Monster Talks 8: Writing With

With whom do we write when we write?

In this episode of Monster Talks, Aino-Kaisa Koistinen (University of Jyväskylä) and Line Henriksen (IT University of Copenhagen) talk about the people, thoughts, creatures, objects and events that keep us company when we write, and that make writing possible – or sometimes impossible, even monstrously disturbing. They talk about their own writing companions, a cat and procrastination, and Kaisa Kortekallio (University of Helsinki) shares a story about writing with darkness, Katrine Meldgaard Kjær (IT University of Copenhagen) talks about writing with music, and Nina Lykke (Linköping University) introduces us to a series of writing companions and their stories. 

Guest stars:

Katrine Meldgaard Kjær is an assistant professor at ITU. She works with interdisciplinary approaches to studying digital health, and is currently working on a project about medicinal cannabis.  She has her PhD from the Department for the study of culture at University of Southern Denmark, and is based in Copenhagen.

Kaisa Kortekallio works on environmental speculations and embodied estrangement at the University of Helsinki. Whether dealing with climate change or winter depression, she prefers strategies of adaptation to those of warfare.

Nina Lykke is Professor Emerita, Dr. Phil. Gender Studies, Linköping University, Sweden, and Adjunct Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark. Author of numerous books, such as Cosmodolphins. Feminist Cultural Studies of Technology, Animals and the Sacred (with Mette Bryld, 2000), Feminist Studies (2010), and Vibrant Death. A Posthuman Phenomenology of Mourning (forthcoming, 2021).

Music featured in this episode:  Ana Bogner: Monsters (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ana_Bogner/Multiple_Proportions/Ana_Bogner_-_Multiple_Proportions_03)

Nuno Adelaide: I’m a Monster (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Nuno_Adelaida/none_given_1662/Nuno_Adelaida_04_Im_A_Monster) from the Free Music Archive. The Free Music Archive offers free downloads under Creative Commons and other licenses.

Monster Talks is a podcast series that explores the figure of the monster and the concept of the monstrous as important thinking tools for addressing dynamics of power, inclusion and exclusion, discrimination and violence. The podcast is made possible by the support of Nordic Culture Point and produced by The Monster Network in collaboration with Network for Gender Studies at UiS. All episodes are available from the podcast’s website at UiS.

Artwork by Joanne Teresa Taylor, NettOp, University of Stavanger.

The Monster Talks jingle: Narration and violin by Sara Orning. Voices by Ingvil Hellstrand, Aino-Kaisa Koistinen, Line Henriksen and Sara Orning. Mixed by Line Henriksen.  Sounds by SpliceSound (https://freesound.org/people/SpliceSound/sounds/188187/) and Anagar (https://freesound.org/people/anagar/sounds/267931/), www.freesound.org, Creative Commons 0 License.