Queer Lit

Time for a cross-over! I had the absolute pleasure on being invited to join the Amplified network and appear on their superb podcast. Here is our episode and Amplified's show notes:"Amplified is an audio blog series about the sounds of scholarship from our team here at the Amplify Podcast Network. This month on Amplified, Stacey Copeland and Hannah McGregor are joined by Lena Mattheis to kick off a brand new series featuring the latest additions to our sustained cohort of podcasters. Lena is the creator and host of Queer Lit, a podcast about LGBTQIA2S+* literature and culture. In this conversation, we reflect on podcasting as a tool for community building and queer scholarly practice, tracing how Queer Lit emerged from Lena's teaching practice and a commitment to accessible feminist and queer knowledge creation."

What is the queerest thing you did this year? Listen to the festive special to find out how queer our guests and listeners made 2025!References:Liz BreslinHow To Read podcasthttps://www.howtoreadpodcast.com/elaine-auyoung-one-sided-relationships/Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (OUP, March 2026)https://global.oup.com/academic/product/queer-forms-and-pronouns-9780198974116?q=lena%20mattheis&lang=en&cc=gbSusan StrykerLouise Siddons’ Good Pictures Are A Strong Weaponhttps://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517910730/good-pictures-are-a-strong-weapon/Category is Books (Glasgow)Lighthouse Books (Edinburgh)The Bookish Type (Leeds)Kit HeyamRoyal Vauxhall TavernAll Of Us StrangersNick CherrymanEuropean Gay Ski WeekOliver Slate-Green’s The Way Blood TravelsLeah DavidsonListenqueer.co.ukOut and WildLeilah KingCoast is QueerJack GiesekingOur Dyke Histories podcastJulie EnszerLesbian Lives Sinister WisdomThe Essential Poems of Pat Parker (The 87 Press)Caro de Robertis’ The Palace of ErosJoelle Taylor’s MaryvilleAlison Bechdel’s SpentAllan Johnson https://thisisallan.medium.com/elf-and-safety-2b061323dbc1Flora Johnson’s Christopher Popinkins

What is the queerest thing you did this year? Listen to the festive special to find out how queer our guests and listeners made 2025!   References: Happiest Season Kristen Stewart Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid Joe Jukes https://www.hiss.sydney/ Virginia Gay’s Cyrano Qtopia Sydney Queer Britain @guildfordgaybookclub New House Art Space (Guildford) Juno Dawson’s Stay Another Day Layla McCay’s The Queer Bookshelf: A Reader’s Guide (June 2026) Libro.fm Pillion Arzner @Arznercinema  

Share the queerest thing you did this year by 6 December to be featured on the end-of-year special and for the chance to win a special gift (if you are based in the UK). Send an email or voice recording to [email protected] by 6 December.I can't wait to hear from you!

Medusa, Medea, Artemis… we’ve all heard their stories before but what do they sound like when not told by (or centred on) men? Mara Gold, the sapphic scholar, is here to tell us all about these figures and about how there is always more than one side to a story and more than one reading to a myth. Come for the lesbian legends, stay for the witty witches and follow us @queerlitpodcast and @sapphic_scholar.  ReferencesMara Gold’s Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men (2025)Mara Gold’s “Rebels Against the Tyranny of Men’: Women Performing Greek Comedy in Early Twentieth-Century Britain” in Women Creating Classics (2025) https://mara-gold.com/@sapphic_scholarBeyond the Binary Pitt Rivers Museumhttps://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/beyond-the-binaryAshmolean MuseumRebellious Bodies audio tour https://app.smartify.org/en-GB/tours/ashmolean-rebellious-bodies-tour?utm_campaign=ashmoleansmartifywebpage&utm_medium=webpagelink&utm_source=ashmoleanwebsite&utm_content=rebelliousbodiestourSmartifyHélène Cixous’ “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1975)Femme fataleGorgonsApotropaic figureAthenaHeraNatalie Haynes’ Stone BlindMadeleine Miller’s CirceRosie HewlettPat BarkerMadeleine Miller’s CirceSirensOdysseyDurham CastleHans Christian AndersenSelkieDemeterPenelopeMedeaMaenadDionysusBacchusTrue BloodAmazonAtalantaNataly BarneyLesbos-en-SeineArtemisDouble Slicehttps://doubleslice.studio/ActaeonCallistoZeusAphroditeJasonArgonautsGlauceSuranne JonesDoctor FosterGentleman JackChildren of Srikandi (2012)Hector and HephaestusRadical Book FairLighthouse Books EdinburghThe Bookish TypeCaper bookshopThe MagiciansPersephoneCassandra  Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:     What is sapphism?     What is classical reception? How is this relevant to Mara’s work?     What are the archetypes that Mara uses to structure the book? Which one are you most interested in and why?     What does Mara say about Srikandi and Srikandi’s role in LGBTQIA+ activism in Indonesia?     How can we draw on ancient myths for queer activism today? What does Mara say about this? What are your thoughts?     Do you have a favourite figure from mythology or legends?