Why the History of Women Writers and Artists Matters

An Interview with "Amazing Women in History"

Audacious Women, Creative Lives is a newsletter sharing inspiring stories of women writers and artists. It is also a community supporting and inspiring women to live bold creative lives.

Each post is free for all to read, although I certainly welcome paid subscribers who support my mission and would like to see this community grow into a space for workshops, meetings, perhaps a reading group—there are so many possibilities!

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Hello! Welcome to the many new subscribers who have come in over the past weeks. It’s wonderful to have you here!

This week, I wanted to share a bit about what I’m doing here but also update everyone on what I’m up to these days. (This newsletter used to be a lot more about my life transition and travels, which have slowed down considerably, although I’m still living out of my suitcase. More to come soon about my impending trip to Italy and Sicily!)

However, I thought that even better would be to share with you an interview that I did recently with Keri Engel at Amazing Women in History. I’m honored that Keri wanted me to be the first guest on the her new podcast. We talked all things women writers and artists of the past—and why it’s so important for us to know about them today! (AWH is a project she has recently moved to Substack, adding a podcast. It was a blog, to which I contributed an essay back in 2016 about the 19th-century writer Constance Fenimore Woolson, whom we discuss.)

Below, you can listen without leaving this email/post—I think. I can’t figure out how to embed the audio or video here, so you may have to go to Keri’s post to listen or watch. But read the rest of this first and don’t forget to come back here and share your thoughts in the comments! (Also, subscribe to Keri’s amazing new Substack while you’re there! And if you watch the video, please ignore whatever it is I keep doing with my mouth. Apparently while I’m thinking, I move my mouth around a lot. I had no idea!)

Further down, I have also dissected the interview with time stamps, so you know what’s in there and can find what may be of interest to you.

[Interview] Anne Boyd Rioux, founder of 'Audacious Women, Creative Lives'

Click on photo to go to the video on the Amazing Women in History Substack

Here is what we talked about, with time stamps:

1:10—How there were a lot of women writers in the past, who’ve been buried and forgotten, rather than simply a dearth of earlier women writers, as we are taught. And then I launch into Constance Fenimore Woolson and the biography I wrote of her.

9:30—Why I was drawn to Woolson and her expat life.

13:50—My decision to leave home when my daughter went to college and travel for a year.

15:30—Living in Dora Maar’s house and my fascination with her life.

18:50—Collecting women from the past while I was traveling.

23:50—Writing my newsletter while I was traveling.

24:45—Writing my memoir—a braided story of my year of travel with stories of the women I collected along the way.

25:45—This newsletter’s evolution into Audacious Women, Creative Lives, my desire to support women writers.

27:30—How my students helped me see that women writers still face many of the challenges that women writers did in the past

29:00—The invisibility of women writers in the past and why we must correct it!

33:00—The importance of leaving home for women writers

36:45—Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and its continued relevance

39:40—To be a woman alone in the world is still shameful

40:19—The happiest women writers I found

42:58—Writing about Suzanne Valadon and a little bit about what I’m trying to do with the women’s stories I tell.

In this interview, I also talk a bit about Kay Boyle and how learning about her life inspired me to completely remake my own life, leaving my position as a tenured professor, heading off to Europe, and pursuing my dream to write creatively. You can hear me talk a lot more about Kay Boyle with the Lost Ladies of Lit podcast in another interview I did recently.

Click on the photo to take you to the episode online

I also talked about my personal journey with the Lost Ladies of Lit in a bonus episode for their Patreon Members.

Now, I’d love for you to jump into the comments (or respond to this email) and tell me what came up for you as you listened to either or both of these interviews. What resonated with you? What do you have more questions about? You know I love to hear what you are thinking.

Yours in audacity,

Anne

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please click on the heart at the bottom or the top of this email. It helps others discover Audacious Women, Creative Lives. And makes me super happy!