“There's a tendency when talking about narratives of female empowerment to want historical figures to be wholly good or wholly villainous. And I think there's not always enough opportunity to look at people [for whom] maybe it's a bit more of a grey area, perhaps— they're complicated. They did some things that we could admire and maybe some are not so admirable. To me, that wasn't really an issue. They were still fascinating figures.” ~ Emily Midorikawa

Emily Midorikawa is the author of Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voicepublished by Counterpoint Press. Emily is also the co-author of a Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontё, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf written with Emma Claire Sweeney and published in 2017.

Emily's the winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. Her journalism has appeared in the Paris Review, TIME, The Times (of London), and the Washington Post. She teaches in the writing program at New York University London.

Emily and Kaitlin actually have been connected virtually for almost a decade, and Kaitlin followed her writing career with interest.

Kaitlin and Emily spoke at length about:

• The women Emily covered in her book;
• Some theories she has about how their circumstances enabled them to find platforms for expression;
• Emily’s process of creating Out of the Shadows while pregnant with both children. 

This conversation was edited down a bit, but you can hear the whole episode by following this link.

Find out more about Emily:

Website: https://emilymidorikawa.com/

Instagram: @midorikawaemily

Twitter: @EmilyMidorikawa

Check out her book: Out Of the Shadows

Related Resources:

Out of the Shadows: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781640095298

Secret Sisterhood: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781328532381

An article about the Fox Sisters: the-fox-sisters-and-the-rap-on-spiritualism-99663697

Emma Hardinge Britten: http://www.ehbritten.org/

Susan B. Anthony: susan-b-anthony

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.

For regular updates:

Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com

Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack:https://postpartumproduction.substack.com