Kaite Welsh

History, feminism, crime fiction. And fun facts about syphilis!

[kaitewelshwrites]

Calling all Mezzo/Opera Fans!

Is Sarah Connolly your musical crush? Are you going to Glyndebourne when all your friends are off to Glastonbury? Do you look at women in trousers and assume she’s a mezzo? Ever reblogged a gif of Christine Rice?

I’m writing an article for the Guardian about Tumblr opera fandom and how there’s a burgeoning queer female audience that the opera world needs to start catering for. If you’re interested in talking about your love of mezzos, drop me a line at [email protected] (pseudonyms can be provided!)

[kaitewelshwrites]

'I'm happier being plus-size than I ever was as a skinny woman'

Summer as a plus-size woman is always an interesting experience, even as the kind of enlightened feminist who believes that the only way to get a beach body is to put your body on the beach.

Possibly one of the most personal personal essays I’ve ever written...

[fiendfullyreading]

The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh

The Wages of Sin is a historical mystery set in 1890s Edinburgh, about female medical students and murder in the city’s slums. Sarah Gilchrist left London, her family, and her scandal behind when she came to Scotland to study medicine, but a lot of people—including the male students and her own aunt and uncle—would prefer her to give up her studies and leave. When she finds the corpse of one of her patients on the dissecting table, Sarah is drawn into a world of brothels, opium, and danger, not even sure whether her own lecturers are connected to the death. At the same time, she is constantly battling the opinions of not only those who don’t think women should become doctors, but also her fellow female medical students who think her tarnished reputation might reflect badly on them.

This is an enjoyable gothic murder mystery that foregrounds the lives of female medical students and of prostitutes to show the troubles and dangers involved in being a Victorian woman. Sarah is a powerful protagonist, often flawed in her assumptions about situations but determined to follow her dream and to not let her past define her. Welsh writes a variety of characters and creates a vivid world, particularly in distinguishing the twelve female students and some of their stories in getting to be medical students. The narrative is tense and not just focused on solving the mystery of the death, but also on the life of Sarah and of many of the other characters in some way or another.

The Wages of Sin is a historical novel with a gothic vibe that has a blend of murder mystery, 1890s feminism, and varied characters. Its protagonist is allowed to be both flawed and likeable, and it won’t be surprising to see future novels about her and her exploits.

[happilylostinwords]

Historical fiction is my genre of choice so I jumped at the chance to read Kaite Welsh’s THE WAGES OF SIN because… well, because it looked historical fiction-y. It was sort of a cover request, and by the time I got around to reading the copy so kindly provided to me (shamefully late, my apologies!), I’d forgotten what the synopsis said. But the cover showed up on my Kindle and it looked…

View On WordPress

[kaitewelshwrites]

On Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches

"...although I never attended Miss Cackle’s school outside of my imagination, I think she’d be proud of how I turned out."

There’s something incredibly disturbing in the fact that my article about choosing my high school because it reminded me of Miss Cackle’s Academy in The Worst Witch came out the day after ‘What a woman will do for a good f*ck’: Julia Cotton’s sexual agency in Hellraiser, my essay on the sexy, murderous Clive Barker antiheroine played by....the current CBBC/Netflix Miss Cackle and a week after I publicly asserted in the Guardian that Miss Hardbroom is a lesbian.

I have a problem, but at least I know I have a problem. And I’m getting paid for it...

[kaitewelshwrites]

A queer, diverse Nancy Drew: is this how to keep children's classics alive?

The girl detective and Little Women are both being updated to include LGBTQ and multiethnic characters to cater for a new generation of readers – but this doesn’t always work

“As writers’ rooms and publishers become filled with the very people the books previously ignored, the product starts to look different as well. It’s a natural impulse to take the things we love and make them better, fill them with people who look and love like us.”

[kaitewelshwrites]

Had huge fun writing this feminist retrospective of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser for Little White Lies magazine.

[kaitewelshwrites]

#Berena: The doctor will see you now

Kaite Welsh chats to Holby City's Catherine Russell about Berena, feminism and being a lesbian icon

I had a brilliant time interviewing the wonderful Catherine Russell for DIVA a few months ago, and it hit the newsstands yesterday! You can also get it online.

Serena Campbell is back on the wards and about to be reunited with Bernie, but for how long? Catherine sat down with DIVA to talk feminism on the Holby wards, Serena’s coming out arc, and whether Bernie’s brief return to Holby means an end to Berena – or a whole new beginning.

[kaitewelshwrites]

From Pitch to Publication - Breaking into Freelance Journalism

"Incredibly useful - Kaite really knows her stuff!" "After this course, I landed my first paid writing assignment." Whether you want to freelance full-time or just as a sideline, How to be a Freelance Journalist is a crash course in everything you need to know - from the dos and don'ts of pitching to avoiding writers' block. At the end of the workshop you'll be able to: Craft a killer pitch Turn one idea into multiple articles Build a list of contacts Find the best-paying publications for your writing Choose the right format for your ideas - should it be longform, a list or a photo essay? Know what to do when it all goes pear-shaped - and still get paid! If you've ever wanted to see your name in print or online, or if you've been having trouble getting your pitches accepted, register for this course and benefit from nearly a decade's experience writing for national newspapers and popular websites. Booking this course gets you a 20% discount on future one-on-one mentoring sessions with Kaite. If you can't attend but are interested in being mentored, please email [email protected] for more details.

[lovebooksgroup]

Book News: The Wages of Sin By @kaitewelsh #EventReview #Edinburgh @TinderPress @Lighthousebks

On Thursday evening I walked into the Lighthouse Bookshop in Edinburgh for the very first time. As a bookish event reviewer, it seems quite impossible that I’ve never been to the shop before. I was there to attend the candlelit launch of The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh.

The bookshop consists of two large rooms. One is long enough to hold a mass of seats snuggly between shelves. It was…

View On WordPress

[jamesscarstairs]

*orders every historical fiction book ever*

[kaitewelshwrites]

Yes. Please do this.

[kaitewelshwrites]

UK / US

[writerswritecompany]

Expectation vs reality

[kaitewelshwrites]

It me.

[sarahocha]

“Ladies haven’t the luxury of being squeamish about blood.”

- Felicity, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (via sarahocha)

[kaitewelshwrites]

Hello, Tumblr! Now that the paperback of The Wages of Sin has been in the world for a whopping two weeks, I thought it was about time I made a Tumblr that wasn’t dedicated to reblogging pictures of bullet journals, fandom memes and cat gifs*. 

Set in 1890s Edinburgh, the Sarah Gilchrist mysteries feature a sleuthing fallen woman-turned-female medical student, and will thrill fans of Sarah Waters and Antonia Hodgson. 

Sarah Gilchrist has fled from London to Edinburgh in disgrace and is determined to become a doctor, despite the misgivings of her family and society. As part of the University of Edinburgh’s first intake of female medical students, Sarah comes up against resistance from lecturers, her male contemporaries, and - perhaps worst of all - her fellow women, who will do anything to avoid being associated with a fallen woman.

When one of Sarah’s patients turns up in the university dissecting room as a battered corpse, Sarah finds herself drawn into Edinburgh’s dangerous underworld of bribery, brothels and body snatchers - and a confrontation with her own past…

Look at this pretty thing! It’s been out in hardback since last year, but the paperback release is giving me all sorts of feels. It’s published in the UK by Tinder Press and by Pegasus Books in the US where the paperback is out March 13th, which is both my nephew’s second birthday and nearly two years to the day that I signed my very first book deal (I legit thought my dad was going to spontaneously combust with pride. Imagine the cross between Jeremy Corbyn and the heart eye emoji and you’ve basically got it).

Stick around around for news, pictures of badass Victorian women like Sophia Jex-Blake and snippets of The Unquiet Heart, book 2 in the Sarah Gilchrist mysteries.

* There will probably still be cat gifs, and all my friends are placing bets on how long it’s going to take before I accidentally post a screed about how much I ship Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett in Oceans Eight in the wrong place. Because the answer to that is A LOT.