For this episode of the Writing Women Podcast, I researched one of my favourite novels to dig out Daphne du Maurier's incredible use of the floral metaphor. From the frightening, other-worldly rhododenrons to the confines of the rose gardens to the mournful hydrangeas, the flowers in Manderley reflect their inhabitants and give clues to how the novel is going to end from it's opening paragraph.

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast ⁠⁠Culture Hang⁠⁠ or sign up to my ⁠⁠newsletter and everything else!

Links:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/23/olivia-laing-on-daphne-du-mauriers-rebecca-80-years-on

https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/nightmares-mirrors-and-possession-in-daphne-du-mauriers-rebecca

https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/daphne-du-maurier-and-the-gothic-tradition

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/last-night-i-dreamt-i-went-to-manderley-again-rebecca-and-me-1.3402476

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/books/daphne-du-maurier-enthusiast.html

Content warning: discussions around the depictions of childhood sexual abuse, rape, grooming, manipulation

Kate Elizabeth Russell's 2020 novel, My Dark Vanessa, captures the intricate nuances of how one of the legacies of Vladimir Nobokov's controversial 1955 novel, Lolita, has been utilised by child sexual abusers as a tool for their manipulation. In this narrative, however, set in the dawn of MeToo reckonings, Russell gives Vanessa the gift not afforded to Dolores Haze, Vanessa lives.

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast ⁠Culture Hang⁠ or sign up to my ⁠newsletter and everything else!

Links:

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/05/vanessa-springora-consent-blake-bailey-literary-mentor-abuse/618928/https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/03/girlhood-melissa-febos-lucid-expose-rape-culture/618445/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a31282424/kate-elizabeth-russell-my-dark-vanessa-interview/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/13/kate-elizabeth-russell-my-dark-vanessa-interviewhttps://kateelizabethrussell.com/note-to-readers

https://open.spotify.com/show/4dvc06zTAaAylzdTrsgKzp?si=903e8c9127794d6a

Happy new year (at the end of February) from me at the Writing Women Pod! This time I cover falling in love, the perils of being adored by a crowd and by the one you love all in this incredibly beautiful, favourite read of 2022, The Giant Dark  by Sarvat Hasin.

Buy the book (not sponsored just loved it), full Foyles blog quoted at the beginning.

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast Culture Hang or sign up to my newsletter and everything else!

For my final episode of the year, I wanted to return to a poet who has obsessed, confounded and finally been settled by me throughout my young adolscence and into my academic years, Sylvia Plath.

The 2020 essay in full

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast Culture Hang or sign up to my newsletter and everything else!

It's been quite an inaugural year for the Writing Women Podcast and I have loved every second of it. Thank you for coming along for the journey and may there be many more episodes and books to come!

Links:

Andrea Long Chu in Vulture

My essay 'An Exercise in the Art vs the Artist'

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast Culture Hang or sign up to my newsletter and everything else!

In this very special interview episode with the amazing women behind Dear Damsels, I delve into the long-awaited questions I've always wanted to ask them about the latest collection, So Long As You Write, and how they started up in the first place.

Submit to our latest submission call out for pieces around EGO by Sunday 9th October!

Grab your copy of So Long As You Write or any of the four previously published works now! Become a Patreon! Sign up to the newsletter and follow DD on Instagram and Twitter.

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast Culture Hang or sign up to my newsletter and everything else!

Content warning: discussion of racism

*Please note I've mistakenly called Allyson Hobbs, Allyson Bell for the duration of the podcast, my apologies*

This month on the Writing Women Podcast, I look at this history of 'passing' in twentieth century literature from classic texts like Nella Larsen's 1929 'Passing' to how Brit Bennett's 2020 'The Vanishing Half' answers back and adapts to the long history of texts that have come before.

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast Culture Hang or sign up to my newsletter and everything else! 

Links:

https://text.npr.org/1054025599

Allyson Hobbs, A Chosen Exile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toyjv27q17E&ab_channel=EmoryUniversity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nella_Larsen

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/04/vanishing-half-brit-bennett-review-twin-struggle-pass-white-new-orleans

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/books/review-vanishing-half-brit-bennett.html

https://text.npr.org/868197705

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/22/brit-bennett-reimagines-the-literature-of-passing

https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/6/11/21285597/vanishing-half-review-brit-bennett

https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/9/2/21406088/brit-bennett-interview-watch-live-vanishing-half-vox-book-club

https://www.vox.com/culture/21377648/vanishing-half-brit-bennett-toni-morrison-oral-tradition-judylyn-ryan

Happy Pride everyone! I thought I'd do something a little different this month and focus on a list of LGBTQIA+ writers, both new and the very old, to get you started with supporting the community this month (and every month please!) If you have a recommendation that you would like to share, please email me at [email protected] and I'll be sure to share them!

Reccs in order of the episode:

Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters

No Modernism Without Lesbians by Diana Souhami

Double Booked by Lily Lindon

Adrienne Rich Poetry

Audre Lorde Poetry and Essays

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

Trumpet by Jackie Kay or any of her poetry collections

Oscar Wilde

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Poetry by Frank O'Hara

Playtime by Andrew McMillan

Complete Poems by Emily Dickinson

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

Fire Island on Disney+

Happy springtime! In the shadow of the new series dramatising the fictionalised trials and tribulations of this fictionalised 70's rock band, I explore Taylor Jenkins Reid attempt to capture that time but missing something essential about why we're so intrigued and obsessed: the music and the cool. I explore the limits of genre, what even is cool and how she should have been braver and just written a biography of Fleetwood Mac.

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast Culture Hang or sign up to my newsletter and everything else! 

Links:

Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude (2000) by Dick Pountain & David Robins

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/02/taylor-jenkins-reid-daisy-jones-and-the-six-interview

https://hello-sunshine.com/post/how-fleetwood-mac-influenced-daisy-jones-the-six

Content Warning: discussions of male violence against women, rape and witch trials

This month, for a special International Women's Day episode, I look at the wider cultural significance of Evie Wyld's 'The Bass Rock' in the context of centuries of violence against female presenting people and in light of the recent campaign seeking out an apology amongst other justice attributes by the Witches of Scotland campaign (listen to their podcast here).

If you're looking to reach out for help with any of the issues discussed in the epsiode, please click the links below to charities who can help:

https://www.refuge.org.uk/

https://www.womensaid.org.uk/

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/the-domestic-violence-abuse-charities-supporting-survivors-in-the-uk/

https://rapecrisis.org.uk/

https://www.supportline.org.uk/problems/rape-and-sexual-assault/

Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

You can find me on my other podcast Culture Hang or at writerhollymiller.com

Links:

https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/witchs-iron-collar/

https://www.nls.uk/learning-zone/literature-and-language/themes-in-focus/witches/source-3/#:~:text=Ayrshire%20witches,prosecution%20taking%20place%20in%201727

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkCkm0tZLPw&ab_channel=BBCScotland

https://www.maybole.org/history/books/legends/burning.htm

https://southayrshirehistory.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/ayrs-mystery-witch-the-legend-of-maggie-osborne/