Unfinished Business

Welcome to the new series from the British Library hosted by Lemn Sissay and featuring Kae Tempest, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, Monica Ali, Shami Chakrabarti, Jonathan Nunn, Amy Liptrot, Sophie Willan and Inua Ellams. Subscribe now.

In the continuing fight for women’s rights, who is responsible for change, and who should stand up and make a difference today? Amika George is the Founder of #FreePeriods, a global campaign to end period poverty, which she started at the age of 17. Her campaign successfully persuaded the UK government to pledge funds to provide free menstrual products in all English schools and colleges in 2017. More recently she wrote her first book, Make it Happen: How to Be an Activist. In the final episode of this series, Amika joins British Library Curator Polly Russell to discuss the anatomy of activism – explaining her journey, and giving thoughts on how women can continue to organise and made their voices heard. They hear from key campaigners including Rachel Grocott from Bloody Good Period, LGBTIQA+ activist Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin from Voices 4 London, Natasha Walter from Women for Refugee Women, and Isabel Cortes from United Voices of the World. Unfinished Business podcast series is generously supported by Joanna and Graham Barker and The Eccles Centre for American Studies.

Too often, men design the technology that shapes our world but in this episode we’re getting excited about the feminist possibilities of tech. British Library Curator Polly Russell is joined by Alice Wroe, an Augmented and Virtual Realities Lead at the Atlantic Institute. Together, they’re exploring the diversity issues in the industry and hearing from women who’re working to disrupt the scene. Judy Wajcman, a Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute, looks backwards to explain why from the 80s onwards women in the UK became less involved in this field. Looking to the future, we’re donning Virtual Reality headsets as artist and VR creator Deepa Mann-Kler takes us through some of her alternative projects. Co-Founder of non-profit organisation Feminist Internet Dr Charlotte Webb explores how feminist chatbots can change the ways tech can converse with us. And the self-proclaimed ‘accidental technologist’ Stephanie Dinkins will be questioning how technology can care for us in the future… Unfinished Business podcast series is generously supported by Joanna and Graham Barker and The Eccles Centre for American Studies. A Pixiu Production.

Having fun is a serious business. In this episode British Library curator Polly Russell joins forces with illustrator and club-night founder Flo Perry to explore how lesbians and queer women have partied, socialised and come together since the 70s. Because it’s in these moments and places that communities thrive and identities are confirmed. And these spaces are under threat. Polly and Flo are heading back to the 80s to get a sense of lesbian nightlife then, with club promoter Yvonne Taylor. They’re exploring the power of punk with Chardine Taylor Stone - LGBT+ activist and drummer of black feminist punk band Big Joanie. And they’re meeting British Library Research Fellow Eleanor Careless to learn how lesbians found each other in the past using feminist magazine Spare Rib. There’ll also be lots of metaphorically partying in some of the hottest queer nights happening pre pandemic- Tabitha Benjamin’s Butch, Please and Xandice Armah’s Gal Pals. Get your glad rags on, it’s going to be a wild one. Unfinished Business podcast series is generously supported by Joanna and Graham Barker and The Eccles Centre for American Studies. A Pixiu Production.

“It just felt completely natural to me that as long as there were gender roles there would be people who transcended them.” Juliet Jacques. In today’s episode British Library curator Polly Russell is joined by writer and filmmaker Juliet to explore how transgender lives have been represented in the press, in law and in culture throughout the ages. Because for transgender women in the UK and around the world, there is no finished business. Whether it’s access to healthcare, high suicide rates or being faced with violence on the streets, the issues trans people face are far from sorted. So Polly and Juliet are learning about queer stories from the from 20th Century with academic Alison Oram, getting inspired by political activist Christine Burns MBE and chatting to writer Kuchenga about how things stand today. Please note this episode contains explicit language and conversations about suicide. A Pixiu production.