Join us for a conversation with Dr Polly Paulusma to hear how her experience as a singer led her to uncover Angela Carter’s deep love of and connection with folk song, one that infuses Carter’s writing. Discover also how this influences Polly’s own creative practice, which moves freely between word and song, and embodies Carter’s “magpie” approach. Listen as Polly tells us how folk song engages with freedom, allowing individuals to take on the personas and experiences of others by adapting stories and lyrics, making them their own, and offering ways of imagining different ways of being and acting.
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Biography
Polly is both a musician and a scholar. She has been a signed recording artist since 2003. Her albums have achieved international critical acclaim and she has toured the USA, the UK and Europe supporting Bob Dylan, Jamie Cullum, Coldplay and Marianne Faithfull. She continues to record and release records with One Little Independent. Her latest album is called Wildfires. Alongside her music, Polly completed a doctorate at the University of East Anglia and her book, Angela Carter and Folk Music: ‘Invisible Music’, Prose and the Art of Canorography, was published in 2023 by Bloomsbury. Between writing, recording and touring Paulusma teaches songwriting and poetry for Cambridge University and songwriting for the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, where she is Associate Professor of Song and Literature. She is a Bye-Fellow of Murray Edwards College.
Links to accompany the episode
Polly’s music
Invisible Music (an album which includes music that inspired Angela Carter): https://pollypaulusma.lnk.to/invisiblemusic
Wildfires https://pollypaulusma.lnk.to/wildfires
Polly’s writing
Angela Carter and Folk Music https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/angela-carter-and-folk-music-9781350296299/
Polly recommends …
Emily Portman, Hatchling https://emilyportman.bandcamp.com/album/hatchling
Emily Portman, The Glamoury https://emilyportman.bandcamp.com/album/the-glamoury
Eliza Delf, Into the Wilderness https://elizadelf.com/track/3051798/into-the-wilderness
Get Angela Carter community http://getangelacarter.co.uk/
Podcast hosts
Dr Férdia Stone-Davis: www.ferdiastonedavis.com
Dr Charissa Granger: https://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dlcc/dr-charissa-granger
Podcast acknowledgements
The Sounding Freedom and Liberation music was composed by Samuel J. Wilson. Website: https://www.samueljwilson.com/profile
The Sounding Freedom and Liberation logo was designed by Pavlína Kašparová. Website: https://www.creativenun.com/bio
The Podcast was recorded at the Media Lab, the West Hub, Cambridge, and was edited by Mike Chivers
