Jo's Boys: A Little Women Podcast

As things heat up between Amy and Laurie, we're joined by Alena Smith, creator and showrunner of Dickinson, a television show for the exact demographic of this podcast. Like, have you ever wept openly at a Mitski concert? Can you not shut up about how every 19th century literary figure was part of the #RainbowCommunity? Do you have feelings for Chloe Fineman despite her associations with Scientology? Dickinson is for you, and this episode is for you. Enjoy listening to Peyton and Alena pass the same brain cell back and forth for an hour. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow us on Instagram at @josboyspod.

Who better to chat with us about this Meg-centric chapter than Meg herself? On June 28, 2023, before the SAG-AFTRA strike, actor Willa Fitzgerald chatted with us about Meg's marital woes and her own time playing Meg in the 2017 Masterpiece adaptation of Little Women. You can see Willa this fall in Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher, the thrillers Desperation Road and Strange Darling, and Ethan Hawke's Wildcat. She's also starred in MTV's Scream, USA's Dare Me, and Amazon's Reacher. True heads will also remember her turn as Kitsey Barbour in The Goldfinch. In 2012, Willa graduated from Yale, where she studied psychology for three years before—luckily for all of us—changing her major to theatre studies. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Bestie of the pod James Frankie Thomas is BACK this week, on the heels of the release of his critically acclaimed debut novel Idlewild, to discuss Laurie and Amy's newfound romance, in which Amy wields the reins and the whip and Laurie delights in submission. We also offer our official statement on Kylimothée's public début at the Renaissance World Tour. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow us on Instagram at @josboyspod!

Beth's Secret: Strong contender for gloomiest lingerie brand of all time. As Beth and Jo head to the seaside to convalesce, science and health journalist Hannah Seo joins us to break down the history and utility of the beach as medicine. Hannah was recently a fellow for the Well Desk at the New York Times, reporting on science, health, and the environment. Their work can be found in Wired, Scientific American, and the Walrus, among other publications. They're a graduate of New York University's science, health and environmental reporting program. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

An Alcott protagonist even more trans than Jo March? It's more likely than you think. Lou's 1876 sensation story "Enigmas" features a young man who's hired to spy on another young man - a man who is short and delicate and rather young-looking, all things considered. (See where this is going?) Our spy is swiftly overtaken by sexual attraction to the man he's been hired to report on. Before the story's over and the spy is unmasked, Alcott will take the gender binary and fold it into a Mobius strip. Here to dive deep into this delightful bit of Alcottiana is Alice Rutkowski, chair and associate professor of English at SUNY Geneseo. She often teaches the courses Literature and the Civil War, the Queer Nineteenth Century, Safe Zone Train-the-Trainer, Feminism and Pornography, and Major Authors: Melville, among others. Her research centers on the Civil War and Reconstruction as well as queer theory and trans politics. In 2013, she founded the LGBTQ Issues Working Group at SUNY Geneseo, and she's the coordinator of the college's Safe Zone Network. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This is the chapter. Jo. Laurie. Heartbreak. Longest episode in our podcast's history. Let's go. Our guest is Jake Maia Arlow, author of multiple novels, including the Stonewall Honor Book Almost Flying and the Indie Bestseller How to Excavate a Heart. Their newest novel, The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet, is available now!

Jo gets really into true crime and starts writing cool horror stories. Professor Bhaer, the Ana Mardoll of the 19th century, accuses her of Causing Harm through her writing and suggests she take up a new career as a street sweeper. This episode could have been an hour-long anti-Bhaer hate rant, but our special guest, Andrew Leland, instead leads us into a wide-ranging discussion about the history of #OwnVoices, the morality of Murderinos, and blindness as metaphor. Andrew is the author of the memoir The Country of the Blind, published July 18 and available now from Penguin. He's been an editor at the Believer since 2003, and he's taught at Smith College, UMass-Amherst, and the University of Missouri. You can visit him online at andrewleland.org.

Jo narrowly skirts a marriage proposal by jetting - or carriage-ing - off to the Big Apple! There, she settles into boarding house life and gets to know her roommates: a couple of jerks who trash her fashion sense, a cultivated old spinster who takes her out to shows, and (sighs, groans, wailing and gnashing of teeth) Professor Bhaer. Here to walk us through it all is JP Brammer, a.k.a. Hola Papi! JP is a writer and artist from Oklahoma, now based in Brooklyn. Since he started his advice column Hola Papi! in 2017, he's answered thousands of letters and written a memoir-slash-guide-to-life called “Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Wal-Mart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons.” Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week on As the March Sisters Turn: Laurie's ready to pop the question. Jo would really rather he didn't--not least of all because she's sure Beth is in love with him. Why else would she gaze at him through the window all the time, sighing longingly? What a tangled web! Here to help us with detangling are acclaimed author Katie Heaney and journalist Lindsey Weber, co-host of Who? Weekly. They both hail from a long-running Little Women groupchat, in which Lindsey is Jo and Katie, somewhat reluctantly, is Beth. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow us on Instagram at @josboyspod!

Amy March's Hot Girl Summer is in full effect! This week, for Amy's whirlwind tour through Europe and flirtatious encounters with the dashing Fred Vaughan, we're joined by legendary trans scholar Susan Stryker. Dr. Stryker is professor emerita of gender and women's studies at the University of Arizona. She is a founding editor-in-chief of Transgender Studies Quarterly and the author of numerous books, including Transgender History. You can also see her onscreen in Netflix's Disclosure and FX's Pride. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Hey, hey, let's go, Wakakusa monogatari! In this episode, we explore the ways Little Women and Louisa May Alcott have been represented in anime, from the long-running children's TV serials of the 80s and 90s to Louisa May Alcott's more recent turn as an anime heroine. Our guest and guide for this episode is Lio Min, author of the novel Beating Heart Baby. It was named one of the best books of 2022 by BuzzFeed, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, Kirkus Reviews, and the Chicago Public Library. Lio's writing has appeared in Nylon, Fader, Catapult, and many more. They've interviewed all of your faves: Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, Rina Sawayama, Caroline Polachek, and Soccer Mommy, to name just a few. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week, Amy makes an anti-slavery fair all about her, and wins a trip to Europe for it. Jo, meanwhile, wins bupkis. Joining us to break down these hijinks is Jason Lipshutz, the senior director of music at Billboard. He's written cover stories on Taylor Swift, Lorde, and U2, to name just a few, and he's appeared on Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, and the Today Show, among numerous other broadcast programs. He's also handled red carpet coverage at the Grammys, but he says he's more excited about coming on Jo's Boys than any of those things. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow Jo's Boys on Instagram at @josboyspod.

This week, Jo sticks her foot in her mouth and fumbles a trip to Europe, but at least she sticks it to the patriarchy while doing so. With us to dissect each and every one of Jo's social faux pas (which, I just learned, is in fact the plural form of "faux pas") is scholar and author Anne Boyd Rioux. Anne has written several books, most notably Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, her acclaimed 2019 history of Little Women. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith. Follow Jo's Boys on Instagram @josboyspod.

Meg is shifting into baby mode - and here to help us pinpoint the exact moment of the twins' conception (yes, there is a sneaky, fade-to-black sex scene in this chapter!) is the poet and filmmaker Stephen Ira. Stephen is the author of the chapbook Chasers, and his poetry has appeared in the Paris Review, among other publications. He graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2019 and he was a 2014 Lambda Literary Fellow. His film "I have to think of us as separate people" screened at OutFest, NewFest, and the New Orleans Film Festival, and he starred in the 2022 film Framing Agnes, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both an Audience Award and an Innovator Prize. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week, Jo publishes her first novel... and it flops. Who better to guide Jo - and us - through this trial than renowned literary agent Bonnie Nadell? Bonnie is the president of the Hill Nadell Literary Agency, which represents a host of award-winning and best-selling books. Over the course of Bonnie's nearly 40-year career, her clients have been winners of or finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, Carnegie Medal, National Book Critics Circle Award, Kirkus Prize, and numerous PEN Awards, among others. You can visit Hill Nadell online and learn more at hillnadell.com. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week, we're joined by Hal Schrieve. Hal is the author of Out of Salem, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, and the forthcoming How to Get Over the End of the World. Ze is also a children's librarian at the New York Public Library. Together, we discuss Chapter 26: Artistic Attempts, in which Amy is bad at everything she tries, from charcoal sketches to lobster preparation. We spend a lot of time on the lobster. Both Consider the Lobster and Consider the Oyster are discussed. What do M.F.K., D.F.W., and L.M.A. have in common? Tune in to find out! Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

For this week's Scrap Bag, we're going deep with Anna Todd on her 2018 Little Women adaptation, The Spring Girls. Anna is the New York Times best-selling author of several novels. Her After series has been adapted into a trilogy of feature films. (Total box office gross to date, by the way: $150 million.) Together, we get into everything from Meg's sexuality to the military-industrial complex to the many definitions of fanfiction. It's some of the most fun I've ever had making this show, and I can't wait for Anna to drop The Spring Women. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here. Follow us on Instagram: @josboyspod.

If the Dovecote's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'! This week, Meg and John Brooke tie the knot, and we bust out the Victorian floral analysis to tell you exactly what her bouquet really means. We also get into Laurie's longing, Jo's spinsterhood, and the presence of a ghost among the celebrants. Joining us for the festivities is Michael Leali, the author of The Civil War of Amos Abernathy. We open the episode by chatting about Amos, the tale of a twelve-year-old boy who's falling in love and learning queer history from his post as a Civil War re-enactor. Did we mention most of the book is narrated via letters to Albert Cashier? Tailor-made for the Jo's Boys crowd. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're diving into the first chapter of the oft-maligned second volume of Little Women. The war is over, wedding bells are ringing, and the March girls are growing up -- but at what cost? Our guest this week is the legendary Sarah Schulman. Sarah is a writer, activist, and AIDS historian. She's written dozens of books, plays, and films. Her most recent book, Let the Record Show, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction. She was an active member of ACT UP and she co-founded the Lesbian Avengers, the direct action group the organized the first Dyke March. She's been named a Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting and a Fulbright Fellow in Judaic Studies. She's on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace and she's an endowed chair in creative writing at Northwestern. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're diving into the final chapter of Volume 1 of Little Women: Aunt March Settles the Question. What question? A marriage proposal. Oh, god. How is Alcott gonna proto-feminist her way out of this one? Our special guest is Kim Tran, a writer and a consultant on transformative justice, sexual harassment prevention, and unlearning anti-Blackness in non-Black communities, among many other subjects. Her work has been featured in NPR, Slate, and the New York Times. She holds a PhD in Ethnic Studies with a designated emphasis in Women and Gender Studies from UC Berkeley, and she's currently writing a book titled The End of Allyship: A New Era of Solidarity. You can visit Kim online at kimtranphd.com and on her very good Twitter, @but_im_kim_tran. You can also now follow us on Instagram at @josboyspod. We'll be posting news, updates, and Katharine Hepburn thirst traps. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week, we're joined by Camryn Garrett, the acclaimed author of Full Disclosure, Off the Record, and Friday I'm In Love, which just dropped on January 10 — so, like, take your headphones out of your ears, run to your nearest bookstore, and buy it now. In 2019, Camryn was named one of Teen Vogue's 21 Under 21 and one of Glamour's College Women of the Year, and she recently graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Together, Camryn and I tackle the scene in which Dad March comes home, at last, from war. (No, he does not actually say, "My little women!" Sorry, Bob Odenkirk fans.) He says his "son Jo" has become a fine young lady - and boy, do Camryn and I have thinky thoughts about that. We also ask why the subject of slavery is so curiously absent in this most Civil War-y of Civil War novels, and Camryn gives me a full recap of Taylor Swift's commencement speech, which she got to see firsthand, as a 2022 Tisch grad. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich. Alex is the author of the book slash cultural phenomenon The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, which won several awards, including the Lambda Literary Award, and was named one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, the Times of London, the Guardian, and about a million other places. Alex earned their BA from Columbia, their MFA at Emerson College, and their JD at Harvard Law School. They're now an assistant professor at Bowdoin College, and their next book, Both and Neither, is forthcoming from Doubleday. Together, we dive into this rollercoaster of a chapter: Laurie plays Cupid, makes a mess, and tries to enlist Jo in a plot to run away from home. Jo would, if she were a boy, but as she's a miserable girl... Well, maybe with this haircut... On second thought, yeah; we're running away to India together, and we're doing it as boys. Gender! Can't live with it, can't live without it. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by Ethan Evans, a PhD candidate at Cardiff University, to chat about George Eliot, a contemporary of Lou Alcott, and everything the two authors had in common. Ethan has written extensively on queer masculinity in Eliot's life and work, and his research applies recent developments in queer and trans studies to the lives of Eliot and her partner George Henry Lewes. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by Jennifer Putzi. Dr. Putzi is a professor at the College of William & Mary, where she teaches English and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. Among her course offerings, she's taught both Transgender Fictions and a 400-level course called 150 Years of Little Women. She is the author of several books, including Fair Copy: Relational Poetics and Antebellum American Women's Poetry and Identifying Marks: Race, Gender, and the Marked Body in Nineteenth-Century America. Together, we discuss Chapter 20: Confidential, in which Meg and John Brooke's relationship really takes off, much to Jo's consternation. Also, we make an incredible discovery regarding the gender identity of Aunt March's pet parrot. Turns out Polly… is a he? Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by Gregory Eiselein, current president of the Louisa May Alcott Society and Donnelly Professor of English and University Distinguished Teaching Scholar at Kansas State University. We're also joined by Anne Phillips, former president of the Louisa May Alcott Society and Associate Head of the Graduate Faculty of English at Kansas State University. Together, Dr. Eiselein and Dr. Phillips have co-edited four books on Alcott and Little Women. They bring entire lifetimes of expertise and experience to this episode, a deep dive into Chapter 19: Amy's Will, which sees Beth becoming sicker and Amy becoming… a Catholic bio queen? Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fi-jYI0rV-1dbiqeoOruYn4iKfUkVw4SiAQzpSH_u4Y/edit?usp=sharing.

This week, we're joined by Molly Horan, author of the delightful novel Epically Earnest, which is available now from Harper Collins. She is a professor at New York University, where her course offerings include Reading and Writing LGBT YA Fiction: From Annie On My Mind to They Both Die at the End. She's also edited and written for publications like BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and Bust, and she holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from the New School. And she co-wrote a stage adaptation of Little Women for Brooklyn's Hedgepig Ensemble in 2019, which makes her very qualified to speak on this bleak chapter, wherein Beth gets sick, Jo gets drunk, and Laurie gets romantically rejected for the first time -- but not the last. You can visit Molly on Twitter at @molly_horan. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by special guest Tiffany Wayne, a historian and scholar of women, gender, and feminism. Dr. Wayne was an Affiliated Scholar at Stanford University's Clayman Institute and a professor of history at UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College. She's edited and authored several books, including Women's Suffrage: The Complete Guide to the Nineteenth Amendment, Women's Rights in the United States, and Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World. We're so glad to have Dr. Wayne on hand as Beth returns from the Hummels with bad news and a worse fever. You can visit Dr. Wayne online at womanwriting.com. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by special guest Eagan Dean, an award-winning Americanist in Rutgers' Department of English. Eagan is currently working toward his PhD in Literatures in English with a certificate in women's, gender, and sexuality studies. Their dissertation, "American Literary Gender (and Its Discontents): The Literary Production and Uses of Hermeneutic Gender in the Long Nineteenth Century in America," makes him the perfect person to break down this chapter of Little Women. With Marmee away in Washington, tending to father, Jo assumes the mantle of man of the house -- and the other March sisters have their own concerns. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're chatting with cartoonist Kathleen Gros about her graphic novel Jo: An Adaptation of Little Women (Sort Of), which reimagines Jo March as a middle schooler discovering her queer identity and navigating a crush on Freddie, a girl who works with her on the school's paper. Kathleen is also the author of the forthcoming Anne, a contemporary retelling of Anne of Green Gables, which is due out this summer and, yes, promises budding romance between Anne and one Diana Barry. When Kathleen's not writing queer-as-hell adaptations of your favorite classics, she teaches comics at Langara College. You can visit her online at kagcomix.com and on Twitter at kagcomix.

This week, we're joined by special guest Vicki Johnson. Vicki is a former White House staffer and the author of the forthcoming picture book Molly's Tuxedo, due out in June 2023 from Little Bee Books. She's a 2022 Lambda Literary Fellow, a graduate of Smith College, and an MFA candidate at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. You can visit her online at vickijohnsonwrites.com, on Twitter at @vickijohnson, and on Instagram at @vickijohnsonwrites. Together, Vicki and I dive into Chapter 15: A Telegram, in which a telegram arrives, all hell breaks loose, and Jo gets the most famous literary haircut of all time. We do spend most of the episode talking about that haircut. Civil War? Never heard of her! Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcription of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by special guest Erin Thomas, the author of more than half a dozen books for young people, including Forcing the Ace, Wolves at the Gate, and Overboard. She teaches creative writing to people of all ages, from Toronto schoolchildren to residents of the Oshawa Senior Citizens' Centre. She's a member of CANSCAIP, the Writers' Community of Durham Region, and the Canadian Children's Book Centre. Together, Erin and I dive into Chapter 14: Secrets, in which Jo publishes her very first story and enters into a footrace with Laurie, one with staggering Greek-mythic implications. You can visit Erin online at erinthomas.ca. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

This week, we're hosting the world premiere of RXK Nephew's new song "Saoirse Ronan." RXK Nephew is a rapper based in Rochester, New York. He's been profiled in Rolling Stone and the Washington Post, and his song "American tterroristt" came in at #44 on Pitchfork's list of the best 100 songs of 2021. Pitchfork also published a list of the best 100 RXK Nephew songs of 2021; Neph was the only artist to get his own list. I asked him to watch Greta Gerwig's Little Women and report back in a song. Here it is. Not safe for work. Do not listen if you have kids around or if you are my dad. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

This week, we're joined by special guest Hena Khan, an award-winning children's author who's written many books, including Amina's Voice, which was named one of the best books of 2017 by the Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, NPR, and many more. She also wrote More to the Story, a contemporary adaptation of Little Women that takes place in a Pakistani American family and centers on one Jameela Mirza and her quest for school paper greatness. Together, we take a look at Chapter 13: Castles in the Air - Hena's working title for More to the Story; fun fact! - and learn all about the March sisters' - and Laurie's - wildest dreams. Will any of these dreams come true? Shake this magic 8 ball with us to find out!

We're back after our summer break! This week, we're joined by special guest Claudia Morales, a writer and digital content specialist based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in MTV News and Extra Crispy, among other publications. Claudia and I take a dive into Camp Laurence, the closest thing Little Women has to an anime beach episode. Among picnics, games of croquet, and a revealing game of 19th century Truth or Dare, Jo lets us know that she doesn't mind being a guy, as long as she's comfortable, and Laurie hints at how he really feels about his "dear fellow." Also, as I mentioned in the show, Claudia's mom is currently battling cancer, and it would be so lovely if you'd swing over to her GoFundMe and contribute a few dollars for her care. Click here to learn more: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-claudia-conquer-cancer. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. You can visit Peyton online at peytonthomas.ca and on Twitter @peytonology. This week, we're joined by special guest Tess Scilipoti, a Ignatz Award-nominated comic artist whose work has appeared in The Nib. We dive into the eleventh chapter of Little Women, "Experiments," where the girlies decide to abandon their chores for a week and wind up regretting everything. You can visit Tess online at tscilipoti.com and on Twitter @tessscilipoti. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Dennis Lee, staff writer at the Takeout and lunatic behind the newsletter Food is Stupid and the late, great blog The Pizzle. Dennis and I discuss the history of pickled limes and their role in Little Women before taste-testing our own home-pickled citrus. We're both dubious... but do these limes contain hidden depths? Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth, cartoonist for the New Yorker and author-illustrator of the forthcoming graphic novel "Diana: My Graphic Obsession." We dive into the tenth chapter of Little Women, "The Pickwick Club and Post Office," where all the little women drag up as little men to welcome a boy into their ladies' club. You can visit Sivan online at sivanpiatigorskyroth.com and on Instagram at @sivanbasha. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Jaya Saxena, senior writer at Eater and author of several books, most recently “Crystal Clear: Extraordinary Talismans for Everyday Life.” We dive into the ninth chapter of Little Women, "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair," where, in Jaya's words, “Meg goes to a party and learns to never want anything ever again.” Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Andi Schwartz. We dive into the eighth chapter of Little Women, "Jo Meets Apollyon," where Amy lights Jo's manuscript on fire then pays for her misdeed by falling through the ice of the local river-slash-pond situation. Fittingly, Andi and I talk a lot about Jenny Fran Davis's essay "High Femme Camp Antics," which you can read here: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/high-femme-camp-antics/. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Hannah Zbitnew, an interdisciplinary artist creating textiles and ceramics in downtown Toronto. We dive into the seventh chapter of Little Women, "Amy's Valley of Humiliation," where everyone's favourite twelve-year-old stunt queen destroys the social order of her one-room schoolhouse with little more than a couple dozen pickled limes. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Naomi Kanakia, author of the novels "Enter Title Here" and "We Are Totally Normal," along with last year's handbook "The Cynical Writer's Guide to the Publishing Industry." We dive into the sixth chapter of Little Women, "Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful," where Beth gets the play the piano to her heart's content and Laurie does not. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined for our very first Scrap Bag episode by special guest Daniel Okrent, former public editor of the New York Times and author of the book The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America. We dive into the complex history of anti-Italian bigotry in New England and the struggles that Laurie would have faced in the world of the Boston Brahmins. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Elle Grenier, the author of the forthcoming young adult novel "Bottle Blonde." We dive into the fifth chapter of Little Women, "Being Neighborly," where Jo nurses a convalescing Laurie back to full flower-boy health. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Jaime Armenta, a writer and comedian with the Pack Theater in Los Angeles. We dive into the fourth chapter of Little Women, "Burdens," where Jo uncovers the secrets of her crotchety old Aunt March's lavender marriage, Meg spills some great governess gossip, Beth remains an angel, and Amy remains a stunt queen. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Dr. Morgan Bimm, a writer and scholar in York University's School of Gender, Feminist, and Women's Studies. We dive into the third chapter of Little Women, "The Laurence Boy," where Jo and Laurie meet one another before committing to a gender. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to Jo's Boys, the podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Stephanie Redekop, a PhD candidate in English literature at the University of Toronto. We dive into the second chapter of Little Women, "A Merry Christmas," which contains a scene so controversial, so rife with gender euphoric crossdressing, that the Christian Union saw fit to ban Little Women from all Sunday School libraries. Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Jo's Boys, a podcast for little women, little men, and everyone in between! We'll be reading through "Little Women" chapter by chapter, pulling out queer and trans threads as we go. Your host is Peyton Thomas, author of the Kirkus-starred novel "Both Sides Now" and a freelance journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Billboard, and Vanity Fair. This week, we're joined by special guest Frankie Thomas, who writes the YA of Yore column for the Paris Review. We dive into the first chapter of Little Women, "Playing Pilgrims," where the March sisters await a Christmas without any presents and Jo can't get over her disappointment in not being a boy. We also get into the life and times of Lu Alcott, who, in their own words, was "more than half-persuaded that I am a man's soul put by some freak of nature into a woman's body." Why, you ask? "Well, for one thing, because I have fallen in love in my life with ever so many pretty girls, and never once the least bit with any man." Who can't relate? Our cover art is by Allison Hoffman. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3LTnQJV