Queer Lit

This extraordinary queer space special makes all my dreams come true: I get to hang out with Erica Gillingham in the basement of Gay’s The Word! Sitting between towering stacks of books and boxes of GTW archival material that goes back all the way to the birth of this magnificent LGBTQ+ bookshop in January 1979, Erica shares some highlights of the turbulent and inspiring history of GTW. She also talks about what is happening in queer publishing right now and shares some of her favourite queer YA and romance authors. Hearing Erica speak about the way in which GTW and its magnificent team of booksellers hold space for our community is truly magical and if I could live in that basement forever, I absolutely would.

All I want for Queermas is for you to follow @gaysthewordbookshop, @ericareadsqueer and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram!

References:
Rosa Guy’s Ruby (1976)
Pride (2015)
Ernest Hall
Oscar Wilde Bookshop (New York City)
Gay Socialists
Icebreakers
Lesbian Discussion Group (LDG)
Gay and Disabled Group
Black Gay Group
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM)
Mark Ashton
Housman’s
Black Lesbian Discussion Group
Ace Reading Group
Jim MacSweeney
Uli Lenart
Common Press
London LGBTQ Centre
Section 28
Laura Kay
Justin Meyers
Alexis Hall
Lily Lindon
Emily Danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Malinda Lo
Isabel Waidner’s Corey Fah Does Social Mobility and We Are Made of Diamond Stuff

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. When was Gay’s The Word established and what are some of the groups that are associated with the shop?
2. What does Erica say about the publishing industry and queer books? What are your thoughts on this?
3. Erica talks about her interest in YA texts and romance novels. Why would queer books in these genres potentially be treated differently by publishers?
4. Do you remember the first time you went to a designated LGBTQIA+ space? What was that like?

What can you do when the language for who you are doesn’t exist yet? Kai Minosh Pyle’s answer: write gorgeous poetry about it! In this episode, Kai reads one of their multilingual pieces, but they also talk about the benefits of using words that ‘kind of’ fit, and about finding trans*temporal kinship with Two-Spirit ancestors in creative writing and scholarly research. Kai introduces us to some less well-known figures from Indigiqueer history, they talk about the challenges of teaching Two-Spirit writing and they even (possibly) coin a new term right here in this episode!

If you are excited at the prospect of finding out what Indigitrans might mean, don’t delay – listen today!

References:

Pyle, Kai, and Danne Jobin. "Transgender, Two-Spirit and Nonbinary Indigenous Literatures: An Introduction." Transmotion 7.1 (2021): 1-9.

Anishinaabe

Métis

Louise (Wzawshek)

Potawatomi

Ozaawindib

Ralph Kerwineo

“The Midwest is a Two-Spirit Place”

Sweeter Voices Still

Trans*temporal kinship

Lisa Tatonetti

Jas Morgan

Wahkohtowin

Aiyyana Maracle’s A Journey in Gender

Ojibwe

Michif

Keguro Macharia

T4T

Jenzen, Olu. "Revolting Doubles: Radical Narcissism and the Trope of Lesbian Doppelgangers." Journal of Lesbian Studies 17.3-4 (2013): 344-364.

Indigitrans

Joshua Whitehead

Arielle Twist

Muxe

Lukas Avendaño

Jenny Davis

Alex Wilson

Gary Bowen

Leslie Feinberg

Whess Harman’s Salmon Journey

https://www.whessharman.com/comics


Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. In this episode, we speak about Two-Spirit identities without defining the term. Can you briefly explain what Two-Spirit means? If not, please look up the term or listen to the Queer Lit episode on the subject with Lisa Tatonetti.
2. Please name at least two of the historical Two-Spirit figures Kai introduces here. Were you familiar with any Two-Spirit figure or author before listening to this episode?
3. Kai speaks about coining the beautiful term ‘trans*temporal’. Can you explain what this means? Have you ever experienced something similar?
4. With their poem “T4T” and in their research, Kai negotiates how gender moves through language. What does Kai see as benefits of understanding gender through multiple languages? What are challenges?
5. Did you ever have to translate (literally or figuratively) your gender and/or sexuality? What was that like?

You may think that second wave feminism and trans activism are mutually exclusive but guess what: there is actually a whole lot of diversity in second wave feminist theory, writing, activism and print culture. Emily Cousens has done lots of archival research to highlight trans thinking and the way it has informed and shaped second wave feminism. Listen to our conversation to learn more about the grassroots movements, trans newsletters and gendernonconforming thinkers that make the second wave trans.

References:

Emily Cousens’ Trans Feminist Epistemologies in the US Second Wave (Palgrave, 2023)

University of Victoria Archives

GLBT Historical Society San Francisco

Digital Transgender Archive https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/

Louise Lawrence Archive San Francisco

Ms Bob Davis

Virginia Prince

Transvestia

Foundation for Full Personality Expression (FPE)

STAR Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries

Black Lives Matter

Sisters Uncut

Combahee River Collective

Foucault

Barbara Smith

Judith Butler

Maxine Wolf

Lesbian Avengers

Dyke March

DressingDykes (Eleanor Medhurst) https://dressingdykes.com/2022/03/25/clothing-culture-at-the-lesbian-conference/

Tri Sigma Heterosexual Crossdresser’s Society

Robert Stoller

John Money

Kate Millet

Gayle Rubin

Margo Schulter

Meg-John Barker

Leslie Feinberg

Beth Elliott

Sandy Stone

Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is second wave feminism and how is it frequently misrepresented?
2. Why are trans studies and second wave feminism often viewed as incompatible? What are Emily’s thoughts on this?
3. What are some of the sources Emily works with? How is print culture defined here?
4. Who is John Money? Why is he significant?
5. How does Emily describe the role of nonbinary and intersex people in their research?
6. How are trans men and trans women viewed differently in second wave feminism?

If you would like to be a part of the Queer Lit winter tradition, let me know about the queerest thing you did this year and/or any queer winter/holiday traditions and reading recommendations by the end of November. Can't wait to hear from you at [email protected]!

We’re so done with scary trans villains and monsters – or are we? Cáel Keegan explains why we might be able to learn lessons about trans liberation from Buffalo Bill and why The Silence of the Lambs, upon its release, was actually protested for homophobia. Cáel speaks about transfixing and spellbinding media, from The Matrix to Buffy to video games. Dark Willow makes an appearance. Not to be missed.

References:

Keegan, Cáel M. Lana and Lilly Wachowski. University of Illinois Press, 2018.

Keegan, Cáel M. "Emptying the future: Queer melodramatics and negative utopia in Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture 1.1 (2016): 9-22.

Keegan, Cáel M. "Getting disciplined: What’s trans* about queer studies now?." Journal of homosexuality 67.3 (2020): 384-397.

Keegan, Cáel M., Laura Horak, and Eliza Steinbock. "Cinematic/trans*/bodies now (and then, and to come)." Somatechnics 8.1 (2018): 1-13.

Orange is the New Black

The Matrix

The Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal Lecter

Jodie Foster

Homonormativity

Mads Mikkelsen

Anthony Hopkins

Will Graham

Buffalo Bill

Dark Willow

Soldier’s Girl

Hil Malatino

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism

Judith Butler’s Panicked Mimesis

McKenzie Wark’s Gamer Theory

Work in Progress

Abby McEnany

Theo Germaine

They/Them

Edie Fake’s Gaylord Phoenix


Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Why is Cáel so interested in mass media? What can we learn from widely received stories – even, or especially when, they’re problematic?
2. Cáel explains how we can take care of difficult texts or even diffuse them like bombs. What does this mean? Did either concept resonate with you?
3. What is cisgender realism and which theorist is Cáel building on with this concept?
4. What is your favourite scary queer text and why is it Carmilla?

Get the garlic, sprinkle the holy water, but please, leave the antiqueer racism out of my Gothic romance! Dr Maisha Wester (Sheffield/Indiana University) explains why Horror films are so interesting to study, what Brexit has to do with Zombies, why King Kong film posters reveal blatant racism, and why ghosts are not always gay but most definitely queer. Lusty lesbian vampires, Cat People (are those the same?), spiders, sharks, and Supernatural fan fiction: this episode has everything the tell-tale heart could want.
Texts, Films and Stories mentioned:
Dracula
King Kong
Le Fanu’s Carmilla
Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection
Family Guy
The Perfection
Roderick Ferguson’s The Nightmares of the Heteronormative
The Hottentot Venus
Raw
Cat People
I walked with a Zombie
Ganja & Hess
Arachnophobia
Jaws
Tendai Huchu’s The Library of the Dead
The Amityville Horror
Teju Cole’s Open City
Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild”
Supernatural
The Haunting of Bly Manor

Not scared enough? Follow Maisha (@maishawester) and me (@queerlitpodcast) on Instagram.

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. In what ways are horror narratives and motifs political?
2. Why are queerness and race frequently negotiated in Gothic and horror stories?
3. Why are vampires often coded as queer? Which example for this does Maisha give? Do you have a favourite vampire?
4. What is the abject? What is Other(ing) in literary studies?
5. Open question: What do you think about the role of fear in the representation of queerness and race?

It’s time to be real. In this episode with queer studies luminary Heather Love, it’s all about what you find, what you feel, what you knooooow(-ah) to be real. We talk about feeling and looking backward while shifting paradigms, about the semiprivate space of the queer classrooms, about the entanglements of queer, trans and disability studies and so much more. Tune in now and follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram for more realness and reading recs.

References to Heather’s work:

Underdogs: Social Deviance and Queer Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021.

Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007.

2023 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Memorial Lecture in Gender + Sexuality Studies by Heather Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU6bT2ZtNlA

“Assessing Critique, Scholarly ‘Habits,’ Queer Method and ‘Turns’: An Interview with Heather Love.” In Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, ed. Salla Peltonen and Marianne Liljeström 1.1 (Autumn 2017).

“Gyn/Apology: Sarah Orne Jewett’s Spinster Aesthetics.” ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance. ESQ 55.3-4 (Winter 2009): 305-334.

“Safe.” American Literary History 25.1 (Spring 2013): 1-12. Special issue on second books, ed. Gordon Hunter.

Other references:

Davy Knittle
Paris is Burning
Cheryl Lynn’s “To Be Real”
Susan Stryker’s “My Words to Victor Frankenstein” (GLQ, 1994)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Jacques Derrida
Jean-Paul Sartre
Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble
Alison Kafer’s Feminist Queer Crip
Tobin Siebers Rachel Carroll
Susan Stryker’s “More words about ‘My words to Victor Frankenstein’.” (GLQ, 2019)
Audre Lorde’s “The Uses of Anger”
William Wordsworth: “Overflow of powerful feelings [...] recollected in tranquillity”
Ellen Rooney. “A Semiprivate Room.” (Differences, 2002)
Paolo Freire
Herb Kohl
bell hooks
Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt
Carol
Grace Ellis’ Flung Out Of Space

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. How does Heather define realness? How does it relate to realism and authenticity? What does being real mean to you?
2. What does Heather say about the impulse to prioritise novelty in queer studies and in capitalist systems?
3. Which Susan Stryker essay does Heather speak about? Why does she find it so important?
4. How do affect studies come into Heather’s work? What does she say about Audre Lorde and writing from a place of anger?
5. Do you think that the classroom is a ‘semiprivate’ space? Take a look at the Rooney essay to investigate.
6. Please pick one of the texts Heather mentions (either her own or other scholars’ work) and read it. The reading recommendations in this episode are heartfelt and brilliant!

Have you asked yourself lately: What could I do to make my October really super extra queer? Sarah Boira and Vedrana Velickovic have THE festival for you. Listen to this episode to learn all about The Coast is Queer, the UK’s first LGBTQIA+ literary festival that celebrates all texts queer. Some of the events to get excited about: a panel on queer Ukraine, an event about invisible identities, a zine making workshop with lots of participation and plenty of partying with performance poets and open mic nights! Find out more on Instagram (@coastisqueerfest) or on the festival website. Everything is happening (and it really sounds like it’s happening) from 12-15 October at the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts in Brighton. References: https://coastisqueer.com/ New Writing South https://www.newwritingsouth.com/ Marlborough Productions https://marlboroughproductions.org.uk/ Centre for the Study of Sexual Dissidence https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/centres/centre-for-study-of-sexual-dissidence/ Okechukwu Nzelu’s Here Again Now Johanna Hedva’s “Sick Woman Theory” and “Why It’s Taking So Long” https://topicalcream.org/features/sick-woman-theory/ https://topicalcream.org/features/why-its-taking-so-long/ Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: 1. If you could curate a panel for a queer lit festival, who would you invite and what would the topic be? 2. What does ‘literature’ mean for Sarah and Vedrana? What is your definition of literature? 3. Sarah and Vedrana talk about queering the form of the festival. What does that entail? 4. Which author that you heard about in this episode are you looking up?

This episode takes us deep, deep into the queer ocean. Alexis Pauline Gumbs submerges us in Black feminist thought, takes us on a deep dive into queer creativity, and, most importantly, allows us to rethink our breathing through gills, lungs, mouths, and bills. Listen now to learn about how Audre Lorde, June Jordan and M. Jacqui Alexander have influenced Alexis Pauline’s work and why marine mammals play such a central part in her writing.

Follow @alexispauline and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and a mystical manatee will visit you in a dream.

References to Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ work:

Undrowned
M Archive
Dub
Spill
Revolutionary Mothering
Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde (2024)

Other references:

Auburn Avenue Research Library
Black Panther Party
Elaine Brown’s A Taste of Power
Audre Lorde
June Jordan
Helen Oyeyemi’s The Opposite House
Ada Gay Griffin
Michelle Parkerson
A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
Briona Simone Jones
Dub
Sylvia Wynter
Combahee River Collective
Barbara Smith
Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic
M. Jacqui Alexander’s Pedagogies of Crossing
I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities
Audre Lorde’s The Black Unicorn

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What fascinates Alexis Pauline Gumbs about archival research and what does she find in archives that you cannot find in books?
2. Why is Audre Lorde an important figure in queer writing and Black feminism?
3. Why is breathing central to Alexis’ thinking?
4. How does Alexis describe the meaning and potential of ‘queerness’?
5. Which mammals do you feel most connected to and how might this connection shift the way you think about your non-human environment?

Did you know that yew trees can (and do) change sex? And that many trees are nonbinary? Genderqueer greenery is only one of the fascinating (tree) topics this conversation branches off into. If you want to em-bark on a journey into queer ecologies, this is the sapisode for you. Cate talks about leafing through the herbal archives at Kew Gardens, the role of storytelling in understanding ecologies, and about discovering female forests. Tune in now and everything will be coming up roses – or mulberries.

References:

Cate Sandilands’ The Good-Natured Feminist
Cate Sandilands’ Rising Tides: Reflections for Climate Changing Times
Cate Sandilands’ “Mulberry Intimacies and the Sweetness of Kinship” (Ecologies of Gender)
Kew Gardens
Queer Nature
https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/queer-nature
Jamaica Osorio
K-Ming Chang’s Bestiary
Rosanna McLaughlin’s Sinkhole: Three Crimes
Callum Angus’ A Natural History of Transition
Joshua Whitehead’s Making Love with the Love
King James I
Alexis Shotwell’s Against Purity
Oriana Schwarzenshuber
Vin Nardizzi
Fortingall Yew
https://storyingclimatechange.com/
Sarah Orne Jewett
Willa Cather
Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness
Diana Souhami
Vita Sackville-West’s The Land
Alexis Pauline Gumbs’s Undrowned and M Archive
Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms At Night

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What might queer ecologies be?
2. Can you compare my definition with Cate’s? What is similar, what is different?
3. What roles can storytelling play in climate change and in queer ecologies?
4. What might the ‘Edenic past’ be and how does it relate to ‘purity’?
5. Which species is your life entangled with?
6. Bonus question: In this episode, Cate explains that “A lot of the most interesting thinking proceeds through story as much as it proceeds through theory.” Do you agree?