Episodios

  • E6: DD Johnston's proletarian apocalypse, part 2

    E6: DD Johnston's proletarian apocalypse, part 2
    Dec 13 2022
    Concluding part of our double-episode in conversation with author, DD Johnston, about his new novel, Disnaeland.

    In this part, Darren discusses the novel’s relationship to the Scots language, the apocalyptic prophecies of radical, pre-Enlightenment Christianity, and his focus on mutual aid as a response to disaster. Darren also performs two further readings from the novel.

    Full information, sources, further reading, acknowledgements and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-5-6-dd-johnstons-proletarian-apocalypse/

    Get books mentioned in this episode

    Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9781849350617

    Disnaeland: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/disnaeland/9781909954533

    Acknowledgements
    Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here: http://www.alabianca.it/en/store/bravo-records-en/le-canzoni-di-bella-ciao-aa-vv/
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    33 m
  • E5: DD Johnston's proletarian apocalypse, part 1

    E5: DD Johnston's proletarian apocalypse, part 1
    Dec 6 2022
    The first of a two-part episode, Working Class Literature speak to DD Johnston about his new novel, Disnaeland, about a working-class Scottish community's response to societal collapse. We also discuss his previous novels and his participation in McDonald's Workers' Resistance, a radical collective of angry employees at the world's biggest fast food chain.

    Darren also reads passages from Disnaeland and his first novel, Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs.

    Full information, sources, further reading, acknowledgements and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-5-6-dd-johnstons-proletarian-apocalypse/

    Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here: http://www.alabianca.it/en/store/bravo-records-en/le-canzoni-di-bella-ciao-aa-vv/

    Get books mentioned in this episode

    Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs: https://bookshop.org/a/80203/9781849350617

    Disnaeland: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/disnaeland/9781909954533
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    48 m
  • E4 Michael Rosen's socialist fairy tales, part 2

    E4 Michael Rosen's socialist fairy tales, part 2
    Mar 30 2022
    Part 2 of our double-episode in which we talk to acclaimed author, poet and Professor of Children’s Literature, Michael Rosen, about his anthology, Workers’ Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain, which gathers together short stories from the labour and socialist press between 1880 and 1920.
    In this episode, Michael shows how popular children’s stories (like Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland) are shot through with the political content of their adult authors. He also reads a story from his anthology by William Morris and explains how all culture, including children’s writing, contains within it elements of social contest.
    You can buy a copy of Michael's anthology here.
    More info on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/blog/wcl-e3-4-michael-rosens-socialist-fairy-tales/
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    30 m
  • E3 Michael Rosen's socialist fairy tales, part 1

    E3 Michael Rosen's socialist fairy tales, part 1
    Mar 17 2022
    A Working Class Literature podcast double-episode in which we talk to acclaimed author, poet and Professor of Children's Literature, Michael Rosen, about his anthology, Workers' Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain, which gathers together short stories from the labour and socialist press between 1880 and 1920.
    You can buy a copy of Michael's anthology here.
    More info on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/blog/wcl-e3-4-michael-rosens-socialist-fairy-tales/
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    34 m
  • E2 Joseph Skipsey: poet and pitman

    E2 Joseph Skipsey: poet and pitman
    Jun 10 2021
    Episode two of the Working Class Literature podcast about Joseph Skipsey, a poet and coal miner from the North East of England. After entering the mines as a child, he would grow up to become a nationally-renowned poet, respected by some of the most famous artists of the nineteenth century. In this episode, we speak to researcher Dr Gordon Tait and musician Chris Harrison, both of whom have been doing lots of work around Skipsey’s life and poetry.
    If you want to support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/workingclasshistory
    Our patreon supporters get exclusive access to our Joseph Skipsey bonus episode, with more information about about the murder of Skipsey's father during the 1832 miners' strike, a reading guide to miners' literature from the North East of England, and more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wcl-e2-1-joseph-51760485
    And you can also follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/workingclasslit
    For more information on Skipsey, check out Chris' website, which also has more on Chris' music based around Skipsey's poetry: http://www.chrisharrisonmusic.org/musical-activities/carols-from-the-coalfields
    Also check out Gordon's excellent article, 'Joseph Skipsey, the "peasant poet", and an unpublished letter from W. B. Yeats': https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/440536/joseph-skipsey-the-peasant-poet-and-an-unpublished-letter-from-w-b-yeats
    And the Minor Victorian Writers website has a great collection of Skipsey’s poems, a biography, and the introductory essays which Skipsey wrote as part of edited collections on William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Burns and Percy Bysshe Shelley, which were produced in order to make poetry accessible to the working class.
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    51 m
  • E1 T-Bone Slim: the laureate of the logging camps

    E1 T-Bone Slim: the laureate of the logging camps
    Sep 4 2019
    Podcast episode about the life and work of radical hobo author T-Bone Slim. A prolific columnist for the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union in the United States, he was also a poet and songwriter as well as a barge captain working on the New York waterfront.
    In this episode we speak to Dr Owen Clayton from the University of Lincoln and Slim's great-grandnephew, John Westmoreland.
    If you want to support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/workingclassliterature
    Our patreon supporters get exclusive access to our T-Bone Slim bonus episode, with more information about his mysterious death and more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wcl-e01-1-t-bone-29711940
    And you can also follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/workingclasslit
    Check out The Big Red Songbook of IWW songs, including those by Slim, in the WCH online store: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/products/the-big-red-songbook-250-iww-songs
    More information on Slim, can be found in the links below:
    - Puns, Politics, and Pork Chops: The ‘insignificant magnitude’ of T-Bone Slim by Dr Owen Clayton: https://workingclassstudiesjournal.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/jwcs-vol-4-issue-1-june-2019-clayton.pdf
    - Juice is Stranger Than Friction: Selected Writings of T-Bone Slim, edited by Franklin Rosemont: https://www.akpress.org/juiceisstrangerthanfriction.html
    - T-Bone Slim papers held at the Newberry Library, Chicago: http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/nby_mms/id/53743
    - More information, photos and full show notes here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/09/04/wcl-e01-t-bone-slim-the-laureate-of-the-logging-camps/
    Theme music by John Westmoreland. Check out the following links for more info:
    Website: westmorelandmusic.com/
    Album, Cast Fire: store.cdbaby.com/cd/westmoreland7
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/westmoreland.band/
    Instagram: www.instagram.com/westmoreland_music/
    Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0lnbkyMa-N0wYkR6R26Oxg
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    57 m