BONUS EPISODE: A Night of Celebration LIVE

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What’sHerName goes LIVE!

To launch our new book, What’s Her Name, A History of the World in 80 Lost Women, former episode guests convene in London from all over the world for a Night of Celebration!

In rapid-fire succession, brilliant 3-minute performances of poetry, song, story, and dance take us chronologically through the history of the world. The magic is punctuated throughout with short readings from the new book by Katie and Olivia.

The packed house at the Vagina Museum, with the most enthusiastic audience ever, made for a heartwarming night we’ll never forget!

Guest Performers in order of appearance:

Introduction and reading by GABBY NEMETH, Senior Editor at Michael O’Mara Books

Musician and composer SAM HENDERSON (our little brother!) performing the world’s oldest written melody, the “Seikolos Epitaph”

Chemist and poet KIRK STAPLEY, reading his poem “Naia”

SISTER RITA MINEHAN, Brigidine Sister and founding member of the Solas Bhríde Centre, reading St. Brigid’s Lake of Beer Prayer

GABRIEL CEMÉ, founder of Eco Maya Travel and Wild Animal Sanctuary, telling the story of Zazil-Ha

Westminster Abbey Community Engagement Director AARON PATERSON reads the 17th century petitions and receipts of Elizabeth Gregory, Head Carpenter of the Abbey

Award-winning Pakistani singer-songwriter and Bollywood Music Director ZEB BANGASH performs “Roshe,” a love poem by 16th century peasant-poet-turned-Persian-Queen-turned-wandering-mystic Habba Khatun

Professor WALEED ZIAD of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, telling the story of 19th century Sufi mystic Dadi Mithan

IAN MORTIMER, bestselling author of more than twenty books on the history of England, reflects on the life of Harriot Mellon

Composer JESSICA WADLEY performing her original song “Mount Florence” about Yosemite adventurer Florence Hutchings

Dancer and choreographer JANET COLLARD performing her interpretation of 1920s cabaret dancer Valeska Gert’s infamous “prostitute dance,” Canaille.

KIP WILSON reading from her novel-in-verse One Last Shot, about Spanish Civil War photojournalist Gerda Taro

NIKKI DRUCE, host of the Macabre London podcast, recreates the final seance of Helen Duncan, Britain’s last convicted witch

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter NEYLA PEKAREK, formerly of The Lumineers, performs “I Want Everything” from her 2022 musical Rattlesnake Kate

SOPHIE POLDERMANS, author of Seducing and Killing Nazis, telling the story of Truus and Freddie Oversteegen and Hannie Schaft

Composer and musician Erica Glenn, Director of Choral Activities at BYU – Hawaii, performing an Art Song by Ukranian composer Stefania Turkevych

Historian PAM TOLER tells the story of anti-fascist war correspondent Sigrid Schultz, from her forthcoming book The Dragon from Chicago

Art Historian MONICA WALKER, Events Manager at the Old Operating Theater Museum, performs a bellydance in honor of Samia Gamal of Egypt

Artist, designer, and illustrator ELLA KASPEROWICZ, illustrator of our second book A Stinky History of Toilets, whose whimsical illustrations brighten the future of the world

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