Ourshelves

Rachel Seiffert is one of Virago's most critically acclaimed contemporary novelists. She has published four novels and one collection of short stories. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Dublin Impac Award and longlisted three time for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. In the finale episode of this season of Ourshelves, Rachel and Lucy discuss the lasting power of individual Jewish women’s resistance and endurance during WWII, the added weight of historical fiction inspired by real events, and the pleasures of rewatching TV series. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annie Hodson is a queer writer and playwright from York, and one of the 40-strong cohort of the London Library’s 2022-2023 emerging writers’ programme. She has just won the Virago short story competition, with her story ‘Banshee’, which will appear in the paperback of Furies in spring 2025. Lucy and Annie dive into Annie’s earliest introduction to Virago through her aunt’s vast collection of ‘green spines’, the joy of bookclubs and the weird and wonderful power of Barbara Loden’s film, ‘Wanda’. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Audrey Osler is Professor Emerita of Citizenship and Human Rights Education at the University of Leeds. Her latest book, Where Are You From? No, Where Are You Really From? will be published by Virago in November and looks at the British Empire through the history of one family. This week, join us as Audrey and Lucy dive into ‘Britishness’ and the conflict between identity and belonging; the varied research methods Audrey uses to uncover the minute details of individual lives in history; and the power of stories to bring us together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Victoria Belim is a writer, journalist, and translator of Persian literature and poetry. She speaks eighteen languages, including Japanese, Turkish, and Indonesian. Her memoir, The Rooster House, was published earlier this year by Virago and explores her search for the truth behind an unmentioned family secret - and the Ukrainian people's complex relationship with their Soviet history. In this episode, Victoria and Lucy Scholes unpick Victoria’s fascination with learning languages; the rich tradition of Ukrainian poetry and the frustrations and excitement of translating it; our obsession with the little details of how other people live; and the continued relevance of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emma Donoghue is an acclaimed writer whose novels include the international bestsellers Room and The Wonder. She wrote the short story ‘Turmagant’ in Virago’s recent collection of short stories, Furies, and her upcoming novel, Learned By Heart, publishes on 24th August 2023. On this episode, Emma and Lucy Scholes dive into the varied cultural reach of novels, short stories and films, the genius of Angela Carter, the long overdue recognition of Ann Lister and how the ‘Barbie’ film masters trickle-down feminism for young children. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natasha Walter is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, a journalist and human rights activist. Her books include The New Feminism and Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, which was reissued as one of Virago’s 50thAnniversary Five Gold reads this year. On this episode of Ourshelves, Natasha and Lucy Scholes discuss the continued relevance of Living Dolls in terms of the unfinished revolution of feminism and the ongoing effort to liberate ourselves, as women, from stereotypes. They also dive into Natasha’s upcoming book, Before the Light Fades, a moving memoir about losing her mother to suicide as well as honouring the legacy of a family whose members struggled bravely against some of the worst crises of the twentieth century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are families a refuge or a prison? Join Veronica Raimo as she talks with Lucy Scholes about the line between fiction and auto-fiction, drawing the curtain back on the creative process, and the many idiosyncrasies of language that arise during the translation of fiction. Veronica Raimo is the author of four novels, the most recent of which, Lost On Me (Niente di Vero) was a huge bestseller in Italy, that was shortlisted for the Premio Strega Prize and won the Strega Giovani Prize and the Viareggio Rèpaci Prize. The English translation of Lost On Me is being published by Virago on 3rd August 2023. Veronica contributes cultural articles to various Italian publications, and her translations into Italian include works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Octavia E. Butler, Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin. She lives in Rome. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kirsty Logan is a novelist and short story writer. She’s the author of Now She is Witch, Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter, and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales. To mark the publication of her new book, The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir, she talks with Lucy Scholes about writing like no one is reading, pregnancy journeys, disobedient bodies, the gift of sperm donation, and breaking the rules of memoir writing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Lucy Scholes as she talks with American author Mecca Jamilah Sullivan about her debut novel, Big Girl – reviewed by the New York Times as ‘achingly beautiful’ – about a young black girl growing up in 1990s Harlem. On the table for discussion is coming-of-age fiction, beauty standards, women’s bodies and matrilineal traditions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the premiere episode of this special series of Ourshelves, commemorating Virago’s 50th anniversary, join Caroline O'Donoghue, New York Times best-selling author and the host of the award-winning podcast Sentimental Garbage, as she talks about her new novel, The Rachel Incident. Listen as Caroline and Lucy Scholes discuss the intersection of Irish women’s fiction with the history of reproductive rights in Ireland, actively reading people you don’t agree with, the emptiness of the phrase ‘girl power’ and misogyny in cultural spaces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shahrukh Husain, editor of The Virago Book of Witches, who says it represents ` womanhood in all its complexity’ is not at all surprised to see a resurgence of interest in `all things witchy’. The witch knows her strength, defies authority and embodies our current fears of injustice. Shah tells Lucy how the witch can be playful but also terrifying, particularly to men, and about a childhood fascination for the witch. The writer she admires is Attia Hussain, author of Sunlight on a Broken Column, who she remembers was` so joyful’ to know Shah was writing. She, alongside Shah’s mother taught her that her cosmopolitan background – Pakistani, Indian, English – was her strength and made her ` a citizen of the world’. They are Shah’s heroines. Shahrukh's recommendations: On the nightstand: Dame Joan of Pevensey by Rev. E E Crake On my mind: the TV-series The Split with Nicola Walker On the shelf: Sunlight on a Broken Column and Phoenix Fled by Attia Hossein On the pedestal: My mother, who worked hard for women's rights and the reform of family laws pertaining to women's rights in Pakistan soon after its inception in 1947 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special bonus summer episode Sharma Taylor, author of What a Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You, takes us to the heated demi-monde of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1980s, a turbulent time in politics and gangland crime. She tells Lucy Scholes about writing in patois; the Caribbean authors right now who are representing the strength of women in society; and what her mother sacrificed to buy her books as a child. On the nightstand: The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini On my mind: The podcasts Unstoppable Yes You and Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Cocoa Pod On the shelf: This One Sky Day by Leone Ross On the pedestal: My mother. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clare Chambers is the author of nine novels including Small Pleasures, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She joins Lucy Scholes to rave about the inimitable Barbara Pym, a Virago Modern Classic author whose love affairs shocked sixties society and who wrote about vicars’ tea parties with waspish humour and moving brilliance. (Tea: ‘a drink she did not much like because of the comfort it was said to bring to those whom she normally despised.’) Together they compare notes on adapting book to screen with Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends, how to evoke the inner voice and the recent, genre-defying book that made Clare think about feminism in a new way. On the nightstand: The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson and Iron Curtain by Vesna Goldsworthy. On my mind: The TV adaptation of Conversations with Friends. On the shelf: In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. On the pedestal: Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, director of the DSM Foundation, which educates young people to make safer choices around drugs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does writing about your life change the way you see it? Cathy Thomas talks to Lucy Scholes about her first book, Islanders, interlocking short stories set on her childhood home, Guernsey – the pleasure of joining the dots and how playwriting informed her structure. Discovering a shared love of Annie Ernaux’s essays, they dive deeply into whether difficult experiences – from publisher rejections to trauma – may be reframed through the power of writing. On the nightstand: We Were Young by Niamh Campbell On my mind: Olivia Fitzsimons' recent essay, Notes on Resilience, for The Stinging Fly On the shelf: Annie Ernaux's A Girl's Story. On the pedestal: playwright Caryl Churchill Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can men approach their role as feminist allies? Lucy Scholes meets Stuart Evers, award-winning author of four books including Your Father Sends His Love and The Blind Light as they discuss his introduction to the new Virago Modern Classic edition of Anna Seghers’ brilliant novel Transit, and how its depiction of people caught in the Second World War reminded him of Ukrainians caught in the complex British visa system. He argues about whether Transit is a love story or not, challenges himself to read books he thinks he’ll hate (and falls for them completely) and remembers as a young man how reading feminist novels taught him to listen. Stuart’s recommendations: On the nightstand: Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh and Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick On my mind: Post War Modern art exhibition at the Barbican On the shelf: Gorilla My Love, Toni Cade Babara On the pedestal: Marguerite Duras Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take for a woman to migrate thousands of miles across prairies and mountains? Join Katie Hickman, author of Brave Hearted and She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen as she talks with Lucy Scholes about the unique voices of the women who made the Wild West, the strength of oral storytelling and the damage that was done to abortion rights in the USA by religious organisations. From the Americas to Indonesia, the discovery of precious materials has meant a death sentence for indigenous tribes and they discuss the impact of mining on people’s lives and the women who fought to make them better. Katie’s recommendations: On the nightstand: Dear Life by Alice Munro and One Thousand and One Nights retold by Hanan Al-Shaykh. On your mind: Things Fell Apart: strange tales from the culture wars by Jon Ronson (BBC) On the shelf: Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver On the pedestal: Mama Yosepha Alonmang. Now in her eighties, this remarkable woman is an Amungme (West Papua) Tribal Leader who has been fighting all her life against environmental destruction of her Tribal lands from mining. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens if you don’t fall in love with your baby at first sight? Join Kate Maxwell and Lucy Scholes as they challenge silent taboos about motherhood, from Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter to Kate’s first novel Hush, about a woman who struggles with her decision to have a child on her own. Kate’s recommendations: On the nightstand: What I Loved, Siri Hustvedt and The Bread the Devil Knead, Lisa Allen-Agostini On your mind: WeCrashed, Apple TV series On the shelf: Matrix, Lauren Groff On the pedestal: Josie Naughton, Choose Love co-founder and CEO Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you spend 288 pages deep in the life of a disabled person, can that experience shift your concept of disability? Join Chloé Cooper Jones, journalist, Pulitzer nominee and author of the new memoir Easy Beauty, as she talks with Lucy Scholes about how beauty can create a powerful mental shift. They discuss the social and political act of making the disabled body visible, the meaning of staring and ask Lewis Hamilton to teach Chloé Formula 1 Racing. Chloé’s recommendations: On the nightstand – The Coward by Jarred McGinnis and Staring by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson On your mind – Drive to Survive, the Formula One racing documentary. On the shelf – Gretel Ehrlich's The Solace of Open Spaces On the pedestal – Harriet McBryde Johnson, a writer and disability activist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does food connect us to our cultural identity? Get hungry listening to Claire Kohda talk to Lucy Scholes about her debut novel Woman, Eating, which follows a mixed-race vampire in contemporary London. Claire admits she avoided reading Dracula, explores the yōkai of traditional Japanese mythology and explains how listening to Asian recipes reminds her of her mother. Claire’s recommendations: On the nightstand: Where The Wild Ladies Are, by Matsuda Aoko, translated by Polly Barton, published by Tilted Axis Press and The Korean Vegan On my mind: Turn Away by Laura Moody (song) On the shelf: Barbara Hepworth: Writings and Conversations On the pedestal: Susanne Valadon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doreen Cunningham, author of Soundings, followed the grey whales to the Arctic and she brings what she learnt on her journey into conversation with Lucy Scholes. Listen to Doreen explain how the very grammar of the Inupiat language gives the speaker a more respectful relationship with animals, how the trauma of poverty lingers and how her heroine is a grey whale named Earheart. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.