Women Who Dared to Write

**DISCLAIMER**  Katherine is recording the podcast from Beirut this week - and so please excuse our less than perfect recording quality thanks to intermittent power! Stick with us – we promise this wonderful episode is absolutely worth it!!  –  In this week’s episode of Women Who Dared to Write, Katherine Pangonis talks to Gurmehar Kaur, Karuna Ezara Parikh and Daribha Lyndem about life as a young female writer in India today.  Gurmehar Kaur is a writer and political activist from Punjab. She first rose to prominence for promoting peace between India and Pakistan – which was seen to be particularly controversial as her father was killed in a terrorist attack in 1999.  Gurmehar has asserted that it was not Pakistan that killed her father, but war itself. She has since written two books, the former titled ‘Small Acts of Freedom’ and the latter ‘The Young and the Restless’. In 2017 Time magazine spotlighted her as a next generation leader. Karuna Ezara Parikh is a writer from New Delhi who started out as a journalist and poet but has recently released her first novel – the Heart Asks Pleasure First, her debut poetry collection was called ‘Where Stories Gather’. Daribha Lyndem is a writer and civil servant from Shillong who released her critically acclaimed coming of age novel – ‘Name, Place, Animal, Thing’ in 2020 and this has recently been shortlisted for the prestigious JCB prize for literature. In the episode they talk about their struggles against stereotyping and the often misogynistic reception of their groundbreaking work.  Their twitter handles are:  @mehartweets @karunaparikh @tribalations   –  Links to all the books written by our guests mentioned on the show:  Gurmehar Kaur https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Acts-Freedom-Gurmehar-Kaur-ebook/dp/B0798DF3C7 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Young-Restless-Youth-Politics-India/dp/0143447157  Karuna Ezara Parikh https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Asks-Pleasure-First/dp/9389109515 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Stories-Gather-Karuna-Parikh/dp/9354890873  Daribha Lyndem https://www.amazon.co.uk/Place-Animal-Thing-Daribha-Lyndem/dp/819476050X  –  Presented by Katherine Pangonis Produced and Edited by Adele-Momoko Fraser Artwork by Carli Boisjolie Music by Jad Kas  – Follow us on Twitter: @Katie_Pangonis @AMFraser_  And on Instagram: @katie__pa @momo.fraser  –  Katherine’s Website: https://www.katherinepangonis.com/

In this week’s episode of Women Who Dared to Write, Katherine Pangonis explores the life and legacy of possibly the first ever female historian - Byzantine Princess Anna Komnene. Talking with Professor Leonora Neville, John and Jeanne Rowe Professor of Byzantine History at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and researcher and author, Dr Ioulia Kolovou - the episode explores how Anna has been unfairly dismissed by academics over the years, despite writing seminal Crusader chronicle, The Alexiad. – Professor Leonora Neville’s book - Anna Komnene: The Life and Work of a Medieval Historian (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anna-Komnene-Medieval-Historian-Hellenic/dp/019049817X Dr Ioulia Kolovou’s book - Anna Komnene and the Alexiad: The Byzantine Princess and the First Crusade https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anna-Komnene-Alexiad-Byzantine-Princess/dp/1526733013 – Presented by Katherine Pangonis Produced and Edited by Adele-Momoko Fraser Artwork by Carli Boisjolie Music by Jad Kas Follow us on Twitter: @Katie_Pangonis @AMFraser_ And on Instagram: @katie__pa @momo.fraser Katherine’s Website: https://www.katherinepangonis.com/

In the first episode of Women Who Dared to Write, Katherine Pangonis interviews author and founder director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Kate Mosse. Kate has written 10 novels and short story collections, 4 non fiction books and  4 plays  – but she’s best known for her Languedoc trilogy - starting with the best-selling ‘Labyrinth’. She’s now releasing her latest book, ‘Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries’. Katherine and Kate talk about the fight to have women’s writing recognised, the fact that women have so often been written out of history by those setting the narrative and starting out writing later in life. Kate Mosse's new book, 'Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries’ can be purchased here: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kate-mosse/warrior-queens-quiet-revolutionaries/9781529092219   Presented by Katherine Pangonis Produced and Edited by Adele-Momoko Fraser Artwork by Carli Boisjolie Music by Jad Kas Follow us on Twitter: @Katie_Pangonis @AMFraser_ And on Instagram: @katie__pa @momo.fraser Katherine’s Website: https://www.katherinepangonis.com/

Welcome to Women Who Dared to Write - the Podcast! This podcast is presented by Katherine Pangonis, historian and author of 'Queen of Jerusalem: The Women who Dared to Rule'. In each episode, Katherine speaks to authors and experts about the women throughout history who have taken control of the narrative and made the most significant contributions to the literary world.