Ourshelves

Discovery with CN Lester

How do we keep fighting when there seems to be no hope? CN Lester is a musician, academic, activist and author of Trans Like Me and they tell Lucy Scholes the best advice they’ve been given for continuing to work in the face of backlash. Join their fascinating conversation on their discovery of women composers of the Italian Baroque (who should never have been forgotten!), their newfound love for Ursula K Le Guin (who should have won a Nobel Prize!), and their deeply personal joy in the poetry of Joelle Taylor (who has won the TS Eliot Prize!).

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How much courage does it take to write?

In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Lennie Goodings, Chair of Virago Press and author of A Bite of the Apple. We dive into stories about Maya Angelou and Rosamond Lehmann, the origins of Virago Press in the seventies, the narratives that shape our lives and the authors who continue to inspire Lennie's work and personal life.

Join us for a conversation about courageous women, beautiful prose and the nature of storytelling.

Books discussed in this episode include:

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Home by Marilynne Robinson

Jack by Marilynne Robinson

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Mouth Full of Blood by Toni Morrison

We Need Silence to Find Out What We Think by Shirley Hazzard

Difficult Women by Helen Lewis

A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

Recommended Article:

That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief by Scott Berinato

Home - an essay from Mouth Full of Blood by Toni Morrison

What to watch:

Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things

Tune in next time for more conversation about books, feminism and culture.

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In this episode of the Virago podcast editor Ailah Ahmed talks to Lennie Goodings about her book A Bite of the Apple - part memoir, part history of Virago Press and part thoughts on more than forty years of feminist publishing.

Tune-in for Lennie Goodings, stay for the stories about Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood and a life in publishing.

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In honour of Equal Pay Day 2019, we welcome Carrie Gracie to the podcast. In this episode Carrie discusses her experience fighting for equal pay and her book, Equal, with Chair of Virago Press, Lennie Goodings.

In January 2018, Gracie left her post as the BBC's China editor, following a career at the BBC that spanned more than three decades, in protest at unequal pay, publishing an open letter to BBC audiences and giving evidence before a parliamentary committee. Six months later, she won an apology from the BBC. She donated all her back pay to the gender equality charity, the Fawcett Society, to help low-paid women facing pay discrimination. She continues to serve as a BBC News presenter, and as a member of the 'BBC Women' group, she campaigns for a more equal, fair and transparent pay structure at the national broadcaster.

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How can we reconsider failure?

In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Linda Grant, a multi-award-winning author whose latest novel, A Stranger City, is out now in paperback. In this episode Lucy and Linda discuss Barbara Pym, Mrs. America and the importance of recalling our failures as well as our successes.

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