186 episodes
Lost Ladies of Lit Amy Helmes & Kim Askew
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- Arts
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5.0 • 65 Ratings
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A book podcast hosted by writing partners Amy Helmes and Kim Askew. Guests include biographers, journalists, authors, and cultural historians discussing lost classics by women writers.
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Barbara Comyns — Our Spoons Came From Woolworths and The Vet’s Daughter with Avril Horner
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Barbara Comyns was recently called, “the best English novelist you’ve never heard of” and her unsettling gothic novels are equal parts enchanting and horrific. Joining us is Avril Horner, author of "Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence," who offers insight into Comyns' unique blend of dark humor and her empathetic portrayals of vulnerable protagonists. Graham Greene was a fan and wrote of her, “The strange offbeat talent of Miss Comyns and that innocent eye which observes with childlike simplicity the most fantastic or the most ominous of occurrences, these have never, I think, before been more impressively exercised than in ‘The Vet’s Daughter.’” We discuss that novel as well as her autobiographical “Our Spoons Came from Woolworths.”
Discussed in this episode:
"Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence” by Avril Horner
“The Vet’s Daughter” by Barbara Comyns
“Our Spoons Came from Woolworths” by Barbara Comyns
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Enayat al-Zayyat — Love and Silence with Iman Mersal
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Dying by suicide shortly after her novel, Love and Silence, was rejected for publication in 1963, Egyptian writer Enayat al-Zayyat gained brief recognition when the book was finally published four years after her death. Discovering the novel in a Cairo market some 30 years later launched acclaimed Egyptian writer Iman Mersal on a decades-long, life-altering quest to solve the many mysteries about al-Zayyat’s life, death and legacy. Mersal joins us in this episode to discuss the recent English translation of her award-winng 2019 book, Traces of Enayat, and the nexus between al-Zayyat’s story and her own.
Mentioned in this episode:
Traces of Enayat by Iman Mersal
How to Mend: Motherhood and Its Ghosts by Iman Mersal
The Threshold by Iman Mersal
Love and Silence by Enayat al-Zayyat
The Open Door by Latifa al-Zayyat
The Open Door film
Egyptian Actress Nadia Lutfi
City of the Dead cemetery in Cairo
Ludwig Keimer
German Institute of Antiquities
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Kay Boyle — Fifty Stories with Anne Boyd Rioux
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An eyewitness to monumental moments in the 20th century, author Kay Boyle hung out with Left Bank artists and literary giants, chronicled the ravages of WWII, was blacklisted in the 1950s and was jailed for her Haight-Ashbury activism in the late 1960s. An intrepid modernist committed to a “Revolution of the Word,” this two-time O. Henry award-winner penned 14 novels, eight volumes of poetry and 11 collections of short fiction, yet too few readers today have read her work or even know her name. Returning guest Anne Boyd Rioux joins us this week to discuss Kay Boyle’s audacious life and her lasting impact on literature.
Mentioned in this episode:
Fifty Stories by Kay Boyle
Avalanche by Kay Boyle
Audacious Women, Creative Lives Substack by Anne Boyd Rioux
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein
Broom literary magazine
Being Geniuses Together: 1920-1930 by Robert McAlmon and Kay Boyle
The Armory Show of 1913
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 11 on Constance Fenimore Woolson
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 108 on Lola Ridge
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 98 on Heterodoxy
Ernest Walsh
James Joyce
Lawrence Vail
Robert McAlmon
William Carlos Williams
Marianne Moore
Jean Toomer
The Revolution of the Word
Raymond Duncan
Joseph von Franckenstein
Five Days One Summer film starring Sean Connery
Meg, Joe, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why it Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux
The Collected Stories of Constance Fenimore Woolson
“Wedding Day” by Kay Boyle
“The White Horses of Vienna” by
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Speranza, a.k.a Oscar Wilde’s Mom
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In this week’s episode Kim and Amy discuss the life and work of “Speranza,” a.k.a Lady Jane Wilde, a.k.a. Oscar Wilde’s mom! An outspoken, rabble-rousing poet who championed Irish independence, she stirred up members of the Young Ireland movement while writing for Dublin’s radical newspaper “The Nation” in the 1840s. Oscar may have inherited his mother’s wit, intellect and larger-than-life personality, but his later legal troubles were also preceded by her own very public and scandalous libel case.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Rest is History podcast on the trials of Oscar Wilde
The Nation
“Jacta Alea Est” by Speranza
“The Poet’s Destiny” by Speranza
“The Famine Year” by Speranza
Charles Gavan Duffy
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
William Wilde (Oscar Wilde’s father)
“The Ballad of Reading Gaol” by Oscar Wilde
“The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Mary Travers libel case
The grave of Lady Jane Wilde
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Whose Line is it Anyway? Elizabeth Taylor vs. Elizabeth Taylor
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In our first-ever "Game Show Edition" of the podcast, McNally Editions editor Lucy Scholes joins us for a lightning-round quiz pitting quotations from Elizabeth Taylor the actress vs. Elizabeth Taylor the author! Test your knowledge and join in the fun!
For the full forty-minute episode in which we discuss the author Taylor's writing and also confab on Roger Lewis's Erotic Vagrancy, the dishy 2023 biography of film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, visit our Patreon:
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LostLadiesofLit.com
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Emilie Loring —Uncharted Seas with Patti Bender
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Get ready to fall hopelessly in love with Emilie Loring, a New England native whose prolific output of richly-detailed romance novels feature the sort of charming characters and snappy dialogue reminiscent of films like The Philadelphia Story and It Happened One Night. Loring’s 30 years of commercial success continued long after her death in 1950, prompting publishers to sell ghost-written “Emilie Loring” novels that continued to sell by the tens of millions. Having read each of Loring’s novels at least 50 times each, guest Patti Bender joins us this week to talk about the author’s captivating life and work as told in her 2023 biography Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing and Wisdom.
00:00 Introduction to Lost Ladies of Lit
02:04 Guest Introduction: Patti Bender, Emilie Loring's Biographer
05:19 Emilie Loring's Family: A Legacy of Creativity
08:15 Emilie Loring's Marriage and Early Life
10:37 Emilie's Writing Journey: Persistence and Passion
12:32 Exploring Emilie Loring's Romantic Novels
14:04 Diving into 'Uncharted Seas': An Emilie Loring Novel
22:26 The Role of Books During Difficult Times
25:35 Emilie's Legacy: Her Continued Popularity
27:28 Must-Read Loring Titles
28:45 The Hollywood Connection: Emilie's Stories and the Silver Screen
29:21 The Pulitzer Nomination
33:48 The Power of Re-reading: Emilie's Books as Comfort Food
35:15 Conclusion: The Lasting Impact of Emilie's Stories
Mentioned in this Episode
Hallmark movie Her Pen Pal
Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing and Wisdom by Patti Bender
Lee and Shepard Publishing
George Melville Baker’s “Among the Breakers”
Snappy Stories
Uncharted Seas by Emilie Loring
The ghosts of Stone House in Blue Hill, Maine
The Philadelphia Story
It Happened One Night
National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
Support the Show.
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Customer Reviews
So good, so smart, so fun
My new fave pod! It’s smart, light, interesting and a perspective I haven’t heard or seen elsewhere. Def worth the time & a listen.
Great fun, impressive research
Also a great resource when you’re trying to find new books to suggest for book club.
A great find for any literature lover
This podcast covers a wide range of authors (across time, geographic location, themes) who all have key things in common: their writing is great, their lives are fascinating, and they deserve more readers. The hosts’ approach blends enthusiasm, thoughtful questions, and playful curiosity that fosters really engaging, accessible, and deep conversations with their guests.