Queer Lit

How does your embodiment affect your perception and thus your writing? This is one of many questions Amber Jamilla Musser tackles in her most recent monograph, which builds on her brilliant work in Black feminism and queer femininity. Amber tells us how sensation and individual experience need to be part of an ethics of perception and why queerness is method that allows us to think capaciously and in connection with the body.

Come and marinate in the unruliness of being with us! Follow @queerlitpodcast and @a_jamilla on Instagram for more.  

References:
https://www.amberjamillamusser.com/
Sensational Flesh: Race, Power, and Masochism (NYU Press, 2014)
Sensual Excess: Queer Femininity and Brown Jouissance (NYU Press, 2018)
Between Shadows and Noise: Sensation, Situatedness, and the Undisciplined (Duke University Press, 2024)
Queer Form (special issue of ASAP, edited by Kadji Amin, Amber Jamilla Musser and Roy Pérez)
Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies (NYU Press, 2021)
Feminist Keywords Podcast
Karen Tongson
Association for Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP)
Jordan Peele’s Us
Ming Smith’s Flamingo Fandango (West Berlin) (painted)
Édouard Glissant
Ronak Kapadia
Stephanie Clare
Sharon Holland’s an other
Tiffany Lethabo King
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Audre Lorde
Titus Kaphar’s Pillow for Fragile Fictions
Audre Lorde’s Zami: A Biomythography
Mecca Jamilah Sullivan’s Big Girl  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      What does Amber mean when she speaks about masochism?
2.      What might an ethics of perception be?
3.      Amber speaks about how our bodily histories affect how we perceive. What is you bodily history?
4.      Amber suggests that queerness is a method in Between Shadows and Noise. What does this method allow Amber to do?
5.      How is knowledge embodied? Do you think about this when you read or write academic texts, which often suggest a neutral, disembodied perspective?

Have you heard of the wholesome queer Gothic? This is the cool new term that might just explain why so many of us were obsessed with monsters, witches, witches and vampires before we came out of the coffin, uhm, closet. Sarah Faber and Kerstin-Anja Münderlein join me for this spooky special to speak about their favourite Gothic books, games, and tropes, and about the amazing collection they co-edited. Tune in for seasonal reading recommendations and reflections on gender transgressions in Gothic narratives.  

References:
Rethinking Gothic Transgressions of Gender and Sexuality (Routledge, 2024)
Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764)
Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian (1797) and The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca
Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and The Scholomance
K.J. Charles’s Band Sinister
Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines
Bloodborne
Dark Souls
Fallen London
Castlevania
Sunless Sea
Doppelganger
Lara Brändle
Franziska Quabeck
Charles Dickens
Alycia Garbay
Grace King
Kit Schuster
Jennifer’s Body
Dracula
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher
Julia Armfield’s Private Rites
The Hays Code
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Heartstopper
Casey McQuiston
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Interview with The Vampire
Brad Pitt
Night Cascades
Hanako Games
Carolyn Dinshaw
Elizabeth Freeman
Kirsty Logan’s Things We Say in the Dark
Juno Dawson’s Wonderland (2020)  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      Why is the Gothic both a genre and a mode? What do these terms mean?
2.      What are typical tropes and features of Gothic writing?
3.      Which century might we consider as an origin point of Gothic writing?
4.      What is the wholesome queer Gothic?
5.      What are male and female traditions of the Gothic?
6.      What is your favourite kind of monster and why?            

Femme theory, bisexual butches, racy footnotes – the brand-new edited collection Queering Desire has it all. The brilliant editors, Róisín Ryan-Flood and Amy Tooth Murphy, join me for a chat about  what the book means to them and how challenging and rewarding interdisciplinary research on lesbians and sapphics can be. They dive into the multi-faceted contributions and how they matter to queer culture today and also generously share their personal experience in collecting the many gems that make up Queering Desire. Follow @roisinryanflood and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram to learn more!

References:
Holding Hands: Experiences of shame, pride and protest among LGBT relationship partners
Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship
https://www.essex.ac.uk/centres-and-institutes/intimate-and-sexual-citizenship
Notches
Esther Newton
Sally Munt
Anne Lister
Les Feinberg
Billie Eilish
Charli XCX
Eleanor Medhurst
Sarah Joy Ford
Susan Stryker
Rosalind Gill
Kimberley Mather
Mie Astrup Jensen
El. Reid-Buckley
Phoebe Kisubi Mbasalaki
Liz Millward
Marie Lou Duret
Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain #
Ken Plummer
Agnes
Ella Ben Hagai
Dominique Adams-Santos
Skala Eressos
Sappho
Sadie Lee
Libro Levi Bridgeman’s The Butch Monologues
Jack Halberstam’s Female Masculinities
Ladies of Llangollen
José Esteban Muñoz
K. Allison Hammer
Gay’s The Word
Esther Newton’s My Butch Career
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold
Patricia Highsmith’s Carol (The Price of Salt)
The Talented Mr Ripley
Andrew Scott Alfred
Hitchcock Strangers on a Train
Lillian Faderman’s Surpassing the Love of Men
Grace Ellis’ Flung out of Space  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      The editors speak a lot about interdisciplinarity and their respective backgrounds in the humanities and in sociology. Which challenges and benefits of working across disciplines do they mention? Can you think of others?
2.      Another important thread is queerness across different generations. How do you experience queer kinship across generations? What do you think the term ‘queer lineage’ might mean?
3.      What might femme theory be? Please look up the term and see what you find.
4.      What do the editors say about online and physical queer space?
5.      Which essay of Queering Desire are you going to read first and why?  

Get ready, queer language enthusiasts and trans literature francophiles! In another spontaneous recording from Lesvos, Mélie Boltz Nasr aka May tells us all about their genderbending fairy tale collection for adult readers. We also speak about feminist fonts, French grammar and how queering language is not just an activist aim but also a beautiful creative practice. To learn more about May, follow them on Instagram and check out @queerlitpodcast while you’re there.  

References:
Skala Eressos
Sappho
Contes D’Un Autre Bois
https://www.editions-ixe.fr/catalogue/contes-dun-autre-bois/
Charles Perrault
Grimm brothers
Walt Disney
Hassan Abdulrazzak’s Laila Pines For The Wolf
https://medium.com/@abdulrazzak/laila-pines-for-the-wolf-3710e81ebbd0
Éditions iXe
Bye Bye Binary
https://typotheque.genderfluid.space/fr
@bye.byebinary
BBB Baskervvol
Glyph
Alpheratz
Ursula Le Guin “Is Gender Necessary? Redux” 
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ursula-k-le-guin-is-gender-necessary-redux
Aesop
Lettre Aux Copaines 
https://lettre-aux-copaines.kessel.media/posts  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      What might the political framework of your favourite fairy tale be?
2.      Have you ever used an inclusive font? What do you think of this idea?
3.      What is an example of feminist grammar in your native language?
4.      Do you think nonbinary language is political? What is its place in creative practice?
5.      If you were to invent a nonbinary font, what would it be called?    

Guess who I ran into on the beautiful island of Lesvos: Karen McLeod, author of the amazing memoir Lifting Off. Karen sat down with me at Ohana Saloon, a queer-owned beach bar in Skala Eressos, and told me about her performance art, about working as aircrew as a queer woman, experiences with addiction, and about a new Lesvos-related book she is just starting to write…

Warning for the noise-sensitive: you will be able to hear the ocean, the wind, and the many, many lesbians.


Learn more about Karen’s work on Instagram @therealkarenmcleod and see @queerlitpodcast for our newest episodes.  

References: 
Out and Wild
Barbara Brownskirt
Lifting Off
In Search of a Missing Eyelash
Muswell Press
The Bookseller Crow
Cindy Sherman
Section 28
Polari
Shirley Valentine
The Short Tall Letter 
https://karenmcleod.substack.com/
Julia Darling’s Crocodile Soup
Jackie Kay
Stella Duffy  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      We are recording in Skala Eressos, which has a close connection to Lesbian poet Sappho. Why not take a moment to read more about Sappho right now?
2.      Karen begins by speaking about her experience of not being able to be out at work. Do you ever have to hide parts of yourself, based on where you are and who you interact with?
3.      Karen briefly mentions Section 28. If you are not familiar, please look up what this term means in the context of the United Kingdom and homophobic legislation.
4.      Karen and I speak about how amazing intergenerational queer spaces are. Do you share that experience? Why do you think different age groups can learn from one another, especially in an LGBTQIA2S+ context?

Kit Heyam’s amazing history of gender nonconformity across the globe is a dazzling journey into the intricacies of trans history and if it’s not your favourite book already, it will be after listening to this episode. Learn why Kit particularly enjoyed writing about Edo Japan, what they discovered about intersex history and who their favourite person to write about was. We also have a discussion about how biological sex has always been a difficult thing to define and, drumroll, Kit even tells me what their next book will be about…

Grab your earphones, start listening, and follow @kitheyamwriter and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram to learn more.  

References:
Kit Heyam’s Before We Were Trans (2022)
Kit Heyam’s The Reputation of Edward II, 1305-1697 (2020)
Igbo
Edo Japan
Shunga
Wakashū
Sexology
Thomas/Thomasine Hall
Roberta Cowell
Meg-John Barker
Princess Seraphina
Blake Gutt
Iphis and Ianthe
Harlan Weaver’s Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice (2011)
Mo Moulton
Hijra
Jessica Hinchy
Jules Gill-Peterson
@kitheyamwriter
Sara Taylor’s The Lauras
Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota
The Iliad  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      What is Kit’s view of trans history? How do they feel about labels?
2.      We speak about how gender expression and sexuality may intersect (although of course they are separate for some people). What does Kit see as a challenge here? Is your gender connected to your sexuality?
3.      One of Kit’s favourite chapters is about biological sex. How would you define biological sex? How has it been defined historically in the examples Kit provides?
4.      What does trans family mean to you?
5.      Kit briefly speaks about the agency of children. Why is that an important topic in queer and trans studies and lives?

Graphic designer Marwan Kaabour has created a stunning book that is so much more than your average glossary. Join me and Marwan to talk about what makes The Queer Arab Glossary so special: from the illustrations that powerfully reclaim slurs to the essays that explore the queer methodology of the book. It was an absolute pleasure chatting to Marwan about the journey that led him to start his amazing platform @takweer_ and learn about how the community he created through Takweer helped him shape the Glossary.

Listen now to learn about Marwan’s favourite word in the book (Qāyiso-l-mā’), my favourite word (boya) and follow @ustaz_marwan and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram to learn more.  

References:
@takweer_
Haitham Haddad
Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam
Lot
Qāyiso-l-mā’
boya
Māl al-Ḥūṭa
Bahrain
Sophie Chamas
@ustaz_marwan
Cinema Fouad
Mohamed Soueid
Oscar Al-Halabiye 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDtRCpWxB1Q  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      Why did Marwan begin the queer Arab glossary?
2.      Which three notions of queer Arabic language does Marwan speak about when explaining the submission process for the glossary?
3.      How do we define when a word is hurtful or playful? Why does Marwan decide he cannot make that distinction in the glossary?
4.      Which countries make up the Arab speaking world? We mention some of them in the episode. Please look up the rest.
5.      Marwan speaks about water as a central element in the book. Why is that? Can you relate to this?

Let’s go on a field trip! New York City is an amazing city for book shopping and LGBTQIA2S+ activism. Bluestockings Cooperative offers both. This amazing bookstore and community space almost feels too good to be true: nestled into the Lower East Side, Bluestockings has provided dyke dating, community support and all kinds of activism for well over two decades years now. Tune in today to hear lovely bookseller Raquel tell me more about the shop and its history.

And did you know? All the cool queers follow @bluestockingsnyc, @raqthebookseller and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram.  

References:
Kathryn Welsh (now Grantham, owner of Black Bird Bookstore in California)
Gay’s The Word
Sara Ahmed
Transparency
Black and Pink New York
@Blackandpinknyc
Bluestockings.com
@bluestockingsnyc
@bluestockingscares
Samuel R. Delany’s Time Square Red, Time Square Blue
Rudy Giuliani  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      If you could dream up an LGBTQIA2S+ space, what would it look like?
2.      What is your favourite thing about going to community-run spaces?
3.      Raquel speaks a lot about trust. Why do you think it is that supposedly inclusive spaces do not always feel inclusive? What might we do to change this?
4.      Which of the activist organisations or activities that Raquel mentions are you going to check out?  

Queer television is clearly having a moment and I got to learn more about this from my new favourite LGBTQ TV expert: Hollis Griffin. From the problematic categorisation of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ representation to watching telly at the gay bar, we talk about what queer TV can and can’t do and why it’s so enjoyable even when it’s bad.  Hollis shares expert knowledge, personal anecdotes and an amazing Lauren Berlant quote: “Nobody like their pleasure undone by somebody with a theory.”

References:
Gentrification Imaginaries Conference
Freiburg University
Maria Sulimma
Hollis Griffin's Feeling Normal: Sexuality and Media Criticism in the Digital Age (Indiana, 2017) 
Hollis Griffin (ed) Television Studies in Queer Times (Routledge, 2023)
Hollis Griffin's Securing the Big Apple: Television and the Gentrification of New York (forthcoming)
Will and Grace
Lauren Berlant’s Desire/Love
Cael Keegan’s “In Praise of the Bad Transgender Object: Sleepaway Camp” (2020)
https://www.flowjournal.org/2020/07/in-praise-of-the-bad-sleepaway/
Allison Page’s Media and the Affective Life of Slavery (2022)
Melrose Place
Aaron Spelling
Interview with the Vampire Isaac
Fellman’s Dead Collection
Susan Stryker
The Fathers Project 
Hunter Hargraves  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      What does representation mean? In how far it is a useful category?
2.      What can ‘bad objects’ teach us? Do you have an example?
3.      What are places where one might watch queer TV and how do these places influence viewing behaviour?
4.      Why is there pleasure in watching TV? Which shows do you enjoy?
5.      Please look up at least one of the scholars that you learned about in this episode and find out more about their work.  

If I hadn’t already been a massive fan of Nicola Dinan, I would have become one after this! I was beyond excited to get to speak to Nicola at Surrey New Writers Festival and was extremely grateful that she was able to take some time after our panel to tell me more about her incredible debut novel Bellies (2023), about capitalism and queerness, about food and affection, and so much more. Find Nicola and the podcast on Instagram: @nicoladinan and @queerlitpodcast.

Thank you to the amazing Sharlene Teo for creating this space and for inviting me to be a part of it!  

References:
Nicola Dinan’s Bellies (2023)
Disappoint Me (forthcoming in 2025)
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
Homo Sapiens Podcast
James Baldwin’s Another Country
Francis Bacon  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      Bellies is a love story told from the perspective of both lovers. What would you imagine this entails for the plot? What do we learn that we would not learn from a ‘one-sided’ love story?
2.      In the episode, we speak quite a bit about ways of living together. How do you think queerness, class and nationality affect expectations of how, where and with whom we may want to live?
3.      Nicola comments on questions about Bellies no longer being exclusively about transition. Why do you think this is?
4.      Is food connected to affection in your mind? Why or why not?