A Book I Love

Each episode of A Book I Love is a conversation around a book that is special to one of the speakers. It is a "companion text", in the words of Sara Ahmed, that in some way or another intersects with an idea of architecture. The podcast was created collaboratively with the editorial team of womenwritingarchitecture.org, Helen Thomas and Emilie Appercé together with Geraldine Tedder, Curator of the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) exhibitions at the ETH Zürich.

A Book I Love

Latest episodes

Episode 9: The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing, chosen by Jaehee Shin

Episode 9: The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing, chosen by Jaehee Shin

29m 23s

In February 2025, four of us met around a small table at entrance to the Frauenkulturarchiv in the historic heart of Chur. This reading room in an extensive library and archive of documents collected about the lives and activities of the women of the Swiss Canton of Graubünden was founded in 1997 by Silvia Hofmann and Silke Redolfi.

Jaehee, who is from Korea but who has lived in Europe, in Germany and Switzerland, for ten years was joined by her friends Paul Grieguszies and Ji Min An, both practising architects, with a colleague at women writing architecture, Helen Thomas. Together...

Episode 8: Survival, A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature by Margaret Atwood, chosen by Mariana Siracusa

Episode 8: Survival, A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature by Margaret Atwood, chosen by Mariana Siracusa

32m 46s

In December 2023, we travelled to Milan to visit Spazio. This bookshop is edited by and filled with the presence of Mariana Siracusa. On display is a carefully chosen, read through, and ever-changing list of 300 old, rare and newly published books.

Mariana, who is from Argentina but who spent time at the CCA in Montreal, was joined by an uncharacteristically small number of people – just two: Helen Thomas of women writing architecture and architect and Canadian Adam Caruso, to discuss how this provocative book by Margaret Atwood, first published in 1972, could be relevant to the architectural discourse,...

Episode 7: Slowly, a plainsong from an older woman to a younger woman by Judy Grahn, chosen by Geraldine Tedder

Episode 7: Slowly, a plainsong from an older woman to a younger woman by Judy Grahn, chosen by Geraldine Tedder

30m 33s

In August 2023, we met in Ennenda and you will hear some familiar voices of A-B-I-L, joined by the German artist Gritli Faulhaber.

The conversation deals with the challenging but fruitful issue of how poetry can be writing about architecture, and this is addressed in several ways as we talk about the poem Slowly: a plainsong from an older woman to a younger woman by poet and activist, Judy Grahn.

With:

Tine Milz (theatre director), Geraldine Tedder (curator), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect), Alicia Ayla Yerebakan (artist), Gritli Faulhaber (artist)

At:

Ennenda, Glarus

Episode 6: King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes, chosen by Carmen Van Pamel

Episode 6: King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes, chosen by Carmen Van Pamel

24m 11s

We recorded the 6th episode of A Book I Love at the After 8 Books in Paris. This wonderful bookshop and publisher also runs an intense programme of events. On 16 February, we sneaked in before opening hours to hold our incidental conversation about Virginie Despentes’ provocative book, King Kong Theory.

With:

Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Emilie Appercé (architect), Alicia Ayla Yerebakan (artist, Madame ETH), Carmen Van Pamel (writer, architect)

Where:

in the bookshop After 8 Books, 7 Rue Jarry, in Paris