Bonnets At Dawn

This week, we’re talking about forgotten novelists, scandalous carriage rides, and Jane Austen with two of our favorite authors. First up, Devoney Looser tells us more about Jane and Maria Porter, the subjects of her nonfiction book Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Sisters, Who Paved The Way for Austen and the Brontës. And later, we are joined by Nikki Payne, who discusses her modern Austen retelling Pride and Protest.

In this action-packed episode, we discuss our favorite reads of 2022, YOUR favorite reads of 2022, and interview some very special literary guests. First up - authors Lorraine Tosiello and Jane Cavolina discuss their book, "The Bee and the Fly: The Improbable Correspondence of Louisa May Alcott and Emily Dickinson". Roseann Backlin from Love’s Sweet Arrow recommends some romance novels we should pick up in 2023, and Eliza Tudor from Old Iron Press talks about retooled classics and the books she loved reading this year.

This week, we’ve come to the end of our Silas Marner read-along! Voice actress Katie Mosley joins us one last time as we recap chapters 17-22 and discuss all of the Silas Marner adaptations, including Steve Martin’s A Simple Twist of Fate.

We’re still banging on about George Eliot and Silas Marner! This week, we recap chapters 13 -16, talk nature and Wordsworth, and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot.

This week, we continue our discussion on George Eliot, her entanglements, and Silas Marner. The book is getting very Eastenders as we recap chapters 5-12 and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot to highlight our favorite quotes from the book.

For the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing George Eliot, her entanglements, and reading Silas Marner through a fairytale lens. This week, we recap chapters 1-4, and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot to highlight our favorite passages of the book.

This week we’ve specially selected pieces with a strong sense of place by Zitkala Sa, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Emily Lawless, and George Eliot for another B@D Mixtape. Come with us as we explore an English country garden, the Yankton Reservation, a bustling alleyway in New Orleans, and a quiet London drawing room. Special thanks to Sassy, Katie, Desiree, and _HAP_ from Freesound.org

This week, we’ve curated a selection of haunting short stories and poems by Virginia Woolf, Amy Levy, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Emily Dickinson, for another B@D Mixtape - part podcast, part audiobook.

This week, spooky story specialist Dr. Melissa Edmundson talks to us about her Broadview edition of The Uninhabited House by Charlotte Riddell and helps us understand why the Victorians were so obsessed with ghost stories. We also discuss “Business Gothic'' and recommend some scary stories by Edith Nesbit.

This week, we are discussing My Contraband by Louisa May Alcott and The Half-Caste by Dinah Craik. These stories may seem different on the surface, but share quite a few similarities. We talk about how these authors handle interracial relationships, the East India Company, and make comparisons to Sense & Sensibility and Jane Eyre. Spoilers ahead. You can find both stories for free online if you’d like to read before listening.

This week is all about the beloved/hated novel, Wuthering Heights! We sat down with Dr. Lydia Craig to discuss Tylney Hall (a possible source text and inspiration for WH) and reading Heathcliff as a person of color. We also talk adaptations, Wuthering Heights as horror, Charlotte Brontë’s Villette, and the musical Cats.

FINALLY. This week, we’re talking about Passing by Nella Larsen. We also compare and contrast it to the 2021 film adaptation by Rebecca Hall and the short story Passing by Langston Hughes. Spoilers ahead.

This week is all about Pauline Hopkins! Hopkins was an author, activist, and editor, who served as the driving force behind The Colored American magazine and her serialized novel, Of One Blood, has been described at Black Panther meets Indiana Jones. We’re joined by Eurie Dahn and Brian Sweeney to discuss this fascinating novel, early speculative fiction, as well as The Colored American Magazine, which they are currently digitizing here: http://coloredamerican.org/

This week, we’re continuing our conversation about Harriet Beecher Stowe and performative activism. And we are joined by Dr. Koritha Mitchell to discuss her upcoming edition of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, as well as the connections between Frances Harper and Harriet Jacobs.

This week, we’re talking about the business of abolitionist literature. We start by discussing the author and activist Lydia Maria Child and her short story The Quadroons. Then, PhD candidate Felicia Gabriele joins us to discuss her Rambling article entitled “The Problem of Fashionable Abolition: Performative Allyship Then and Now.”

We’re baaack! This week, we’re going on a micro-mini-roadtrip to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s House in Cincinnati and talking about one of one of her most baffling books - Pink & White Tyranny (great band name, btw). We can’t tell if this novel is a Mansfield Park fanfic or response to Wuthering Heights. Listen in and let us know! Spoilers ahead!

Hey, hey, we’re back with a new format! This is the first Bonnets at Dawn Mixtape, which is part audiobook and part podcast. In honor of National Poetry Month, we have asked some excellent voice actors to read poems about authors. Listen to hear what Dorothy Parker wrote about Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Tribute to George Sand by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a spooky poem about the Brontë sisters, and more! Music Credits: Sad Heaven Piano #3 by PSOVOD Lo Fi 01 by Szmalix Lo-Fo Tokyo by YellowTree Late Nights In Osaka by YellowTree

This week, Dr. Arielle Zibrak and Dr. Sarah Mesle join us to discuss our love of Kate Winslet, The Holiday, the pleasures of knitwear, and our favorite reads of 2021. We also talk about romcoms, Austen and Ephron, comfort reading, and read just a few of your amazing book recommendations.

We’re wrapping up our mini-series on Sex, Scandal, and Social Climbers with Dr. Arielle Zibrak, who is here to discuss the role of bonnets in 19th century literature, bodice rippers, and guilty pleasures. We also carry on our discussion about race in literature, Taylor Swift, and even get into Jane Austen’s Emma and Keanu Reeves. Find Arielle on the internet at https://www.ariellezibrak.com/

This week, we’re talking ghosts, gossip, and gambling with Clio O’Sullivan from Chawton House Library! We discuss the scandalous actress and author Mary Robinson and the connection she shares with Scottish botanical illustrator Elizabeth Blackwell.