Who are you and what’s your new podcast about?

BOTH: We’re Tash Walker (they/she) and Adam Zmith (he/him) and we’re the hosts and producers of The Quilt, and also co-founders and directors of our production company Aunt Nell.

The Quilt is a documentary podcast that captures living memories of LGBTQ+ people across the UK, made in partnership with Queer Britain museum.

We’ve been travelling across the UK to capture these living memories outside of the big cities – trying to recentre how we understand and look at history, specifically queer history. Each episode focuses on a different region across the UK, with 3 to 4 different stories. We like to think of it as an audio exhibition open to anyone, at any time of day – an audio archive for the future!

Tash Walker (they/she) and Adam Zmith (he/him), hosts and producers of The Quilt. Photograph: India Latham

Can you tell us a little more about Queer Britain, your partner for this podcast?

BOTH: Queer Britain is the first and only national LGBTQ+ museum in the UK. Its mission is to reclaim and preserve queer people’s stories and objects, and to inspire by celebrating and educating about LGBTQ+ lives, impact, and culture. Since opening in May 2022, over 100,000 visitors have been welcomed to the museum. It is an essential place for all regardless of sexuality or gender identity, to find out about the culture they have been born into, have chosen or seek to understand. In 2022, Queer Britain won the Museum Association’s Best Small Museum Project Award. The museum is located in Granary Square in London’s King’s Cross.

How did the idea for The Quilt come about?

BOTH: The idea for The Quilt came about initially because, although Queer Britain is a museum for LGBTQ+ history, stories and people across the UK, it’s based in Kings Cross, London. And we approached Queer Britain to talk to them about exactly that, that if they were to be truly representative of the UK, they needed to travel outside of London to where LGBTQ+ people are across the regions, rather than expecting people to come to London. What better way to do that than a podcast! How can you be truly representative of an entire nation’s LGBTQ+ community and stories if you are based in London?

Working with Queer Britain we found some funding, applied, and were granted it! The podcast was one output of a wider project, Stories + Strategies: Diversifying our national LGBTQ+ heritage funded by Mindsets + Missions. The core of the project was to help ensure that queer stories are preserved and respected as important parts of the UK’s history by challenging the narrative of whose stories qualify as “history” and whose don’t. We then travelled across the UK to eight different places. In each region we partnered with a local institution, GLAM (gallery, library, archive, and museum) alongside a community partner. We held workshops inviting people into the GLAMs as a first step to try and integrate LGBTQ+ stories and people into these spaces, whilst holding those people within those spaces on behalf of Queer Britain, as queer facilitators. The inputs from those workshops, alongside surveys, all fed into a toolkit that was written by Queer Britain for GLAMs. An additional output of the project was the podcast. To demonstrate how we can use oral histories to capture people’s lives and memories. The importance of the everyday as much as those big moments in queer liberation.

We each then went back to four of the regions and recorded people we had met, or those we had been directed towards. It was a truly amazing experience.

The idea for the name came from one of the first workshops we ran in Norfolk at the Millennium Library in partnership with Queer Norfolk, in Norwich, home to the Trans Joy Community Quilt. All these different stories, each one a patch to be sewn together as one big, and ever-expanding quilt, with a nod back to our history too, with the AIDS quilts of the late 80s.

The podcast also features folk music composed exclusively for the series by Rhiannon Takel, who we met at a workshop in Wales. Rhiannon’s music has heavy roots in folk, and really helps to enrich the stories in a beautiful, transporting sound design.

Beau (they/them) and Alice (they/them) with the Trans Joy Quilt, which is the inspiration for the name of the podcast (episode 1)

Do you have a favourite episode of the podcast – one you’re proudest of or most excited for people to hear?

Tash: We produced four episodes each, but we both ran the workshops across the eight different regions. Adam will tell you how emotional and attached I became to everyone we met, so this is a difficult and impossible question for me to answer. Of the four I produced each one taught me something new. The episode set in the North West looked at faith and queerness, which I found particularly affecting having been brought up Catholic, but no longer part of the church. The people I met were amazing and rethinking how you can hold queerness and faith together. In the North East I was shown the power in being proud of where you come from and I met many amazing young trans people there. The people in Northern Ireland taught me so much about Irish history and made me realise how hidden so much of that is in our wider history that we speak about across the UK. Then the last place I visit in the series is the South West. This was a very personal one for me, as it is where I grew up. Returning to this region and finding myself submerged in its beautiful queerness, made me fully ecstatic but also heartbroken for what I didn’t have when I was younger. So long answer! And of course not answering your question at all.

Adam: I really love the episode about the people in Wales doing the work to make sure the Welsh language includes LGBTQ+ people and their experiences. From an activist in the 80s through to a trans poet performing his work today, their stories really touched me, and I think language is often something forgotten about in the fight for rights. Perhaps people forget because language is like wallpaper, but really it’s the building we all live inside.

Tash: The Wales episode also features a bonus segment with our composer Rhiannon – who reveals some of the secrets of the sounds of The Quilt music!

Left: Steve (he/him) at Norwich Pride (episode 1)
Middle: Serena (she/her) at home in Norwich (episode 1)
Right: Adelaide (she/her) in St James and Emmanuel Church, Didsbury (episode 2)

Did you learn anything that surprised you when making this podcast?

Tash: I think just how touched and moved I’ve been in making it. I really felt enriched by visiting all these places and hearing everyone’s stories. But it’s also made me readdress a lot of my own history, and the importance of capturing it in the words of those who’ve lived it, everywhere.

Adam: I didn’t know queer people were writing and singing queer sea shanties in Cornwall – that was a revelation. They sound sexy and cosy and so much fun!

What are your plans for the podcast moving forward? Do you have a set number of episodes in mind or will you keep going as long as there are still stories to tell?

BOTH: Yes we have 8 episodes, so they are coming out weekly all the way through to the end of the year. In terms of a second series, I think this is something that we’d be really interested in doing if someone wants to fund the project… we’re all ears!! There are so many more patches to collect!

What is it about podcasts that appeals to you?

Tash: I’ve been listening to podcasts for years, and I love the intimacy of them. How it feels like a dialogue or something between you and what you’re hearing. It also allows for a lot of imagination, not having visuals, the listener is invited in to play with what they’re hearing as part of the experience. I think when you are making podcasts, or conducting interviews, people maybe find the microphone less invasive than a camera. You get real intimacy in those moments, and you really hear that in the audio.

Adam: I agree with what Tash says, as a listener. But as a maker, I love them because it’s affordable and accessible to produce them, when you’re small independent makers like we are. We couldn’t make a TV series like this, but the podcast is just as rich!

Saha (she/her) with her favourite butterfly at the Butterfly House in Williamson Park (episode 2)

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

Tash: My all-time favourite podcast that started in the early days was and is Short Cuts, which of course has recently been discontinued by the BBC. A decision that I just cannot understand, and it’s been great to see the audio community rise up in support of such a wonderful project. Short Cuts by nature is an incubator for creativity and play, and there was no hierarchy to it, many people had their first audio pieces broadcast on it, myself included. And I learnt so much from listening to the episodes, not only about the worlds of audio, and all the creativity but also what it feels like to listen. Thankfully there are 12 years’ worth of episodes for us all to dip back into. In addition to that, I think Making Gay History, Blossom Trees and Burnt Out Cars, Call Me Mother are all favourites of mine. And if anyone is into sound, then I’d recommend Field Recordings. Oh and Press Play Turn On, made by a certain someone that won Best New Podcast at the BPAs 2024!

Adam: Haha, thanks for the plug, Tash. Press Play Turn On was one I co-produced, along with Leeanne Coyle. I just wanted to give a shout out to Operator (by Tina Horn) and The Bachelor of Buckingham Palace – as you can tell, I’m biased towards documentary podcasts.

What advice would you give to someone just starting their own podcast, based on your experiences?

Tash: Just go for it. That’s what we did. Adam and I met in 2019, and shortly after on a shoestring budget, started making The Log Books (with our third producer Shivani Dave). Easier said than done, I know, especially in such a competitive market but if it’s a good story or strong idea, people will start to listen. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there! I’d also say listen – listen to podcasts, radio shows, and audio and try and hear what you aren’t hearing. What is it you can bring that is different? What can you say that isn’t being said already?

We’ve heard that there might be a book based on The Log Books podcast in the future, are you able to tell us anything about that?

Tash: Yes there will, we’ve just handed in the second draft…! It’s going to be published by Faber but we’re not sure exactly when yet. And the writing of that has been an incredible experience in itself, especially alongside the making of The Quilt.

Adam: It’s very much a book, as opposed to the podcast. I love both mediums, but books do give you the space and scope to say a lot more, to construct your thoughts and express them in a deep way. That’s what’s happened with the writing of this book, with us reflecting on the impact that making The Log Books had on us, as middle-generation queer people in the UK who work in history. It’s been fascinating to dig into the history again, but this time while also thinking about who we are within that process…

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

We’re on social media @TashWalker85 (Instagram / X) and @Adam.Zmith (Instagram / X) and also our production company is @auntnell_ (Instagram / X) and there’s our website too but if you really want to find out more about us – give The Log Books and The Quilt a listen!

Listen to The Quilt on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other popular podcast apps >>

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Iris is talking about all things queer film this Pride month, championing the incredible creatives both on and off-screen. Over the series, Damian catches up and speaks with filmmakers covering aspects such as authentic casting and representation on screen, the portrayal of queer youth and the dramatising of true queer stories.

We asked Damian some questions about his latest podcast project…

Congratulations on your new hosting role! Is it fair to say you have the podcasting bug now?

Yes, absolutely. Podcasts allow for much deeper conversations, which other traditional forms of journalism don’t. In Iris’s case it was a real opportunity to hear from those working behind the scenes in film and the work that goes into it.

What drew you to this project?

I love film and a big part of my work is amplifying the voices of the LGBTQ+ community and celebrating our culture, so it was a no brainer really! I also found it really interesting that the focus was those working behind the scenes. Often when we think of film we think of those on screen, the actors. This delves deeper and looks at the purpose and motive behind the film and the process which lead to it being developed. It was also an opportunity to discuss and hear from different perspectives of the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, in Episode 1 we discuss the old age question ‘should queer characters be played by queer actors?’ and often when we see this in the press it is told through a straight lens and blown up out of proportion. We set the record straight!

Why do you think this podcast is a good companion to the Iris Prize Festival?

The Iris Prize is the world’s largest short film prize and the October festival in Cardiff (this will be the 17th) continues to be one of Europe’s friendliest gatherings of people who love watching movies. The Iris Prize Podcast, now in its 3rd year, is a great way for the festival to tap into the filmmakers, who we consider family, to share ideas and support the next generation of filmmakers. It’s insightful hearing from the different perspectives of those working in the film industry making queer film, but it’s also really educational. The work that goes into making these films is no mean feat.

You cover a different topic each episode – was there one topic that you were particularly surprised by what you found out?

I am documentary obsessed, so Episode 2 was a biggie for me. We chatted to two documentary makers and the young audiences commissioner from S4C, and really honed in on the process and whether documentaries should have fair representation or can they have a skewed bias. This was particularly topical as we recorded the episode just as Channel 4 announced their documentary Gender Wars with Kathleen Stock.

Episode 4 also focuses on Queer Youth and guess what listeners, we actually spoke to queer young people to find out how they felt about how they are represented on screen. Not adults, telling us how they should be portrayed but actual young people. It’s a good ‘un.

This Pride month, can you recommend a podcast aside from your own that we should all listen to?

OMG where do I even start, there are so many good ones, can I say two? There is Gender Reveal, which is so insightful and Queer Roots and Routes, which is made by collective We Are Queer, and is queer storytelling at its best!

Listen to The Iris Prize Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps >>

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Memories From The Dancefloor is a docu-series hosted by Journalist Damian Kerlin. Released during LGBTQ+ History Month, it celebrates LGBTQ+ venues and unravels the forgotten history behind queer nightlife across the UK. Damian speaks to founders, artists, promoters and patrons to unpack the expressions of queer identity after dark, colourfully told by the community that lived it.

We asked him more about his show, and how he found it podcasting for the first time…

What was your introduction to podcasting as a listener?

For me it was both I’m Grand Mam and Emma Gannon’s Ctrl, Alt, Delete.

I’m Grand Mam is the perfect example of how to get humour right in audio. Nothing feels forced. It is a conversation between two best friends and instead of it being about them, it is their reaction to the world around them. Ego in podcasting is rife and it turns me right off. I’m Grand Mam has hit the balance perfectly and their nuanced approach is why it is laugh-out-loud good. They are also Irish, but I’m not biased.

Ctrl, Alt, Delete was this phenomenon that was your typical interview podcast blueprint, but instead of relying on celebrities or big talent Emma spoke to people who genuinely inspired and interest her. It makes the whole experience really authentic and like most of us when talking to people we admire you can hear that 2OH MY GOD I CAN’T BLIEVE I’M SPEAKING TO YOU” in Emma’s voice, which makes it relatable. Emma has introduced me to some incredible people who I follow on socials and have reached out to too.

How have you found the process of podcasting compared to writing?

There are a lot of similarities, such as the research and setting up of interviews. For me what was different was the scripting and layering. When you write you take the reader on a journey, as wanky as that sounds, but you do. It is the same when scripting but suddenly it’s not just your voice or your style running through 1,800 words, it is quite literally others. You need to find balance in opinions, who compliments who and if not, why? Then there is the added layer of actual audio. People talking for 30+ minutes isn’t interesting. You need to create atmosphere and ambience. When should you introduce music, what should pop and when. I learned so much and I can’t wait to do more.

Did the show develop or change from your original application?

The premise very much remained the same, but I was flexible in our structure and approach. I wanted their story, but I didn’t know what these people were going to say. For instance, we delve into racism on the podcast, and once I started doing some digging, I knew I had to speak to Marc Thompson the founder of Black and Gay Back in the Day. Marc’s story was essential in ensuring balance in the narrative and that voices and perspectives were heard. This podcast is about being open and sharing experiences in a safe space. I refused to limit that as I wanted to hear them out, and the result has been incredible!

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Be prepared and always have a back-up plan. You may have a vision of how you want an interview to go or what you would like to get from it but it’s not that simple. When reflecting or discussing people’s experiences or perspective it can be challenging for them or it can be totally different to what you have researched.

Give them time to go on their journey and bounce off their enthusiasm, and garner from them when is good to push for a point and when is best to back up and take a different route. It’s a conversation, not an interrogation. Also, gassing all day is a hoot but knackering.

What song will always get you on the dancefloor?

Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground. That guitar intro has had me running out of toilets squealing since 2015.

What would you like to see more of in the podcast space?

I am a sucker for a narrative. It’s the writer in me. I want more podcasts that take me on a journey – there we are with that ‘journey’ again –  which tells a story and challenges my thinking. I want that light bulb moment. I adored Pandora Sykes’ Unreal: A Critical History of Reality TV and A Positive Life: HIV from Terrence Higgins to Today. Storytelling at its finest.

Do you have any tips or tricks for budding podcasters looking to apply for something like the Acast Amplifier programme?

Just do it! Sometimes you can ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ about something and then it never materialises because you kept putting it off. The time is now!

Listen to Memories From The Dancefloor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular apps >>

Find out more about another Acast Amplifier project, Stacked, here >>

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Adam Richardson caught up with Rose and Nana to discuss their show – Two Twos Podcast! The trio discuss the show’s origins, recording removtely vs in a studio setting, live shows and much more!

Listen to Two Twos Podcast on Spotify.

Listen to the Pod Bible Podcast on Acast or Spotify.

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One hundred!!! Adam is here to walk you through the weeks podcast proceedings, with guests including the people behind Sweet Bobby, Distraction Pieces and Some Families!

THIS WEEKS GUESTS

Sweet Bobby • Acast • Spotify

Distraction Pieces • Acast • Spotify

Some Families • Acast • Spotify

THIS WEEKS RECOMMENDATIONS

Born Human • Acast • Spotify

Making Gay HIstory • Acast • Spotify

PODBIBLE LINKS

Pod Bible Magazine

Pod Bible Twitter

Pod Bible Instagram

Pod Bible Facebook

Pod Bible Email

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Adam Richardson caught up with Brendan Geoghegan and Matthew Riley in January 2022 to discuss their LGBTQ+ podcast that explores mental health and dealing with your own rock bottom. The guys discuss the origins of the podcast, some of their favourite guests and the work that foes into producing an independent show.

Listen to Bottoming on Acast or Spotify.

Listen to the Pod Bible Podcast on Acast or Spotify.

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Adam’s here to walk you through the weeks podcast proceedings, with guests including the people behind Bottoming, On The Outside and Getting My Dad To Say I Love You!

THIS WEEKS GUESTS

Bottoming • Acast • Spotify

On The Outside • Online • Apple Podcasts

Getting My Dad… • Acast • Spotify

THIS WEEKS RECOMMENDATIONS

Human Resources • Apple Podcasts • Spotify

What’s Upset You Now • Acast • Spotify

PODBIBLE LINKS

Pod Bible Magazine

Pod Bible Twitter

Pod Bible Instagram

Pod Bible Facebook

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The post #099 • Bottoming • On The Outside • Getting My Dad To Say I Love You appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Season 3 explores the day-to-day impact on LGBTQI+ people made by shifts in technology and attitudes from 1992 to 2003. As the internet changed how LGBTQI+ people found each other, this series also explores how more people created queer families, how a nail bomb ripped through the community in 1999, and how changing attitudes and a government focus on human rights led to significant improvements in the lives of many queer people.

But before we open the Log Books for the last time, we asked the team to reflect on their top 5 episodes from the past two years. If you haven’t yet listened, these are a great place to start. And if you’re already a fan, these episodes will be sure to get you returning to the back-catalogue…

Adam Zmith, Shivani Dave, Tash Walker, producers of The Log Books – photo by Imogen Forte

S2 Ep 1 – Please Be Gentle

All: In our second season we covered the years from 1983 to 1991, which included the memories of the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic as it has never been told before. Hearing from those who nursed, loved and supported those diagnosed with HIV, as well as the volunteers who spoke to thousands of people who were terrified of this very new virus. We all were incredibly touched and impacted emotionally by what we read and heard, such an important time in our shared LGBTQI+ history that has to be shared.

S1 Ep 3 – Let’s Not Shy Away From Sex

Adam: The pages of the log books at Switchboard are filled with endless questions about what we can do with our bodies as queer people — so this episode was a real pleasure to make! Lots of laughs and plenty of serious business too, thanks to how non-inclusive sex education has been in the past.

S2 Ep 6 – Right On Sister

Shivani: This episode allowed us to look at the nuance of religious and LGBTQI+ life, an area that is too often dismissed and overlooked. This episode has a delicate balance of light and shade in the stories told – with moments that repeatedly made me laugh and break my heart over and over in a trademark The Log Books way.

S2 Ep 11 – Would Like to Stay

Tash: So many people reached out to Switchboard for advice on how to live, love and work in the UK throughout the 80s and 90s but what struck me about this episode is how current these issues are still today decades later. With conversations around borders, cultures and LGBTQI+ identity, this episode hears from a lesbian who helped a gay immigrant to stay in the UK and a gay refugee who recently fled Syria – pushing us to reflect on the LGBTQI+ rights globally that we still have to fight for today.

S3 Ep 1 – Multiple paradox net files

All: The first episode in final season telling untold stories from Britain’s queer history exploring the day-to-day impact on LGBTQI+ people made by shifts in technology and attitudes from 1992 to 2003. This first episode explore the internet, its impact on our communities and how it has evolved throughout the years. With the rest of Season 3 exploring stories from lesbians starting queer families in the 90s with sperm donors, kinky club nights such as Sadie Masie, the groundbreaking legal fight to equalise the age of sexual consent for men having sex with men and stories from transgender teenagers who reached out for help from Switchboard.

—

Listen to all episodes of The Log Books now on ACAST, SPOTIFY or other podcasts apps.

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We caught up with Hana Walker-Brown from Broccoli Productions to discuss their podcast Anthems, and specifically the new series Anthems Pride which is being released daily throughout June!

Listen to the Anthems on Spotify.

Listen to the Pod Bible Podcast on Acast or Spotify.

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Adam is back to walk you through the weeks podcast proceedings, with guests including Hana Walker-Brown from Broccoli Productions talking about Anthems, Lou Mensah from Shade and Blake Harrison from The MMA Fan Podcast!

LISTEN TO THIS WEEKS GUESTS!

Anthems • Acast • Spotify

Shade Podcast • Acast • Spotify

The MMA Fan Podcast • Acast • Spotify

LISTEN TO THIS WEEKS RECOMMENDATIONS!

Today In Focus • Acast • Spotify

Your Floating Bed • Acast • Spotify

PODBIBLE LINKS!

Pod Bible Magazine

Pod Bible Twitter

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Back in November of 2020 Adam caught up with Tash, Adam & Shiv from The Log Books to discuss how the podcast came about and why it’s such a rewarding project to work on.

Read our interview with Tash from Issue #007 of Pod Bible Magazine

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Adam and Stu join forces to present you with a whole heap of absolute podcast gold, as always, with a healthy selection of chat and recommendation to enrich your listening diet. This week they are joined by the Log Books gang, and later joined for recommendations by Nick Helm and Nathaniel Metcalfe (Fan Club) and Dan (Desert Island Dicks)!

LISTEN TO THIS WEEKS GUESTS!

The Log Books • Acast • Spotify

Nick Helm & Nathaniel Metcalfe’s Fan Club • FUBAR Radio • Spotify

Desert Island Dicks • Acast • Spotify

LISTEN TO THIS WEEKS RECOMMENDATIONS!

Life In The Stocks • Acast • Spotify

Fitbet • Apple Podcasts • Spotify

PODBIBLE LINKS!

Pod Bible Magazine

Pod Bible Twitter

Pod Bible Instagram

Pod Bible Facebook

Pod Bible Email

The post #070 • The Log Books • Fan Club • Desert Island Dicks appeared first on POD BIBLE.