You can listen and subscribe to our women’s history podcast at Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Deezer, and A Cast. If you like what you hear, consider leaving us a review!

• Podcast #60: Emmy Noether (3/16/2023)

  For our 60th episode, we bring back the presenter who appeared in our very first podcast episode, writer and translator Karen Margolis. Drawing from her own history in higher mathematics, Karen ably tells the tale of Germany’s Emmy Noether, who developed key theorems in theoretical physics and made important contributions to abstract algebra. Excluded from academic positions in Germany as a woman, she worked unpaid and under other lecturers’ names. Once she was finally allowed to teach in 1919, she had only 14 years until the Nazis banned her from universities, as a Jew. In American exile, she taught at the women’s college Bryn Mawr and occasionally at Princeton, though she felt she was not welcome at “the men’s university, where nothing female is admitted.”  Nowadays, everything from fellowships to a crater on the moon has honored Emmy, so it was clearly our turn to do so. 

  DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce things. 

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  A couple of book recommendations if you want to splash some cash to find out more: Proving It Her Way: Emmy Noether, A Life in Mathematics by David E. Rowe and Mechthild Koreuber, and Emmy Noether’s Wonderful Theorem by Dwight E. Neuenschwander.

  And here’s the Emmy Noether page on Etsy, for your paper doll and inspirational poster needs.

• Podcast 59: Delia Derbyshire (2/16/2023)

  In this episode, we’re going to hear about a woman sometimes called a sculptress of sound —  “the unsung heroine of British electronic music” —  Delia Derbyshire, ably presented by our very own DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire.  

  A working-class girl from Coventry, England, Delia studied music and mathematics, and went on to work at the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. If you’re a SciFi fan, you’ve probably heard one of her best known works — the otherworldly theme tune to the TV show Doctor Who. A true pioneer of pre-synthesizer electronic sounds, Delia created music for more than 200 projects, but remained anonymous due to the BBC’s bureaucratic structures. She also set up studios making electronic music for soundtracks, festivals and theatre productions, until she left the public eye in 1975. 

  DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer Susan to set things up. 

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript, created by Rachel Pronger, here.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  If you’d like to find out more about Delia Derbyshire’s later life, Katy recommends this fascinating article by David Butler: Whatever Happened to Delia Derbyshire? Delia Derbyshire, Visual Art and the Myth of her Post-BBC Activity.

  

  For those with a little more time, there’s Caroline Catz’s fab film Delia Derbyshire: The Myths & The Legendary Tapes.

  

  And if you’re looking for a deep dive with a triple helping of women’s biography, it’s got to be Cosi Fanni Tutti’s RE-SISTERS. The limited-edition package behind the link gets you “a fine bound copy of the book, signed on page one by the author and numbered by hand; a pewter erotic pilgrim brooch with Re-Sisters waveform motif, in a velvet pouch; and an audio tape cassette with Music to Read By composed and performed by Cosey Fanni Tutti in a colour printed cardboard sleeve.” Go on!

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Drop us a line info@deadladiesshow.com or reach us on social media @deadladiesshow

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

• Podcast 58: Berenice Abbott (1/20/2023)

  Welcome to our first podcast of 2023! In this episode, we zoom in on photographer Berenice Abbott. This American artist has a bit of a six-degrees-of separation going on with a number of our previous Dead Ladies, including Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven and Emma Goldman. As told by DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens, Berenice’s story includes stints in Paris and Berlin, falling in love with eligible ladies, and learning photography from Man Ray. She took portraits of various greats, and when she returned to New York she switched to documenting the changing city, resulting in what’s called the “the greatest collection of photographs of New York City ever made.” Later in life she also excelled at scientific photography, taking with her studies of light and motion contributing to the understanding of physical laws and properties of solids and liquids, as she also made innovations in camera technology.

  DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer Susan Stone to introduce our episode.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript, created by Rachel Pronger, here.

  Show notes:

  Read more: Podcast 58: Berenice Abbott

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  You cab see Berenice’s image of a Central Park Hooverville here, and read more about her MoMA mural here.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  You can watch the full PBS doc The Quantum Universe at Archive.org and learn more about Berenice’s inventions like the Supersight camera here.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

• Podcast 58: Ruth Asawa (12/14/2022)

  It’s our final podcast of 2022!

  DLS co-founders Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire join producer Susan Stone to toast the holiday season, chat about this year’s good news in Dead Ladies, and to introduce our featured Dead Lady, artist Ruth Asawa. 

  Born to Japanese parents on a farm in California, Ruth Asawa first developed her artistic tendencies tracing shapes in the dirt. When her family was interned during World War II by the US government (along with thousands of US citizens with Japanese heritage, following the bombing of US military base Pearl Harbor by the Japanese) her life was put on hold, but she made opportunity where she could find it. When she was prevented from becoming a teacher by anti-Japanese prejudice and laws, she studied art and became a sculptor, often weaving cheap found material and wire. Her public artworks and her art education advocacy made her chosen home city, San Francisco, a more beautiful place, and her sculptures are now auctioned for millions, and exhibited around the world. 

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript, created by Rachel Pronger, here.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  A young Ruth Asawa, front and center with her feet missing

  

  

  

  

  

  Ruth, Albert, and family

  

  Art and family

  

  First show, San Francisco 1960

  

  

  

  More wire art, from above

  

  That mermaid fountain, first of many

  

  Working with children

  

  Working with her son Paul Lanier

  

  Philately

  

  Susan recommends the biography Everything She Touched by Marilyn Chase, and the website ruthasawa.com.

  For more of Susan Stone’s podcasting prowess, why not try Spatial Delight about geographer Doreen Massey, which is edited by Susan and hosted and produced by 2-time DLS Podcast star Agata Lisiak.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  What’s your favorite Dead Lady news of the year? Drop us a line info@deadladiesshow.com or tell us on social media @deadladiesshow

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

• Podcast 57: Angela Carter (11/16/2022)

  To kick off Season 6 of our podcast, writer Leon Craig brings us the story of award-winning English author Angela Carter. Known for her feminist, gothic, and erotic sensibilities and for re-inventing folk and fairy tales with her now seminal collection The Bloody Chamber, Carter’s life had quite a few plot twists of its own. In her 51 years she wrote nine novels, five short story collections, several children’s books, and countless essays and articles. She also collected quite a few lovers after awakening from a stifling marriage, harvesting them first from her social circle and friends’ husbands, then later more randomly during her two years living in Japan. Shortly after her death from cancer, Angela Carter received a strong wave of recognition, and her writing is now taught to generations of British school kids.

  Our presenter Leon Craig has received more than a few comparisons to Carter for her own debut story collection, Parallel Hells, which is now out in paperback from Sceptre Books. At the White Review, you can read that collection’s “Lick the Dust,” which was selected for Best British Short Stories 2022 . Leon can be found at www.leoncraigwriter.com and on Twitter @Leon_c_c.

  This episode, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce the episode and talk more about writers Carter and Craig.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Leon recommends The Invention of Angela Carter: A Biography by Edmund Gordon, “On Angela Carter” by Susannah Clapp at the London Review of Books, A Card From Angela Carter by Susannah Clapp, and “Death of the Author” by Lorna Sage, Granta. Angela Carter’s estate has a great website and is on Twitter @AngelaOCarter.

  ****

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

• Podcast 56: Mae West (8/17/2022)

  Courtesy of our pals at DLS NYC, we meet the first meta sex symbol: Mae West. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Mae was brazen, buxom, bawdy, sensational, and sexy. She was known for her husky voice, risqué performances, and double entendres that slipped past the film censors. With over 70 years in show business on both stage and screen, she scandalized the world of entertainment in a time when women were expected to sit on the sidelines. But, as Mae West would tell you, “goodness had nothing to do with it.”

  DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer Susan Stone to introduce our featured Dead Lady.

  Artist, lecturer, researcher, and self-described ‘professional eccentric’ JR Pepper tells Mae’s story; you can find out more about JR here.

  DLS NYC is curated and hosted by Molly O’Laughlin Kemper, and was recorded by Jennifer Nulsen, all under the auspices of the KGB Bar’s Lori Schwarz.

  If you’re in the NY area, why not sign up for their newsletter so you can find out when the next show will be? Find it here.

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Diane Arbus (1923-1971)
  Mae West in a Chair at Home
  Santa Monica, CA
  1965 pic.twitter.com/tbbHT3iSce

  — Silver Rain (@GkhanYa22646543) July 17, 2021

  

  Dali’s “Mae West Lips” sofa was made in 1938 for Monkton House, described as “a complete Surrealist house”. Via the V&A. pic.twitter.com/CHGkAzLA8R

  — Catherine Curzon (@MadameGilflurt) March 31, 2021

  

  #MaeWest ALL DAY FEATURE: #ClassicTV Watch Mae in MAE WEST MEETS MISTER ED from 1964: https://t.co/ugqccPBwTh #ForMyMom pic.twitter.com/9Lj3e2WQzQ

  — Dominique Revue (@DominiqueRevue) November 9, 2016

  

  

  

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  

• Podcast 55: Virginia Andrews (7/23/2022)

  This episode was recorded at the second-ever PodFest Berlin, a local two-day event full of workshops, networking, free ice cream, and live tapings from podcasts in various languages, including one from us. 

  Dead Ladies Show co-founder Katy Derbyshire and podcast producer/host Susan Stone were there for a mini DLS, and took turns hosting and presenting bilingually in German and English in front of a small but perfectly formed audience. 

  In this episode, we hear Susan tell the story of Virginia Andrews. Better known as V.C. Andrews, this blockbusting American author probably launched the sexual curiosities of generations of teens and pre-teens — for better or worse. Her psychological horror/romance books, starting with 1979’s bestselling Flowers in the Attic, were banned in school districts and libraries, but earned millions internationally. The tale of children held captive by an evil grandmother was sadly somewhat mirrored in Virginia’s own reclusive, highly controlled life. 

  Though she was disabled by a medical condition from her teen years on, Virginia supported her family through her artwork and writing. After her death, a prolific ghostwriter was appointed to continue books under her name, but her legacy really endures on the strength of her original seven bestsellers, which merged classic fairy tale themes with contemporary issues of trauma and abuse.  

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  You can download the transcript, created by Susan Stone, here.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Susan’s not sure she can recommend ghost writer Andrew Neiderman’s biography (above), but the cover is pretty great.

  If you’d like to watch some footage, there’s this TV interview with V.C. Andrews

  Or how about a trailer for the 1987 Flowers in the Attic adaptation: 

  The 2014 version:

  And the newest series running now:

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in August.

  ****

  The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women’s history is everyone’s history.

  The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire.

  The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.

  Don’t forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

• Podcast 54: Memphis Minnie (6/16/2022)

  In this Episode, we drop in on our New York-based sister spinoff show, DLS NYC, which returned to the KGB Bar’s Red Room after a long hiatus. DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens happened to be visiting from Berlin, and took to the stage to introduce the fabulous Memphis Minnie. 

  Tobacco-chewing blues singer MEMPHIS MINNIE (1897–1973) ran away from home at the age of 13 and made a living off music from then on, from street performances supplemented by prostitution to hundreds of now classic recordings. It was said she never put her guitar down until she could no longer hold it in her hands, and she was known to use it as a weapon when required. Her songs were about the joys and hardships of everyday black life; according to the poet Langston Hughes, she played “music with so much in it folks remember, that sometimes it makes them holler out loud.” Largely forgotten for many years while white men covered her songs, she is now celebrated for her huge contribution to blues music and what came after. 

  
  Embed from Getty Images
  

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  Read more about Chicago’s gay scene at Windy City Times, and you can read Langston Hughes’ entire review on Memphis Minnie’s show here.

  

  

  These videos are a great way to get into Memphis Minnie, and Florian has also made a special playlist on Spotify, but If you want to know more about Memphis Minnie, read Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie’s Blues by Paul & Beth Garon, first published just after her death, and expanded in 2014.

  DLS NYC is curated and hosted by Molly O’Laughlin Kemper, and was recorded by Jennifer Nulsen, all under the auspices of the KGB Bar’s Lori Schwarz. 

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  

• Podcast #53: Eva Crane (5/12/2022)

  In this buzz-worthy episode, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire (and translator) brings us the story of leading bee scientist Eva Crane. Born to humble beginnings, Eva obtained a PhD in nuclear physics but quickly shifted her attention from atoms to apiculture. She travelled the world to document all things bees, and was particularly interested in the relationship between bees and humans, including the long history of human honey cultivation.

  Amateur bee enthusiast (and producer/host) Susan Stone is joined by other DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens for the introducing honors.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  Show notes:

  Read more: Podcast #53: Eva Crane

  

  

  

  Amazing sisters!: Our founder Eva Crane, studied nuclear physics before becoming a world authority on bees. Her older sister Elsie Widdowson was a dietitian who oversaw the addition of vitamins to food during wartime rationing. #WomenInScience
  A family photo of Eva (r) & Elsie pic.twitter.com/SXigPM1EqG

  — Eva Crane Trust (@EvaCraneTrust) February 11, 2020

  

  

  Before focusing on bees, Eva Crane first studied maths & quantum physics because she found them the hardest subjects she had ever studied & therefore had greatest satisfaction in attempting to solve their mysteries. #InternationalWomensDay #WomenInSTEM #bees pic.twitter.com/m1WRJYA6Fu

  — Eva Crane Trust (@EvaCraneTrust) March 8, 2022

  

  

  

  

  

  On her travels around the world Dr Crane collected many bee related artefacts, like these lovely little honey pots. #bees #honey #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/9JewcPG0Io

  — Eva Crane Trust (@EvaCraneTrust) May 29, 2020

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Katy recommends these two books if you want to learn more about Eva Crane: Eva Crane: Bee Scientist, edited by her colleagues, Penelope Walker and Richard Jones, and of course, Crane’s own Making a Bee-line. The Eva Crane Trust’s site is also indispensable for information about Crane and bees.

  #OnThisDay Our founder Eva Crane was born. She was one of the greatest writers about bees & beekeeping in the 20th Century & travelled extensively. Here she is in Hawaii, 1979. Learn more about this inspiring lady https://t.co/RZfY94NsOe #WomenInScience #bees pic.twitter.com/0fpt1Azx12

  — Eva Crane Trust (@EvaCraneTrust) June 12, 2020

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Susan Stone (@hausvonstone)

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  

• Podcast #52: Katherine Mansfield (4/13/2022)

  In this episode we’ll be hearing from the multi-talented Hinemoana Baker. Hinemoana hails from New Zealand, she is a writer and musician of Māori and Pākehā heritage; here, she presents her reflections on the life of another New Zealand writer — Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield was a very influential modernist writer, who left New Zealand for Europe at the age of 19, and hung out with Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, and the Bloomsbury Group gang, including her “wife,” writer Ida Baker. Mansfield is called by some the Godmother of the Short Story in the English language, and she wrote a great many in her tragically short life. 

  DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce an episode full of personal reflections, music, and poetry.  

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  
  
  

  Show notes:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Katherine Mansfield’s gravestone reads:

  BUT I TELL YOU, MY LORD FOOL,
  OUT OF THIS NETTLE DANGER
  WE PLUCK THIS FLOWER,
  SAFETY

  

  

  You can read many of her short stories at the website of the Katherine Mansfield Society. Hinemoana recommends “Bliss” and Susan Stone recommends both “How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped” and “A Dill Pickle”.

  Learn more about the Mansfield album, setting twelve of her poems to music.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  

• Podcast #51: Rosa Luxemburg (3/8/2022)

  The world is a troubling place, but we hope you can still find some inspiration out there, and in honor of International Women’s Day, we wanted to bring you the story of a woman who fought, loved, and sacrificed, in troubling times of her own — the revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. Rosa was a Polish-born Jewish intellectual, socialist, Marxist philosopher, and anti-war activist, whose evocative writing contributed to her legacy. 

  Her story comes via educator and writer Agata Lisiak, who is currently working on a book about Rosa Luxemburg. 

  DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer Susan Stone to introduce our featured Dead Lady, and to give a book recommendation guaranteed to lighten up our dark times. 

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  
  
  

  Show notes:

  Here’s Rosa wearing some different hats.

  

  

  

  And as a young girl in Poland

  

  Rosa in Berlin

  

  With her dear friend Clara Zetkin, credited with inventing International Women’s Day

  

  Rosa on a couple of manels…

  

  

  …and holding her own on stage

  

  Rosa’s simple gravestone

  

  A selection of monuments

  

  

  

  Further reading

  

  

  

  Agata recommends Kate Evans’ Red Rosa, Jacqueline Rose’s Women in Dark Times, and the epic biography by J.P. Nettl.

  If you want to read her own writing, much of it is available online in the Rosa Luxemburg Library.

  The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has a useful dossier on its name-giver, alongside its wider political work.

  And let’s finish off with a trailer for Margaretha von Trotta’s film Rosa Luxemburg.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  ****

  The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women’s history is everyone’s history.

  The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire.

  The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.

  Don’t forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

• Podcast #50: Adelaide Herrmann (2/18/2022)

  In this episode, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire conjures up a Victorian-era Dead Lady magician who dazzled audiences and broke boundaries. Starting from her childhood in England, Adelaide Herrmann (née Scarcez) was a born performer, first notable for dance, acrobatics, and trick cycling. She met and married magician Alexander Herrmann, and became his on-stage assistant and the star of many of his illusions, first dressed as his double and later in many guises. Following his death, she eventually took over the act, becoming the Queen of Magic, and collecting a menagerie of animals for her show. Highly successful, she toured for 25 years, performing up to the age of 74. She was buried next to her husband. His headstone reads: HERRMANN THE GREAT. Adelaide’s states more simply, WIFE.    

  DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer Susan Stone for the introducing duties.

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  
  
  

  Show notes:

  Here’s a very young Adelaide…

  

  Some shots of her as her husband’s assistant

  

  

  And some posters from the two stages of her magical career

  

  

  Never marry a man with his own face on his cheques…

  

  That confident stance in later life

  

  And a fine stage outfit that has survived

  

  With assistant Milton Hudson Everett

  

  And that gravestone, in case you were wondering:

  

  If you’d like to do some reading, we recommend…

  

  

  

  Two books for young readers that feature Adelaide: 100 Immigrant Women who Changed the World in the Rebel Girls series, and Anything but Ordinary Addie. We’re especially grateful to the magician, magic historian and author Margaret Steele for finding and publishing Adelaide’s memoir with lots of fascinating accompanying material: Adelaide Herrmann, Queen of Magic. Steele has also written a blog, The Addie Chronicles, which is well worth checking out. Plus, it looks like we’re not the only ones fascinated by the Herrmanns’ assistants: Steele has a book coming out soon all about “the Boomskys”, which you can read a preview from here.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  This episode of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast was created as part of the Droste Festival 2021 – Dark Magic by Burg Hülshoff – Center for Literature.

  Funding came from the NEUSTART KULTUR of the German Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media through the German Literature Fund and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

• Podcast #49: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1/19/2022)

  We kick off 2022 with an episode devoted to a woman famed for her wit and beauty, and later for her status as a sort of early inoculation influencer. Her tale is told by DLS co-founder and devoted traveler, Florian Duijsens.

  English aristocrat Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was raised to keep her opinions to herself, be it at home or in the King’s court, but she travelled widely, published secretly, and convinced many to take important steps that saved lives. When her husband became the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1716, she accompanied him to Constantinople. Gaining access to female spaces in Turkey, she witnessed smallpox inoculations there and had her son immunized in the same way, using a small sample of the live virus that had killed her brother and caused severe scarring to her own face. The principle was adapted into what we now know as vaccination. Lady Mary later left her husband behind in England after falling for an Italian count, only returning after she was widowed. She wrote poetry, essays, and copious letters, many of which were published after her death, encouraging other ladies to travel as she had done.

  DLS other co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer Susan Stone to introduce the featured Dead Lady. 

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  
  
  

  Show notes:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  If you’d like to read some of Mary’s writing, Florian recommends the short version, Life on the Golden Horn, or the longer Selected Letters.

  

  

  As to biographies, there’s Isobel Grundy’s 703-page belter subtitled Comet of the Enlightenment, or you could go for Jo Willett’s considerably shorter The Pioneering Life of Mary Wortley Montagu.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  

• Dead Ladies Show Deutsch: La Malinche Bonus-Episode (12/20/2021)

  Mal was anderes: ab und zu produzieren wir außerhalb der Reihe eine deutschsprachige Podcastepisode! Diesmal erzählen Aurélie Maurin und Michael Ebmeyer anlässlich des Translationale-Festivals von einer ehemaligen Übersetzerin, die sagenumwobene La Malinche. Immer noch eine machtvolle Ikone in Mexiko, La Malinche war die versklavte Dolmetscherin zwischen dem spanischen Konquistador Hernán Cortés und den Menschen, die er zu unterwerfen suchte.

  Der Vortrag basiert auf einer Performance von Aurélie Maurin und Maria Hummitzsch.

  

  

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Wer noch mehr hören möchte: Das Buch Malinche – Die andere Geschichte der Eroberung Mexikos von Anna Lanyon kann man als Hörbuch ausleihen. Fast sieben Stunden Info! Und Lhasa de Selas Version von La Llorona findet man hier.

  Diese Episode des Dead Ladies Show Podcasts wird unterstützt vom Neustart Kultur-Programm und seinem Translationale Festival. Unsere Musik ist “Little Lily Swing” von Tritachyon.

• Podcast #48: Zaha Hadid (12/15/2021)

  In our last episode of 2021, The DLS team of Susan Stone, Katy Derbyshire, and Florian Duijsens all come together to clink glasses of bubbly, and discuss our favorite Dead Lady news of the year.

  Plus, DLS Producer and journalist Susan Stone presents our featured Dead Lady, architect Zaha Hadid.  Born in Baghdad, Zaha started her creative life early, designing her own clothes and furniture at the age of 7 or 8.  She studied at, then taught at, the Architectural Association School in London, where she honed her boundary-breaking skills and unmatchable style.

  Both life and her designs threw a series of curves her way, but she excelled and inspired, becoming the first woman to with the Pritzker Architecture Prize, considered the Nobel Prize for architecture, as well as many more accolades and contracts, eventually designing everything from schools to shoes. Along the way she faced notable sexism and racism as one of few women and Arabs in the field. But she wowed critics, and created some of the most incredible buildings the world has ever seen before her death at the age of 65 in 2016.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  Show notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  As for our final round-up, NPR has more more on Josephine’s Baker‘s induction into the Pantheon.

  

  And English Heritage has more on Caroline Norton and Ellen Craft, recent blue-plaque honorees!

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month. And don’t forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast
  If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

  

• Podcast #47: Milena Jesenská (11/19/2021)

  In this edition of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire brings you the story of Milena Jesenská live from the stage of the Berlin translation festival Translationale, held at the Collegium Hungaricum. 

  A journalist, writer, editor and translator, Milena Jesenská is often simply called “Kafka’s Milena” for her connection to the famous writer. But her life and work deserve far more attention. 

  Born in Prague in the former Austria-Hungary, now Czech Republic, Milena Jesenská straddled cultures and languages, politics and ideologies. As part of an underground resistance, she helped many refugees to escape the dangers of National Socialism, but was captured by the Gestapo and died in a concentration camp in Germany. 

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can read the transcript here.

  Show Notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  If you want to read more, there are a few good biographies out there. The one mentioned is available in Czech, German and Italian, Alena Wagnerová’s Milena Jesenská. Katy also read the excellent Kafka, Love and Courage. The Life of Milena Jesenská by Mary Hockaday. There’s a German YA bio: Lebendiges Feuer by Alois Prinz, for all you German-speaking young adults out there. Or you could read the one written by her friend Margarete Buber-Neumann, entitled Milena, or the one by her daughter Jana Černá, Kafka’s Milena. As long as you remember her surname.

  Thanks to the Translationale, the Toledo Program, and Weltlesebühne for inviting us. 
  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire. The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone. Don’t forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast
  If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

  

• Podcast #46: Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (10/16/2021)

  In this edition of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast, DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens introduces us to the eccentric Dada artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. An eternally eclectic, German-born New Yorker, the Baroness was known for living life as a work of art, wearing a collage of found items, from tin cans to postage stamps to live birds, seducing almost everyone she met, and creating mind-blowing poetry and sculptures, yet never making any money off them. These days, she deserves some reclaimed recognition for creating the found art genre known as readymades, including a particular infamous sculpture credited to French artist Marcel Duchamp (or Marcel Dushit, as the Baroness called him.)

  DLS other co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce the show, which was recorded in front of a live audience of enthusiastic college students as part of Bard College Berlin‘s student-organized Pankumenta festival back in 2019.

  **This episode contains brief mentions of suicide and suicide attempts as well as some humorous profanity**

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  Notes:

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  

• Podcast #45: Nana Yaa Asantewaa (9/16/2021)

  In the first episode of our fifth podcast season, you’ll hear the Berlin-based British-Ghanaian author and political activist Sharon Dodua Otoo talking about her favourite woman who ever lived: Nana Yaa Asantewaa. This Asante queen led the 1900 war against British colonialism in present-day Ghana. When the British governor demanded the kingdom’s emblem of power, the Golden Stool, Nana Yaa Asantewaa encouraged the Asante government to fight back through a powerful speech, and was chosen to head an army of 5000 at the age of sixty.

  Sharon gives us all the context of who, what, where and when – and tells us how important Nana Yaa Asantewaa is as a role model for her and many others. DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins Susan Stone to introduce this fascinating talk.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  You can read the transcript here.

  Notes:

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  There aren’t many photos of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, but there’s this:

  

  Sharon mentions two key books:

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  If you’d like to read Sharon’s own books in German or English, there are plenty to choose from.

  Here’s where to watch Vanessa Danso’s The Legendary Nana Yaa Asantewaa. Or you could defeat the colonial masters guided by the queen herself in a live-action game, from the safety of your own home.

  To finish off, here’s the school named after her, part of an impressive legacy.

  

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening!

  We’ll be back with a new episode in October.

• Podcast #44: Irmgard Keun (6/20/2021)

  In this episode of the podcast, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire introduces us to daring German writer Irmgard Keun. As an ingenue, Irmgard’s writing debut was much more consequent than her acting debut, and she garnered praise and a film adaptation. Her books explored women’s lives in Weimar-era Berlin with a humor all her own, which of course meant the Nazis banned them. There’s dark wit, wild parties in the face of danger, and fabulous costume changes — oh, and an unreliable narrator. It’s a bit of Babylon Berlin meets Cabaret, perhaps.

  Irmgard Keun is also one of the original Dead Ladies (along with Dorothy Parker) that sparked the creation of the Dead Ladies Show in the first place!

  Our other DLS co-creator Florian Duijsens joins podcast producer and host Susan Stone for the introducing duties in our last episode of DLSP Season Four!

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  You can download the transcript, created by Annie Musgrove, here.

  Notes:

  Read more: Podcast #44: Irmgard Keun

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening!

  We’ll be back with a new season and new episode in September.

  

• Podcast #43: Bebe Barron (5/13/2021)

  This episode presents a first: our presenter (our very own Susan Stone!) actually met the lady in question. Bebe Barron was a bohemian, composer, and electronic music pioneer. She and her husband Louis worked avant-garde art-makers like John Cage and Maya Deren, and hung out with Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Joseph Campbell, and more. The pair is credited with inventing the tape loop, and possibly the audio book. It’s certainly the case that they composed and created the first electronic music — or electro-acoustic — feature film soundtrack. Electronic music as we know it would not exist without Bebe, nor would the sounds we associate with outer space.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript, created by Rachel Pronger, here.

  Notes:

  Read more: Podcast #43: Bebe Barron

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  You can still hear Susan’s NPR story on Bebe from 2005 here. Our theme music is not by Bebe, but “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening!

  

• Podcast #42: Emily Hahn (4/8/2021)

  Episode 42 is all about the American writer and journalist Emily Hahn, also known as Mickey.

  She qualified as a mining engineer, wrote greeting-card copy, travelled the world and authored 54 books and more than 200 articles and short stories. Aside from that, she led an unconventional private life and kept a number of different monkeys. Hear all about her from our co-founder Florian Duijsens, recorded at Berlin’s ACUD Studio in April 2019.

  You can download the transcript, created by Rachel Pronger, here.

  Show notes:

  Read more: Podcast #42: Emily Hahn

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  If you’d like to find out more, Florian recommends two biographies:

  

  

  Ken Cuthbertson’s Nobody Said Not to Go and Taras Grescoe’s Shanghai Grand.

  Taras Grescoe also authored this fascinating New Yorker story about the time Emily was taken for a spy.

  And here’s daughter Carola Boxer Vecchio on Advanced Style…

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month!

• Podcast #41: Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (3/15/2021)

  In this episode, Anneke Lubkowitz introduces us to the brilliant and strange 19th-century writer and poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. This Dead Lady was a Lady in the literal sense – she was born into nobility, and the life her family expected for her was far different from the one she led. Choosing the male occupation of poet, and the unladylike hobby of fossil collecting, nature devotee Annette could often be found wandering the muddy moors or writing away in a turret. Her ahead-of-her-time way with verse included timeless poems and a work of gothic fiction considered by some to be one of the first murder mysteries.

  Via Zoom from the bright green rooms of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s former home Haus Ruschhaus, Anneke also reads some newly translated poems from Droste’s collections (thanks to the translators: Shane Anderson, Daniel Falb, Monika Rinck, and Annie Rutherford!).

  

  This show was created in collaboration with StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival, with help from the Burg Hülshoff Center for Literature. Thanks to both!

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can read the transcript here.

  Notes:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month!

• Podcast #40: Beryl Gilroy (2/12/2021)

  The star of our 40th (!) episode is author, educator, and therapist Beryl Gilroy. Born in what was then British Guiana, she trained as a teacher before migrating to London in 1952 as part of the Windrush generation and worked all manner of jobs until becoming one of the very first Black head teachers in the UK. Her groundbreaking debut, Black Teacher (1976), documented her journey up to that point, and she’d keep publishing until her death in 2001. Telling her story is Berlin-based author Divya Ghelani.

  And if you want to attend a very special live Dead Ladies Show via Zoom next month, join us at StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival, on 11 March (free tickets available here).

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  Show notes:

  

  

  

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  The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone. Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month. 

  Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast
  If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

  

• Podcast #39: Gráinne Mhaol (Grace O’Malley) (1/16/2021)

  Episode 39 introduces Gráinne Mhaol, also known as Grace O’Malley, the legendary Irish pirate queen. 

  Translator Laura Radosh presents the rollicking tale of this tremendous woman, who has been lauded as “a most famous femynyne sea captain,” and “the dark lady of Doona.” Gráinne Mhaol was head of the O’Malley dynasty in 16th-century Ireland, owning up to 1000 cattle and horses, leading men on land and sea, and allegedly wreaking cruel vengeance for the murder of a lover. When her sons and half-brother were captured by the English, she is said to have met with Queen Elizabeth I and negotiated their release in Latin.

  You can also find a transcript of this episode, by Annie Musgrove, here.

  
  
  

  Show notes:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  If you fancy being told the story by a dude with an excellent mid-70s beard, this 4-minute RTÉ clip is television gold.

  For those with more time on their hands, Anne Chambers’ Gráinne biography comes highly recommended. The historian also runs the “official website of the pirate queen”.

  

  Speaking of books, we’ve made some lists for you! Order from bookshop.org in the US or the UK to contribute to independent bookstores, and a little bit to us too. Or if you spot something you like the look of, why not visit or contact your favourite local bricks-and-mortar bookshop to show them some love?

  It wouldn’t be January 2021 if we didn’t recommend a couple of related sea shanties (sort of). There’s “Five Pint Mary” or a whole suite, Granuaile. “Grace O’Malley” hits the spot – or try some Irish pirate metal. Warning: three out of four of these videos feature cartoon depictions of a red-headed piratess.

  The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone. Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month. 

  Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast
  If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

  

• Podcast #38: Sister Rosetta Tharpe (12/9/2020)

  In Episode 38, we hear the sweet, sweet music of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, known as the godmother of rock’n’roll. 

  DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens brings us the tale of this legendary guitarist and gospel singer who had a profound influence on musicians like Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin. She took to the stage at the age of four, and never really left it. 
  Sister Rosetta Tharpe made the first gospel record to hit the charts, played with Cab Calloway at the Cotton Club, attracted 25,000 paying customers to her third wedding, got in trouble with gospel purists and recorded a live album in Paris in 1964.

  To start off the episode, Susan and Katy toast to the end of a strange year with the Dead Ladies Show signature tipple, affordable German bubbly Rotkäppchen (Red Riding Hood) and give thanks for the support we’ve had, and that yet to come. 

  The presentation in this episode was recorded live with help from Brigitte Hamar at the Studiobühne der Universität Münster where we were invited by the Burg Hülshoff Center for Literature. Other talks from this event in German can be found in the Center’s Mediathek: https://www.burg-huelshoff.de/en/medien/mediathek/dead-ladies-show
  Thanks also to Fiona, Kati, Tobias, Feline and Jörg for inviting and assisting us.
  Here we are with our co-presenters Karosh Taha and Bernadette Hengst.

  

  Show notes:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Florian recommends two top resources: Gayle Wald’s biography Shout, Sister, Shout! and Mick Czasky’s film The Godmother or Rock’n’Roll.

  AND! Check out Florian’s fabulous PLAYLIST for more sounds from Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the gang.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month. 

  Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

• Podcast #37: Chevalière d’Eon (11/12/2020)

  Our 37th podcast episode celebrates a legendary spy, writer, and fencer whose very existence caused such a public uproar that it caused a grumpy British judge to outlaw all betting on a person’s gender. Although her story has been told many, many times before, most versions either invent her life story entirely or do not honor her own identity. Though she wanted to be recognized as the woman she was, that didn’t mean she was happy with society’s expectations of what a woman could or should wear, look like, or be around the time of the French Revolution. Mary Wollstonecraft was a fan, ranking her among the likes of Sappho and the Empress of Russia, and we think you’ll enjoy her story too.

  Dead Ladies Show co-founder Florian Duijsens joins podcast host/producer Susan Stone to discuss our first episode about a woman we would now probably call a trans woman. Note that she is best known in the literature and all around the internet as the Chevalier d’Eon, Chevalière d’Eon is probably the more grammatically correct title 🙂 We also discuss the Dead Ladies Show’s famous three rules, and talk about about another unruly rulebreaker, Anne Lister.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can find the transcript here.

  Show notes:

  

  
  Embed from Getty Images
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  And if you want to know more about the Public Universal Friend, check out these two podcast episodes by NPR’s Throughline and What’s Her Name!

  ******

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

• Podcast #36: Shirley Jackson (10/15/2020)

  Our 36th podcast episode brings you a glimpse of the acclaimed author of some of the most chilling tales in contemporary American literature, Shirley Jackson. Her short story “The Lottery” has been a true classic since its publication in 1948. Jackson blended gothic and horror elements with explorations of women’s alienation and search for identity. In her real life, she was forced to balance her tremendous talent with the everyday duties of a wife and mother and societal expectations of femininity which she defied at almost every step.  Our presentation from Krista Ahlberg comes courtesy of Dead Ladies Show NYC, and was recorded live by Christopher Neil in the Red Room at New York’s KGB Bar in 2019.

  Dead Ladies Show co-founder Florian Duijsens joins podcast host/producer Susan Stone to discuss some of Shirley’s stories and the films and series in the extended Shirley Jackson universe.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can read the transcript here.

  Show notes:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  ******

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

  Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

• Podcast #35: Ida B. Wells (9/17/2020)

  We’re back with Episode 35! In this program, we’re coming to you live, limited, and socially distant from the courtyard of our beloved Berlin venue ACUD! 

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript here.

  On this sultry September evening, DLS Podcast producer and host Susan Stone took the stage to present the life and times of the unstoppable Ida B. Wells! This pioneering African-American investigative journalist, suffragist and activist was a pint-sized powerhouse. Born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862, Ida’s world opened up with the Emancipation Proclamation, and she became a teacher, newspaper editor, and international lecturer, fighting injustice and racism all the way. Her hold-nothing-back editorials and books exposed and documented the horrific practice of lynching in the American South. On her steely path to justice, she accepted no compromises, making friends and enemies along the way. 

  DLS co-founders Katy Derbyshire and Florian Duijsens take up the introductions as we get back into the podcast swing of things after a summer break.   

  Show notes:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  To find out more, you can read Ida B. Well’s autobiography, Crusade for Justice, published by her daughter in 1970. Susan also recommends Paula J. Giddings’ Ida: A Sword among Lions. And watch out from January 2021 for Ida B. the Queen by her granddaughter Michelle Duster.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month. 

  Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

• Podcast #34: Willa Muir (6/17/2020)

  In Episode 34, we’re once more in Muenster as guests of the Burg Hülshoff Centre for Literature, which happens to be named after a Dead Lady poet, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff! This time around, we’ll get introduced to Willa Muir, a prolific translator who brought Kafka into English for the first time. Born on a small Scottish island, she was eyewitness to some of Europe’s most important moments. She worked in tandem with her husband Edwin, who somehow managed to get all the credit… Presented by our co-founder Katy Derbyshire, also featuring Florian Duijsens, and produced and introduced by producer Susan Stone.

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download the transcript here.

  Show notes:

  Here’s Willa’s portrait by Nigel McIsaac, held by National Galeries Scotland

  

  And this is the editorial board of her college journal, with Willa probably at the front, but possibly at the back.

  

  The racy cover of Willa and Edwin’s very first translation

  

  And all four of “their” Kafka books

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  Edwin, Gavin, Willa and cat at home

  

  Two books of Willa’s own writing

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  You can hear Willa’s lovely voice talking about Edwin at the London Review of Books’ The Space. And there’s more about Willa Muir’s writing at Scottish PEN’s very well named Dangerous Women Project.

  For those now hooked on Kafka translating content, we strongly recommend Michelle Woods’ book Kafka Translated, which also has a lot of material about Willa.

  If you understand German and want to listen to a three-minute podcast about our show in Münster, the Lesebürger*innen have exactly what you need!

   

  The center’s online audio platform is called DROSTE FM.

   

  Their online Droste festival is happening right now, so German-speaking lovers of modern-day takes on dead lady poets can dig right in. And non-German-speaking music-lovers can check out their accompanying Spotify playlists.

   

  ******

   

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast

• Podcast #33: Dorothy L. Sayers (5/13/2020)
  Episode 33 takes us virtually to Muenster as guests of the Burg Hülshoff Centre for Literature, which happens to be named after a Dead Lady poet, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff! However, we’re here to talk about mystery queen Dorothy L. Sayers.

  Dorothy, or DLS, as she preferred to be called, is probably best known for her crime novels featuring posh amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey. But she also gave us an impressive English translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, much loved to this day. Something of a child prodigy, she learned Latin at six and studied at Oxford before women were actually awarded degrees. She made an early living in advertising and later wrote essays on both Christian and feminist subjects, including the fabulously titled “Are Women Human?” All this while publishing sixteen detective novels, plus numerous plays and short stories, and leading what might best be called a turbulent private life.

  Dead Ladies Show co-founder Florian Duijsens unravels the complicated plot of her life, as other co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins host & producer Susan Stone to set the stage. 

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. Find the transcript here.

  Show notes:

  Here are Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Florian doing his thing, and that chandelier…

  

  

  

  A young Dorothy in drag

  

  Dorothy and Eric the skull

  

  Some of her most famous ads:

  

  And some of her less famous books:

  

  Her enduring character, Lord Peter Wimsey

  

  Florian recommends two biographies…

  

  

  Dorothy L. Sayers by Barbara Reynolds and A Careless Rage for Life by David Coomes.

  That 1987 BBC series is available on YouTube.

  And if you understand German and want to listen to a three-minute podcast about the show, the Lesebürger*innen have exactly what you need!

  ******

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in June. Don’t forget, we now have a Patreon! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

  If you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast
• Podcast #32: Rose Mackenberg (4/17/2020)

  Welcome to our 32nd podcast, in which Nicole Saraniero and Dana Lewis (recorded live by Christopher Neil in the Red Room at New York’s KGB Bar in 2019) conjure up enthusiastic ghost-buster Rose Mackenberg. Sometimes called “Harry Houdini’s Girl Detective,” Rose was dedicated to debunking psychics who scammed vulnerable and grieving Americans recovering from the tragedies of World War I and the Spanish Flu of 1918. She started out as a stenographer and private investigator, joining forces with famed magician Houdini to crusade against fraud and psychic swindlers.

  Here it comes, produced and presented by Susan Stone:

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can find the transcript here.

  Show notes:

  Here are Nicole (left) and Dana (right) on stage:

  

  Curious about those costumes?

  

  Publicity material from the time:

  

  If you want to read more, there’s a compilation of her writing put together by Tony Wolf, Houdini’s “Girl Detective”: The Real-Life Ghost-Busting Adventures of Rose Mackenberg.

  Rose also has a belated obituary in the New York Times‘ rather good “Overlooked No More” series, dedicated to women who weren’t written about when they died.

  A few excellent pictures of Rose in action are available in the Saturday Evening Post.

  And she’s also featured in artist A R Hopwood’s exploration of The Ethics of Deception for London’s Wellcome Collection.

  ******

  In these coronavirus times, our venues could use your support. You can donate to ACUD in Berlin via Startnext, and/or to the KGB Bar in NYC via Fundly, and/or your own local cultural stronghold.

  ******

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in May. And here’s a link to our Patreon, in case you’d like to help fund our work.

  Support for the Dead Ladies Show podcast comes from the Berliner Senat.

  

   

• Podcast #31: Alexandra Kollontai (3/8/2020)

  Welcome to episode 31, in which Dead Ladies Show co-founder Katy Derbyshire talks about Russian revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai. She was present at the Copenhagen Second Congress of Socialist Women in 1910, where she voted for the introduction of International Women’s Day. Kollontai worked hard to promote women’s interests in the early Soviet Union, often a losing battle. And she had some exciting ideas about love in the new society.

  Here it is, introduced and produced by Susan Stone for your enlightenment and enjoyment:

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can find the transcript here.

   

  Show notes:

   

  

  Katy’s favourite pic, Kollontai (centre) at the Congress of the Peoples of the East, Baku 1920

   

   

  

  Young Alexandra

   

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  Rabotnitsa, or The Woman Worker, 1923

   

   

  

  Kollontai as a Soviet ambassador

   

   

  

  With medals

   

   

  For further reading, Katy recommends Cathy Porter’s excellent Alexandra Kollontai, A Biography, which gives a lot of helpful background information. And if you read German, Barbara Kirchner’s edition of Kollontai’s Autobiographie einer sexuell emanzipierten Kommunistin.

   

   

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  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in April. And here’s a link to our Patreon, in case you’d like to help fund our work.

  Support for the Dead Ladies Show podcast comes from the Berliner Senat.

  

• Podcast #30: Emma Goldman (2/14/2020)
  Episode 30! Can you believe it? For a little inspiration in these grim political times, podcast producer & presenter Susan Stone chooses a brand spanking new presentation from Dead Ladies Show co-founder Florian Duijsens. 

  Our other dear co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins in on the comfy couch to introduce the fabulous Emma Goldman. This anarchist philosopher, activist, and writer was determined, persistent, and sure in her convictions. Which, duly, got her convicted. Often called Red Emma, she’s surely no true role model, but a heck of a lot of fun to learn about. 

  Susan and Katy also talk about the inaugural Emma Goldman Awards that just took place in Vienna, and provide some rather poppy musical inspiration. 

  Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. And you can find the transcript here.

  Show notes:

  

  Here’s the Goldman family in the bad old days.

  

  

  

  Emma Goldman

  

  

  Mugshots

  

  

  

  Emma in the media

  

  In Russia with Sasha Berkmann

  

  And here’s Audré Lorde in that T-shirt on the lake.

  You might also like to watch the film about John Reed and Louise Bryant, which features Emma, REDS. But do make sure you set aside three hours and fifteen minutes…

  For further reading, there’s Emma’s autobiography Living My Life, available in full online at The Anarchist Library, or abridged from Penguin Classics.

  And Florian recommends books by Vivian Gornick, Candace Falk, and Sharon Rudahl.

  

  

  

  For revolutionary dancing purposes, there is Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Enjoy!

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in March. And here’s a link to our Patreon, in case you’d like to help fund transcripts.

  Support for the Dead Ladies Show podcast comes from the Berliner Senat.

  
• Podcast #29: Zora Neale Hurston (1/15/2020)

  Episode 29 presents a giant of the Harlem Renaissance: writer, anthropologist and zombie finder Zora Neale Hurston!

  Zora may be best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, but her love of adventure and willingness to re-write her own biography are sure to delight fans old and new.

  Writer and scholar Fatin Abbas tells Zora’s tale from the stage in ACUD, and Dead Ladies Show co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins podcast producer and presenter Susan Stone to put things in motion.

  Also available on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. And you can find the transcript here.

  Show notes:

  You can read more about Zora’s remarkable hometown Eatonville here.

  

  Enjoy this rare fieldwork footage Zora shot, which a kind Youtuber has paired with recordings of her voice!

  

  

  The books Fatin recommends are these: Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd, and Zora’s own Dust Tracks on a Road. You can listen to more of her ethnographic recordings (and her singing!) here, and here’s that Lithub story about her role in the first Black baby doll.

  

   

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in February. And here’s a link to our Patreon, in case you’d like to help fund transcripts.

  Support for the Dead Ladies Show podcast comes from the Berliner Senat.

  

• Podcast #28: Fanny Cradock (12/12/2019)

  Episode 28 is a special one, available in English and also in German!

  Our talented bilingual presenter is Mary Scherpe, the woman behind Stil in Berlin and co-founder of the Feminist Food Club. Working in that intersection of food and style, Mary’s almost predestined to tell us all about Britain’s extravagant television chef Fanny Cradock, whose life was not quite what you might expect… Recorded live as part of ACUD‘s Backyard Summer.

  Plus, producer Susan Stone invites Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire into her very own kitchen to pop some corks and talk turkey, game, raisins, and other festive foodie fun.

  Here’s the English version:
  

  Und hier gibt es die Folge auf deutsch:
  

  Also available on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can find our transcript of the English version here.

  Show notes

  Here’s Fanny with her (most) beloved husband Johnny.

  

  And here she is putting on the style earlier in life.

  

  In the BBC studio.

  

  A medley of dishes, original and recreated…

  

  

  

  The BBC’s archive offers a wealth of Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas episodes for viewers in the UK. Or you could check out the 2006 movie Fear of Fanny, which exposed a new side to the celebrity chef.

  But whatever you do, you probably have to watch the eye-rolling incident…

  If you have more time on your hands, there’s the bizarre British Gas ad.

  Mary recommends Fanny’s autobiography, Something’s Burning, and also Clive Ellis’s Fabulous Fanny. And we’re rather taken with the blog Keep Calm and Fanny On, recreating Fanny’s non-meaty recipes like the blue chestnut cream one above. 

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in January. And here’s a link to our Patreon page, in case you’d like to help fund transcripts.

• Podcast #27: Margaret Fountaine (11/14/2019)

  On Episode 27, we meet a Dead Lady Lepidopterist! Dead Ladies Show co-founder Florian Duijsens introduces us to Margaret Fountaine, an English explorer and naturalist who collected butterflies and loved love. Her exciting scientific life and world travels were well-known, but her romantic adventures were only revealed when Margaret’s copious diaries were read in 1978, 100 years after she first started them at age 15.

  Florian’s talk was recorded live at ACUD (shoutout to sound engineer Hyui Ines Rmi) just two months ago in Berlin. For the podcast, our other Dead Ladies Show co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins podcast producer & presenter Susan Stone to revel in Margaret’s lovely and at times heart-breaking tale.

  Also available on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download a transcript here.

  Show notes:

  

  These are the diaries that emerged in 1978.

  https://twitter.com/NorwichCastle/status/1049382708047204355?s=20

  And here’s some portraits of Margaret herself from the diaries.

  

  Septimus Hewson, the cowlicked singer from Limerick

  

  The kind of bike the Fountaine sisters rode 600km through Europe

  

  Khalil as he appears in the diary

  

  Some of Margaret’s beautiful art

  

  The euploea phaenareta margaretae, named after Margaret

  

  The ceratinia ninonia neimyi, which she named after Khalil

  

  Margaret late in life

  https://twitter.com/rosiesplaques/status/1146436337983283201?s=20

  Margaret’s guerillaed blue plaque

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in January. And here’s a link to our Patreon page, in case you’d like to help fund transcripts.

  

   

• Podcast #26: Doreen Valiente & Martha Maxwell (10/17/2019)

  Episode 26 brings you spooky Dead Lady tales all the way from NYC! First, Claire Carroll introduces us to England’s Doreen Valiente, known as the mother of modern witchcraft. In the UK and beyond, she was key in the spread of modern day Wicca, now a world-wide religion. Doreen also had more than a few secrets under her cape.
  Then, it’s time for a live lady taxidermist talking about a Dead Lady taxidermist! Divya Anantharaman of Gotham Taxidermy brings us the story of American naturalist and taxidermy pioneer Martha Maxwell.

  The talks were recorded live at two separate editions of NYC DLS, which is hosted and curated by Molly O’Laughlin Kemper, with support from Nicolas Kemper and Christopher Neil and Lori Schwarz, general manager of the KGB Bar’s Red Room, where the event is held. Join the NYC newsletter to stay updated on the next ones!

  Dead Ladies Show co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins podcast producer & presenter Susan Stone to chat about these spooky wonderful dames and more.

   

   

  Also available on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can find the transcript of this episode here.

  Show notes:

  Now for some pictures!

  

  Here’s Doreen with some of the tools of her trade.

  

  And here are some of her ceremonial artifacts shown as they would be on an altar.

  

  Ritual books owned by Doreen Valiente, including Gerald Gardner’s Book of Shadows at the back

  

  The Blue Plaque marking the last home Doreen lived in. It’s the only historic plaque on a public housing building in the UK.

  …onto the taxidermy portion of our show…

  

  Presenter Divya Anantharaman artfully combines Rihanna lyrics with taxidermy to illustrate Martha Maxwell’s burning desire for knowledge.

  

  Taxidermy hasn’t always been done skillfully. The Lion of Gripsholm is an infamous example of what happens when someone who has never seen the animal alive is tasked with recreating it from its skin alone.

  

  And, get a load of these ocelots! Can you *spot* the difference? Again, one was prepared by someone with little to no knowledge of the actual animal. 

  
  Martha Maxwell sensibly attired in her hunting outfit.

  

  

  
  Maxwell’s display at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition was the first of its kind.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in November. And here’s a link to our Patreon page, in case you’d like to help fund our work.

  

   

• Podcast #25: LaVern Baker (9/19/2019)

  Episode 24 was recorded especially in Berlin, with our co-founder Katy Derbyshire telling us about the blues and R&B singer LaVern Baker.  Recorded live at Restaurant März, and produced and presented by Susan Stone in September 2019.

  Also available on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast. You can download a transcript here.

  Show notes & pics:

  

  Chicago’s Club DeLisa, 1942

  

  That first hit

  

  The Tweedlee Dee Girl herself

  

  Height of fame

  

  Red lipstick

  

  Pretty in mink

  

  Marines on shore leave, Philippines

  

  Later in life

  

  Katy’s favourite pic.

   

  You can read more about LaVern Baker in Chip Deffaa’s book Blue Rhythms. Six Lives in Rhythm and Blues.

  Head over to Spotify for our special playlist…

  Or look up all those different “Saved” covers on YouTube… Skip Phil Collins to 1:32 to watch LaVern do it in colour just after being rediscovered in 1986, plus a great little interview at the end. And a longer interview is here… But whatever you do, don’t listen to “Think Twice, Version X” at work.

  Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

  Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode in October. And here’s a link to our Patreon page, in case you’d like to help fund transcripts.

  

• Podcast #24: Hedy Lamarr (6/20/2019)

  Episode 24 comes fresh from Berlin, where our writer and translation friend Isabel Cole tells us about glamorous Hollywood star-slash-inventor Hedy Lamarr.  Recorded live at ACUD, and produced and presented by Susan Stone in June 2019.

  Also available on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Acast.

  Show notes & pics:

  

  A young Hedy, then still Hedwig Kiesler

  

  An ecstatic Hedy

  

  

  Hedy in hats