Dead Ladies Show #40: Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Jennell Jaquays & Una Marson!

Dearest subscribers,

We hope you’re enjoying a restful summer! It has been a while since our last live show, but we trust that our recent podcast episodes on Lebanese-Palestinian poet May Ziadeh, controversial Queen Caroline of Brunswick, and French-Peruvian labor activist Flora Tristan have kept your ears warm (or cool?) in the meantime.

This, then, is just a quick email to let you know our next show is coming up, and this one sees us return to our bilingual concept, with two talks in English and one in German. And what humdingers they will be! All about three ladies who battled reptiles, dragons and discrimination to make the world a better place. Be it healthcare, gaming or literature, what unites them all is their willingness to defend a cause. Our expert presenters this time are our fantastic podcast producer SUSAN STONE, your beloved co-host KATY DERBYSHIRE, and the amazing German writer and game designer JAN KABASCI. All held together, of course, by your other beloved co-host FLORIAN DUIJSENS.

And because you seemed to like it last time, we’re putting on this show on a Sunday evening, the perfect way to wind down from the weekend – starting a smidgen earlier at 7 pm. As ever, you can expect a charming audience and a warm and entertaining atmosphere.

Standard tickets cost €10, the reduced price is €4, and you can buy them here. Doors open 6:30 pm – come on time to get a good seat!

Hope to see you all there,

Katy, Susan & Florian

*****

BETTY MAE TIGER JUMPER (1923–2011) was the first female chief of the Seminole Tribe in Florida. She escaped a death sentence after being born a crime as a mixed-race child. Unable to attend segregated schools for either White or Black children, she persuaded her mother to send her to out-of-state boarding school. She became the first Seminole to graduate high school, and among the first to read and write English. Betty trained as a nurse, then served as tribal healthcare director, convincing her fellow Seminoles to accept vaccinations. She later founded a newspaper, was elected tribal leader, and wrote three books, all while having an awesome name.  Oh, and she also wrestled alligators on occasion. 

JENNELL JAQUAYS (1956–2024) was a US game designer, writer, illustrator and trans activist. Having been an early adopter of Dungeons&Dragons after its emergence in 1974, she soon became a prolific member of the early tabletop roleplaying game industry, working with a wide range of publishers and innovating game design so much that “Jaquaysing” is an established term today. From the 1980s onward she also worked a variety of jobs in videos games, notably as a level designer for the Quake and Halo series. After publicly coming out as trans in 2011, Jaquays worked alongside her gaming career as a creative director for the Transgender Human Rights Institute in Seattle.

UNA MARSON (1905–1965) was a Jamaican writer, journalist ,and radio producer, described as the first Black British feminist to speak out against racism and sexism in Britain. Having started her own magazine in Jamaica, she published poems and wrote and staged her first play. Ambition took her to 1930s London, where racism proved a major obstacle, however. She became involved in civil rights work and championed other Jamaican writers, eventually becoming a producer for the BBC’s Caribbean Voices radio show. We know little about her life after WWII, when she returned to Jamaica and continued writing poetry and fighting discrimination – but a recent rediscovery in the UK has led to a TV documentary and a library named in her honour.

*****

Katy Derbyshire (she/her) is a literary translator and part-time publisher, co-host and co-founder of the Dead Ladies Show.

Susan Stone (she/her) is a podcast producer and journalist writing about culture, social issues and business with a focus on Germany and Europe.

Jan Kabasci (er/ihm) ist Autor, Lektor und Game Designer und lebt in Berlin. Nach Arbeiten in Prosa, Lyrik und Drama widmet sich sein Schreiben gegenwärtig seiner großen Leidenschaft, dem Pen&Paper-Rollenspiel. Sein aktuelles Projekt ist ein Tagebuchspiel über Ulrike Meinhof. Neben der Autorentätigkeit studiert er Angewandte Literaturwissenschaft an der FU Berlin, lektoriert unter anderem für den Pegasus Spieleverlag und schlägt sich mit wechselnden Jobs durchs Leben.