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© 2025 The Virginia Woolf Podcast
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Dr Karina Jakubowicz talks with writers, artists, and academics whose work has been influenced by the modernist writer, Virginia Woolf. This podcast is made in association with Literature Cambridge, an independent educational organisation that provides university-style lectures on a wide range of literary subjects. Head to https://www.literaturecambridge.co.uk for more info.
28 Episodes
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Send us a text This is episode is all about writers' rooms - where do writers really work, and why are we so invested in the romance of the writing process? Academic and author, Katie da Cunha Lewin has thought a great deal about this subject, and her recent book 'The Writer's Room' explores it in depth. In this episode, Karina chats to Katie about the politics and practicalities of authorship, and (of course) about Virginia Woolf's own writing process. To learn more about Literature Ca...
Send us a text Our previous episode on Katherine Mansfield was so successful that we've prepared this sequel entirely dedicated to her life and work. In this episode, Karina speaks with Dr Gerri Kimber about her new biography, 'Katherine Mansfield: A Hidden Life,' an incredibly rich examination of the wild and dangerous legacy left by one of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Woolf said that Mansfield was the only writer she was jealous of, and in many ways it's easy to se...
Send us a text It is officially 100yrs since the publication of Mrs Dalloway. To celebrate, we have just released a podcast episode with Prof Mark Hussey on his new 'biography' of the novel. In the course of this interview we discussed the evolution of Mrs Dalloway, Woolf's various sources of inspiration, and the novel's many afterlives. We also talked about how re-reading the novel across a lifetime grants it a new kind of biography, an autobiography mapped on to our own lives and expe...
Send us a text In this episode, Karina speaks with Professor Maggie Humm about her new book, 'The Bloomsbury Photographs.' They discuss the importance of photography to the Bloomsbury members, the cameras they used, and the role of photograph albums in the curation of their intimate, creative lives. http://www.maggiehumm.net/ https://yalebooksblog.co.uk/2024/10/25/the-bloomsbury-photographs/ To learn more about Literature Cambridge, go to https://www.literaturecambridge.co.uk or...
Send us a text Harriet Baker joins Karina to discuss her new book, 'Rural Hours: The Country Lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann.' Together they explore how rural living affected the work of these three innovative authors, and profoundly shaped their personal and political lives. The book is available from Allen Lane publishers and all good bookshops. https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sed/english/staff/phd/profiles/bakerh.html https://www.waterstones.com/book/rural-...
Send us a text In the second part of our series on Woolf in Japan, Karina visits Etc bookshop, a feminist bookshop in Tokyo. There, she speaks to the bookshop's founder, Akiko Matsuo, who believes Woolf's work is inspiring a whole community of Japanese feminists. Karina also speaks to the novelist and translator Aoko Matsuda, who discusses what it means to 'think back through our mothers' if we are women. Her book 'Eko no Mori' is partly inspired by Mrs Dalloway. You can find more about Etc ...
Send us a text In 1910 a young Virginia Woolf engaged in a prank now known as The Dreadnought Hoax. The episode, which involved her pretending to be an Abyssinian Prince and wearing blackface, has divided and embarrassed scholars of her work, many of whom prefer not to dwell on it. Danell Jones, author of 'The Girl Prince: Virginia Woolf, Race, and The Dreadnaught Hoax' is the first researcher to deeply consider this moment in Woolf's biography while also engaging with the Black experience i...
Send us a text In this episode, Karina speaks with Mansfield expert Gerri Kimber about the author's infamous connection with Virginia Woolf. They discuss what they had in common, what they didn't, and whether she was really a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Gerri is the founder of the Katherine Mansfield Society. She is the author of Katherine Mansfield: The Early Years (2016), Katherine Mansfield and the Art of the Short Story (2015), and Katherine Mansfield: The View from France (2008). Sh...
Send us a text This is the first part of a mini-series on Woolf in Japan. In this episode, Karina is joined by Prof Aki Katyama, the Japanese translator of A Room of One's Own. Together they discuss the success of this text in Japan, and the importance of Woolf's feminist essay to contemporary Japanese gender politics. They speak with students at Dokkyo University in Soka, and with Ryoko Takeuchi, a publisher at Heibonsha Publishers in Tokyo. The episode is funded by The Daiwa Foundation. T...
Send us a text In this episode, Karina interviews the excellent Kabe Wilson, an artist and scholar who has recently been artist in residence at the University of Sussex. They discuss his long relationship with Woolf's work and go in search of a lighthouse with some strange connections between his own paintings to those of Vanessa Bell. Kabe is known in the Woolf community for his imaginative interventions in Woolf's writing. His many projects on Woolf include: Of One Woman or So, The Dreadl...
Send us a text This episode celebrates the opening of an exhibition at Charleston's new museum in Lewes, Sussex. The exhibition is titled Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion and is running until January 7th 2025. In order to discuss the Bloomsbury Group and their innovative approach to clothing, Karina is joined by the exhibition's curator, Charlie Porter, and Woolf and fashion scholar Claire Nicholson. Charlie is a writer, fashion critic and curator. He has written for The Financial ...
Send us a text Marielle O'Neill and Prof. Peter Stansky discuss the many legacies of Leonard Woolf, notably his anti-imperialism, socialism, and work in international politics. Peter Stansky is a professor of History at Stanford University and the author of Leonard Woolf, Bloomsbury Socialist. His most recent publication is The Socialist Patriot: George Orwell and War. As a distinguished historian, he has judged the Pulitzer Prize, among other book awards. Peter was a finalist for the Nation...
Send us a text This is the second of two episodes created to celebrate 100yrs since the first 'Dalloway day.' In this episode, Professor Dame Gillian Beer gives a wonderful lecture titled, 'For There She Was: Love and Presence in Mrs Dalloway' To learn more about Literature Cambridge, go to https://www.literaturecambridge.co.uk or follow them on: https://litcamb.substack.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/literature-cambridge and Instagram @litcamb
Send us a text This is the first of two episodes created to celebrate 100yrs since the day on which Mrs Dalloway is set. This episode focuses on a mysterious painting by Vanessa Bell and explores its possible connection to Mrs Dalloway. Karina speaks with the painting's owner, Howard Ginsberg, and the bestselling author of Bloomsbury Pie, Regina Marler in order to think about paintings and parties in 1920s Bloomsbury. With thanks to Howard Ginsberg for his permission to use an image ...
Send us a text Karina speaks with Prof Mark Hussey about an often misunderstood member of the Bloomsbury Group, Clive Bell. Hussey touches on Bell's pacifism, his love affairs, and his powerful influence on Bloomsbury thought. Prof Hussey is the author of Bell's biography, 'Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism' and has edited 'The Selected Letters of Clive Bell: Art, Love, and War in Bloomsbury.' You can purchase copies and learn more at: https://www.markhusseybooks.com For a...
Send us a text A new theatrical adaptation of Orlando has just premiered in the West End. The play is by Neil Bartlett and features Emma Corrin in the title role. Karina interviews Dr Angela Harris, Neil Bartlett, and a group of fantastic students from Florida State University, London Campus. To learn more about Literature Cambridge, go to https://www.literaturecambridge.co.uk or follow them on: https://litcamb.substack.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/literature-cambridge...
Send us a text After 5 years of planning, Woolf's statue was finally unveiled in Richmond, Surrey. This episode features interviews with those who attended the event, including Woolf's great great niece, Sophie Partridge, and author and Woolf expert, Professor Maggie Humm. The unveiling Blogging Woolf. To learn more about Literature Cambridge, go to https://www.literaturecambridge.co.uk or follow them on: https://litcamb.substack.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/literature-cambridge...
Send us a text In the first episode of Season 2, Karina celebrates the centenary of Jacob's Room by visiting King's College, Cambridge. While there, we get a sense of where some of the Bloomsbury members lived while they studied at Cambridge, and explore the novel's relationship with death, memory, and the Great War. Karina speaks with novelist, Prof Susan Sellers and King's archivist, Peter Jones. To learn more about Literature Cambridge, go to https://www.literaturecambridge.co.uk o...
Send us a text Karina interviews Tanya Shadrick about Woolf's influence on her wonderful memoir, 'A Cure for Sleep'. The book explores what it means to have a near-death experience, the joy of having a second chance, and the power and labour of writing. The interview takes place by Pells Pool in Lewes, Sussex, not far from where Woolf once lived. To learn more about Literature Cambridge, go to https://www.literaturecambridge.co.uk or follow them on: https://litcamb.substack.com/ http...
Send us a text Karina interviews drag king Holly James Johnston, who created a drag act entirely based on Woolf's character, Orlando. She regularly performs as Orlando and has spoken about what it means to apply Woolf's novel to the art of drag and dress. Her photographs for 'Adventures in Time and Gender' vividly reimagined what Orlando would have looked like during the 2020 lockdown. https://adventuresintimeandgender.org/wormholes/orlando/ https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/news/profile-holly-jame...
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