Red Rosa: The Verso podcast in collaboration with the London Review Bookshop
On the show, Kate Evans joins writer and editor Sophie Mayer to examine the radical origins of International Women's Day, Rosa Luxemburg's revolutionary life and work in the international socialist movement, and her enduring legacy.
Their wide-ranging discussion delves into Kate's decision to use the graphic novel form to open up subject’s intellectual world to a new audience, grounding Luxemburg’s ideas in the realities of a complex and inspirational life. Kate and Sophie also explore her particular pen & ink style and mise-en-page, looking at the pages from Red Rosa reproduced here for you to read alongside the discussion. They start with the film strip below depicting a crowd of striking women garment workers and their role in instigating the 1917 February Revolution—the troops sent in were reluctant to fire on women baring their breasts.
- Vorwarts 1, p. 157
- Vorwarts 2, p. 164
- Rosa Garden 1
- Rosa Garden 2
Competition!
To win a limited edition Rosa Luxemburg tote bag containing Red Rosa, The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg and The Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg, you must correctly answer the questions below:
1) Which Shakespeare play does Kate Evans have Rosa Luxemburg quoting twice in Red Rosa?
2) Which character is suggested as the subject of a potential Red Rosa spin-off comic?
Please send your answers by email to enquiries@verso.co.uk by 4pm GMT, Friday 11th March, with your name, address, and, if you're on twitter and you want to tell us, your handle. Winners will be picked at random.
- Visit the London Review Bookshop at 14 Bury Place, London, or their website for details of their March promotion.
- Kate Evans is a cartoonist, artist, and activist. She is the author of numerous books and zines; her latest work is Threads, a cartoon in response to the crisis at Calais. Visit cartoonkate.co.uk and @cartoonkate
- Sophie Mayer's most recent book is Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema (I.B. Tauris, 2015). She is a writer, editor, poet and curator with the queer feminist collective Club des Femmes and campaigners Raising Films. Visit sophiemayer.net and @tr0ublemayer
- Voice of Rosa Luxemburg: Flossie Draper. Sound design: Alex Wallwork
- Read more on the Verso blog: Staff picks: Feminist books for International Women’s Day