Here Be Lions
Here Be Lions Podcast
Your favorite writer was probably queer...
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-42:56

Your favorite writer was probably queer...

An interview with writer Alyse Knorr about Emily Dickinson and the history of queer erasure

Lovely humans!

Summer has finally made it to the PNW. Thank god. I was starting to lose my mind in the deluge of grey and water.

And yet, rain aside, this landscape feels familiar in my heart. I was in Bellingham the other today, eating oysters and overlooking the Sound and I was dumbfounded by the profound sense of familiarity I had for a place so unfamiliar from my home. I grew up surrounded by sandstone, limestone and shale but as I watched the unique, radiant blue of distance islands, I felt as if I was always destined to live near water. It makes me wonder if somehow my Scottish ancestors have left their longing, their home, swimmingly present in my blood.

So, here’s to summer! To adventures! To the blue of distance!

Hot Summer Playlist

In this newsletter I interview my dear friend, Alyse Knorr, talented writer and professor, about why I NEVER KNEW that all my favorite writers were gay.

This is not a joke.

A brief list of my favorite writers who are ALSO queer:

  • Virginia Woolf

  • Carson McCullers

  • Rachel Carson

  • Emily Dickinson

  • Mary Oliver

  • Walt Whitman

  • Louisa May Alcott

  • Shakespeare

If you want to listen to one of the letters Virginia Woolf received from her lover, Vita Sackville-West, watch this super sexy reading by Jodie Comer. Please, Jodie Comer. I beg you. Read me lesbian love letters all day long.

This interview might seem tangential from the theme of romantic love but queer erasure and the literal, physical practice of removing queer love from our classic texts has caused unfathomable cultural damage that we’re only just now beginning to repair.

It’s time we start sharing queer stories and make sure that young people know that their role models, their mentors, and their leaders contain multitudes.

Shout it from the rooftops! Tell your grandma!

*p.s. I’m new to the world of interviewing! It turns out interviewing people for podcasts is really hard and kind of awkward, even when the person you’re interviewing is a good friend! Thanks for bearing with me on this adventure, lovely humans.

Reading list:

Want to fact check this episode? Here’s a reading list!

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Here Be Lions Podcast
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