In this episode, we hop over to New York to encounter our Dead Lady of the hour, May Ziadeh, a Lebanese-Palestinian poet, writer, translator, and feminist, whose work explored themes of love, identity, and the liberation of women. Books were her beloved companions throughout her life, and proved more steadfast than people. May began writing at an early age, started an important literary salon, and had moments of fame, but is perhaps better known for the years of isolation and tragedy that marked her life. She deserves more. May wrote in her diary: “After my death, I hope that someone will do me justice and find the sincerity and honesty contained in my small writings.”

Our presenter is Rosana Elkhatib, a designer, researcher, and curator. She is a co-founding principal of feminist architecture collaborative f-architecture and has taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation.

DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins host/producer Susan Stone to introduce the talk.

Thanks to the team at Dead Ladies NYC for sharing this presentation with us: Molly O'Laughlin Kemper, Sheila Enright, Christopher Neil and the KGB Bar's Lori Schwarz.

Visit our episode page to see photos of May Ziadeh and get more information about her:

Read three of her poems in English translation here: https://losangelesreview.org/3-poems-translated-rose-demaris/

Find our more about Rosana Elkhatib and her work here:

https://rosanakhatib.work/

If you're in New York and want to see the show live, stay up-to-date with Dead Ladies NYC via their newsletter here: https://deadladiesshow.substack.com/

If you're in Berlin and want to stay in touch, our newsletter is here: https://deadladiesshowberlin.beehiiv.com

And find us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/deadladiesshow

Need even more Dead Ladies in your life? Become a member of our Patreon and get exclusive episodes of our Dead Lady Book Club, where we chat about books, ideas, music and more — by and about Dead Ladies. For just a couple of dollars, pounds or euros a month, you can support our work and join in the fun. Check it out at patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

We’re back with Season Eight of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast!

In this episode, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire brings us the story of Boudica, an ancient British queen who fought the Romans. Though she led her Iceni tribe in a rebellion, the Romans prevailed, but wrote a fair bit about her in the history books.

In her afterlife, Boudica became a mascot for the suffragettes but also co-opted as a symbol for all things British; also, Enya wrote a song about her.

DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer/host Susan Stone to set the stage.

Get more info on Boudica in our episode notes: https://deadladiesshow.com/2025/3/xx/podcast-79-boudica/

For more on the Boudica-inspired perfume Susan mentioned, look here:

https://www.boudiccawode.com/

Dead Ladies NYC has a show March 6 — find out more here on their newsletter: https://deadladiesshow.substack.com/

As it happens, Caroline Knapp of DLS NYC actually presented Boudica back in 2020 during lockdown, so the show was on Zoom!

And in Berlin we are celebrating 10 years of DLS! Come see us May 13th, and find out more via our website: https://deadladiesshowberlin.beehiiv.com/

Please consider joining our Patreon! We have lots of fun interviews and book chat and more over at patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

If you like, follow us on social media @deadladiesshow where we share pictures and info about all of the wonderful Dead Ladies we’ve covered so far. You can also drop us a line via info@deadladiesshow.com and we’re on BlueSky, too: https://bsky.app/profile/deadladiesshow.bsky.social

Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.