Let’s get magical! In this episode, Prof Jes Battis (University of Regina) explains why magic is queer (or why queerness is magical?) and how wizards and witches live out their queerness in medieval texts as well in contemporary retellings. Jes also conjures up wonderful examples of how neurodiversity, queerness and witchcraft are all linked. Side effects of listening to this spellbinding episode may include: a deeper understanding of neuroqueerness, latent transness turning into overt trans joy, an intense desire to read more young adult fiction.

Ready to get enchanted? Follow @jesbattis and @queerlitpodcast on Twitter and Instagram for that extra glamour.

Work by Jes mentioned:

Occult Special Investigator and Parallel Parks series
Mastering the Game of Thrones (edited by Jes Battis and Susan Johnston)
Supernatural Youth (edited by Jes Battis)
Blood Relations: Chosen Family in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
Thinking Queerly: Medievalism, Wizardry, and Neurodiversity in YA Texts
The Winter Knight ( @ecwpress )
https://jbattis.com/

Other works, people and characters mentioned:

Gandalf
Lord of the Rings
Nick Walker
Remi Yergeau
Neuroqueer
Merlin
Grisandolus
Gabrielle Bychowski
https://www.publicmedievalist.com/author/gabrielle-bychowski/
The Prose Merlin
Taliesin
“Medieval Disney Queers” with Amy Louise Morgan
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/51169776
Morgan Le Fay
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Spellman
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Tiresias
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land
Queer As Fact: “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”
https://queerasfact.podbean.com/e/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight/
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon
Willow and Tara (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy’s Once and Future
Percival
T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King)
“Wildness, Masculinity and Swimming Pools” with Jack Halberstam
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/46140271
James Knowles’ King Arthur and his Knights (illustrated by Louis Rhead)
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s The History of the Kings of Britain and the Life of Merlin
Compulsory able-bodiedness
Robert McRuer
ablebodied gaze
Potterverse
Tolkien’s The Hobbit
Ursula K. Le Guin
Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story
Nnedi Okorafor
Nicola Griffith’s Hild
T.L. Huchu’s The Library of the Dead and Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments
Imogen Binnie’s Nevada

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.Which queer wizards does Jes talk about?
2.You are probably familiar with several of the supernatural beings mentioned in the episode. Have you ever thought about them as queer or neurodiverse?
3.Jes and I talk about the parallels between compulsory able-bodiedness and compulsory heterosexuality. What are these parallels? Do you agree with this line of thinking?
4.Please look up at least one of the scholars mentioned in the episode and find out a little more about their work.
5.Can you think of other examples of wizards, witches or supernatural beings that can be read as queer or neurodiverse?