The Hours with Samantha Mann

This Queer Book Saved My Life

Who am I going to be and what is my life going to look like?

Today we meet Samantha Mann and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: The Hours by Michael Cunningham.

Samantha writes essays & articles exploring culture, mental health, motherhood, & LGBTQ issues. Her work has been featured in The Cut, Vogue, Elle, TODAY, Romper, and more. Her forthcoming collection, Dyke Delusion, debuts June 2025.

The Hours tells the story of three women: Virginia Woolf, beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway as she recuperates in a London suburb with her husband in 1923; Clarissa Vaughan, beloved friend of an acclaimed poet dying from AIDS, who in modern-day New York is planning a party in his honor; and Laura Brown, in a 1949 Los Angeles suburb, who slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home. By the end of the novel, these three stories intertwine in remarkable ways, and finally come together in an act of subtle and haunting grace.

Connect with Samantha
website: samantha-mann.com
instagram: @samantha.mann05

Shout out to Alyy Patel
For more information about Alyy Patel and the Queer South Asian Women's Network visit: qsawnetwork.com.

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Credits
Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
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We've partnered with Once Upon a Crime Books on a holiday episodes of 7 Minutes in Book Heaven. Located in Minneapolis, Once Upon a Crime Books is an independent bookstore specializing in mystery fiction. Listen to these 4 new episodes of 7 Minutes in Book Heaven everywhere you stream your podcasts and visit Upon a Crime Books online at onceuponacrimebooks.com.

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