Lost Ladies of Lit

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text Having been gifted a parcel of land on a Scottish estate, Amy was recently granted the title of “Lady Amy of Blairadam.” Kim joins her in this week’s bonus episode to “bend the knee” and to discuss the fine-print details of this development courtesy of a company called Scotland Titles. Together, they ponder her future as a member of the landed gentry and consider privileged (possibly delusional) possibilities for her Scottish landholding. Mentioned in this episode: Scotland Titles Blairadam Wood Blairadam House William Adam Kingdom of Fife Royal Stuart Tartans MacAlister Tartan For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text How do you engage with others in a polarized society? Early 19-century writer and freethinker Frances “Fanny” Wright offers an ostensible how-to manual in the witty didactic novel she penned at age 19, A Few Days in Athens. Wright’s radical ideas garnered her the praise of Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette and Walt Whitman, to name a few, but detractors dubbed her “The Red Harlot of Infidelity.” Tristra Yeager and Eleanor Rust, hosts of the 2024 podcast “Frances Wright: America’s Forgotten Radical,” join us to discuss Wright’s historical importance and relevance to today’s political and cultural conversations. Mentioned in this episode: “Frances Wright: America’s Forgotten Radical” podcast A Few Days in Athens by Frances Wright Views of Society and Manners in America by Frances Wright Frances Wright’s grave in Spring Grove Cemetery The Marquis de Lafayette Thomas Jefferson Walt Whitman Epicurus The Stoics New Harmony, Indiana Robert Owen Robert Dale Owen Nashoba Community Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, KY The Scottish Enlightenment The Second Great Awakening Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text One of the last projects recorded by singer/actress Marianne Faithfull (who passed away in January) was a 2021 spoken word album of English Romantic poetry, including a hauntingly beautiful 12-minute recitation of Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott.” After exploring Faithfull’s passion for (and family connections to) classic literature, Amy finds new meaning in this poem about an exiled woman fated to forever view life through a mirror’s reflection. This episode includes accounts of several other doomed and exiled noblewomen in history — Lucrezia de Medici and Marguerite de la Rocque — and the books their lives inspired. Mentioned in this episode: She Walks in Beauty by Marianne Faithfull “As Tears Go By” by Marianne Faithfull “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch Venus in Furs by The Velvet Underground The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell Lucrezia de Medici Portrait of Lucrezia de Medici at North Carolina Museum of Art “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning Isola by Allegra Goodman Marguerite de la Rocque The Heptameron by Marguerite de Navarre For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text One hundred years ago this week, The New Yorker published its first issue. A few months later, the magazine’s first (and for decades, only) female editor joined the staff. Katharine S. White spent the better part of the next 50 years wielding her pen and her editorial influence there, carefully tending to an ever-growing stable of talented (sometimes high-maintenance) writers and shaping the magazine into a cultural powerhouse. Biographer Amy Reading joins us to discuss White’s life, legacy and undeniable importance in the history of 20th-century American letters. Mentioned in this episode: The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker by Amy Reading Katharine S. White Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant E.B. White Katharine and E.B. White’s farm in Blue Hill, Maine St. Nicholas magazine American Heritage article on St. Nicholas magazine Women authors discovered/edited by Katharine White Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 187 on Kay Boyle Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 184 on Elizabeth Taylor Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 158 on Sylvia Townsend Warner Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 168 on Mary McCarthy Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 131 on Dorothy Parker Henry Seidel Canby Fillmore Hyde Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text How did Martin Luther King Jr. (and eventually, the NAACP) end up the stewards of Dorothy Parker’s literary estate? A life of bold activism prompted the witty writer to quietly bequeath her body of work to advocates for racial justice. But what happened to her actual body (or rather, her ashes) is another story entirely—one that involves misplaced remains, an abandoned urn, and a decades-long effort to find her a proper resting place. Mentioned in this episode: “The Improbable Journey of Dorothy Parker’s Ashes” by Laurie Gwen Shapiro “54 Years Late, Dorothy Parker Finally Gets Her Tombstone” by Robert Simonson A Star is Born (1937) The Algonquin Round Table Scottsboro Boys “Epitaph for a Darling Lady” The Dorothy Parker Society For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text January was dismal, but we’re distracting ourselves with something shiny in this first new full-length episode of the year. Catbird Chief Creative Officer Leigh Batnick Plessner joins us to explore three works by women writers, each of whom used jewelry as a powerful storytelling device. Louise de Vilmorin, Maria Edgeworth and Dorothy Parker feature diamond earrings, friendship bracelets and a pearl necklace, respectively, to reflect the deepest desires and ambitions of the characters who wore them. We hope this little gem of an episode helps you find some beauty and meaning in challenging times. Mentioned in this episode: Catbird Madame de by Louise de Vilmorin “The Bracelets” by Maria Edgeworth “The Standard of Living” by Dorothy Parker Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 77 on Daisy Fellowes Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 39 on Nancy Mitford Duff Cooper “Chichi Devil” (New York Times) by Christopher Petkanas The Earrings of Madame de by Max Ophuls Essay by Molly Haskell on The Earrings of Madame de The Lovers and Julietta by Louise de Vilmorin The Absentee, Castle Rackrent and Belinda by Maria Edgeworth Lost Ladies of Lit Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text Octavia E. Butler’s prescient dystopian novel Parable of the Sower may or may not be the perfect book to kick off 2025, as Amy discusses in this week’s bonus episode. On the other hand, if it’s escapism you’re after, consider the cutlass-wielding scalawags of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island and learn about a new book that explores the impact Stevenson’s wife Fanny (a writer herself) had on his literary output. Mentioned in this episode: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler Parallels between 2025 and Octavia E. Butler’s work Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson A Wilder Shore by Camille Peri Fanny Stevenson The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Stevenson For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text If you’re drawn to the hefty tomes of Victorian authors Anthony Trollope and George Eliot, we can pretty much guarantee you’ll enjoy this week’s novel, Hester, as much as we did. Margaret Oliphant is said to have been one of Queen Victoria’s favorite novelists, and she counted J.M. Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson among her many fans. Joining us to discuss Hester is New York Times columnist and pediatrician Dr. Perri Klass. Discussed in this episode: Hester by Margaret Oliphant Dr. Perri Klass George Eliot Anthony Trollope Middlemarch by George Eliot Blackwoods Magazine The Brontes Henry James The Best Medicine by Perri Klass Charles Dickens Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Dorothea Brooke The Chronicles of Barsetshire by Anthony Trollope The Chronicles of Carlingford by Margaret Oliphant Reach Out and Read Miss Marjoriebanks by Margaret Oliphant Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text This week’s episode was born out of Amy’s recent visit to London’s Highgate Cemetery, where fortuitous timing (or, perhaps, the graveside spirit of Christina Rossetti?) revealed a bit of juicy family drama. Find out why the tragic death (and later exhumation) of a pre-Raphaelite muse left another family member begging to not be buried next to her in the Rossetti family plot! Mentioned in this episode: Christina Rossetti Elizabeth Siddal Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriele Rossetti Highgate Cemetery “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 220 on Christina Rossetti Poetry by Elizabeth Siddal The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall Beryl Bainbridge Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders “When Did Cemeteries Become Tourist Attractions and Hot-Date Spots?” by Matthew Kronsberg for The Wall Street Journal For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text In this week's hiatus replay, we’re focusing on one of Ukraine’s best-known poets and playwrights, Laryssa Kosach, who wrote under the pen name Lesya Ukrainka. Her play The Forest Song is a masterpiece of Ukrainian drama. Discussed in this episode: The Forest Song by Lesya Ukrainka Looking for Trouble by Virginia Cowles Lost Ladies of Lit episode on Virginia Cowles’ Looking for Trouble Invisible Battalion (2017 documentary) “Ukraine Isn’t Part of Little Russia” (KCRW) Executed Renaissance Dead Poets Society (1989 film) A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare Pan’s Labyrinth (2006 film) “Contra Spem Spero” by Lesya Ukrainka Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text Once upon a time, a young woman escaped to a primeval forest, befriended the animals there (including a lynx, raven and wild boar) and met her handsome prince. Sounds like a fairy tale, but in this week’s episode Amy discusses the enchanting true story of Simona Kossak, a Polish scientist who wrote about her deep love for the Bialowieza Forest and worked tirelessly to protect it. Poland awarded Kossak the Golden Cross of Merit for her ecological efforts before her death in 2007, and several recent films celebrate her life and legacy. Mentioned in this episode: Simona Kossak Dziedzinka Simona Kossak’s forest home Bialowieza forest Jane Goodall Greta Thunberg Simona 2022 documentary Trailer for Simona 2024 feature film Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska Magdalena Samozwaniec Lech Wilczek Bialowieza Forest Saga Disney’s Frozen The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 80 on Lesya Ukrainka’s “Forest Song” For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text Novelist and university professor Joy Castro returns to the show to discuss the 1952 novel Forbidden Notebook by Cuban-Italian writer Alba de Cespedes. In a New York Times review of a 1958 English edition of this novel, de Céspedes was called “one of the few distinguished women writers since Colette to grapple effectively with what it is to be a woman.” Discussed in this episode: Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes Muriel Rukeyser poem “Kathë Kollwitz” Hell or High Water by Joy Castro Flight Risk by Joy Castro Island of Bones by Joy Castro One Brilliant Flame by Joy Castro The Truth Book by Joy Castro “Burning It Down” by Joy Castro Lost Ladies of Lit episode on Margery Latimer Lost Ladies of Lit episode on E.M. Delafield Lost Ladies of Lit episode on Miriam Karpilove Lost Ladies of Lit episode on Lorraine Hansberry Literary scholar Merve Emre Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter Mercé Rodoreda Elena Ferrante Katherine Mansfield Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway Kate Chopin’s The Awakening Natalia Ginsburg’s essay “On Women” in M Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text Books are a time-tested cure-all, so in this week’s bonus episode Amy weighs a few of the titles that have helped her forget life's latest troubles and doubts … (sort of). She leaves no stone unturned in her quest for distraction, from Proust’s meandering sentences to a behind-the-scenes memoir about a beloved ’80s film and a charming, century-old suffrage novel that captures our current political zeitgeist. Rounding out the episode is a sneak peak at “lost ladies” we’ll be featuring in the coming year and Amy’s recitation of a poem by Adrienne Rich that’s perfectly suited to these strange times. Mentioned in this episode Whichbook.net The Sturdy Oak Meditations by Marcus Aurelius When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 116 on Dorothy Richardson Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 9 on Dorothy Canfield Fisher Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 98 on Heterodoxy Pilgrimage by Dorothy Richardson Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes Turning to Stone: Discovering For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text At the age of eight, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (later known by her pen name Zitkála-Šá) left her Yankton Dakota reservation to attend a missionary boarding school for Native Americans, a harsh and abusive experience about which she eventually wrote a series of articles published in The Atlantic Monthly. Jessi Haley, editorial director of Cita Press (which just published a free anthology of the author’s work) joins Yankton Dakota poet Erin Marie Lynch to discuss how Zitkála-Šá’s sense of cultural displacement impacted her life and literary output. Mentioned in this episode: Free edition of Planted in a Strange Earth: Selected Writings of Zitkála-Šá by Cita Press Cita Press’s Substack newsletter on Zitkála-Šá Removal Acts by Erin Marie Lynch Zitkála-Šá Ella Cara Deloria Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Yankton Dakota people Sugarcane 2024 documentary Air/Light magazine Joe Biden’s October 2024 federal apology to Indigenous Americans Carlisle Indian Industrial School Richard Henry Pratt Earlham College The Sun Dance Opera PBS’s “Unladylike” documentary episode on Zitkála-Šá Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann “Oklahoma’s Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes, Legalized Robbery” by Zitkála-Šá P. Jane Hafen’s Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text Forget your troubles, get cozy, grab a cup of tea and curl up to this week’s “storytime” bonus episode as Amy reads the third tale from Christina Rossetti’s Speaking Likenesses. Follow Rossetti’s indefatigable heroine, Maggie, who trudges wearily through a snowy forest at Christmas-time, encountering along the way strange children who attempt to lead her astray. For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text When it comes to this year’s fall fashion, Virginia Woolf is having a moment. A number of designers and brands including Anna Sui, Clare Waight Keller, Miu Miu, Burberry and Tod’s have found their inspiration in the iconic Bloomsbury author. In this week’s bonus episode, Amy dives into this sartorial vibe, reads from Woolf’s short story “The New Dress” and muses over which other “lost ladies” could serve as fashion muses. Mentioned in this episode: “A Woolf in Chic Clothing” by Fiorella Valdesolo Uniqlo’s C Collection Clare Waight Keller’s 2020 Givenchy spring/summer line runway show Anna Sui’s Fall 2024 line Charleston House Vanessa Bell Intentional Clutter design trend Vanity Fair article on Virginia Woolf as fashion influencer “The New Dress” by Virginia Woolf Orlando by Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf J.J. Wilson Mary McFadden The Tale of Genji Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 149 on Murasaki Shikibu Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 130 on Han Suyin Lost Ladies of Lit For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text Margaret Drabble’s 1965 novel The Millstone offers a nuanced portrayal of single motherhood in 1960s London. Author Carrie Mullins, whose 2024 nonfiction work The Book of Mothers explores literary depictions of motherhood, joins us to discuss Drabble’s fearless protagonist, Rosamund. Together, we explore how The Millstone captures the joys and burdens of motherhood, and how Drabble’s sharp, ahead-of-its-time portrayal speaks to contemporary readers. Mentioned in this episode: The Book of Mothers: How Literature Can Help Us Reinvent Modern Motherhood by Carrie Mullins The Millstone by Margaret Drabble A Touch of Love starring Sandy Dennis and Ian McKellan A.S. Byatt Cambride Ladies Dining Society Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 139 on Heartburn by Nora Ephron Little Women by Louisa May Alcott “Little Women” and the Marmee Problem The Color Purple by Alice Walker Pride & Prejudiceby Jane Austen Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text In this week’s bonus episode Amy discusses the black comedy mystery film Wicked Little Letters starring Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley, then hones in on the real-life "poison-pen letter" incident the film is based on. Mentioned in this episode: British Airways in-flight safety film Wicked Little Letters trailer The Lost Daughter film The Lost Daughter novel Waking Ned Devine Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers National Archives Littlehampton Libel Case Cheek By Jowl: A History of Neighbours by Emily Cockayne Penning Poison: A Hisotry of Anonymous Letters by Emily Cockayne Poison pen letter case in Shiptonthorpe, Yorkshire For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Send us a text Elizabeth Garver Jordan’s riveting coverage of the Lizzie Borden trial for The New York World captivated true-crime junkies of the late 19th-century, and her lengthy career as a journalist, fiction writer and literary editor still resonates today. Lori Harrison-Kahan and Jane Carr, editors of a brand new collection of Garver Jordan’s work, join us this week to discuss her courtroom dispatches, her connection to today’s #MeToo movement and how her “invisible labor” shaped the writing of literary giants like Sinclair Lewis and Henry James. Mentioned in this Episode: The Case of Lizzie Borden & Other Writings by Jane Carr and Lori Harrison-Kahan Elizabeth Garver Jordan’s work: The Sturdy Oak The Whole Family The Lady of Pentlands Three Rousing Cheers “Ruth Herrick’s Assignment” “The Cry of the Pack” The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson Heirs of Yesterday by Emma Wolf The New York World Nellie Bly The Lizzie Borden case The Lizzie Borden house in Fall River, Mass. Harper’s Bazaar Harper and Brothers The White Negress: Literature, Minstrelsy, and the Black Jewish Imaginary by Lori Harrison Kahan Amish Rumspringa Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episode Send us a text The bob haircut shocked and appalled when it was popularized in the 1920s. A bob devotee herself, Amy has a laugh in this week’s bonus episode as she reads newspaper reports from the era which blame the hair trend for a wide array of societal ills including economic collapse, bigamy and unwanted facial hair. She’ll also read an excerpt from the F. Scott Fitzgerald story, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” which first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1920. This episode is exclusively available for those with a paid subscription to Lost Ladies of Lit. Mentioned in this episode The Press Gallery by Paul Fairie “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” by F. Scott Fitzgerald Lucy Worsley For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Discuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast