Still Here Uncovers the Lost Queer Novel of the 1960s

The new episode of Still Here, hosted by Leslie Clarke, is out now. Buried in the Archives: The Lost Queer Novel of the 1960s brings together Dr D-M Withers, founder of Bristol-based indie publisher Lurid Editions and Lecturer in Publishing at the University of Exeter, and Dr Christopher A. Adams, playwright, scholar and literary executor to the late Mariana Villa-Gilbert.

Villa-Gilbert published six novels in the 1960s and 70s and gained a devoted following in the lesbian press, most notably for her 1968 novel A Jingle Jangle Song. Then she retreated to Cornwall, stepped back from public life, and slowly disappeared from literary history. She kept writing until her death in 2023 at the age of 86. Nobody was publishing it. She did it anyway.

Adams first found Villa-Gilbert by looking her up in a phone book. What followed was three years of typewritten letters, two visits to Cornwall, and eventually, an extraordinary act of trust: Villa-Gilbert left her entire literary estate to him in her will. Lurid Editions has now republished A Jingle Jangle Song, and the response has been immediate and enthusiastic.

The conversation also takes in the wider history of queer women’s literature in Britain, the cultural legacy of Section 28, and the growing threat of book banning in the United States and closer to home.

Buried in the Archives: The Lost Queer Novel of the 1960s is available now on Apple Podcasts, Acast and wherever you listen to podcasts. A Jingle Jangle Song by Mariana Villa-Gilbert is available from lurideditions.com and from your local independent bookshop.