Jo's Boys: A Little Women Podcast

And then they realized: They were no longer little girls. They were little women. Joining us for the final episode of the podcast are Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo. Rey and Bre are the author-illustrator team behind Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, a graphic novel adaptation of Little Women. Rey is also the New York Times bestselling author of many other books, including the award-winning Free Lunch. Bre has illustrated a number of graphic novels and comics, including most recently The Dog Knight. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Wedding march or funeral dirge? We're joined to discuss the penultimate (and Peyton's least-favorite) chapter of Little Women by film critic Willow Catelyn Maclay. Willow is a film critic for publications like The Village Voice, Roger Ebert, Vulture, Little White Lies, Cleo Journal, MUBI Notebook, and many, many more. She has done freelance work with Netflix and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Most recently, she co-authored the book Corpses, Fools, and Monsters: An Examination of Trans Film Images in Cinema. It’s due out on July 9, 2024, and it’s available for pre-order now. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

We're joined today by Claire Forrest, the award-winning author of Where You See Yourself, to chat all about the two youngest members of the March family -- well, the Brooke family. It's perhaps the most heterosexual chapter of this book to date, but we soldier on, and we also chat about Claire's outstanding debut novel and her publishing journey as a woman with cerebral palsy. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Amy and Laurie play the newlywed game, smear the Irish, and invent Reaganomics. What a whirlwind! With us to discuss everyone's favourite (?) femme4femme couple are sister duo Mel and Teghan Hammond, authors of the forthcoming novel Lucy Uncensored. The novel stars a trans theatre nerd named Lucy who faces challenges when her school board bans her queer adaptation of “The Tempest.” Mel also worked as an editor at American Girl for several years, where she wrote award-winning and acclaimed books on pets, body image, and loving the earth. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Jo falls asleep fantasizing about becoming a literary spinster with a pen for a spouse. What follows had better be a dream sequence. Here to heap vials of wrath on the head of one Lou Alcott is legendary Dickinson scholar Martha Nell Smith. Dr. Smith is the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, Professor of English, and Founding Director of the Maryland Institute of Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland. She was the president of the Emily Dickinson International Society and the coordinator and executive editor of the Dickinson Electronic Archives at the University of Virginia. She is the editor and writer of countless works on the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson, and the film Wild Nights with Emily is largely based on her scholarship, as is the bevy of Emisue fanfiction on AO3. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

In the wake of her sister's death, Jo decides to take up Beth's mantle and become the angel of the house. When that doesn't work, she heads over to Meg's place to hear the pitch for motherhood. When that doesn't work, she wonders if she made a mistake turning down Laurie's proposal. (Little does she know that Laurie and Amy are presently boning down in a rowboat in the Alps.) Whose path will she choose: Beth's, Meg's, or Amy's? Or is there another, weirder fourth option involving a verbally abusive German professor? Here to track Jo's Career Day journey with us is Christine Jacobson! Christine is the associate curator of modern books and manuscripts at Houghton Library, Harvard University’s rare book and manuscript library. She helps to steward, develop, interpret, and teach from the collections from 1800 through the present day, including the archives of one Louisa May Alcott. She holds a bachelor of arts in political science and Russian studies from Stetson University, a master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from Harvard University, and a master’s degree in library and information science from Simmons University. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week, Amy and Laurie consummate their love in a rowboat. Their romance has mystified readers and scholars for over a hundred years, but here, today, right now, award-winning author Torrey Peters will help us get to the bottom of it. (Spoiler alert: Laurie is the bottom.) Torrey is the author of the novel Detransition, Baby, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Debut Novel. It was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Gotham Book Prize. It was also a finalist for the Women’s Prize, and more than twenty publications named it one of the best books of 2021. Her next book, Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones, is forthcoming. She rides a pink motorcycle, and she splits her time between Brooklyn and an off-grid cabin in Vermont. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

As we mourn our dear, sweet Beth, we sit down with author and journalist D.L. Mayfield to discuss what her story means. Why does Alcott portray Beth as "a little saint" and "the angel of the house?" What message is she sending? Is it anything like the messages little girls hear in high-control evangelical Christianity? D.L. Mayfield is an author and journalist who writes about neurodivergence and healing from high-control religion. They’ve written three books, including Unruly Saint: Dorothy Day’s Radical Vision and its Challenge for our Times. They also write a newsletter called Healing is my Special Interest and they co-host This is the Bad Place, a re-cap podcast on The Good Place, with their partner, Krispin Mayfield. Right now, they’re working on a book about evangelical parenting methods. Memorial Fund for Ryan Carson, partner of friend and former guest Claudia Morales: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ryan-carson Peyton's Speech at Celebrating Louisa May Alcott 2023, Sunday, November 26 at 3:00 PM EST: https://tinyurl.com/LouAlcott23 Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Good night, sweet Beth, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Here to mourn the most meek and mild of the March sisters is disability scholar Saul Leslie, a PhD candidate at the University of Liverpool who studies portrayals of disability in 20th century literature. Is there anything to admire about Alcott's depiction of this poor #invalid? Does she tick every box of hurtful disability tropes? Is she nonetheless an icon? We mention it all. Saul has worked in higher education as a disability supervisor and a disability rights campaigner. He also works with Penguin Random House to assist disabled novelists with their writing. And his fiction has been published by Bloomsbury and Liverpool University Press, and his remarks on disability and literature have appeared in publications such as the Times Literary Supplement. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

As things heat up between Amy and Laurie, we're joined by Alena Smith, creator and showrunner of Dickinson, a television show for the exact demographic of this podcast. Like, have you ever wept openly at a Mitski concert? Can you not shut up about how every 19th century literary figure was part of the #RainbowCommunity? Do you have feelings for Chloe Fineman despite her associations with Scientology? Dickinson is for you, and this episode is for you. Enjoy listening to Peyton and Alena pass the same brain cell back and forth for an hour. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow us on Instagram at @josboyspod.

Who better to chat with us about this Meg-centric chapter than Meg herself? On June 28, 2023, before the SAG-AFTRA strike, actor Willa Fitzgerald chatted with us about Meg's marital woes and her own time playing Meg in the 2017 Masterpiece adaptation of Little Women. You can see Willa this fall in Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher, the thrillers Desperation Road and Strange Darling, and Ethan Hawke's Wildcat. She’s also starred in MTV’s Scream, USA’s Dare Me, and Amazon's Reacher. True heads will also remember her turn as Kitsey Barbour in The Goldfinch. In 2012, Willa graduated from Yale, where she studied psychology for three years before—luckily for all of us—changing her major to theatre studies. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Bestie of the pod James Frankie Thomas is BACK this week, on the heels of the release of his critically acclaimed debut novel Idlewild, to discuss Laurie and Amy's newfound romance, in which Amy wields the reins and the whip and Laurie delights in submission. We also offer our official statement on Kylimothée's public début at the Renaissance World Tour. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow us on Instagram at @josboyspod!

Beth's Secret: Strong contender for gloomiest lingerie brand of all time. As Beth and Jo head to the seaside to convalesce, science and health journalist Hannah Seo joins us to break down the history and utility of the beach as medicine. Hannah was recently a fellow for the Well Desk at the New York Times, reporting on science, health, and the environment. Their work can be found in Wired, Scientific American, and the Walrus, among other publications. They're a graduate of New York University’s science, health and environmental reporting program. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

An Alcott protagonist even more trans than Jo March? It's more likely than you think. Lou's 1876 sensation story "Enigmas" features a young man who's hired to spy on another young man - a man who is short and delicate and rather young-looking, all things considered. (See where this is going?) Our spy is swiftly overtaken by sexual attraction to the man he's been hired to report on. Before the story's over and the spy is unmasked, Alcott will take the gender binary and fold it into a Mobius strip. Here to dive deep into this delightful bit of Alcottiana is Alice Rutkowski, chair and associate professor of English at SUNY Geneseo. She often teaches the courses Literature and the Civil War, the Queer Nineteenth Century, Safe Zone Train-the-Trainer, Feminism and Pornography, and Major Authors: Melville, among others. Her research centers on the Civil War and Reconstruction as well as queer theory and trans politics. In 2013, she founded the LGBTQ Issues Working Group at SUNY Geneseo, and she's the coordinator of the college's Safe Zone Network. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This is the chapter. Jo. Laurie. Heartbreak. Longest episode in our podcast's history. Let's go. Our guest is Jake Maia Arlow, author of multiple novels, including the Stonewall Honor Book Almost Flying and the Indie Bestseller How to Excavate a Heart. Their newest novel, The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet, is available now!

Jo gets really into true crime and starts writing cool horror stories. Professor Bhaer, the Ana Mardoll of the 19th century, accuses her of Causing Harm through her writing and suggests she take up a new career as a street sweeper. This episode could have been an hour-long anti-Bhaer hate rant, but our special guest, Andrew Leland, instead leads us into a wide-ranging discussion about the history of #OwnVoices, the morality of Murderinos, and blindness as metaphor. Andrew is the author of the memoir The Country of the Blind, published July 18 and available now from Penguin. He’s been an editor at the Believer since 2003, and he’s taught at Smith College, UMass-Amherst, and the University of Missouri. You can visit him online at andrewleland.org. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Jo narrowly skirts a marriage proposal by jetting - or carriage-ing - off to the Big Apple! There, she settles into boarding house life and gets to know her roommates: a couple of jerks who trash her fashion sense, a cultivated old spinster who takes her out to shows, and (sighs, groans, wailing and gnashing of teeth) Professor Bhaer. Here to walk us through it all is JP Brammer, a.k.a. Hola Papi! JP is a writer and artist from Oklahoma, now based in Brooklyn. Since he started his advice column Hola Papi! in 2017, he’s answered thousands of letters and written a memoir-slash-guide-to-life called “Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Wal-Mart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons.” Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week on As the March Sisters Turn: Laurie's ready to pop the question. Jo would really rather he didn't--not least of all because she's sure Beth is in love with him. Why else would she gaze at him through the window all the time, sighing longingly? What a tangled web! Here to help us with detangling are acclaimed author Katie Heaney and journalist Lindsey Weber, co-host of Who? Weekly. They both hail from a long-running Little Women groupchat, in which Lindsey is Jo and Katie, somewhat reluctantly, is Beth. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow us on Instagram at @josboyspod!

Amy March's Hot Girl Summer is in full effect! This week, for Amy's whirlwind tour through Europe and flirtatious encounters with the dashing Fred Vaughan, we're joined by legendary trans scholar Susan Stryker. Dr. Stryker is professor emerita of gender and women's studies at the University of Arizona. She is a founding editor-in-chief of Transgender Studies Quarterly and the author of numerous books, including Transgender History. You can also see her onscreen in Netflix's Disclosure and FX's Pride. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Hey, hey, let's go, Wakakusa monogatari! In this episode, we explore the ways Little Women and Louisa May Alcott have been represented in anime, from the long-running children's TV serials of the 80s and 90s to Louisa May Alcott's more recent turn as an anime heroine. Our guest and guide for this episode is Lio Min, author of the novel Beating Heart Baby. It was named one of the best books of 2022 by BuzzFeed, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, Kirkus Reviews, and the Chicago Public Library. Lio's writing has appeared in Nylon, Fader, Catapult, and many more. They’ve interviewed all of your faves: Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, Rina Sawayama, Caroline Polachek, and Soccer Mommy, to name just a few. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.