Podcasts about English literature

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Concetta Principe about her poetry collection, DIsorder (Gordon Hill Press, 2024).  Disorder, the newest collection of poetry from Concetta Principe, explores the metaphorical relationship between the home and the mind, where a home should be place of sanctuary but can have its safe borders destabilized by mental illness. The poems work through these questions with Principe's characteristic subtlety, intelligence ? a nuanced and compassionate meditation on what it means to be at home. About Concetta Principe: Concetta Principe is a writer of poetry and creative non-fiction, and scholarship on the impact of the secular unconscious on culture and political thought. Her recent collection, This Real (Pedlar Press 2017) was long-listed for the League of Canadian Poet's Raymond Souster Award. Her essays, ?Who Shot Meriwether Lewis was long-listed for the 2019 Edna Staebler Personal Essay Award at The New Quarterly, and ?I Title it ?Suicide Letter was short-listed for The Malahat Review 2019 Constance Rooke award. Her poetry and creative non-fiction has appeared in Canadian and American journals including The Malahat Review, The Capilano Review, experiment-o, and Hamilton Arts and Literature. Her academic monograph exploring trauma in contemporary secular thought, Secular Messiahs and the Return to Paul's Real: A Lacanian Approach, came out with Palgrave Macmillan in 2015. She teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at Trent University, Durham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Concetta Principe about her poetry collection, DIsorder (Gordon Hill Press, 2024).  Disorder, the newest collection of poetry from Concetta Principe, explores the metaphorical relationship between the home and the mind, where a home should be place of sanctuary but can have its safe borders destabilized by mental illness. The poems work through these questions with Principe's characteristic subtlety, intelligence ? a nuanced and compassionate meditation on what it means to be at home. About Concetta Principe: Concetta Principe is a writer of poetry and creative non-fiction, and scholarship on the impact of the secular unconscious on culture and political thought. Her recent collection, This Real (Pedlar Press 2017) was long-listed for the League of Canadian Poet's Raymond Souster Award. Her essays, ?Who Shot Meriwether Lewis was long-listed for the 2019 Edna Staebler Personal Essay Award at The New Quarterly, and ?I Title it ?Suicide Letter was short-listed for The Malahat Review 2019 Constance Rooke award. Her poetry and creative non-fiction has appeared in Canadian and American journals including The Malahat Review, The Capilano Review, experiment-o, and Hamilton Arts and Literature. Her academic monograph exploring trauma in contemporary secular thought, Secular Messiahs and the Return to Paul's Real: A Lacanian Approach, came out with Palgrave Macmillan in 2015. She teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at Trent University, Durham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

EPISODE 621 - Deborah Lee Luskin - Hunting for Your Next Great Read - Reviving Artemis - The Making of a HuntressDeborah Lee Luskin earned a PhD in English Literature from Columbia University and expected to become an academic, not a deer hunter. She moved from New York City to Vermont for the summer in 1984, fell in love with the landscape, the community, and the new doctor in town. Forty years later, she's still in Vermont, where she's raised daughters, taught, and—always—wrote.Luskin's novel, Into the Wilderness (White River Press, 2010) a love story set against the backdrop of Vermont's political sea-change in 1964, won the Independent Publishers Gold Medal for Regional Fiction and praise from the Vermont Library Association for its “sense of place.”Luskin started her career in print, penning her first professional column from France while in high school. Her work has since appeared in newspapers and magazines; been broadcast on public radio; and sent into cyberspace in blogs.Luskin spent more than thirty-five years driving all over Vermont, delivering literature-based humanities programs for the Vermont Humanities Council to parenting teens, new adult readers, educators, life-long learners, healthcare workers, and prison inmates. She has lectured widely and taught countless writing workshops. Since 2016, Luskin has been facilitating the on-going Rosefire Writing Circle, a place to write in community and with support.Engaged in civic life, Luskin practiced restorative justice as a volunteer at the Brattleboro Community Justice Center and served as the elected Town Moderator in Newfane, Vermont.All along, Luskin grew vegetables, kept bees, and stuck to well-marked trails through the woods. She knew how to read a text closely, slaughter chickens, and can tomatoes, but she didn't know how to read the untracked forest that dominates the Green Mountain State. Until she was sixty, she was scared of getting lost in the woods. Then she heard a call from the universe that the deer could teach her how to read the untracked landscape. Reviving Artemis: Becoming a Huntress tells the story of how she learned to navigate through the forest of her fears and find her place in the natural world.Finding a Place in the Natural WorldReviving Artemis is the unlikely story of a woman raised in mid-twentieth-century suburbia, then lived in New York City as a young adult, and moved to Vermont in 1984. For more than thirty years, she raised domestic livestock, kept bees, and cultivated fruits and vegetables while teaching literature and telling stories. But when she turned sixty, something shifted. Luskin was overtaken by a primal urge to step out of the garden, off the blazed trails, and into untracked forest by learning to hunt deer.Deeply personal, lyrically told, and funny, Reviving Artemis reveals Luskin's ambivalence about guns and her fear of entering the forest alone in the dark. She persisted, using her literary acumen to read the forest and, as thoughtfully as she hunts for words, to hunt for deer. With the stories of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, childbirth, and wild nature to inspire her, Luskin became a huntress determined to age fiercely and compelled to tell this story of finding her place in the natural world.https://www.deborahleeluskin.com/Support the show___https://livingthenextchapter.com/podcast produced by: https://truemediasolutions.ca/Coffee Refills are always appreciated, refill Dave's cup here, and thanks!https://buymeacoffee.com/truemediaca

In her scintillating new book, The Beauty of the Houri: Heavenly Virgins, Feminine Ideals (Oxford UP, 2021), Nerina Rustomji presents a fascinating and multilayered intellectual and cultural history of the category of the “Houri” and the multiple ideological projects in which it has been inserted over time and space. Nimbly moving between a vast range of discursive theaters including Western Islamophobic representations of the Houri in the post 9/11 context, early modern and modern French and English Literature, premodern Muslim intellectual traditions, and popular preachers on the internet, Rustomji shows the complexity of this category and its unavailability for a canonical definition. The Beauty of the Houri is intellectual history at its best that combines philological rigor with astute theoretical reflection. And all this Rustomji accomplishes in prose the delightfulness of which competes fiercely with its lucidity. SherAli Tareen is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College. His research focuses on Muslim intellectual traditions and debates in early modern and modern South Asia. His book Defending Muhammad in Modernity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020) received the American Institute of Pakistan Studies 2020 Book Prize and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book Award. His other academic publications are available here. He can be reached at sherali.tareen@fandm.edu. Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In her scintillating new book, The Beauty of the Houri: Heavenly Virgins, Feminine Ideals (Oxford UP, 2021), Nerina Rustomji presents a fascinating and multilayered intellectual and cultural history of the category of the “Houri” and the multiple ideological projects in which it has been inserted over time and space. Nimbly moving between a vast range of discursive theaters including Western Islamophobic representations of the Houri in the post 9/11 context, early modern and modern French and English Literature, premodern Muslim intellectual traditions, and popular preachers on the internet, Rustomji shows the complexity of this category and its unavailability for a canonical definition. The Beauty of the Houri is intellectual history at its best that combines philological rigor with astute theoretical reflection. And all this Rustomji accomplishes in prose the delightfulness of which competes fiercely with its lucidity. SherAli Tareen is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College. His research focuses on Muslim intellectual traditions and debates in early modern and modern South Asia. His book Defending Muhammad in Modernity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020) received the American Institute of Pakistan Studies 2020 Book Prize and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book Award. His other academic publications are available here. He can be reached at sherali.tareen@fandm.edu. Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

In her scintillating new book, The Beauty of the Houri: Heavenly Virgins, Feminine Ideals (Oxford UP, 2021), Nerina Rustomji presents a fascinating and multilayered intellectual and cultural history of the category of the “Houri” and the multiple ideological projects in which it has been inserted over time and space. Nimbly moving between a vast range of discursive theaters including Western Islamophobic representations of the Houri in the post 9/11 context, early modern and modern French and English Literature, premodern Muslim intellectual traditions, and popular preachers on the internet, Rustomji shows the complexity of this category and its unavailability for a canonical definition. The Beauty of the Houri is intellectual history at its best that combines philological rigor with astute theoretical reflection. And all this Rustomji accomplishes in prose the delightfulness of which competes fiercely with its lucidity. SherAli Tareen is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College. His research focuses on Muslim intellectual traditions and debates in early modern and modern South Asia. His book Defending Muhammad in Modernity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020) received the American Institute of Pakistan Studies 2020 Book Prize and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book Award. His other academic publications are available here. He can be reached at sherali.tareen@fandm.edu. Listener feedback is most welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

In her scintillating new book, The Beauty of the Houri: Heavenly Virgins, Feminine Ideals (Oxford UP, 2021), Nerina Rustomji presents a fascinating and multilayered intellectual and cultural history of the category of the “Houri” and the multiple ideological projects in which it has been inserted over time and space. Nimbly moving between a vast range of discursive theaters including Western Islamophobic representations of the Houri in the post 9/11 context, early modern and modern French and English Literature, premodern Muslim intellectual traditions, and popular preachers on the internet, Rustomji shows the complexity of this category and its unavailability for a canonical definition. The Beauty of the Houri is intellectual history at its best that combines philological rigor with astute theoretical reflection. And all this Rustomji accomplishes in prose the delightfulness of which competes fiercely with its lucidity. SherAli Tareen is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College. His research focuses on Muslim intellectual traditions and debates in early modern and modern South Asia. His book Defending Muhammad in Modernity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020) received the American Institute of Pakistan Studies 2020 Book Prize and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book Award. His other academic publications are available here. He can be reached at sherali.tareen@fandm.edu. Listener feedback is most welcome.

We cozy up with author Megan Mary to explore her dream-led trilogy, Witches of Maple Hollow, and how intuition, audiobooks, and creative marketing brought this fall-perfect world to life. We also dig into imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and trusting the story you're meant to tell.Bio: Megan Mary is an award-winning international bestselling metaphysical author, dreamworker and host of the Women's Dream Enlightenment podcast. She founded Inner Realms Publishing to provide book marketing services such as websites and bestseller campaigns to women authors. In addition to a career spanning over twenty-five years creating and marketing websites, she holds an MA in English Literature, BMsc in Metaphysical Sciences and is pursuing her PhD. She is a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, the Author's Guild and the Independent Book Publishers Association. She lives in Idaho with her husband and two cats. Her metaphysical trilogy, Witches of Maple Hollow, blends the genres of mystery, fantasy and speculative fiction: Book 1: The Dream Haunters, Book 2: The Dream Mirrors & Book 3, The Dream Dimensions. Visit MeganMary.com.Links:Website https://www.meganmary.com/Get the books HEREInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganmaryauthor/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@meganmaryauthorTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/MeganMaryAuthorPinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/meganmaryauthorYoutube : https://www.youtube.com/@meganmaryauthor?sub_confirmation=1About Victoria:Hey there, I'm Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. Here's how I can help:

Danny Abbasi is a musician best known as the drummer for Miniseries, the genre-blurring band whose dreamy, cinematic soundscapes have been turning heads in the indie music scene. After graduating from the University of Glasgow with a degree in English Literature, he moved to China where he worked as a professional musician. In 2023, having returned to the UK, he joined Miniseries, the band co-founded by Angie Gannon from The Magic Numbers. The band's debut album, Pilot, is out this week. With a background in grunge-style rock and a deep love of texture and rhythm, he brings both precision and playfulness to the band's sound. Whether in the studio or on stage, his approach is thoughtful, dynamic, and subtly virtuosic. LINKSMiniseries' websiteTickets for Launch Gig, London (9th November 2025).Simon's review of 'Invasion of the Space Invaders' for The Guardian.Arcade Archive, Chalford, Gloucestershire.Galloping Ghost, Chicago.Logan Arcade, Chicago.Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsoleTake the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every once in a while, I meet someone whose story reminds me why inclusion and communication go hand in hand. My guest this week, Shabnam Asthana, is one of those people. She's a global PR leader, entrepreneur, and author who has spent her life turning words into bridges that connect people and purpose. We talk about her journey from teaching and lecturing at India's National Defence Academy to leading global communications for major brands—and what it taught her about empathy, leadership, and real inclusion. Shabnam shares how storytelling can turn data into emotion, and why true diversity is less about representation and more about respect. Her message is powerful and deeply human: being unstoppable begins with an open heart, quiet courage, and the willingness to rise again. If you're ready to lead with empathy and communicate with purpose, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends. Highlights: 00:43 – Hear how early role models and a working mother raised ambitions and set a path toward leadership. 03:39 – Learn why strong communication skills pointed her toward PR and how debates built confidence. 05:24 – See why teaching became the first step when women in PR roles were rare in smaller cities. 08:12 – Discover what it took to lecture at India's National Defence Academy and earn respect in a rigid setting. 12:09 – Understand the leap from academia to corporate PR after being scouted for communication excellence. 15:50 – Learn how serving as a spokesperson shaped internal and external messaging at a Swedish-Indian firm. 17:01 – Gain a humble view of global work and why inclusion means moving from tokenism to listening. 21:08 – Compare India and Sweden and see how representation differs from real inclusion in practice. 24:18 – Learn how small, specific acts like adding sign to slides can make people feel genuinely seen. 34:24 – Find out how storytelling turns CSR spreadsheets into human change that inspires action. 43:22 – Explore the choice to found Empowered Solutions and why entrepreneurship kept growth alive. 53:06 – Take a fresh definition of an unstoppable mindset rooted in resilience and an open heart. About the Guest: A multi-faceted Professional, who has fast tracked from being a reputed National name to a well-respected and emulated global one! Shabnam Asthana has added new dimensions to Global PR and Communications. She has to her credit, post graduate degrees in English Literature, Public Relations and Advertising, an MBA in Marketing Management & several International certifications including a prestigious Hon. Doctorate in Business Administration from the National American University USA (NAU). She has over 25 years of rich professional experience. She started her career in the educational field as a high school teacher and then moved on to the role of a Lecturer at the prestigious National Defence Academy, Khadkwasla. She was the only civilian who compered for the Passing out parades, PT & Equestrian display and the Graduation ceremony of the NDA for 3 consecutive years. This was covered live on Doordarshan. It was after one of the Passing out Parades that she was compering at the NDA, that a senior position in a reputed company was offered to her and thus began her foray into the corporate world. After her successful corporate stint in senior positions with reputed companies including Multinationals in India and abroad and reputed real estate businesses, she started her own PR and communications firm, Empowered Solutions in 2005 which has been running successfully since then. Adding offices in USA and Canada as part of its international expansion. Ways to connect with Jan: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabnam_Asthana Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shabnamasthana/?hl=en Linked in - https://in.linkedin.com/in/dr-shabnam-asthana-7b174a5 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ShabnamAsthana/ X - https://x.com/shabnamasthana VyaapaarNiti Expert Profile - https://www.vyaapaarniti.com/expert/dr-shabnam-asthana- Tring Celebrity Platform - https://www.tring.co.in/shabnam-asthana About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, Hi again, everyone. I am your host, Michael Hingson, and you are here listening to or watching or both, unstoppable mindset today, our guest is a person of many talents, and I think you're going to be as amazed about her as I am. Shabnam Asthana is a person who has been involved in she was a teacher for a while. She's been very heavily involved in a variety of things at the corporate level. She started her own marketing firm in 2005 and I don't know what all my gosh, she's got so many things, it's really hard to keep up, but I'm sure she's going to tell us all about it, and I am looking forward to that. And I really appreciate all of you being here with us. So Shabnam, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. And thank you for being here.   Shabnam Asthana ** 02:15 Thank you, Michael, truly wonderful to be with here, and thank you for that amazing introduction. You make me feel as if I've worn a professional cape of so many accolades and so many things. It's wonderful to be here with you.   Michael Hingson ** 02:32 Michael, well, you do have lots of awards and lots of accolades.   Shabnam Asthana ** 02:38 That's just one part of the journey. The true reward is in the, you know, work that I do, these stories, that I shape, the narratives that spring in that is the true reward. And of course, accolades are always welcome, and they are a way of encouragement, which do ensure that, yes, I continue doing the good work.   Michael Hingson ** 03:00 Well, why don't we start back at the beginning, which is always fun to do. Why don't you tell us about the early Shabnam growing up?   Shabnam Asthana ** 03:08 Okay, that's something which is very close to my heart. I was born in India in a small city called Bokaro, Steel City. It was a Steel City. It was an industrial town, and we were a very close knit community, and we had lots of, you know, interaction with people. I came from a background where both my parents, my mother and my father were working, and at that point of time, a working woman was sort of seen as a novelty, not something I'm talking way, way back. And now the people will also guess my age, I guess because it's pretty way back. And that was the time when we weren't India was still developing, and women were still not seen as the working class, you know, especially in senior corporate positions. And my mother was a senior officer in the steel plant, so that set my aspirations and ambitions very high. And I wanted to emulate her. I wanted to be someone who was working now what I would do I was not very sure of, but yes, I wanted to be working. And then later on, my sister, my both my sisters, were also working, my older siblings, and of course, that set the tone for me to also hop into the professional shoes, and, you know, chart out a career path for myself. So,   Michael Hingson ** 04:44 so what? What did you do? As far as schooling? Did you go to college?   Shabnam Asthana ** 04:51 Yes, I went to the local school there, which was an English medium good school called sin Xavier School. And that was some. Thing which really groomed me for the future, that set the foundations for my career. And after that, I did my schooling in the my college, sorry, in the capital city of India, which is Delhi. And then on, I moved to a place which is close to Mumbai, which is Pune, and I continued my education there. And of course, my career started in Pune. That is when I got into academics, and then henceforth,   Michael Hingson ** 05:34 so when you were in college, and as you were coming out of it, what did you want to do with your life? What was your plan? Or did you have one?   Shabnam Asthana ** 05:43 Yes, I did have one. Like I said, I was always good in communications, and people used to tell me that you are a good communicator. I used to win all the debates. I used to win elocution competitions. And I said, Well, yes, communication does seem to be my forte, so why don't I build on that? And then I saw my father, he was in the public relations industry, and I somehow at the back of my mind, I said, Yes, that is something I would surely want to do. So why not try my hand at PR? And that's how the seeds of my career was planted in my mind, and then it developed there on.   Michael Hingson ** 06:30 But you started out in education and in teaching.   Shabnam Asthana ** 06:34 Yes, that's very interesting. I'll tell you. I wanted to start my career in PR, but I was in a place which was a small city, and it was a place called Jamshedpur, before I moved on to Pune, and there, the career scope was very limited. We didn't have women in the PR. In fact, it was unheard of. So the best thing, or the easiest thing that a woman could do was to hop on the bandwagon of academics. And not saying that it was something you know, that was not looked up to. But yes, I did enjoy my role as a school teacher. That was my first job in Jamshedpur, a small it was, again, a steel city in India, and I became a high school teacher, and quite enjoyed it, because that was also communication. It was the way you communicated with your students, and, you know, sort of got them into, got them interested in what they were learning. So that was, again a stepping stone, and it was the area of communications which expanded later on.   Michael Hingson ** 07:47 So how long did you stay in teaching?   Shabnam Asthana ** 07:51 I was there for about two years in Jamshedpur, and then I moved on to Pune. And guess what the next opportunity I got was as a lecturer in the National Defense Academy. That was a place where the future generals were being groomed, and I was a civilian who, sort of, I was the only civilian, probably, who got into the teaching profession there and there I spent a good four years truly memorable. Worth remembering recounting. There was so many incidents, and I loved teaching. That was something which I did at the National Defense Academy too. Although that was at a higher level, it was very different from the school teaching which I had done. This was more, you know, on a national level, where you had to be more, and there was a lot of discipline which came in, because it was the future, you know, Army personnel, Navy personnel, so all that, there was a lot of discipline that came in and that groomed me better. I understood what the world of discipline meant in the true sense, because I lived   Michael Hingson ** 09:10 it right. What? How did you discover the job at the defense Academy? Though that's certainly a whole lot different than teaching high school students or maybe not.   Shabnam Asthana ** 09:23 It is a whole lot intimidating. Let me tell you that it's very intimidating to walk into a room full of, you know, future generals, army people you don't know who you know who you are, I mean, who they are, and you sort of get very intimidated by the kind the aura is very, very intimidating.   Michael Hingson ** 09:46 How did you discover that job? Yes,   Shabnam Asthana ** 09:49 that was done. We in India, we have something which is called the employment exchange. So you register there and you give your qualify. You list down your qualifications, and you know whatever you are planning to do, and they invite you for certain vacancies. So one fine day, I was just sitting and having my lunch at home when I received a letter, and the letter was an interview call for the National Defense Academy. I literally jumped out of my skin because I was a school teacher, and then being asked to appear for an interview in the National Defense Academy itself was a big leap for me. Whether I got it or not was a different thing. But then to sort of come on board and go and sort of appear for an interview was also something very exciting. And when I went there, I was like, I said, the only civilian The rest were army officers, wives and daughters, you know, related to the working personnel there. So when I went, I was interviewed by the three representatives from all the three wings, that is the Navy, the Air Force and Army. And that was a very good experience. They asked me a lot of questions, and I believe it was later on I was told that it was my confidence that got me in. So thanks to that, I   Michael Hingson ** 11:23 was going to ask you why you why you got in, or why you think you got in. And yes,   Shabnam Asthana ** 11:30 yeah, I did ask them that later, and unofficially, I was told that. Well, it was the way you carried yourself, the confidence and, you know, the excitement and enthusiasm that you shared, which was very, very refreshing.   Michael Hingson ** 11:48 So what exactly did you do at the academy?   Shabnam Asthana ** 11:53 I was teaching them English, and I was teaching them literature. I don't know how interested they were in literature, but then the feedback that I got, which was, you know, the it was a routine feedback, which we have the teachers get. So I used to get good marks, and people used to say, yes, that, you know, your classes are engrossing. It's good. And then, apart from that, there was something very interesting I did, which was I compared for their passing out parades, and I compared for all their shows. And that was something which was covered on television, and that gave me a different kind of foothold in my profession, where I was being seen, where I was being heard, and my confidence grew by leaps and bounds. I was being accepted as a woman. I was being accepted as a civilian. And that was something which was very, very heartwarming for me,   Michael Hingson ** 13:01 and I would assume, very difficult to achieve,   Shabnam Asthana ** 13:05 I think so I do yes, in retrospect, yes.   Michael Hingson ** 13:09 So you did that for roughly four years. Yes. And why did you leave that? What was your? Was your thought about that,   Shabnam Asthana ** 13:21 okay, I would have gone on. It was such a glorious part of my career. But, you know, change, they say, is constant, and that is something which happened. I was comparing for a passing out parade when the chairman of a corporate company which was doing rather well, heard me, and he was impressed by my communication, my speaking abilities, my, you know, the way I was presenting things. And he said he offered me a job, and he said, Why don't you come and join my office and come in as a PR person for my company, and that's exactly I was actually, you know, not very sure whether I wanted to leave this an industry and career where I was already established, where people knew me, and just hop on to the corporate world. But if you remember, that was my ambition. That was what I had always won right at the start. So the moment it came, it almost felt as if it fell into my laps. And I said, Why don't I do that? Yes, and this is a good opportunity, and I must take it up. My I spoke to my family, and they too, felt that it was a good stepping stone to move on. And so I accepted it, and that was my entry into the world of PR, in the corporate   Michael Hingson ** 14:48 world. So what year was that this   Shabnam Asthana ** 14:53 was way back on now you are prompting me to give away my age, which is like. Like ancient, I'd be a fossil. Okay, yes, this was way back in the 90s,   Michael Hingson ** 15:06 okay, and that was kind of what I was curious about. So at that time, industry was a little bit more stable than it was later on, but, but still, you You did it, and you so you stepped into that goal, into that role, and so you became part of the PR world, which is, as you said, what you wanted to do initially, anyway. So, so how long did you stay at that company? I   Shabnam Asthana ** 15:39 stayed there for about four years, and then the chairman of the company passed away. Unfortunately, he was on a trip to China, and he suffered a massive cardiac arrest, so I was working very closely with him in his office, and as is the norm of the industry, once the leader is not there things you know, sort of crumble, and you know, there's reorganization. New faces come in, and normally the new people bring their own teams. So I felt as if, you know, before they told me to sort of move out or something. I don't know why I pre empted that. I said, Why don't I myself make a shift and join some other industry? I mean, join some other company, which I did. Again, I applied. It was a Swedish company, and again, it was one of the best moves that I could have made. I spent a good 12 years in that company, which Hogan is India Limited, I must name them. They were brilliant. And I spent a very, very good part of my career with that company.   Michael Hingson ** 16:56 And so again, you did primarily PR, or what did you Yes, it was   Shabnam Asthana ** 17:02 PR and it was handling the chairman and managing director's office. So the entire communication was handled through me, the internal as well as the external communication. I was a spokesperson, yes,   Michael Hingson ** 17:18 so you became so in a sense, sort of the face of the company.   Shabnam Asthana ** 17:21 Yes, I did. It's nice to feel that yes, that it was a good many years that I was the face of the company in terms of communication, yes,   Michael Hingson ** 17:33 right, right. And, and where were you doing this?   Shabnam Asthana ** 17:38 This was in Pune, and their head office was in Sweden. I used to sort of move between the two. It was a very global company. The subsidiary was an Indian subsidiary, but the parent company was Swedish. So we had a lot of global travel   17:56 that kept you busy. That did so   Shabnam Asthana ** 17:59 there were conferences, and there were so many meetings which were happening,   Michael Hingson ** 18:03 yes, right? So what did, what did you? What did you learn from all of that? Do you think   Shabnam Asthana ** 18:12 it was a very humbling experience? You know, more than the excitement, I was armed with a lot of excitement, because that would have been one of my first trips outside India. I was I had a lot of excitement, lots of things were on my mind, but then ultimately, when one does travel and work in a global company, it's a very humbling experience, because you are exposed to your strengths and also your blind spots, your strengths, your weaknesses, everything comes to you and then you feel that diversity is not always about representation. It's about respect and inclusion is moving from tokenism to listening. That is what I felt, you know, adapting various voices to your workplace, working in unison, trying to empathize with people from different cultures, different streams, different departments, all that really broadened my horizon. So that was something which I learned.   Michael Hingson ** 19:30 So what was the culture like, in terms of since you were at a global company, as it were, how was it different when you were dealing with Sweden, as opposed to when you were dealing with India.   Shabnam Asthana ** 19:45 In India, we don't have diversity as a choice. In India, we are served diversity on a platter because you are born with being diverse. You have. Are numerous religions, you have culture. So we are adaptable people in that sense. But strangely enough, it's a paradox. If I would tell you that inclusion is still a work in progress. Inclusion isn't automatic. It doesn't come to you like that. You have to work for it. Now there is a big change, but I'm talking of the days, way back in the 90s when women in boardrooms were a novelty. So sometimes it was just purely for ornamental value. Sad to say that. But gradually you had to open up, you have to open the doors, and you have to say, look, we are here for a reason. And please listen to our voices too. And that's how we started. I started sort of, I remember once when I was moving in India. I mean, not in Sweden, but once when I was in India, and I was in a strategic board meeting. I was the only woman in the room, and the people were sort of, I could sense the expressions. People were curious, people were dismissing. People were sort of, you know, not sort of prepared to take or listen to me, that was a little bit of a setback. But then gradually, when I started moving abroad, and I started seeing more women, and then gradually, when I was moving so were the others, and they too saw the kind of change that was happening. And so it was pretty difficult in India, initially, if I were to be very honest, Sweden was more inclusive. I could see a lot of women in the workforce. And gradually, since we were sort of interacting with each other, we absorbed each other's cultures and values, and the company became very, very inclusive. So it was a pleasure to work there.   Michael Hingson ** 22:08 Okay, so in a sense, there were, there are parts of Sweden that made you happier than what you were in the East initially experiencing in India.   Shabnam Asthana ** 22:19 Absolutely, absolutely, and I have no hesitation in saying that, because they were welcoming. They were welcoming. And the not necessarily my company, but any company in India, the representation of women, especially in PR, was very, very limited. Now we have evolved, and it's a world of difference, and I'm so happy to see that.   Michael Hingson ** 22:48 How about you, may or may not have a lot of expertise in this, but how about if we're going to talk about inclusion and so on, people with disabilities, both in India and in Sweden and so on and again. I don't know whether you really had much experience or exposure to that. I   Shabnam Asthana ** 23:06 do. I did have my share of exposure, maybe not extensive, but yes, I do. I remember there's this one incident I'd like to talk to you about. It was in Paris. I was in a conference, and there was a deaf girl in the conference room. I could see people making presentations and knowing fully well, because we had the list of participants, and we had their intros, their introductions with us, my team. And you know, of course, I headed that team. We made a special endeavor to include sign in our presentation. And she was so happy because she said, you know, she came to me and she expressed to me that although I have participated so many times in meetings, and especially corporate meetings, I am so happy to see. It was the first time that I felt I was seen and I was not just a presence. So she was very happy with the kind of, you know, preparation that we did for her especially. So I believe it's very nice if people learn to respect each other and learn to believe that not everybody is similar. You may have so many strengths which I don't have. I do not see any physical disability as a handicap. I'm very, very sure about that, I do not see anybody who appears different or who doesn't have the same listening capacity, hearing capacity, to be different from me. They have their own strengths. So I truly believe that, you know, disability. In that sense, is something which does not put a person in the back seat. How.   Michael Hingson ** 25:09 How was that attitude received? Well, both at the company, when you were when you were in the room with her, and you were signing and so on. How did other people receive that? And how was that kind of attitude received initially in India?   Shabnam Asthana ** 25:29 Well, to be very honest, Michael, it wasn't something that is the done thing. People do not accept that. They are like, well, it's a general presentation. We really don't have to make specific I do remember a person who came up to me and said, Shabnam, why did you make a very specific presentation? It was a very general presentation by you doing that, you have set a precedent for others to sort of make them feel small, you know. So he took it in a very negative way. Said, you've made us feel very small. I said, no, please do not look at it that way. It is something where we have made her feel a part of us. It is not trying to belittle anybody, trying not to, you know, get a an edge over others. All of us are the same. It's just that I made it a little easier for her. That's what I just told him, and probably he did, walk away with a smile. I don't know whether it was a sarcastic one or whether it was a smile of acceptance, but then I got my   Michael Hingson ** 26:38 point. I took was this was this in Sweden or India. This was in Paris. In Paris, okay, yes,   Shabnam Asthana ** 26:46 okay, this was a conference, which was   Michael Hingson ** 26:49 she said that, right? Well, you know, the reality is that's all part of the inclusive mindset and the inclusion mindset, and it is so true that most people don't tend to realize it Yes. So I hear what you're saying,   Shabnam Asthana ** 27:10 yes, and realization and sort of acceptance has evolved. People are more accepting. People are more flexible. You know, the rigidity earlier, people were very rigid. Now there is a lot of flexibility. I believe that, right?   Michael Hingson ** 27:32 Well, I think it's better. I'm I think there are still all too many people who tend not to really have an overly inclusive mindset. And it is, it is something that that will be with us for a while, and hopefully over time, people will become more open and realize the value of inclusion. In this country, we have, well and around the world, we have a significant number of people who have these so called physical disabilities, and the reality is that the disability is more caused by inaction mostly than it is by real action.   Shabnam Asthana ** 28:12 Absolutely yes. And I also seriously believe that diversity enriches the outcomes. I have some I have practical experience, and I've seen that. So inclusion enriches outcomes in many ways, right?   Michael Hingson ** 28:35 How has all of your traveling and all of your exposure in various places around the world. How has that tended to shape your understanding of diversity and inclusion?   Shabnam Asthana ** 28:50 Okay, yes, that's a very interesting question. I have seen that challenges are real, biases, stereotypes and expectations that women need to prove themselves twice as much also exists in many, many parts of the world. So they have been. I mean, there have been certain cultures, certain countries, which are very easy to breeze through when you are at work meetings or you're talking to people. But there are certain countries in the let's say in the Middle East, the Far East, which are still not very open to, you know, women taking on lead roles, women strategizing, women talking things that would influence decisions. So sometimes there's also a word I'd like to put in here that sometimes it is not country specific. Specific. It is very individual, specific. So there, like you said, you know, there are certain mindsets which still exist. There are people who may be residing in countries that are very open and very receptive, but their own mindset is limiting. And it is a mindset which is closed, it is rigid. So that stops and that prevents any inclusion. You know that, if I were to put it that way, so I would say it's not merely, not always country specific. Yes, individuals have to evolve themselves and change their mindsets. So it's sometimes I've seen it's countries are good, but some individuals are rigid. I've seen some individuals that are good, but the countries that are rigid. So it sort of works both ways.   Michael Hingson ** 30:54 And it's not just about women, it is about anybody who is different. Yes, then the so called norm, whatever that happens to be, absolutely   Shabnam Asthana ** 31:03 inclusion is not limited to women. So again, I'd like to clarify that it's inclusion is a broad spectrum. So yes, of course, we are a small part of it. But yes,   Michael Hingson ** 31:17 you have written a book, yes, romancing your career and and also you've done a lot of mentoring, obviously, and so on. But what do you mean when you talk about women? And I would say anybody who's different need to define success on their own terms. Tell me more about that.   Shabnam Asthana ** 31:41 So women, or anybody, let's not be very specific about women, because then it would be detracting from the main subject of inclusion. Anybody who wants to be heard has to believe in one thing, that silence is not the answer. Courage is so you have to move from silence to courage. Try and portray your point of view. Speak to people if they listen to you good enough if they don't, it's not as if the doors are closed. If the doors are closed, you can surely open a window for yourself, and it works. So just being silent or being very subdued or being very you know sad that your point of view, or being upset, for that matter, that your point of view is not being listened to is not the answer. You have to show courage. You have to do your homework, right? Remember that value is something that takes anybody places. It's not about being a woman, it's not about being any nationality, any ethnicity. It's just that you have to carry value in whatever you are trying to bring to the table. Once people see value, they will forget whether you are of XYZ nationality or you're an Indian, or you are of any other you're any other gender, if I may say that. So it's the value that a person should work towards. Everybody should work towards bringing value to the table. That is what will get you noticed, and that is what will see you going places. Yes, it did.   Michael Hingson ** 33:43 And again, I think one of the important things is that, from my standpoint, and I keep pushing it, but it's there is that it also is the same for for so called disabilities. One of the things that I maintain is that everybody on the planet has a disability, and the disability for most people is that you depend on light in order to function, and when suddenly light disappears, you have a big problem, unless you have a way to get light back on demand. But we are. We're not ready to accept that as a as a race yet, so people think that's cute, but, but they're not ready to accept it. It doesn't change the fact that it's really there. But the fact of the matter is that that people do have to speak up for themselves, and there are ways to do that, and there are ways not to do that. It isn't a matter of being obnoxious and demanding, but it is all about, as you expressed it earlier, being confident and showing that confidence and showing your knowledge and showing what you bring to the table absolutely well. You've been involved in PR for a long time, and I'm sure that you would agree, one of the main tools that people in the public relations world and elsewhere have to offer is storytelling. I believe the best salespeople are people who can tell stories and can help relate. But my question would be to ask you, how can storytelling bridge communities and bring people together?   Shabnam Asthana ** 35:31 Storytelling is a very, very strong element of PR. Storytelling humanizes everything. It brings in a lot of connection. So people connect automatically, if your storytelling is good, so like I keep telling all my juniors as well or new interns who join in corporate fact sheets can be informative. They can give you facts, but storytelling will transform everything. So you move from information to transformation. Storytelling is the human angle to everything. All of us love you a human angle. For example, let me tell you I was in a meeting which was quite a few years ago, and the CEO of the company was telling me they've done a lot of work in corporate social responsibility. So he wanted to tell me about all the expenditure that they've done. They've uplifted so many schools. They've done so much. They've spent so much on education, they've spent so much on water, on sanitation and so many other things, which has improved the lives of the citizens there. I told him, could you tell me one story of one life that has been affected. So he was at a loss because he had not he did not dive deep into that. He didn't look beyond the numbers and the figures. So his HR person stepped in and he told me a story of a girl. She was an Indian girl. Her name was Aarti. How they had transformed her life, and she had moved on to studying in Howard, and she was being employed in one of the top American companies there. So that was something, a story of transformation. So that is so you know, I believe the power of storytelling and that connected everybody, even his own people, were not aware. The employees were not aware. They were just sort of working like robos, putting in their number of hours, doing their work, not going beyond their call of duty to actually see what was happening to the effects, the efforts of their activities. This was something which we brought out in all their corporate brochures, in all the marketing that they were doing, in all the marketing collaterals that worked wonders. We had lots of inquiries for people who wanted to support them in many ways. We had an interview of the girl, and it was something which was very we added a human angle. So like I said, storytelling humanizes the entire concept, and that is something which connects people. So, yes, it's very   Michael Hingson ** 38:42 interesting. Did he learn to tell stories after that?   Shabnam Asthana ** 38:46 I believe so, because he was so he was really taken aback. And he said, Wow, I never really thought about it. And you told me, You changed my perspective. You made me see it differently. And if I were to say we got a good retainership After that, because he was very happy and my contract was renewed. So that was something which sort of affected the contract too well.   Speaker 1 ** 39:19 The reality is that when you tell a story, it is telling stories is something that most everyone can truly relate to, and when you tell a story that someone listens to or hears and reacts to it,   Michael Hingson ** 39:40 there's nothing better than that, and it's really important that that kind of thing happens. So I'm really glad to hear that you like storytelling. I think it is so important that we have that   39:51 absolutely,   Michael Hingson ** 39:54 yeah, it's so important to be able to do that. Well, you've told us a little bit. About inclusion and diversity and so on in India and in other countries. Do you think it's changing, both in India and in other countries? And how is it changing?   Shabnam Asthana ** 40:15 It is changing. If you go back to the 90s to the present day, you will see that people have become I think it has a lot to do with travel. It has a lot to do with interaction. So people are interacting with each other. I speak to you, you speak to me, you tell me something about you, and I say, Hey, is that worth listening to? Yes, it is. And I try and change my mindset. I become more receptive. I try and tell you my viewpoint. You listen to me. You hear me out. So I have seen companies that have moved beyond check boxes of how many women, how many people with disabilities they've, you know, inducted in the employment stream, in their jobs, and it's become more of the CEOs or the top management asking their people, how many voices have we listened to? How many decisions have been made by these people whom we have taken in. You know, how have we evolved as a company? So that has made me see in boardrooms, in various meetings, that the top management is also very aware of what kind of decisions, what policies, are being framed with people as a diverse group. And it's not funneled or restricted to just the top few. It trickles down and it goes to the people they've hired from diverse groups, and it becomes like a voice of the company. So I have seen that changing, and I have seen that diversion is now diversity sort of is moving more towards the corporate DNA. So it is not a demand anymore. It's not a checkbox. It's more as if it is flowing in naturally, and people are more aware of it. So that's what I've seen.   Michael Hingson ** 42:32 It's a mindset, it is, and people are starting to adopt that. How is it changing in India? You said that in India there's a lot more diversity. But you said inclusion isn't so much there.   Shabnam Asthana ** 42:46 Yes, it is in see in India, it was globally, I saw that diversion was backed by policies, and there was a certain framework which had a set of rules. It had a set of code of conduct. But in India, it was more based on individual goodwill. So we had people, if the CEO or the top management was pro diversity, it would happen automatically, because the ones at the junior level had no choice. They had to naturally comply. But here now in India, it's become more organized, more structured, and people, there are departments now which look into issues of diversity and inclusion, and they try and make the organization work towards that. So they are big companies. They are small companies in India, all are trying to absorb this in the corporate DNA, like I said. So people are conscious. And there are conscious. There are seminars which are happening. People are being spoken to. There is workplace, you know sensitization that follows. People talk about it, people discuss it, and there is a lot of exchange of dialog which happens. So people talk, people learn, people adapt   Michael Hingson ** 44:15 well. So you you work for the Swedish company, for you said, like, 12 years, and then what did you   Shabnam Asthana ** 44:25 do after that? I moved on to, you know, start my own company, which was empowered solutions. That's my brain child, and it's a communications PR and communications company, and I, sort of, I'm the founder director for that the Empowered solutions is my company now, and we are completed. It was set up in 2005 October.   Michael Hingson ** 44:50 2005 what? What made you decide to leave the bigger corporate world and take on all of the challenges of entrepreneur? Leadership and starting your own company, because that certainly is a major change.   Shabnam Asthana ** 45:04 It is I was in the top management. I had a set job, I had the name, the recognition, everything that comes with that. But somehow there was still that kind of, I would say, curiosity, to experiment and to try on newer things. And I am a person who gets a little bored of stagnation, and I had almost reached the height of my career in these companies, and there was nothing more I could do unless I bought over those companies and sort of, you know, became the president and the chairman, which I would I could not do. So I said, Why don't I sort of diversify and take all this learning that I have, all the goodwill that I've earned over the years with the people that have been my clients, with my colleagues, with the people I've met in my business conferences. Why don't I take all this and try and set up something on of my own where I am at liberty to do whatever I want to do without the time pressure, you know, without a pressure of morning meetings and you know, things which have to be a nine to five kind of a role here, I do agree that it is a 24 by seven job that I'm doing at present, because I'm always available. And, you know, I believe that accessibility is very important if you have to be successful, you can't sort of close off and say, no, no, I'm, you know, if somebody needs you, you can't say, Okay, I'm just closing my door and my office. So that was the the, you know, the excitement of experimenting once again and seeing, of course, entrepreneurship is something which is very exciting, and that was something which I wanted to experiment and try and see how I could change that. And, you know, get it into my career. And, you know, get off the normal nine to five job. So that's what I did. I wanted to experiment.   Michael Hingson ** 47:21 So tell me a little bit more about if you would what your company does and how you serve clients and so on. And where are your clients?   Shabnam Asthana ** 47:29 Okay, so basically, it is a PR and communications company, and we have clients now globally. I have primarily in India, because that is where my office is. But I do have clients in Europe, in us, in Canada, where I am currently. And yes, it is more about public relations and communications, and that's what we do. So it's essentially a diversification of I have also taken on writing as part of one of my services. So I do a lot of book writing. I take on people who want to be either who want to tell a story, and who don't have either the time or the expertise. I write for them. I ghost right for them. We also do events. So we have done a couple of events globally, not on a very large scale, but yes, we do have. So it's events, it's public relations, it's communications, it's training, and it's writing.   Michael Hingson ** 48:39 So that's it, right? Well, so you have written one book. Are you looking at doing any more books? By any chance?   Shabnam Asthana ** 48:49 Now I have ghost written about 16 books. So they're all ghost written and under a contract where I don't disclose the names of the books. But yes, I've authored three books, and the first one was romancing your career, a very interesting and fascinating book. That was my first book, and later on, I went on to do two biographies, and yes, I'm doing a couple more correctly, where they are being authored by me. So I'm writing the biographies.   Michael Hingson ** 49:26 So today, in all the work that that you're, that you're doing, do you, do you get involved with many international projects?   Shabnam Asthana ** 49:39 Yes, not many, but yes, we are doing a slow and steady progress there. And we do, I do, keep getting a lot of inquiries. And I must say that I have got a couple of inquiries recently which are very interesting. And I. Working on those. Maybe it's a little premature to tell you that, but yes, there is one big project that has come my way, and we're planning to expand from there. Well.   Michael Hingson ** 50:12 So you have experienced a lot of different countries and so on, and India is certainly becoming more of an economic and a world power in the in terms of what all is happening. Do you think that that the attitudes of India and the way India deals with inclusion and so on is making a difference, and Will that continue to happen?   Shabnam Asthana ** 50:43 Well, Michael, it will, because we are moving out of our country, and we have, you know, taken spots in so many other countries. So if we want to be included, it's high time we practice the same. So we have to welcome other cultures. We have to welcome other nationalities if we hope to be welcomed in other countries as well. So that is something which has really influenced the thinking of people, because we can't be rigid. We can't be, you know, thinking in our own way. And say, Well, let's not do it, because we have to welcome other countries if we have to work and move out of India. So yes, Michael, I will say that very hard. It's very heartening to note that it is changing, and it will continue to do so. In fact, you know, India is moving from being seen as an outsourced to something which people sort of welcome with open arms. But then, yes, things are changing. There are things which are happening which may limit the movement of people, or it may increase the flow of people. But then, well, we have to adopt, adapt and move on.   Michael Hingson ** 52:04 Yeah, well, there's always going to be some of that which makes which makes sense. Yes. What kind of advice would you give to someone, especially young professionals, women and others who are different? What advice would you give to someone who may feel excluded or undervalued in their careers.   Shabnam Asthana ** 52:25 The best thing that I would like to say is that if you hear a no, don't let it bog you down, because be sure that tomorrow you will hear a better yes, it will be something that is shaping the way for your future. So you must not let any naysayers or any projects that fail bog you down just because you're a woman or because you're different or anybody you know. You have to show your courage, you have to be resilient, and you have to lean on your inner strengths. The best magic, the you know, time tried and tested formula, which I would advocate, is leaning on your inner strengths. All of us have a lot of strengths, believe you me, we may not know it, but all of us have a lot of strengths. So when you see a situation that is not to your liking, just lean on your inner strengths. Take a deep breath and say today's no will be a yes tomorrow, and that is the courage that you must move ahead with anybody, irrespective of whether you are a woman or you are any person who is stepping into the corporate world. Just value yourself. Always Be confident. Wear the confidence. And that's the best accessory that you would have.   Michael Hingson ** 54:03 How would you define unstoppable mindset?   Shabnam Asthana ** 54:08 Unstoppable mindset is not something which is something which rises beyond limitations. And by limitations, I don't mean only individual limitations. It may be the limitations of the other people. Let that not define your limitation. Your the term unstoppable, to me, is a term which shows resilience. It shows something where you can fumble. It's very natural to fumble, to stumble, to fall down, to face challenges, to face, you know, rejections. It's very normal, but unstoppable is. Being able to get up again with greater strength, with a better mindset, more courageously, and more importantly, with an open heart, which says, Yes, I will do it. You cannot say you cannot. You know, sort of put me down in any way. My courage is there, my inner strength is there. I am unstoppable in that sense.   Michael Hingson ** 55:28 I think the most important thing that you just said is that you have to do it with an open heart. I think everyone should do that you may learn that your idea may not be the best solution, and it might be the best solution, but you won't know that until you truly have an open heart and an open mind.   Shabnam Asthana ** 55:46 Truly, yes, absolutely, an open heart, I would say, is really, really key. It's very, very important.   Michael Hingson ** 55:56 What keeps you motivated as you continue to advocate for adverse diversity and inclusion and equity and so on.   Shabnam Asthana ** 56:04 What keeps me motivated? Michael, are many things, but then what i If I could just zero down on a couple of them, I would say that what keeps me motivated is the trust that people had in me, and, you know, to give me certain jobs, roles, the trust that they had to sort of say, okay, you can do it. And then I did it. And the people, what keeps me motivated is something also very nice, which somebody came up to me at a recent conference in Germany, and they said, you know, the reason why I didn't give up is because of you. That is me, because I motivated them to do something, and that was your motivation for me, I was like, Okay, if I can motivate you, I too can stay motivated for a long, long time to come. And that's something which I do. I try to inspire and I try to inspire myself as well in the process.   Michael Hingson ** 57:07 Well, if you could leave everyone who is involved in hearing this podcast and so on today, if you could leave them with one powerful message about embracing diversity and so on. What would that message be?   Shabnam Asthana ** 57:23 Well, that message would be that whatever is happening today, if you feel that there is even a little bit of acceptability, that is because somebody else has worked towards it, so now it is your chance to give it back to society, to keep working, to keep opening doors for people, for a better tomorrow, for a more inclusive tomorrow. And diversity doesn't and inclusivity doesn't happen overnight. You have to work towards it. There is a it's the whole process, and you have to work towards it relentlessly. Continue working. Somebody else has worked. They have pushed you forward. They have done a whole lot of things. Now it's your turn to do your bit and ensure that the people who are coming after you come to a better tomorrow, a more inclusive tomorrow.   Michael Hingson ** 58:27 It also, by definition, means that we need to learn how to work with each other and support and help each other,   Shabnam Asthana ** 58:34 of course. And empathy. Empathy is the key, empathy, sensitivity, all that.   Michael Hingson ** 58:41 So if people would like to reach out to you, maybe use your company services or talk with you. How can they do that?   Shabnam Asthana ** 58:48 They could contact me. You can write to me at my email id, which is Shabnam, S, H, A, B n, a m, at empowered solutions, my company name, E, M, P, O, W, E, R, E, D, S, o, l, U, T, I O, N, S, dot, I n, that's my name. The emails will reach me. That's an inbox which you know I'm monitoring myself, and be sure that you will receive a reply. I'd love to hear from people, and I love to communicate. I love to write back. So very welcome.   Michael Hingson ** 59:30 And I would ask, just sort of on principle, if anyone reaches out to Shabnam, who has heard this podcast, please mention that, just so that she knows where you where you discovered her, and I think that would be a good thing to do. Well, I want to thank you for being here. I think this has been absolutely wonderful. I think we've learned a lot I have and I value the insights that you bring. So I hope that other people will take the. Those same insights away, there's there's a lot to learn here, and there's a lot to gain from this. So I want to thank you again for being here, and maybe we'll have to do this again in the future.   Shabnam Asthana ** 1:00:12 I'd love to do that. And Michael, I'd like to thank you for hosting this wonderful, wonderful show. I have seen your episodes. They are brilliant, and it's really nice. I was so looking forward to this. It's been an absolute pleasure to interact with you, and I hope that we'll be doing more of this in the near future.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:35 Well, we'll have to explore that, and I want to thank all of you who are out there watching and listening. I want to thank you for being here. We appreciate you very much. Wherever you're listening or watching. Please give us a five star review. We value that very highly. We really would appreciate you saying good things about us. A five star review is always a wonderful thing. I'd like to hear from you as well. I'd like to hear what your thoughts are about this podcast. Feel free to email me at Michael M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, love to hear from you. Love to hear your thoughts. We value them, and we take all the comments that we get from people very much to heart. So we appreciate you doing that. And if you know anyone else who ought to be a guest on our podcast, who you think ought to be a guest, let us know. Introduce us. Shabnam, that's also true for you, please. If you know anyone who ought to be a guest, we'd love to meet people and have them come on the podcast and also help us show how we're all more unstoppable than we think we are, or we thought we were. So once again, though, I want to thank you for being here. Shabnam, this has been wonderful. Thank you very much.   Shabnam Asthana ** 1:01:51 Thank you, Michael, thank you to all the listeners.   **Michael Hingson ** 1:01:59 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Daniel Mosakewicz grew up on a steady diet of comics, Star Wars, and books about things that could not possibly happen. He earned his degrees in English Literature and History from Appalachian State. Originally from North Carolina, he now resides in Boise, Idaho, where he eats too much Mexican food and listens to too much Bruce Springsteen. This week, he shares two short stories and a poem.

Salty Chat with Author Heather Colley and her debut novel that dropped on Oct 21, 2025, 'The Gilded Butterfly' a hilarious but unflinching look at today's U.S. college campus experience, from the highs and lows of the non-stop party scene to the absurdities of modern psychiatric care, the implications of prescription drug abuse and campus sexual assault. Heather is a PhD student in English Literature at Oxford University. She holds a master's degree in literature from St Andrews University and a bachelor's degree in the same subject from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Her short fiction has won awards including the Oxford Review of Books short fiction prize, the Hopwood Award, the BNU-Oxford short fiction prize (runner-up), and the Desperate Literature Prize shortlist.Book Lovers, grab a copy: The Gilded Butterfly EffectSupport with Tips via Cashapp or PaypalRed Light Therapy BeltAcupressure Mat & Pillow Set Get Hulu FREE for 30 Days Try Armra Colostrum 30% Off80% Off First Order Fabletics50% Off F Factor Meals50% Off AAA The Real Law of AttractionEarth's Healing & Grounding ToolAnti Aging Hacks(aff)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dance which, from when it reached Britain in the early nineteenth century, revolutionised the relationship between music, literature and people here for the next hundred years. While it may seem formal now, it was the informality and daring that drove its popularity, with couples holding each other as they spun round a room to new lighter music popularised by Johann Strauss, father and son, such as The Blue Danube. Soon the Waltz expanded the creative world in poetry, ballet, novellas and music, from the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev to Moon River and Are You Lonesome Tonight. With Susan Jones Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford Derek B. Scott Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Leeds And Theresa Buckland Emeritus Professor of Dance History and Ethnography at the University of Roehampton Producer: Simon Tillotson Reading list: Egil Bakka, Theresa Jill Buckland, Helena Saarikoski, and Anne von Bibra Wharton (eds.), Waltzing Through Europe: Attitudes towards Couple Dances in the Long Nineteenth Century, (Open Book Publishers, 2020) Theresa Jill Buckland, ‘How the Waltz was Won: Transmutations and the Acquisition of Style in Early English Modern Ballroom Dancing. Part One: Waltzing Under Attack' (Dance Research, 36/1, 2018); ‘Part Two: The Waltz Regained' (Dance Research, 36/2, 2018) Theresa Jill Buckland, Society Dancing: Fashionable Bodies in England, 1870-1920 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) Erica Buurman, The Viennese Ballroom in the Age of Beethoven (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Paul Cooper, ‘The Waltz in England, c. 1790-1820' (Paper presented at Early Dance Circle conference, 2018) Sherril Dodds and Susan Cook (eds.), Bodies of Sound: Studies Across Popular Dance and Music (Ashgate, 2013), especially ‘Dancing Out of Time: The Forgotten Boston of Edwardian England' by Theresa Jill Buckland Zelda Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz (first published 1932; Vintage Classics, 2001) Hilary French, Ballroom: A People's History of Dancing (Reaktion Books, 2022) Susan Jones, Literature, Modernism, and Dance (Oxford University Press, 2013) Mark Knowles, The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries (McFarland, 2009) Rosamond Lehmann, Invitation to the Waltz (first published 1932; Virago, 2006) Eric McKee, Decorum of the Minuet, Delirium of the Waltz: A Study of Dance-Music Relations in 3/4 Time (Indiana University Press, 2012) Eduard Reeser, The History of the Walz (Continental Book Co., 1949) Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 27 (Macmillan, 2nd ed., 2000), especially ‘Waltz' by Andrew Lamb Derek B. Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis: The 19th-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris and Vienna (Oxford University Press, 2008), especially the chapter ‘A Revolution on the Dance Floor, a Revolution in Musical Style: The Viennese Waltz' Joseph Wechsberg, The Waltz Emperors: The Life and Times and Music of the Strauss Family (Putnam, 1973) Cheryl A. Wilson, Literature and Dance in Nineteenth-century Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2009) Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out (first published 1915; William Collins, 2013) Virginia Woolf, The Years (first published 1937; Vintage Classics, 2016) David Wyn Jones, The Strauss Dynasty and Habsburg Vienna (Cambridge University Press, 2023) Sevin H. Yaraman, Revolving Embrace: The Waltz as Sex, Steps, and Sound (Pendragon Press, 2002) Rishona Zimring, Social Dance and the Modernist Imagination in Interwar Britain (Ashgate Press, 2013)

What is an eco-civilisation? What are its values and what are the frames within which it works? Why do we need it in the first place and what will the Establishment do to maintain business as usual? Most importantly, what can each of us do to live an eco-civilisation into being?This week's guest, Jeremy Lent, explores these ideas in depth in his forthcoming book, Ecocivlization: Making a World that Works, which is due out in May of 2026.  We've talked to Jeremy twice before, first in episode #38 about his award-winning book, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning, and then in #102 about his second book in the series, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe. Ecocivlisation is the third book in this trifecta and I was privileged to read the pre-proof draft, so I can tell you that it's one of the few genuinely Thrutopian books I've read. It that lays out the iniquities and downright horror of the imperial/colonial system of the Trauma culture - termed Wendigo Inc. in the book - and then brings Jeremy's trademark meticulous research and fluent prose to bear on the ways through to a system in which we all live and thrive and work towards the wellbeing of the entire ecosphere.   Given that there is such detail, I wanted to talk to Jeremy now, so that we could explore some of the foundations - the nature of the existing narratives of Business as Usual, of TINA: There is No Alternative  - and why this is so ubiquitous in spite of being self-evidently untrue.  Then I wanted to look at the broader frame of the Theory of Change proposed here so that next spring we can go into more detail ahead of the book's publication. For those of you who don't yet know him, Jeremy was born in London, has a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and was a former internet company CEO. Now, he is an author, speaker and founder of the  Deep Transformation Network, a global community exploring pathways to an ecological civilization. He is also founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering an integrated worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the Earth. Jeremy's Website: https://www.jeremylent.comJeremy's Blog https://patternsofmeaning.comJeremy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-lent-ba153017/Jeremy's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@JeremyLentDeep Transformation Network https://deeptransformation.network/feedGuardian article on global tipping point https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/13/coral-reefs-ice-sheets-amazon-rainforest-tipping-point-global-heating-scientists-reportBooksThe Patterning Instinct https://www.jeremylent.com/the-patterning-instinct.htmlThe Web of Meaning https://www.jeremylent.com/the-web-of-meaning.htmlEcoCivilization https://mhpbooks.com/books/ecocivilizationPrevious Episodes#102 - Weaving the Web of Meaning  https://accidentalgods.life/weaving-the-web-of-meaning/#38 - Fractal Flourishing https://accidentalgods.life/fractal-flourishing/What we offer: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass If you'd like to join our next Open Gathering offered by our Accidental Gods Programme it's  'Dreaming Your Death Awake' (you don't have to be a member) it's on 2nd November - details are here.The next one after this is 'Dreaming your Year Awake' on Sunday 4th January 2026 from 16:00 - 20:00 GMT - details are hereIf you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life. If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here. If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are here

Every time I look into research on the summer slide, I get more confused. It's no wonder professionals and families are scrambling every May as they think about how kids should be spending their time in the summer. I've intended to do a deep dive into the research and gain a better understanding of how significant the “slide” is, for who, and what, exactly, is sliding. At the time I'm writing this, I still don't feel I've done that. What I can do is speak to what I DO understand, which is why I wanted to share my commentary and a clip from my interview with my colleague, David Schipper, as we discuss our conclusions on the “summer slide”. At the end of the interview, I ended up with more questions than answers, but we both came to the conclusion that kids who are already behind will benefit from consistent, explicit intervention, and that we'd both want to take advantage of time available to close gaps in students who are already behind at the end of the school year. David Schipper is the director of Strategic Learning Clinic, a position he has held since 2013. David obtained a B.A. in English Literature from Concordia University in 1998 as well as a B.Ed. in Secondary Education (English and History) from McGill University in 2002. After some work as a local teacher in Montreal, David founded 2Torial Educational Centre in 2007. Aside from his ability to put both parents and students at ease, David is able to help families get to the root of the problem(s) and propose the most suitable programs to resolve these issues. As a father of two children, David knows how to relate to the concerns of parents and as an experienced educator and passionately understands the struggles of students. His passion and dedication to teaching and learning is second to none.Here are some questions and discussion points from this episode:✅ Why we need to think about the summer in the preceding fall, not in May.✅ Looking at cumulative gains over the entire year rather than focusing on ONE time period.✅ Some students are already behind when summer starts. So how much time should we spend debating if a “slide” exists”? In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to take a leadership role in implementing executive functioning support. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadershipI also mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives SLPs and other service providers a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/You can connect with David on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-schipper-1537972a/You can learn more about Strategic Learning Clinic on their website here: https://strategiclearning.ca/, on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SLCStrategicLearningClinic, or on Instagram @strategiclearningclinic (https://www.instagram.com/strategiclearningclinic/). We're thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL's comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers' timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments

Send us a textC4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children's books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out PIZZADAYS.ORG to support our important work. Season 5 Episode #22 Heather Colley is coming from London, England  (inform, inspire, & transform)You can find Heather via her website heathercolleyauthor.comAbout our guest: Heather Colley is a PhD student in English Literature at the University of Oxford (Regents Park College). Her current research is focused on late 19th and early 20th century jazz and blues aesthetics in transatlantic modernist literature, with a particular emphasis on the impacts of musical forms and tropes on literary experimentation and cultural development. Heather completed her Master's in Modern and Contemporary Literature with Distinction at St Andrews, where she studied lyric and form in the work of mid-twentieth century African American women novelists. She received her Bachelor's in English Literature/Creative Writing and Sociology at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Heather's writing won The Oxford Review of Books Short Fiction Prize, the Hopwood Award, and inclusion in the Desperate Literature anthology. The Gilded Butterfly Effect is Heather's debut novel. Thanks for sharing your many gifts and creativity with the world, having the courage to take your gift and put it on paper and for being our guest on Life's Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show.TOTD – “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”  Maya AngelouBuild a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose! In this episode:What was life like growing up?What are your life's essential ingredients?What was your inspiration to study literature?  And to go abroad…50k students to use health services…what are some of the challenges that college students face in finding someone to talk to…The importance of connection and where fraternities and sororities attempt to fill that gap…The writing process…what is yours and how do you overcome the challenges and joys that come with it…How great did it feel to finish your book and to receive the author's copy…October 21st…released your first book…Beautiful book cover…Stella, Penny, Millie, Leah…Thoughts on substances to help with mental health challenges…Study drugs that help enhance focus… what are your thoughts on the rewiring of our brain leading to needing drugs to help us focus, leading to emotional uncertainty…What characteristics do college students need to be successful?  What characteristics do colleges need to create success for their students?What is the main takeaway you want the reader to take from your book?  How do you want to be perceived as a writer?Plans for book 2 and so on… dealing with the pressure or excited to get to writing…Book you recommend?Legacy 

Hannah Murray will start by looking at the bestseller lists on Amazon.co.uk and The Sunday Times, the oldest and most influential book sales chart in the UK, and seeing what new entries there are. Simon Munro Kerr was a soldier with the Cameron Highlanders, a commercial lobster fisherman in Nova Scotia, a restaurateur, and an actor who was the first person to say the name James Bond on screen in Dr. No, shortly before Sean Connery! He now lives in the mountain south of Granada. His debut novel 'Yours is the Earth' is a thrilling First World War story inspired by his grandfather, and the life and diaries of a 99 year old American. He is doing a launch at Bookgem in Gibraltar on 30th October Brian M Rice works as a teacher of Religious Studies and Philosophy, and when feeling brave, has a go at stand-up comedy. 'Milton's Garden' is a thrilling, comic adventure that follows everyday man Milton as he attempts to save the Earth from the dark forces unleashed in his garden.  Deb Ellen writes spicy romantasy novels featuring strong, flawed and courageous protagonists who blur the line between heroine and villain whilst championing feminism in outdated worlds. Deb spent four years in a strict religious cult that banned her from writing books with magic and sex. 'Wild Fire' is about Evie, who has a promising new life as a ballerina. But this is shattered when her parents are killed by monsters.  ... Helena Kelly holds a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Oxford. She is an authoritative guide on Austen scholarship. Her latest book 'The Worlds of Jane Austen' explores a life far from sleepy country houses and tea parties, but of revolution, war and major social change, the landscape that shaped Austen's sharp and observant writing. Helena draws on the latest research to show that Jane Austen is as relevant today, as ever before.  Allison Meldrum was previously a newspaper and magazine journalist. Her latest novel 'Keep Me Safe' looks at the perils of AI therapy for treatment of OCD. It follows investigative journalist Maggie Shields, who dives into the disappearance of a high-profile missing person in her seaside town, and uncovers a tangled web of corruption, murder and betrayal stretching back a decade... Chris Norris is a physiotherapist, teacher and writer. He is the author of 14 books on physiotherapy and exercise and has lectured widely at universities and hospitals across Europe over the last 40 years. 'Fractured Healing' is a contemporary love story for middle age, and is the story of how someone must rebuild their self-esteem while others around them seek redemption.  Annie Stewart has written eight books for children, and runs creative workshops in schools. Her first work of adult fiction 'The Fifth Daughter' was inspired by her mysterious great Aunt who vanished without explanation. Annie grew up enchanted by her grandmother's stories of life in the Midlands during the mid-1900s, filled with memories of her sisters. yet one sister, Vera, remained a mystery - never spoken of, only described as having run away. Determined to break the silence, Annie imagines Vera's life and gives her a voice...

Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez is the executive director of Native Bound Unbound: Archive of Indigenous Slavery, an initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, leading a global team in the goal to document Indigenous/Native slavery across the Western Hemisphere. Trained as an anthropologist, historian, and Indigenous slavery scholar, Dr. Rael-Gálvez has served as the former Senior Vice President of Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, executive director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and as the state historian of New Mexico. A native son of New Mexico, Estevan was raised on a farm and ranch stewarded by his family for multiple generations. He received his BA in English Literature and Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MA and Ph.D. in American Cultures from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he completed an award-winning doctoral dissertation, the basis of a current book project.

Doug Lemov discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Doug Lemov is a former teacher and school principal whose books describe the techniques of high-performing teachers. His best-known book, Teach Like a Champion (now in its 3.0 version) has been translated into more than a dozen languages. The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading, out in July and co-written with Colleen Driggs and Erica Woolway, looks at how cognitive science can be better applied to the teaching of reading. Doug holds a BA in English from Hamilton College, an MA in English Literature from Indiana University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Read Doug's latest on his blog (teachlikeachampion.org/blog) or follow him on X (@Doug_Lemov). The difference between ingredients and cake. This is a reference to what the British education researcher Daisy Christodoulou says about understanding the difference between knowledge (or facts) and critical thinking. How cognitive scientists define learning. As “a change in long term memory.” And further: If nothing has changed in long-term memory, nothing has been learned.” This is profoundly important because we forget (ie fail to learn) almost everything we come to understand in our lives unless we take specific actions to prevent this. How fun and how important it is to teach vocabulary (the right way). https://vimeo.com/387487549 Lord of the Flies. Well I LOVE Lord of the Flies… but really it's here as a proxy to speak to the importance of reading great books. And hard books. Which basically young people don't do any more in school. How powerful it is to read aloud with young people…and how to do it well The benefits of very short writing exercises “American teachers assign a lot of writing but they don't teach it well” write Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler. This is one reason why. This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

There are spoilers ahead for all versions of The Day of the Triffids and also for the film Signs. You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.  If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm  This episode had been edited down to a more digestible length of under an hour but a longer (audio only) version is available for Patreon subscribers (alongside the shorter option). We are doing things a little differently and discussing the 1963 film along with the source material which is John Wyndham's 1951 book The Day of the Triffids. The Day of the Triffids film was released in 1963 after reshoots were required to add a whole new arc in the story and bring the time to a more suitable length for a feature. The film has many of the hallmarks of a 1950s science fiction film but seems to be reflective of the Golden Era of science fiction very much coming to its end. The film is (very loosely) based on John Wyndham's first successful novel but seems more dedicated to the tropes of a 1950s sci-fi marketed for a mass, US leaning audience. The book is chockful of themes that are touched upon throughout the story which have very little (if any) presence in the film. I have added a list of the characters we discuss below as well as a quick overview of their roles in the book and the film. As usual I have two insightful guests to help us understand all of this. Matthew Rule-Jones is a senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Exeter and author of the book Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety. Adam Stock is a senior lecturer in English Literature at York St John University and author of the book Dystopian Fiction and Political Thought: Narratives of World Politics. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:30 John Wyndham's first hit 05:23 The concept of the cosy catastrophe 08:43 Wyndham's Britain: post-colonial triffids coming home to roost 14:48 The 1963 film: Wells, end of the golden age and marketing 20:04 The lighthouse sequences: Karen vs Josella 23:06 Weed killers in The Silent Spring era and WW2 imagery 25:17 The role of the Triffids 30:37 Bill Masen the hero 34:37 Coker's missing role 37:11 Women! 40:27 The ending 46:51 Legacy 53:57 Recommendations Bill Masen: Hero in both the book and the film. In the book Bill is English and works for the triffid farm where he has been almost blinded by a triffid sting. His colleague begins to suspect the triffids are indeed sentient and able to communicate. This brings up questions around exploitation and enslavement. In the film Bill is American and works for the US Navy who help save the hero and other survivors at the end of the film. Josella Playton: The heroine from the novel is not present in the 1963 film. Josella comes from a wealthy family (one with servants) and has written a notorious book titled Sex is my Adventure. Coker: Coker has a large role in the book and we meet him as an advocate for the newly blinded masses when many of the few sighted people left are attempting to save themselves from the threat of a disintegrating society. He is a strong public speaker from a working-class background who had learned to speak in a way that is more amenable to the intelligentsia and upper classes. His strongly held beliefs (of forcing the sighted to serve the blind) change through the book to become less idealistic and more practical. Coker in the film is an old man with a very minimal role who dies early in the story form a triffid attack. Susan: Is a young girl who is rescued by Bill in the film after a train crash and ensuing chaos. In the book Bill takes in Susan whose family have died. She is a capable young child who develops an understanding of triffid behaviour from observing them as she guards the home that Josella and Bill stay in for many years. Miss Durrant: In the film Miss Durrant is the beautiful heroine that Bill meets in a large house in France that is caring from blind survivors of the meteor shower. In the book, Miss Durrant is a religious minded woman who is appalled at a man named Beadley's attempts to rebuild society through polygamy. She seems to purposefully mislead Bill who is trying to track down Beadley because he thinks Josella will be with him. NEXT EPISODE! Next episode we will be speaking about The Manchurian Candidate from 1962 by John Frankenheimer. A film that may not fit the definition of science fiction for many people but by now I think we know how ambiguous those definitions can be! You can find the film on streaming platforms including Apple TV. The Just Watch website is a good resource to find where the film is available online in your region.

Willkommen to this week's Gleek of the Week! Alicia from Germany first discovered "Glee" clips on YouTube as a teen in 2011, which sparked her curiosity. Soon she was stealing (borrowing) her dad's iPad to binge-watch the show at night while everyone was sleeping! Alica opens up to Jenna and Kevin about struggling with anxiety, bullying, and coming to terms with her sexuality, and how the show provided a lifeline and safe space during that tough time in her life. Now an English Literature major, she is considering writing her thesis on "Glee" and runs an Instagram account focused on the show's cultural impact! For fun, exclusive content, and behind-the-scenes clips, follow us on Instagram @andthatswhatyoureallymissedpod & TikTok @thatswhatyoureallymissed!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dame Rose Tremain is one of Britain's most prolific and popular writers, having written 17 novels and five collections of short stories over the last 50 years. She was one of only six women on Granta magazine's inaugural 1982 list of the best young British novelists, alongside Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and others. Her fifth novel Restoration was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1989, she won the Whitbread Prize for Music And Silence in 1999, and was awarded the 2008 Orange Prize - the precursor to the Women's Prize for Fiction - for her novel The Road Home. Having already been made a CBE in 2007, she became Dame Rose Tremain in 2020 for services to writing. Her most recent work is a short story called The Toy Car.Rose Tremain tells John Wilson how her father, a largely unsuccessful playwright called Keith Thomson, inspired her childhood interest in storytelling, although he never encouraged her to write. She recalls how she first started writing fiction to help her cope with loneliness in a household where there was little parental affection. Rose recalls how it was a teacher at her boarding school who first recognised her ability and encouraged her to apply for an Oxbridge university place, only to be dissuaded by her mother, who sent her to a finishing school in France instead. She credits the novelist Angus Wilson, one of her English Literature tutors at the University Of East Anglia, for giving her the confidence to write her first novel. She also chooses The Diary Of Samuel Pepys as a major inspiration on her 1989 Booker-shortlisted novel Restoration, which was later turned into a Hollywood film starring Robert Downey Jnr. and Meg Ryan.Producer: Edwina Pitman

Today on the show, I get to chat with Marielena Ferrer and Viktorsha Uliyanova, a multidisciplinary artist and educator working with alternative photography, installation, video, and fiber art. Her work explores impermanence, the notions of home, and cultural identity narrated through the prism of memory. Her practice is informed by her upbringing in the Soviet Union, political repression, and the immigrant experience. In her research, Uliyanova explores neglected and overlooked histories, often using archives as a catalyst for her work. She received her BA in English Literature, Language, and Criticism from Hunter College and an MFA in Photography and Related Media at State University of New York at New Paltz. Her work has been exhibited at Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Baxter St., MOMA PS1, Participant Inc, Collarworks, among others. She is the recipient of New York State Council on the Arts Grant, Arts Mid-Hudson Culture Grant, Traverso Photography Award, Women's Studio Workshop SAI Grant, Sojourner Truth Diversity Fellowship, and Research for Creative Projects Grant. Recently, she completed a residency at Vermont Studio Center. She lives in the Hudson Valley and teaches photography at SUNY New Paltz.Viktorsha's upcoming solo exhibit “Quieter than Water, Lower than Grass” is a multimedia installation that examines the fragility of memory and its impact on history, immigrant narratives ,and cultural identity. This work explores themes of migration, belonging, and domesticity. The opening is November 8 at Roundabouts Now Gallery in Kingston, with a panel discussion on November 16 featuring Marielena, Viktorsha, and two additional women artists whose work addresses these same themes.Today, we talk about the meaning of the show title, and how this Russian idiom permeated culture and played a role in repression and control. Viktorsha shares about the layers of her creative process and how this show came to be. We discuss some of the pieces, their meaning, the process in creating them, and the meaning behind that process. One of the main pieces in the exhibition is an installation of suspended large scale cyanotypes of "Brezhnevka"s, prefabricated  panel buildings that were built in the Soviet Union from 1964-1980. They were built fast and cheap and can still be found and seen throughout former Soviet states. Our conversation weaves through themes of assimilation, (uniform)ity, culture, healing, memory, domestication, femininity, the multidimensionality of softness, and belonging.Viktorsha's Project Statement: “Quieter Than Water, Lower than Grass'” is a multimedia project that explores the intersection between history, memory, and photographic evidence. The work employs analogue photographic processes , fabric, and video to explore remembrance, storytelling, and ancestral healing. Drawing from family albums, oral histories, and archival images, I construct narrativesthat have been hidden by the Soviet regime and are often invisible within the dominant historical discourse. The project takes its name from an old Soviet proverb which instills a behavior of keeping a low profile, avoiding any attention from the self, and acting in a way that does notgenerate conflict. The phrase has been used as a deliberate linguistic tool to disseminate imperialist ideologies, generate fear, and maintain repressive socio-political tactics throughout the USSR. This project outlines the importance of critically engaging with mainstream narrativesin order to unlearn them and see their limitations and biases.Quilts are powerful conveyors of the human experience. They are valuable historical documents and memory transmitters that honor storytelling and intergenerational knowledge. Using bed sheets , I hand-sew patchwork of imagery into quilt forms preserving not only my personal memories but also those obscured within the larger cultural and geo-political discourse.Each fabric piece will source from historical documents, family albums, and collected objects to explore, visualize, and underscore the complexity of post-Soviet trauma and immigrant experience. Blue is a color of peace, a color found in our dreams, our hopes, and our memories. It is the color of the sky, water, and our planet, Earth. The cyanotype process uses the natural elements of sun and water to register a photograph. While it is stable, the final result is prone to changing over time. Using this photographic technique allows me to address all of the themes that show up in my work such as identity, history, and memory, all of which are fragmented, mutating, and ever-changing.The project combines a collection of materials and techniques that reference matrilineage, ancestry, and transgenerational trauma. Through layering of fabrics and utilizing the deep blue hues of the cyanotype process, the work visualizes histories that have been hidden, obscured, and lost. The project examines the selective nature of memory, challenging historical biases and emphasizing the importance of community knowledge and healing. The final project will be presented to the public in an exhibition fostering cultural exchange, community dialogue, andbridging the gap between the personal and collective memories.Here's your New Moon Astrology!Today's show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.Our show music is from Shana Falana!Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IThttp://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcastITUNES | SPOTIFYITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-want-what-she-has/id1451648361?mt=2SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/77pmJwS2q9vTywz7Uhiyff?si=G2eYCjLjT3KltgdfA6XXCAFollow:INSTAGRAM * https://www.instagram.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast/FACEBOOK * https://www.facebook.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast

Dr. Katherine Wyma joins me to discuss C.S. Lewis' longest and most ambitious undertaking: The Oxford History of English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama. Or, as he called it, the OHEL. It lay, he said, "like a nightmare on my chest." It's a brilliant work of scholarship, and we highly recommend it. But just in case you can't make it through 700 pages of paradigm-shattering, witty and insightful prose about the greatest (and worst) poets of the sixteenth century, we've got you covered. We'll be discussing the highlights from the Introduction here, and from subsequent chapters in subsequent podcasts. So, put on your best pair of pantaloons and join us for this romp through what used to be called the Renaissance (but isn't usually anymore, thanks in part to Lewis). Today, we'll cover just the introduction to his work, entitled: New Learning and New Ignorance.  Questions? Concerns? Criticisms? Compliments? Complaints? Condolements? Candy? Email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  

Peace in the Middle East? As world leaders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh for a high-stakes Gaza summit, Israel tightens its grip, and hopes for a ceasefire hang by a thread. The second Gaza aid flotilla has been seized, drawing international outrage. Meanwhile, chaos spreads elsewhere: Chicago is called a “hellhole,” Macron faces political collapse, and Ecuador reels after an assassination attempt.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dance which, from when it reached Britain in the early nineteenth century, revolutionised the relationship between music, literature and people here for the next hundred years. While it may seem formal now, it was the informality and daring that drove its popularity, with couples holding each other as they spun round a room to new lighter music popularised by Johann Strauss, father and son, such as The Blue Danube. Soon the Waltz expanded the creative world in poetry, ballet, novellas and music, from the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev to Moon River and Are You Lonesome Tonight. With Susan Jones Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford Derek B. Scott Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Leeds And Theresa Buckland Emeritus Professor of Dance History and Ethnography at the University of Roehampton Producer: Simon Tillotson Reading list: Egil Bakka, Theresa Jill Buckland, Helena Saarikoski, and Anne von Bibra Wharton (eds.), Waltzing Through Europe: Attitudes towards Couple Dances in the Long Nineteenth Century, (Open Book Publishers, 2020) Theresa Jill Buckland, ‘How the Waltz was Won: Transmutations and the Acquisition of Style in Early English Modern Ballroom Dancing. Part One: Waltzing Under Attack' (Dance Research, 36/1, 2018); ‘Part Two: The Waltz Regained' (Dance Research, 36/2, 2018) Theresa Jill Buckland, Society Dancing: Fashionable Bodies in England, 1870-1920 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) Erica Buurman, The Viennese Ballroom in the Age of Beethoven (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Paul Cooper, ‘The Waltz in England, c. 1790-1820' (Paper presented at Early Dance Circle conference, 2018) Sherril Dodds and Susan Cook (eds.), Bodies of Sound: Studies Across Popular Dance and Music (Ashgate, 2013), especially ‘Dancing Out of Time: The Forgotten Boston of Edwardian England' by Theresa Jill Buckland Zelda Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz (first published 1932; Vintage Classics, 2001) Hilary French, Ballroom: A People's History of Dancing (Reaktion Books, 2022) Susan Jones, Literature, Modernism, and Dance (Oxford University Press, 2013) Mark Knowles, The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries (McFarland, 2009) Rosamond Lehmann, Invitation to the Waltz (first published 1932; Virago, 2006) Eric McKee, Decorum of the Minuet, Delirium of the Waltz: A Study of Dance-Music Relations in 3/4 Time (Indiana University Press, 2012) Eduard Reeser, The History of the Walz (Continental Book Co., 1949) Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 27 (Macmillan, 2nd ed., 2000), especially ‘Waltz' by Andrew Lamb Derek B. Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis: The 19th-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris and Vienna (Oxford University Press, 2008), especially the chapter ‘A Revolution on the Dance Floor, a Revolution in Musical Style: The Viennese Waltz' Joseph Wechsberg, The Waltz Emperors: The Life and Times and Music of the Strauss Family (Putnam, 1973) Cheryl A. Wilson, Literature and Dance in Nineteenth-century Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2009) Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out (first published 1915; William Collins, 2013) Virginia Woolf, The Years (first published 1937; Vintage Classics, 2016) David Wyn Jones, The Strauss Dynasty and Habsburg Vienna (Cambridge University Press, 2023) Sevin H. Yaraman, Revolving Embrace: The Waltz as Sex, Steps, and Sound (Pendragon Press, 2002) Rishona Zimring, Social Dance and the Modernist Imagination in Interwar Britain (Ashgate Press, 2013) Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 'the greatest poet of his age', Thomas Wyatt (1503 -1542), who brought the poetry of the Italian Renaissance into the English Tudor world, especially the sonnet, so preparing the way for Shakespeare and Donne. As an ambassador to Henry VIII and, allegedly, too close to Anne Boleyn, he experienced great privilege under intense scrutiny. Some of Wyatt's poems, such as They Flee From Me That Sometime Did Me Seek, are astonishingly fresh and conversational and yet he wrote them under the tightest constraints, when a syllable out of place could have condemned him to the Tower. With Brian Cummings 50th Anniversary Professor of English at the University of York Susan Brigden Retired Fellow at Lincoln College, University of Oxford And Laura Ashe Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford Producer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production Reading list: Thomas Betteridge and Suzannah Lipscomb (eds.), Henry VIII and the Court: Art, Politics and Performance (Routledge, 2016) Susan Brigden, Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's Forest (Faber, 2012) Nicola Shulman, Graven with Diamonds: The Many Lives of Thomas Wyatt: Courtier, Poet, Assassin, Spy (Short Books, 2011) Chris Stamatakis, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Rhetoric of Rewriting (Oxford University Press, 2012) Patricia Thomson (ed.), Thomas Wyatt: The Critical Heritage (Routledge, 1995) Greg Walker, Writing Under Tyranny: English Literature and the Henrician Reformation (Oxford University Press, 2005) Thomas Wyatt (ed. R. A. Rebholz), The Complete Poems (Penguin, 1978) Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Send us a textWhen you've lived through emotional abuse, the very idea of a healthy, loving relationship can feel like a fantasy. Maybe you've never experienced respect, true friendship, or kindness in a partner. Maybe you've been told—through words or through wounds—that love is supposed to be hard, painful, or disappointing. And maybe you secretly believe that happy marriages are reserved for other people, not for you.That's exactly why I invited Michelle W. Lentz, author of Hey Beginner Wife, onto the podcast. In our conversation, Michelle shares how seeing herself as a “beginner” allowed her to give herself grace as a wife and grow into a marriage built on nearly four decades of trust, respect, and friendship. Together, we unpack what these qualities really look like in a healthy marriage—and how they stand in sharp contrast to the confusion and chaos of abuse.This episode isn't about sugarcoating relationships. It's about hope. It's about proof that love rooted in respect and safety is real, and it's possible—even if you've never known it before. And Michelle leaves us with a special nugget of truth at the end that I know will stay with you long after the episode is over.If you've ever felt jaded, broken, or too damaged to hope again, this conversation is your reminder: the kind of love you long for does exist—and you are worthy of it.  Michelle Lentz graduated from UCLA with a degree in English Literature. Using her happy marriage of nearly 40 years as an example, she writes to inspire women to learn from her mistakes, love their husbands well and enjoy marriage. When she's not cheering on her husband Steve, their six grown children and a growing troop of delightful grandchildren, she's curled up with a good book, pursuing a deep conversation, or looking forward to the next wedding so she can hit the dance floor. You can also find her on Instagram at @heybeginnerwife.Support the showTo learn more about my Programs visit the websitewww.radiatenrise.com Email: Allison@radiatenrise.comFree 30 Min Root Cause Call Join Radiate and Rise Together - Survivor Healing Community for Women To send a DM, visit Allison's profiles on Instagram and Facebookhttps://www.instagram.com/allisonkdagney/https://www.facebook.com/allisonkdagney/*Formerly (The Emotional Abuse Recovery Podcast)

Why is it so difficult to account for the role of identity in literary studies? Why do both writers and scholars of Indian English literature express resistance to India and Indianness? What does this reveal about how non-Western literatures are read, taught, and understood? Drawing on years of experiences in classrooms and on U.S. university campuses, Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan explores how writers, critics, teachers, and students of Indian English literatures negotiate and resist the categories through which the field is defined: ethnic, postcolonial, and Anglophone.Overdetermined: How Indian English Literature Becomes Ethnic, Postcolonial, and Anglophone (Columbia UP, 2025) considers major contemporary authors who disavow identity even as their works and public personas respond in varied ways to the imperatives of being “Indian.” Chapters examine Bharati Mukherjee's rejection of “ethnic” Americanness; Chetan Bhagat's “bad English”; Amit Chaudhuri's autofictional literary project; and Jhumpa Lahiri's decision to write in Italian, interspersed with meditations on the iconicity of the theorists Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said. Through an innovative method of accented reading and sharing stories and syllabi from her teaching, Srinivasan relates the burdens of representation faced by ethnic and postcolonial writers to the institutional and disciplinary pressures that affect the scholars who study their works. Engaging and self-reflexive, Overdetermined offers new insight into the dynamics that shape contemporary Indian English literature, the politics of identity in literary studies, and the complexities of teaching minoritized literatures in the West. Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is assistant professor of English at Rice University. Her books include the essays What is We? (2025) and the coedited Thinking with an Accent: Toward a New Object, Method, and Practice (2023), and her public writing has appeared in numerous venues. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Why is it so difficult to account for the role of identity in literary studies? Why do both writers and scholars of Indian English literature express resistance to India and Indianness? What does this reveal about how non-Western literatures are read, taught, and understood? Drawing on years of experiences in classrooms and on U.S. university campuses, Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan explores how writers, critics, teachers, and students of Indian English literatures negotiate and resist the categories through which the field is defined: ethnic, postcolonial, and Anglophone.Overdetermined: How Indian English Literature Becomes Ethnic, Postcolonial, and Anglophone (Columbia UP, 2025) considers major contemporary authors who disavow identity even as their works and public personas respond in varied ways to the imperatives of being “Indian.” Chapters examine Bharati Mukherjee's rejection of “ethnic” Americanness; Chetan Bhagat's “bad English”; Amit Chaudhuri's autofictional literary project; and Jhumpa Lahiri's decision to write in Italian, interspersed with meditations on the iconicity of the theorists Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said. Through an innovative method of accented reading and sharing stories and syllabi from her teaching, Srinivasan relates the burdens of representation faced by ethnic and postcolonial writers to the institutional and disciplinary pressures that affect the scholars who study their works. Engaging and self-reflexive, Overdetermined offers new insight into the dynamics that shape contemporary Indian English literature, the politics of identity in literary studies, and the complexities of teaching minoritized literatures in the West. Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is assistant professor of English at Rice University. Her books include the essays What is We? (2025) and the coedited Thinking with an Accent: Toward a New Object, Method, and Practice (2023), and her public writing has appeared in numerous venues. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Why is it so difficult to account for the role of identity in literary studies? Why do both writers and scholars of Indian English literature express resistance to India and Indianness? What does this reveal about how non-Western literatures are read, taught, and understood? Drawing on years of experiences in classrooms and on U.S. university campuses, Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan explores how writers, critics, teachers, and students of Indian English literatures negotiate and resist the categories through which the field is defined: ethnic, postcolonial, and Anglophone.Overdetermined: How Indian English Literature Becomes Ethnic, Postcolonial, and Anglophone (Columbia UP, 2025) considers major contemporary authors who disavow identity even as their works and public personas respond in varied ways to the imperatives of being “Indian.” Chapters examine Bharati Mukherjee's rejection of “ethnic” Americanness; Chetan Bhagat's “bad English”; Amit Chaudhuri's autofictional literary project; and Jhumpa Lahiri's decision to write in Italian, interspersed with meditations on the iconicity of the theorists Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said. Through an innovative method of accented reading and sharing stories and syllabi from her teaching, Srinivasan relates the burdens of representation faced by ethnic and postcolonial writers to the institutional and disciplinary pressures that affect the scholars who study their works. Engaging and self-reflexive, Overdetermined offers new insight into the dynamics that shape contemporary Indian English literature, the politics of identity in literary studies, and the complexities of teaching minoritized literatures in the West. Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is assistant professor of English at Rice University. Her books include the essays What is We? (2025) and the coedited Thinking with an Accent: Toward a New Object, Method, and Practice (2023), and her public writing has appeared in numerous venues. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Why is it so difficult to account for the role of identity in literary studies? Why do both writers and scholars of Indian English literature express resistance to India and Indianness? What does this reveal about how non-Western literatures are read, taught, and understood? Drawing on years of experiences in classrooms and on U.S. university campuses, Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan explores how writers, critics, teachers, and students of Indian English literatures negotiate and resist the categories through which the field is defined: ethnic, postcolonial, and Anglophone.Overdetermined: How Indian English Literature Becomes Ethnic, Postcolonial, and Anglophone (Columbia UP, 2025) considers major contemporary authors who disavow identity even as their works and public personas respond in varied ways to the imperatives of being “Indian.” Chapters examine Bharati Mukherjee's rejection of “ethnic” Americanness; Chetan Bhagat's “bad English”; Amit Chaudhuri's autofictional literary project; and Jhumpa Lahiri's decision to write in Italian, interspersed with meditations on the iconicity of the theorists Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said. Through an innovative method of accented reading and sharing stories and syllabi from her teaching, Srinivasan relates the burdens of representation faced by ethnic and postcolonial writers to the institutional and disciplinary pressures that affect the scholars who study their works. Engaging and self-reflexive, Overdetermined offers new insight into the dynamics that shape contemporary Indian English literature, the politics of identity in literary studies, and the complexities of teaching minoritized literatures in the West. Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is assistant professor of English at Rice University. Her books include the essays What is We? (2025) and the coedited Thinking with an Accent: Toward a New Object, Method, and Practice (2023), and her public writing has appeared in numerous venues. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Why is it so difficult to account for the role of identity in literary studies? Why do both writers and scholars of Indian English literature express resistance to India and Indianness? What does this reveal about how non-Western literatures are read, taught, and understood? Drawing on years of experiences in classrooms and on U.S. university campuses, Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan explores how writers, critics, teachers, and students of Indian English literatures negotiate and resist the categories through which the field is defined: ethnic, postcolonial, and Anglophone.Overdetermined: How Indian English Literature Becomes Ethnic, Postcolonial, and Anglophone (Columbia UP, 2025) considers major contemporary authors who disavow identity even as their works and public personas respond in varied ways to the imperatives of being “Indian.” Chapters examine Bharati Mukherjee's rejection of “ethnic” Americanness; Chetan Bhagat's “bad English”; Amit Chaudhuri's autofictional literary project; and Jhumpa Lahiri's decision to write in Italian, interspersed with meditations on the iconicity of the theorists Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said. Through an innovative method of accented reading and sharing stories and syllabi from her teaching, Srinivasan relates the burdens of representation faced by ethnic and postcolonial writers to the institutional and disciplinary pressures that affect the scholars who study their works. Engaging and self-reflexive, Overdetermined offers new insight into the dynamics that shape contemporary Indian English literature, the politics of identity in literary studies, and the complexities of teaching minoritized literatures in the West. Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is assistant professor of English at Rice University. Her books include the essays What is We? (2025) and the coedited Thinking with an Accent: Toward a New Object, Method, and Practice (2023), and her public writing has appeared in numerous venues. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here

Why is it so difficult to account for the role of identity in literary studies? Why do both writers and scholars of Indian English literature express resistance to India and Indianness? What does this reveal about how non-Western literatures are read, taught, and understood? Drawing on years of experiences in classrooms and on U.S. university campuses, Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan explores how writers, critics, teachers, and students of Indian English literatures negotiate and resist the categories through which the field is defined: ethnic, postcolonial, and Anglophone.Overdetermined: How Indian English Literature Becomes Ethnic, Postcolonial, and Anglophone (Columbia UP, 2025) considers major contemporary authors who disavow identity even as their works and public personas respond in varied ways to the imperatives of being “Indian.” Chapters examine Bharati Mukherjee's rejection of “ethnic” Americanness; Chetan Bhagat's “bad English”; Amit Chaudhuri's autofictional literary project; and Jhumpa Lahiri's decision to write in Italian, interspersed with meditations on the iconicity of the theorists Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Edward Said. Through an innovative method of accented reading and sharing stories and syllabi from her teaching, Srinivasan relates the burdens of representation faced by ethnic and postcolonial writers to the institutional and disciplinary pressures that affect the scholars who study their works. Engaging and self-reflexive, Overdetermined offers new insight into the dynamics that shape contemporary Indian English literature, the politics of identity in literary studies, and the complexities of teaching minoritized literatures in the West. Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is assistant professor of English at Rice University. Her books include the essays What is We? (2025) and the coedited Thinking with an Accent: Toward a New Object, Method, and Practice (2023), and her public writing has appeared in numerous venues. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

Amy is joined by Amie Souza Reilly, author of Human/Animal, for an eye-opening discussion about stalking and safety, about how patriarchy thrives on women's fears and about what we actually have to be afraid of.Donate to Breaking Down PatriarchyAmie Souza Reilly is a visual artist and multigenre writer from Connecticut. Her work has appeared in various journals, including Wigleaf, HAD, The Chestnut Review, The Atticus Review, Catapult, SmokeLong Quarterly, Barren, Pidgeonholes and elsewhere. She holds an MA in English Literature from Fordham University and an MFA from Fairfield University, and is the Writer-in-Residence and Director of Writing Studies at Sacred Heart University. She is the author of Human/Animal and works as the Director of Writing Studies at Sacred Heart University.

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Megan Mary, author of the book The Dream Dimensions. Metaphysical author Megan Mary, a dream analyst, intuitive, and mystic, intertwines her passion for personal transformation, magick, and cats with the ethereal realm of dreams.   In addition to a career spanning over twenty-five years creating, managing and marketing websites, she holds a BA and an MA in English Literature, certification in British Studies, is pursuing her PhD in Metaphysical Sciences and is a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.   After being diagnosed with three chronic illnesses, she experienced a spiritual awakening. She now empowers women all over the world to live more authentic, aligned, and abundant lives through dream empowerment and mystical guidance. Her podcast, Women's Dream Enlightenment, has been voted as one of the Top 20 Spiritual Awakening Podcasts You Must Follow. When she's not dreaming or weaving digital webs, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two magickal cats.   Megan Mary is available for virtual radio/tv, magazine, podcast and book clubs guest appearances!   Here's the book blurb: During a magickal ritual, Hannah Skye receives a prophetic message. She then encounters a series of seven riddles that lead her to discover there is more to her ancestry than she ever imagined.   Meanwhile, someone has been following her, lurking in the shadows. As she works to deciper the prophecy before Halloween night, Hannah discovers and confronts the destructive force that has influenced the course of her life.   A tale of ancestral healing, this fall-themed final installation of the Witches of Maple Hollow Trilogy brings together mystery, astronomy, alchemy, and dreams to illuminate dimensions beyond time and space.   Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1   Join the Novels N Latte Book Club community to discuss this and other books with like-minded readers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3576519880426290   You can follow Author Megan Mary Website: www.meganmary.com Social media: IG: @meganmaryauthor X: @MeganMaryAuthor LinkedIn: @Megan Mary Iudice   Purchase The Dream Dimensions on Amazon: Ebook: https://amzn.to/42gKEgE   Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor IG: @terimbrown_author X: @terimbrown1   Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors   #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Charlie Jane Anders is an award-winning, best-selling author of speculative fiction based in the Bay Area. She is the winner of the 2017 Nebula, Locus, and Crawford awards; winner of the 2020 Locus Award; a co-creator of the transgender Marvel Comics superhero, Escapade; a founding editor of the science fiction website io9 (https://gizmodo.com/io9); a co-host, with Annalee Newitz, of the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct (https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/); and the current science fiction and fantasy book reviewer for The Washington Post. In this episode, I talk to Charlie Jane about her latest and most personal novel yet. Written during the pandemic, partly as a way of processing her own father's death and her mother's subsequent isolation, Lessons in Magic and Disaster is about a 20-something graduate student in English Literature who teaches her grieving mother how to do magic...with unexpected consequences. In our conversation, we talk about the hidden history of the 18th century novel, LGBTQ activism in the 70s and 80s, the role of community in writing, and so much more. To learn more about Charlie Jane, or to order a copy of Lessons in Magic and Disaster, visit charliejaneanders.com (https://www.charliejaneanders.com/). Special Guest: Charlie Jane Anders.

Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his graphic novel Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, NC with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.Dr. Chandra Maxwell is a Lead English Language Arts teacher at David Wooster Middle School in Stratford, CT. She became interested in English Literature as a student at Central Magnet High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Through her English teacher, Mrs. Cynthia Fernandes, she learned about the power of intentional writing as found in the works of Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry. As a result, Dr. Maxwell has done extensive research on equitable reading intervention programs for middle school students so that all students can be exposed to intentional reading and writing practices.

⚠️ The Middle East is in the RED ZONE. Tensions between Iran and Israel are rising again, bringing the region closer to the brink of war. At sea, the Freedom Flotilla sails toward Gaza — and tonight we're joined live from aboard the vessel as it nears its destination. Meanwhile, Trump is pushing his “Gaza peace plan” — but will it succeed, or is it doomed from the start?

Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his graphic novel Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, NC with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers. Dr. Chandra Maxwell is a Lead English Language Arts teacher at David Wooster Middle School in Stratford, CT. She became interested in English Literature as a student at Central Magnet High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Through her English teacher, Mrs. Cynthia Fernandes, she learned about the power of intentional writing as found in the works of Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry. As a result, Dr. Maxwell has done extensive research on equitable reading intervention programs for middle school students so that all students can be exposed to intentional reading and writing practices.

Michael Rectenwald discusses his newly founded Anti-Zionist America PAC (AZAPAC) which exists to end America's political, financial, and military entanglement with Israel. He explains what has gone wrong with Zionist influence, how its mask has come off under the Trump administration, the attack on civil liberties, the devastation of Gaza, and more. He also gives an update on where we're at with the globalist project for a technocratic world state. Watch on BitChute / Brighteon / Rumble / Substack / YouTube Geopolitics & Empire · Michael Rectenwald: Disentangling the Zionist Lobby Through AZAPAC #572 *Support Geopolitics & Empire! Become a Member https://geopoliticsandempire.substack.com Donate https://geopoliticsandempire.com/donations Consult https://geopoliticsandempire.com/consultation **Visit Our Affiliates & Sponsors! Above Phone https://abovephone.com/?above=geopolitics easyDNS (15% off with GEOPOLITICS) https://easydns.com Escape The Technocracy (15% off with GEOPOLITICS) https://escapethetechnocracy.com/geopolitics Expat Money Summit 2025 (20% off VIP with EMPIRE) https://2025.expatmoneysummit.com PassVult https://passvult.com Sociatates Civis https://societates-civis.com StartMail https://www.startmail.com/partner/?ref=ngu4nzr Wise Wolf Gold https://www.wolfpack.gold/?ref=geopolitics Websites Michael Rectenwald https://www.michaelrectenwald.com AZAPAC https://www.aza-pac.com Substack https://mrectenwald.substack.com X https://x.com/RecTheRegime About Michael Rectenwald Dr. Michael Rectenwald is the author of twelve books, including The Great Reset and the Struggle for Liberty: Unraveling the Global Agenda (Jan. 2023), Thought Criminal (Dec. 2020); Beyond Woke (May 2020); Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom (Sept. 2019); Springtime for Snowflakes: “Social Justice” and Its Postmodern Parentage (an academic's memoir, 2018); Nineteenth-Century British Secularism: Science, Religion and Literature (2016); Academic Writing, Real World Topics (2015, Concise Edition 2016); Global Secularisms in a Post-Secular Age (2015); Breach (Collected Poems, 2013); The Thief and Other Stories (2013); and The Eros of the Baby-Boom Eras (1991). (See the Books page.) Michael was a distinguished fellow at Hillsdale College and a Professor of Liberal Studies and Global Liberal Studies at NYU. He also taught at Duke University, North Carolina Central University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Case Western Reserve University. His scholarly and academic essays have appeared in The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Academic Questions, Endeavour, The British Journal for the History of Science, College Composition and Communication, International Philosophical Quarterly, the De Gruyter anthologies Organized Secularism in the United States and Global Secularisms in a Post-Secular Age, and the Cambridge University Press anthology George Eliot in Context, among others (see the Academic Scholarship page). He holds a Ph.D. in Literary and Cultural Studies from Carnegie Mellon University, a Master's in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University, and a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pittsburgh. (See his C.V. for details.) Michael's writing for general audiences has appeared on The Mises Institute Wire, Newsweek, The Epoch Times, RT.com, Campus Reform, The New English Review, The International Business Times, The American Conservative, Quillette, The Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, CLG News, LotusEaters.com, Chronicles, and others. (See the Essays and Presentations page.) Michael has appeared on major network political talk shows (Tucker Carlson Tonight, Tucker Carlson Originals, Fox & Friends, Fox & Friends First, Varney & Company, The Ingraham Angle, Unfiltered with Dan Bongino, The Glenn Beck Show), on syndicated radio shows (Coast to Coast AM, Glenn Beck, The Larry Elder Show, and many others),

Project 21's Curtis Hill, McIver Institute's Bill Osmulski, Junk Science's Steve Milloy, Humanize Today's Wesley Smith, Professor of English Literature at UW-Oshkosh Duke Pesta We are replaying Bill Osmulkski

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were both born in 1564, rising from working-class origins finding success in the new world of the theater. But before Shakespeare transformed English drama, Marlowe had already done so—with Tamburlaine the Great and the introduction of blank verse to the stage. As Stephen Greenblatt argues in his new biography, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival, virtually everything in the Elizabethan theater can be seen as “pre- and post-Tamburlaine.” Shakespeare learned from Marlowe, borrowed from him, and even tried to outdo him. Beyond his theatrical innovation, Marlowe was a poet, provocateur, and likely spy whose turbulent life was cut tragically short. In this episode, Greenblatt explores Marlowe's audacious works, his entanglements with power and secrecy, and his lasting influence on Shakespeare and the stage. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published September 23, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He has written extensively on English Renaissance literature and acts as general editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Shakespeare. He is the author of fourteen books, including The Swerve, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and Will in the World, a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

In this episode, we're talking about beloved computer game, The Sims, with special guest Ruth Ormiston. Ruth (they/them) is a book designer and cultural worker with an MA in English Literature from the University of Victoria (where they specialized in late-nineteenth-century children's publishing) and a Master of Publishing from Simon Fraser University. And they're a fan of The Sims.Released 25 years ago, the game has seen many updates and dozens of expansion packs, all while retaining a grip on children and adults alike who flock to it for escapism, world-building, chaos, and play. In our conversation, Hannah contextualizes its reception in the early aughts and helps us understand its enduring success across a diverse audience through a look at Jack Halberstam's work, The Queer Art of Failure. Together, Ruth, Marcelle and Hannah consider the pleasure of the open-endednesThe Sims provides, while still being a designed game that has particular ideas about the world coded into it. As you can imagine, the conversation turns to heteropatriachy and capitalism before deep-diving into the exit-less pool of subversive possibilities enabled in the gameplay itself.This episode cites work from Tanja Sihvonen, Jack Halberstam, Diane Nutt, Diane Railston, Hanna Wirman and Rhys Jones.. ***To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us there!***Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment. Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we introduce you to a model program that is making a real difference.  The Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College (TUPIT) provides transformative educational experiences for incarcerated and on-campus students and faculty in an environment that encourages bold critical thinking, higher levels of civic engagement, and a greater sense of community. TUPIT aims to facilitate creative and collaborative responses to the problems of mass incarceration, fostering students' and faculty members' capacities to become active citizens of change. Joining us to tell more of the story is Dr. Hilary Binda, Founder and Executive Director of the Tufts University Prison Initiative (TUPIT). Hilary has a PhD in English Literature and teaches Literature, Gender Studies, and Carceral Studies at Tufts and in the degree program at MCI-Shirley and Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. David Delvalle is the Education and Reentry Director for TUPIT.  A true success story, he has become a leader in prison reform, education, and restorative justice, transforming his community after his own incarceration.

Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Carolyn Vine from Robin Hood, one of New York City's most impactful organizations fighting poverty. Robin Hood is stepping into an exciting new chapter—launching an endowment campaign that will strengthen their ability to serve the city for generations to come. Carolyn and I dive into how this initiative is taking shape, what it means for New Yorkers, and why continuity in leadership has been one of Robin Hood's greatest advantages. Carolyn oversees all fundraising activities at Robin Hood andleads the Development, Marketing, and Events team in their work raising funds to support the organization in its critical poverty-fighting work. In that capacity, she is responsible for reaching annual fundraising goals of more than $150 million and driving Robin Hood's development strategy by identifying new partners and initiatives to expand its fundraising platform, including planned giving, an endowment campaign, and a next-generation leadership group.Prior to joining Robin Hood in 2010, Carolyn worked at the global investment firm, D. E. Shaw & Co., in the Resource Development and Fundamental Research groups, focusing on business development, recruiting, and research.  She has an M.Sc. in African Studies from the University of Oxford. She earned a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University. A native New Yorker, Carolyn is passionate about making this city a more equitable engine of opportunity for all, and she has fought to do so in her fundraising roles at Robin Hood for over ten years.  She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two small children.

Episode 185:For today's guest episode it's a warm welcome to the podcast for Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth, co-authors of the recently published book ‘The Shakespeare Ladies Club'.Their book explores the lives of four ladies who were crucial in ensuring the original work of Shakespeare was not forgotten in the 18th Century and beyond. In 1736, these three ladies of quality, two from the aristocracy and one a writer who ran a stationery shop, formed the ‘Shakespeare Ladies Club'. All three were so enraptured by the plays of William Shakespeare that they met to read and discuss his them and his genius. Not content with this, they used their power and influence to campaign for a statue of their literary idol to be placed in Westminster Abbey. They were successful in that endeavour, but their role in these achievements has never been properly recognised. Along with other scholars Christine and Johnathn's book is part of the process of putting that right. It is a very entertaining and informative read that I thoroughly enjoyed as I hope you will our conversation with just a taster of some of the details Christine and Jonathan have revealed.Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth live in Adelaide, South Australia and have a passion for historical investigation and challenging the 'conventional wisdom' regarding famous historical subjects.Christine spent several decades working for the Australian government in social services. Her work on a program to re-connect lone parents with training, education and employment opportunities gave her a unique insight into family and societal challenges.Jonathan was educated in Britain and Australia and has over thirty years of experience as a high school teacher of Modern and Ancient History, and English Literature. He is a graduate of The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.Link to Christine and Jonathan's website: https://hainsworthwardagius.comLink to The Shakespeare Ladies Club on Amberley Publishing: https://www.amberley-books.comLink to The Shakespeare Ladies Club on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeare-Ladies-Club-Forgotten-Rescued/dp/1398127442/ref=sr_1_1?Support the podcast at:www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.comwww.patreon.com/thoetpwww.ko-fi.com/thoetp Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 135 In part 26 of our Sinai and Synapses interview series, we are talking with Dr. Randy Wedin. He is a freelance science writer and a Lay Teacher at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center (MZMC). He earned his PhD in Chemistry at Harvard University and his BA in Chemistry and English Literature at St. Olaf College (Minnesota). As a science writer, he uses his communication skills to bridge the gap between the worlds of science, business, government, and the public. He has research and writing experience on a broad range of science-related topics, from green chemistry, drug development, and sustainability to smart grid, public outreach, and K-12 science education. In addition, he has written creative nonfiction essays and op-ed articles for general audiences on subjects related to parenting, relationships, and daily life, often using metaphors from the world of science to provide new perspectives on these topics. His current focus at MZMC is on exploring the relationship of science and Zen Buddhism in his dharma talks and a six-week course he taught on “Zen and Science”.   Sinai and Synapses - https://sinaiandsynapses.org/   Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast   More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/   produced by Zack Jackson music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis 

I'm talking to Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux from the Three Ravens podcast about the difficulties in defining 'folklore', the importance of storytelling, which of England's 39 historic counties has the best folk tales, why people love ghost stories, and making folklore accessible to wider audiences! Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux are the brains behind the Three Ravens podcast, and they are a real life couple, based in Sussex. Eleanor was born in Suffolk and grew up in Sussex, and after developing a passion for storytelling and stage performance as a child, become involved in amateur dramatics and completed her BA in English Literature and earned her MA in Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama. She also founded the theatre company Rust & Stardust, which tours original work and education projects rooted in English folklore. Martin was born in Somerset and grew up in the developing world, including in Uganda and Papua New Guinea. After leaving school, he completed his BA in English and won National Student Television Awards for comedy and directing. Having been a freelance journalist, radio presenter, and English teacher, he also won the BBC Moo! New Writers Prize in 2009. He gave up teaching after the pandemic to undertake his MA in Romantic and Victorian Literature and Culture at Goldsmiths, and to launch Three Ravens. Buy their book, The Three Ravens Folk Tales: New tellings of half-forgotten stories from England's 39 Historic Counties: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781803999685 Visit the Three Ravens Podcast website: https://www.threeravenspodcast.com/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/