Holly Edwards: 'There's obviously something political about presenting trans characters'

About this episode

Holly Edwards discusses her short story 'Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?' and the political implications of presenting trans characters.

Diana Evans, Bruna Martini and Joel Cox have already joined us on this Spring series of podcasts, and next time we'll be hearing from Takiguchi Yūshō and the translator Jesse Kirkwood. But this time we welcome Holly Edwards. The country comes calling in her short story Little Lamb, Who Made Thee? But Edwards has always lived in the city, so she doesn't have a store of memories to draw on. "What I have is – from very much an urbanite's perspective – an obsession with what it must be like to live in the countryside," she says, "ever since I was a child. And as part of that I have watched hours of shows like This Farming Life and River Cottage." The story follows Rose as she reconnects with her roots, the author continues, with much of the detail taken from those sessions. "I'm often eating my dinner while watching people lambing on telly." For Edwards, the comfortable rural life portrayed in TV documentaries is altered by viewing it through the queer lens. "I don't consciously set out to queer a story," she says, "but that's how I perceive the world and so I'll often have queer characters or queer perspectives in my stories." Queerness is inherent in Little Lamb, Who Made Thee…

People in this episode

Guest: Holly Edwards

Topics covered

• trans characters
• queerness
• urban vs rural life
• personal identity
• storytelling

Keywords

• transgender
• queer perspectives
• short story
• countryside
• urban life

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?, This Farming Life, River Cottage

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