48. All Your Childrens' Books Are Belong To Us (Gays), Part 2

Welcome back to History is Gay, with part 2 of our three-part exploration of classic queer children's literature authors, with guest host Aubree Calvin! In this second installment, we give more background on the history of queer children's literature and dive a bit deeper into our favorite Queer Kid Lit fairy grandmother Ursula Nordstrom before moving into our main coverage focusing on two additional authors, beloved James Marshall, author of George and Martha and the Miss Nelson series, as well as the iconically curmudgeonly Maurice Sendak, known best for Where the Wild Things Are. 

Part three will be coming your way soon with even more queer children's authors to explore :)

Outline
0:00 – Introduction
9:35 – Socio-Historical Context: Timeline of Overt LGBTQ Rep in Children's Books
17:42 – Socio-Historical Context: Fear of the Queer Child
17:42 – 23:22 – CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of bigoted association of homosexuality with child sexual abuse
23:22 – More about Ursula Nordstorm: our queer kid lit fairy gaymother
29:27 – Who Were They? Bio Time: James Marshall
45:08 – Who Were They? Bio Time: Maurice Sendak
56:05 – Why do we think they're gay?
1:14:14 – Closing and Where to Find us Online

For a full list of sources and bonus content, visit our Notes page! 

Apple Podcasts  |    Google Play    |    RadioPublic    |   Download

47. All Your Childrens' Books Are Belong To Us (Gays), Part 1

This episode marks the return of History is Gay after hiatus, and we're excited to be back in your podfeeds diving into the fascinating world of classic children's literature through the lens of queer authors. Leigh is joined by wonderful guest co-host, Aubree Calvin, to explore the lives and works of several groundbreaking authors, revealing how their sexualities and personal experiences shaped the books we cherished as children.

In this first of a multi-part episode, we're focusing on four beloved authors whose works were some of our favorites: Tomie dePaola, most notable for our favorite Italian grandma Strega Nona, Margaret Wise Brown, the bisexual poet behind beloved picture books Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, Ann M. Martin, who introduced us to our friends in The Baby-Sitters Club, and Arnold Lobel, the man behind the cozy shared lives of Frog and Toad.  

This conversation doesn't end here; stay tuned as we will continue to explore more queer authors and their impact on the world of children's literature in the next episode, coming soon!

Outline
0:00 – Introduction
4:51 – Socio-Historical Context: History of queer children's literature
10:00 – Who Were They? Bio Time for some of your queer kid lit faves
1:00:15 – Why do we think they're gay?
1:15:57 – 1:16:03 – CONTENT WARNING: Mention of suicidal ideation
1:37:01 – Closing and Where to Find us Online

For a full list of sources and bonus content, visit our Notes page! 

Apple Podcasts  |    Google Play    |    RadioPublic    |   Download