Roz Kaveney
Series 1 Episode 4
Tolkein's Pipe: Maps and Fantasy
Series 1 Episode 4
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Content warning: this episode contains references to sexual assault.
In this episode, Jerry Brotton is joined by writer and pioneering LGBTQ+ activist Roz Kaveney. Roz is best known for her cultural critiques, poetry, fantasy writing, and editing, as well as her translations of classical Latin texts.
From JRR Tolkien's draft map of the Kingdom of Rohan from his iconic work The Lord of the Rings, Jerry and Roz launch into a discussion about the importance of fantasy, adventure, and never giving up – no matter the odds and no matter the times that we live in.
The above is an extract from A Map of Middle-Earth by Pauline Baynes, published in 1970 (©George Allen & Unwin Ltd.). To see the manuscript map showing the kingdom of Rohan being discussed by Jerry and Roz, please visit the Tolkein Estate website.
Roz is a regular contributor to the Guardian and The Times Literary Supplement, a prolific writer and commentator on popular culture, a poet, and a passionate advocate of trans civil rights.
She was a founding member of the Midnight Rose collective, which produced fantasy anthologies for Penguin Books. She edited the beloved Tales from The Forbidden Planet and its sequel.
Roz's novel Tiny Pieces of Skull won the 2016 Best Trans Fiction Lambda Literary Award. She has published several volumes of her poetry, along with a volume of selected works in 2021. Her celebrated translation of the poems of Catallus was published in 2018 by Sad Press.
In 1972, Roz co-authored the trans section of the UK Gay Liberation Front’s Manifesto (published in Come Together magazine), and was part of the first London Pride march. She is a former deputy chair of Liberty - the National Council for Civil Liberties. Roz was invited to be part of a policy forum during the creation of UK's Gender Recognition Act (2004) and also contributed to the Equalities Act (2010).
London Pride, 1972. Image courtesy of CHE Archives, Bishopsgate Institute.
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