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A show about queer women in history and historic literature, plus coverage of the field of sapphic historical fiction. Content note: May include discussions of sex within an academic context.
Episodes
Sunday Sep 27, 2020
Sunday Sep 27, 2020
On the Shelf for August 2018
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast – Episode 65 with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly update on what the Lesbian Historic Motif Project has been doing.
In this episode we talk about:
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog: sexuality in the 17-18th century, and the last few assorted items from this summer’s journal article blitz.
- Announcing this month’s author guest, Vanda
- New and forthcoming fiction
- Ask Sappho: an anonymous listener asks “Why do you use the word ‘lesbian’ when you’re talking about people with a wide range of identities?”
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Women and Same-Sex Marriage in Western History
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 64
A survey of strategies for getting your historical protagonists hitched across the centuries.
In this episode we talk about:
- How the concepts of “women”, “same-sex”, and “marriage” are being defined for the purpose of this discussion
- Cultures that may have supported marriage between women as an equal option
- Cases of same-sex marriage enabled by presenting as an opposite sex couple
- The permeability of the “opposite sex” requirement in actual practice
- Using the forms and rituals of marriage, even when the legal status was not available
This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here:
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Book Appreciation with Justine Saracen
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 63
In the Book Appreciation segments, our featured authors (or your host) will talk about one or more favourite books with queer female characters in a historic setting.
A transcript of this podcast may be available here. (Transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Justine Saracen Online
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Interview with Justine Saracen
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 62
In this episode we talk about:
- The Berlin Airlift and its historic context
- Why Justine started writing about World War II
- Political parallels with current politics
- The hazards of writing non-romance novels in history
- How wartime disruption of social roles creates a useful setting for lesbian fiction
- Justine’s non-WWII novels and the “cross-time” approach to historical fiction
- Using historical fiction to show repeating human patterns
- Favorite research sources: location, location, location
- Justine’s current project: The Sami in Norway in WWII
- Books mentioned
- Berlin Hungers by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- Tyger Tyger Burning Bright by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- The Witch of Stalingrad by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- Beloved Gomorrah by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- Sarah, Son of God by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- The Ibis Prophecy: The 100th Generation by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- Vulture’s Kiss by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- The Mephisto Aria by Justine Saracen (Bold Strokes Books)
- A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous
A transcript of this podcast may be available here. (Transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Justine Saracen Online
- Website: Justine Saracen at Bold Strokes Books
- Facebook: Justine Saracen
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
On the Shelf for July 2018
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 61 with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly update on what the Lesbian Historic Motif Project has been doing.
In this episode we talk about:
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
- The Zimmern Chronicle
- Brantôme’s Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies
- “From Huw Arwystli to Siôn Eirian” by MIhangel Morgan, queer Welsh literature
- Primary source material for the study of 17th century English women
- Emma Donoghue looks at the intersection of the motifs of hermaphrodite and lesbian in 17-18th century England
- Clorinda Donato considers John Cleland’s translation of the life of Catherine VIzzani as a satirical attack on Mary Wortley Montagu
- Jacqueline Holler considers the trial confessions of a 16th c Mexican holy woman, heretic, and sexual outlaw
- Susan Lanser discusses the political implications of women’s same-sex relationships in 17th century England
- Tim Hitchcock looks at homosexual subcultures in 18th century England
- Announcing this month’s author guest, Justine Saracen
- New and forthcoming fiction
- Ask Sappho: Sheena asks, "Were there 'drag king' performances before the 20th century?"
- Rowson 2003 Gender Irregularity as Entertainment: Institutionalized Transvestism at the Caliphal Court in Medieval Baghdad
- Westphal-Wihl 1989 “The Ladies’ Tournament: Marriage, Sex, and Honor in Thirteenth-Century Germany”
- Knighton 1995 Knighton’s Chronicle 1337-1396
- Mary Frith aka Moll Cutpurse
- Hannah Snell
- Straub, Kristina. 1991. “The Guilty Pleasures of Female Theatrical Cross-Dressing and the Autobiography of Charlotte Charke”
- Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 19d - Charlotte Cushman
- Sears, Clare. 2015. Arresting Dress: Cross-Dressing, Law, and Fascination in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco.
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Inscribed by V. M. Agab
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 60
The second story in our 2018 fiction series. Written by V.M. Agab and narrated by Ann Etter
A transcript of this podcast may be available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Friday Sep 25, 2020
The Ladies of Llangollen
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 59
Most people interested in lesbian history know the basic story of Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, known as the Ladies of Llangollen. I take on their story by presenting it through extended quotations from their own writings, from accounts of people who met them, and from poetry written in their honor.
In this episode we talk about:
- Why it took me so long to get to this topic, and why The Ladies hold a special place in my heart
- Letters from Sarah Ponsonby’s relatives on the occasion of her elopement
- Excerpts from Eleanor Butler’s journal
- “Llangollen Vale” by Anna Seward
- A sonnet dedicated to Butler and Ponsonby by William Wordsworth
- Description of visits, from Eleanor Butler’s journal
- Entries from Anne Lister’s diaries relating to her trip to Wales and her visit with Sarah Ponsonby
- A newspaper article about Butler and Ponsonby that inspired them to consider a lawsuit
- Why I consider The Ladies of Llangollen to be lesbian icons
Some resources
- Stuff you Missed in History Class: Ladies of Llangollen May 2017
- Wikipedia: Ladies of Llangollen
- Brideoake, Fiona. 2004. “’Extraordinary Female Affection’: The Ladies of Llangollen and the Endurance of Queer Community” in Romanticism on the Net. Issue36–37, November, 2004, February, 2005.
- Lesbians of North Wales through the Centuries
Sources for the texts
- Anna Seward’s “Llangollen Vale” text courtesy of The 18th Century Poetry Archive
- William Wordsworth’s “To the Lady Eleanor Butler and the Honorable Miss Ponsonby” text courtesy of Bartleby.com
- Anne Lister’s diary entries adapted from I Know my Own Heart edited by Helena Whitbread (New York University Press, New York. 1992)
This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here:
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Book Appreciation with Lise MacTague
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 58
In the Book Appreciation segments, our featured authors (or your host) will talk about one or more favorite books with queer female characters in a historic setting.
In this episode Lise MacTague recommends some favorite queer historical novels:
- Alpennia Series by Heather Rose Jones
- Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger
- See also Carriger’s other works
- Branded Ann by Merry Shannon
- Raven, Fire, and Ice by Nita Round
- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (no lesbian content)
- The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik (no lesbian content)
A transcript of this podcast may be available here. (Transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Lise MacTague Online
- Website: https://lisemactague.com
- Twitter: @LiseMacTague
- Facebook: Lise MacTague
- Goodreads: Lise MacTague at Goodreads
- Podcast: Lez Geek Out (link is no longer valid)
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Interview with Lise MacTague
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 57
A series of interviews with authors of historically-based fiction featuring queer women.
In this episode we talk about:
- The world-building of Demon in the Machine
- The Industrial Revolution and bargains with the devil
- Why Lise did not become a medieval historian and what sparked her interest in historical settings
- Steampunk inspirations
- Researching demons and steam-powered carriages
- Books mentioned
A transcript of this podcast may be available here. (Transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Lise MacTague Online
- Website: https://lisemactague.com
- Twitter: @LiseMacTague
- Facebook: Lise MacTague
- Goodreads: Lise MacTague at Goodreads
- Podcast: Lez Geek Out (link is no longer valid)
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Friday Sep 25, 2020
On the Shelf for June 2018
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 56 with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly update on what the Lesbian Historic Motif Project has been doing.
In this episode we talk about:
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
- Several articles focusing on cross-dressing, especially in medieval Arabic culture
- Some primary source texts from the 16th and 17th centuries
- A special feature on queer culture in Wales for LHMP publication #200
- Announcing this month’s author guest, Lise MacTague
- New and forthcoming fiction
- Ask Sappho: Sophie Lennox asks “When did ‘coming out’ become a thing?”
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)