Hello folks!

Here's an edited version our LIVE interview with David Levithan and Jennifer Niven on their collaborative book Take Me With You When You Go. It was a really cool interview where we talk about writing, being ambassadors of empathy and what they are reading too. Have a listen to find out about the book which is an epistolary novel where a brother and sister email to each other what they are going through in life.

Some of the big ticket books for the first half of 2022 is here! We probably do another one in May since we've hardly covered anything and still managed to natter for almost an hour. Here are some book highlights and some excerpts so you can figure out if you fancy picking up any of the books in the next few months.

Books mentioned in this episode (in order) :
To Paradise - Hanya Yanagihara
The Maid - Nita Prose
Violeta - Isabel Allende
Pandora - Susan Stokes-Chapman
Daughter of the Moon Goddess - Su Lynn Tan
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea - Axie Oh
Queen of the Tiles - Hanna Alkaf
Cold Enough for Snow - Jessica Au
Anonymous Sex - edited by Hillary Jordan & Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Midnight in Everwood - M.A. Kuzniar
Candy House - Jennifer Egan
Tell me an Ending - Jo Harkin
Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel
Portrait of a Thief - Grace D. Li
Fiona and Jane - Jean Chen Ho

Yes, we are back to normal TBNT programming!
It was a crazy end of year so we could only wrap things up at the beginning of 2022 (the tried to put in anticipated reads and then kinda failed hehe). We had a lot to say about the stuff we did last here. These are some highlights, some of our feelings of doing a podcast for over 3 years and some books we absolutely loved last year.
Cheers!

We are back deep diving into one of our favourite reads this year - She Who Became The Sun. Joining us is author Shelley Parker-Chan herself and it felt like the fitting book to end our year with. Firstly because it's such an epic and emotional read and secondly because it totally fits into all our gender discussions of the past week. We talk all sorts from fan-fiction writing to bitchy eunuchs and a protagonist that burns with want and how it fits in the world of Asian historical fantasy.

In our final episode for our Literature for Equality project we look into the suffrage movement in Britain during World War One and talk about the fight for women's rights- the right to vote, the right for an education and the right to have a job. Today these are things a lot of us take for granted but not too long ago, this was not a given. We are where we are today by standing on the shoulders of these plucky women.

We go closer to home in this episode by shinning a light on our own folklores and contemporary tales with a girl at the centre of the story. We had a lot of fun discussing our own love of story-telling as well as why we need #ownvoices tales, more of them starring girls and women finding their own agency, purpose, making mistakes and learning from them.

When Persepolis came out in 2000 it became an instant hit because it gave a human perspective on all that has happened in Iran during the late70s and 80s. Marjane's black and white drawings were charming but also unflinching as it gives voice to children living through those challenging times. We talk about freedom of expression and all how women's bodies have always been the subject of debate and how graphic novels can peel back a tricky subject in an accessible manner.

So many of our fairytales and folklores deal with gender stereotypes. The pretty, poor girl waiting for a prince to save her, the girl who recklessly wears red and gets eaten by a wolf, the brother and sister unable to contain themselves from eating a gingerbread house. All these early stories have seeped into our psyches with bedtime stories and magic. We relook at well known fairytales through Nikita Gills poetry and flash prose and reframe them. After all princesses can save themselves from towers, outwit villains and wake themselves up by their own efforts, right?

Epics are all about heroes especially Greek epics. Odysseus sailing the seas vanquishing monsters and starting wars. Achilles fighting the Trojan war a harbinger of fleet death and divine retribution. And of the women, the witches and fates, goddesses and maidens- nothing much. Enter the new literary era of feminist retellings. There have been many of course but Miller's Circe really exploded and gave a real voice to the witch of Aiaia and not only that but a rich inner life too. Through Circe we will navigating domestic lives of women and motherhood, and asking the question, 'why are women's labour still undervalued in today's world?'






Light Thought var 4 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

In our third episode of our LFE Project, we take you in the life of one Korean Woman. This slim book that made waves when it first came out shone a light on conditioned misogyny and systemic sexism in modern Korean life. So many that is touched upon in this book will make you think about your own social conditioning and accepted norms. Do you face daily gender bias without even recognizing it as such? The takeaways are many and it paves the way for more better conversations about gender inequality- because what is the big deal about it anyway? And why are we still talking about it today.

For more info, visit rngdr.com/lfe