watermelon, guava, and avocado. We discuss how her feminism and politics intersect her writing, and her upcoming short story collection and debut novel.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Ellen Miles. Ellen is an activist who roots for urban nature. She started the Nature is a Human Right campaign, and runs Hackney-based social enterprise Dream Green. She's written two books, been on BBC News, and has pissed off the Coca-Cola company. The Guardian have dubbed her "the new doyenne of guerrilla gardening"; she calls herself a "botanarchist".

We discuss Ellen's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a great guest list; English social reformer Octavia Hill, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, and singer Amy Winehouse (with honourable mention Sinead O'Connor). Set against a soundtrack of Miso Extra, Pino D'Angio, and Omuma Singsiri, they start with foraged salad eaten in Greenham Common c. 1986, followed by one billionaire at random in space, c. now, and finishing with medjoul dates and watermelon in Gaza, c. 2025. We discuss Ellen's guerilla gardening, her work as a botanarchist, and how it intersects with her own feminism.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Winnie M Li. Winnie is an author and activist. Her latest novel Complicit draws from her earlier career in the film industry. It was a New York Times’ Editors’ Choice, shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award, and listed among the Best Novels of 2022 by Grazia, Glamour, and The Irish Times. Her debut Dark Chapter won The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize, was nominated for an Edgar Award, and translated into ten languages. She is currently adapting it for the screen. Driven by her own experience of rape, Winnie founded Clear Lines, the UK's first festival addressing sexual assault and consent through the arts, and began her PhD research at the London School of Economics. Winnie has given over 200 public talks and appeared on the BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday, The Irish Times, BBC Women’s Hour, and TEDx London, among other media platforms. She holds an honorary doctorate of law from the National University of Ireland in recognition of her writing and activism.

We discuss Winnie's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a fantastic guest list; Frankenstein novelist Mary Shelley, writer and activist Maya Angelou, and famed Chinese pirate Ching Shih (Zheng Yi Sao). Set against a soundtrack of Tracey Chapman, Mozart, and Karen Carpenter, they start with nachos, followed by pad thai, finishing with cheesecake. We discuss Winnie's novels Complicit and Dark Chapter, her experience as a young woman in the film industry, and her PhD research.

TW: Sexual violence

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Chloe Pierre. Chloe is the founder of disruptive wellness platform brand thy.self, which aims to diversify the wellness industry and make self-care more inclusive, relatable and more welcoming to black women, and author of book Take Care: The Black Women’s Guide to Wellness.

We discuss Chloe's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a wonderful guest list; writers and activists Maya Angelou and Audre Lorde, and Chloe's St Lucian great-grandmother. Set in her great-grandmother's home by the sea in St Lucia, against a soundtrack of Moonchild, SZA and Marvin Gaye, they start with ackee and avocado, followed by the best cacio e pepe known to man with a seasoned tender steak on the side, finishing with homemade apple crumble and ice cream. We discuss self care and how it intersects with feminism, Chloe's business thy.self, and how self care is a Black, feminist act.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Jyoti Patel. Jyoti is an author and winner of the 2021 #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize. An extract of her debut novel, "The Things That We Lost", was chosen as the winning submission from over 2,000 entries, a competition that aims to discover unpublished, underrepresented writers aged 16-30 from the UK and Ireland. Jyoti is a graduate of the University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing Prose Fiction MA and was selected as one of The Observer’s 10 Best New Novelists for 2023. Her writing has previously been published as part of We Present’s ‘Literally’ series and in the anthology for the 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize, for which she was shortlisted.

We discuss Jyoti's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a great guest list; British journalist and author Reni Eddo-Lodge, leader of the strikers in the 1976 Grunwick dispute Jayaben Desai, and the character Agnes from Hamnet. Set in Brasserie Bellenger in Paris, against a soundtrack of Billie Eilish, Lizzo and Beyonce, they start with idli and dosa with coconut chutney and sambal, followed by chilli paneer, dal makhani, garlic butter naan, and pilau rice, finishing with rasmalai and chai. We discuss Jyoti's writing, how it intersects with her personal feminism, and her debut novel.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Cathy Reay. Cathy is a writer covering disability politics and culture. She writes regularly for The Guardian and has also written for Glamour, Radio Times and The Independent. She's appeared on national and local radio and TV, on numerous live panels and talk shows, and contributed chapters about disability to three books this year, including Gina Martin's No Offence, But... . She has two children and lives near London. 

We discuss Cathy's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a fabulous guest list; actor Peter Dinklage and the authors and activists Alice Wong and Ericka Hart. Set in a restaurant by the ocean, against a soundtrack of Sigur Ros, Tracy Chapman and Sinead O'Connor, they start with a seafood platter, including oysters fried squid and gravadlax with fresh bread, followed by homemade pasta with pesto and mushrooms, finishing with beetroot chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. We discuss Cathy's writing and activism, and what intersectionality means for her.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin. Prishita is a queer non-binary writer, editor, campaigner, and community organiser. Previously Politics Editor at BRICKS Magazine, they are committed to sharing community stories and amplifying the voices of marginalised individuals, with by-lines in Gay Times, gal-dem, Dazed, Metal, and Cosmopolitan, among others. Prishita has organised at the grassroots level with the LGBTQ+ community for years, now building on their campaigning as the Digital Mobilisation Lead at Stonewall. They also sit on the Advisory Board for sex-ed social enterprise, Split Banana, who deliver inclusive RSHE in schools and train educators. Prishita regularly speaks on podcasts and panels, and was featured in ‘Soul of a Movement’, a documentary that documents some of the British LGBTIQ+ activists, artists and allies carrying the revolutionary fire of the Stonewall Uprising today. With a degree in Biological Anthropology, Prishita approaches all their work through an expansive and historical lens. Their relationship with their body, themselves, and with others are rooted in, and informed by, their multi-cultural and migrant identity.

We discuss Prishita's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a guest list of icons; writer bell hooks, actor Miriam Margolyes, and music producer and songwriter SOPHIE. Set in Prishita's kitchen, against a soundtrack of Clara Schumann, X-Ray Spex, and SOPHIE, they start with a dirty gin martini and dim sum from Tofu Vegan, followed by masala dosa from Dasaprakash in Delhi, finishing with vegan pistachio gelato from La Gelateria. We discuss Prishita's queer and feminist activism, and what intersectionality means for them.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Mary O'Connell. Mary is an award winning silly billy, comedian and writer fresh off her sold out, critically acclaimed, debut solo hour 'Money Princess', which was named "Top 15 Must-See Comedy Shows 2023" by Rolling Stone, "Top 12 Rising Stars" by Evening Standard and called 'one of the most relatable shows of the fringe' by The Telegraph. Mary's performance style is a mix of observational annoyance combined with a left-field view of the world that makes for hilarious and often absurd material.

We discuss Mary's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a guest list of icons; comedian Mindy Kaling, singer Janis Joplin, and writer MJ Corey (a.k.a Kardashian Kolloquium). Set in an imagined townhouse, against a soundtrack of Alabama Shakes, Fleetwood Mac and Janis Joplin, they start with caviar on toast, followed by lasagne, finishing with pistachio and vanilla icecream. We discuss Mary's career, women in comedy, and money anxiety.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Episode 21 of A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Sunny Singh. Sunny is a writer, novelist and public intellectual, and widely recognised as a champion for decolonisation and inclusion across all aspects of society. Her books include the highly acclaimed novel Hotel Arcadia and an authoritative study of Amitabh Bachchan (2017) for the BFI’s film star series. Her essays, short stories, and columns are published worldwide in key journals, anthologies and media outlets. Her latest book, A Bollywood State of Mind will be published by Footnote Press in October. In 2016, she launched the celebrated Jhalak Prize for literature by writers of colour. She is also a founder of the Jhalak Foundation that is focused on a range of literary, artistic and literacy initiatives in the UK and beyond. She is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at the London Metropolitan University.

We discuss Sunny's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a guest list of icons; Indian revolutionary Lakshmi Sehgal, politician Indira Gandhi and Bollywood actress Zeenat Aman. Set in the Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi, against a soundtrack of 20th century Indian music, they start with galauti kebabs, followed by Malabar fish curry with the full accompaniments, finishing with a very special saffron and almond kheer. We discuss Sunny's writing, feminist activism and her fight for decolonisation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Episode number 20 of A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club, the second episode of the our second series!

In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.

In this episode, Alex talks to Paris Paloma. Paris is a UK-based singer songwriter who channels the experience of womanhood into her songwriting, speaking to the female experience, and to the human experience at large, exploring themes of grief, love, death, and power. Her songwriting reads like poetry, drawing inspiration from figures throughout mythology, art history and the Romantics. Ranging from the tender and heartbreaking to the sublimely vengeful, her ethereal sound takes influences from dark pop, folk, and indie genres; creating a magical discography that evokes something primal, powerful, and innately feminine.

We discuss Paloma's dream feminist dinner party, starting with a guest list of icons; actor Sir Ian McKellen, director and screenwriter Greta Gerwig, and American feminist writer bell hooks (both popular choices on our podcast!). Set in a maximalist home, against a soundtrack of Loma, Hozier and Mitski, they start with steamed buns, followed by platters of sushi, finishing with tiramisu. We discuss Paris' songwriting, her emerging career in the music industry, and how feminism has influenced her music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.