In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Anna Beer, the author of five acclaimed biographies and a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College in Oxford, chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Eve Bites Back: An Alternative History of English Literature. Eve Bites Back includes biographical sketches and reappraisals of eight talented female authors who lived, wrote and published between the 14th and 19th centuries.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• Why Anna Beer chose the title Eve Bites Back
• Why Anna opened Eve Bites Back with a feisty outline of the obstacles female authors have faced throughout history that have consigned them to literary silence
• Anna’s rigorous research strategy given that women were usually invisible in pre 20th century archives
• How the characters of the eight authors drove the plot of each biographical sketch and the shape of Eve Bites Back
• How Anna balanced life writing and literary analysis
• The literary devices Anna employed to craft captivating narrative
• How Anna balanced authenticity and authoritativeness with wittiness, irony, questioning and righteous indignation.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the acclaimed historians Dr Henry Reynolds and Dr Nicholas Clements chat with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about their choices while crafting Tongerlongeter: First Nations Leader and Tasmanian War Hero, the biography of the courageous Indigenous warrior, Tongerlongeter.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• Tongerlongeter’s story, like many Indigenous Australian narratives, has largely been erased from mainstream history
• Why sharing Tongerlongeter’s story is crucial and so relevant today
• Why Henry Reynolds and Nicholas Clements reframed early 19th-century Tasmanian history through a biographical lens
• Henry and Nicholas’s research strategy given that few archival records exist of Indigenous peoples’ lives in 19th-century Tasmania
• How Henry and Nicholas ensured Tongerlongeter’s voice and agency were central to the narrative
• The literary devices Henry and Nicholas employed to craft gripping narrative and create a graphic sense of place

• How Tongerlongeter challenged traditional narratives of Tasmanian Indigenous history

• Why deeply researched, revisionist accounts of a life and events are so vital in authentically portraying our nation’s history and the individuals who created that history

Patricia Meisol explores the life and legacy of Dr Helen Taussig, the pioneering mother of paediatric cardiology:

• How Helen Taussig exposed the dangers of thalidomide, helping to spark new U.S. drug safety legislation in the 1960s.
• Helen Taussig’s determination in overcoming personal challenges, including dyslexia and progressive hearing loss, to become a world leader in medicine.
• Patricia reflects on her decade-long research journey, including interviews with Taussig’s former students and colleagues, to bring authenticity and depth to the narrative.
• Patricia examines how Helen Meisol translated complex cardiology and medical science into an accessible and emotionally resonant biography.
• The sexism Helen Taussig faced in medicine, and how she fought for recognition and paved the way for future women doctors.
• Highlights Helen Taussig’s lifelong advocacy for patient rights, drug safety, and compassionate care—making her a model for medicine and justice today.

Award-winning biographer Jacqueline Kent returns to the podcast to discuss her latest work, coauthored with historian Tom Roberts, about the iconic transgender model and activist April Ashley.

A Life Reimagined – Born George Jamieson in Liverpool, April Ashley transitioned in 1960 and became one of the first Britons to undergo gender-affirming surgery. Jacqueline explores April’s remarkable transformation with insight and compassion.

The biography traces April’s journey from a tough childhood to the glamour of 1960s high society, detailing both her rise as a fashion icon and the tabloid fallout that followed her outing.

Jacqueline shares what led her to co-write the biography with Tom Roberts and how they combined historical research with intimate narrative storytelling.

Learn why the biography opens with April’s reflective 80th birthday visit to Liverpool and how the authors balanced chronology with thematic exploration.

Jacqueline discusses April’s fierce advocacy for transgender rights and her lasting influence, culminating in honours like her 2012 MBE and the passing of the UK Equality Act in 2010.

Jacqueline reflects on the ethical responsibilities of biographers writing about living memory.

Jacqueline offers thoughtful insights into how biographers navigate memory, voice and truth while honouring their subject’s humanity and legacy.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the intellectual historian Dr Robert Zaretsky chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas. Known as the ‘patron saint of all outsiders’, Simone Weil was one of the 20th century’s most remarkable thinkers, a philosopher who truly lived by her political and ethical ideals.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• Why Robert Zaretsky chose the title: The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas
• Why Simone’s ideals and philosophies are so relevant today, 80 years after her death
• How Robert grasped Simone’s thinking and behaviour given her contradictory, paradoxical character that baffled her many biographers
• Why Robert crafted a hybrid of biography and philosophy
• Why he explored Simone’s philosophies and search for truth through the prism of her life rather than crafting a traditional biography
• Why he structured the book around five chapters that present Simone’s core philosophies
• How he portrayed Simone’s ideas with clarity and grace, given her enigmatic character, behaviour and philosophies
• The literary devices he employed to craft sensitive, compelling and lyrical narrative
• How Robert challenged the myths surrounding Simone Weil.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the historian Dr Kiera Lindsey chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Wild Love: The Ambitions of Adelaide Ironside, the First Australian Artist to Astonish the World.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• Adelaide Eliza Scott Ironside was a trailblazing Australian artist known for her passion, ambition and extraordinary talent. Born in Sydney in 1831, she challenged artistic boundaries by exploring themes such as identity, sexuality and spirituality
• Why Kiera Lindsey challenged the traditional narrative of Australian art history
• Why Adelaide Ironside’s story is still so relevant today
• How Kiera painstakingly pieced together tiny scraps of evidence from 19th-century historical records in which women were mostly invisible
• How following in Adelaide’s footsteps in colonial Sydney, London, Rome, Florence and Scotland from 200 years ago contributed to the narrative
• The limits Kiera placed on her imagination when speculating to fill gaps in the fragmentary historical record
• How Kiera portrayed the cultural norms, societal values and prevailing ideologies in which Adelaide successfully pursued her artistic ambitions
• How Kiera interpreted Adelaide’s romantic mysticism, which appeared in her poetry and paintings
• The art and craft of speculative biography, as well as its relevance and impacts.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the critically acclaimed author, Oxford scholar, literature teacher and performer Dr Sally Bayley chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about The Green Lady: A Spirit, A Story, A Place.

Part memoir, part fiction, The Green Lady is an experimental mix of biography, fiction and family history.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• The Green Lady explores a child’s search for artistic education and a sense of self. Lyrical and playful, Sally Bayley’s writing transports readers into an eccentric world of teachers, guardians and guiding spirits of place. Moved by her female teachers, and guided by the artist J.M.W. Turner, Bayley’s protagonist goes in search of her maternal ancestors, especially her grandmother, Edna May Turner.
• Sally’s inspiration for crafting The Green Lady, the final book in her experimental literary coming of age trilogy of a young girl immersing herself in the world of lyrical language and poetry
• Why Sally crafted The Green Lady as an experimental mix of biography, fiction and family history
• The meaning of the title, The Green Lady
• How The Green Lady continued Virginia Woolf’s Orlando as an imagined biography
• How Sally crafted deeply sensory and visceral narrative filled with vivid visual imagery, poetry, music, song, drama and movement
• Sally’s response to the question: ‘Who gets to be the subject of a biography and have their life told, and who remains invisible?’

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, memoirist Lamisse Hamouda chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting The Shape of Dust. Lamisse co-authored this deeply disturbing account with her father Hazem Hamouda. It chronicles Hazem’s wrongful arrest in Egypt and Lamisse’s desperate 443-day struggle to free him from Tora, one of Egypt’s most notorious prisons. The Shape of Dust won the 2024 National Biography Award.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• The meaning of the book’s title The Shape of Dust
• Why Lamisse and Hazem decided to craft The Shape of Dust when it risked triggering the horrific trauma of their experiences
• Why Lamisse framed the story around trauma
• How Lamisse navigated multiple languages, cultures and worlds while crafting The Shape of Dust
• Why Lamisse structured the book in three parts, with Part One comprising first-person accounts of what happened day by day, with Lamisse and Hazem taking it in turns to narrate their experiences
• Lamisse’s literary choices to reduce the terror and brutality of Hazem’s experiences for them as the authors and their readers
• Lamisse’s ethical decisions on which aspects of Hazem’s story to share
• The extent to which Lamisse self-censored her commentary about Egyptian and Australian politics; Australia’s consular services in Egypt; and Australian journalists
• How writing The Shape of Dust has changed Lamisse’s perception of colonisation and systemic racism in Australia.