In this episode, Dr Kit Heyam (Northumbria University) shares wonderful tidbits from trans and non-binary histories, talks about their book on queer king Edward II and is generally delightful and clever. Kit also talks about how they approach queering history, the intersections of literary studies and historical research and their favourite contemporary queer reads, such as "The Lauras" by Sara Taylor, "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" by Jenn Shapland or "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Other texts we talk about:
"Edward II" by Christopher Marlowe
"The Reputation of Edward II, 1305-1697: A Literary Transformation of History" by Kit Heyam
(https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463729338/the-reputation-of-edward-ii-1305-1697)
"The Roaring Girl" by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker
Marjorie Rubright' article "Transgender Capacity in Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton's The Roaring Girl (1611)', Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 19.4 (2019), 45-74
"Trumpet" by Jackie Kay
"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides
"Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo
"Little Fish" by Casey Plett

Why not follow Kit (@krheyam) and Lena (@Lena_Mattheis) on Twitter and read more about Kit's work as a scholar and activist here: https://kitheyam.com/.

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:
1. How do the study of literature and of history intersect in Kit’s work?
2. Why is it difficult to label historical figures as trans, lesbian or gay? What does Kit do instead?
3. What does Kit say about authorship and contemporary queer literature?
4. The central aim of Kit’s work is to show that transness and queerness are not ‘new’. Why do you think this is important?