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A Book I Love

A Book I Love

Written by: womenwritingarchitecture.org
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About this listen

 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. Art Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Episode 10: Ice by Anna Kavan, chosen by Emilie Appercé

    Episode 10: Ice by Anna Kavan, chosen by Emilie Appercé
    Sep 22 2025
    In late August 2025, we gathered at the Spitzplatz, a paved clearing in a small park next to Zurich’s main station. The triangular park, edged by water on two sides, sits where the Limmat and Sihl rivers meet. This convergence of rail, water, and road routes stretching across Europe – in a park once known for its community of drug users – felt like an apt place to meet. This discussion was convened around Ice by Anna Kavan, published in 1967, and chosen by Emilie Appercé. On hand were Helen Thomas of Women Writing Architecture, Geraldine Tedder, curator and director of Kunsthaus Winterthur, Charlotte Matter, art historian and professor of contemporary art at the University of Basel, Jaehee Shin, and Emilie Appercé. Ice is neither a novel in the usual sense nor non-fiction: there are no facts or arguments, and readers often report discovering an entirely different book upon rereading. Sometimes described as Slipstream, blending surrealism, apocalyptic science fiction and fantasy, the text is both open and claustrophobic, emotionless yet unsettling, offering a unique lens to think about space, perception, and experience. The question of the day was how such a book–provoking yet withholding might become architectural. With: Emilie Appercé (architect and editor), Jaehee Shin (architect and editor), Geraldine Tedder, (curator and director of Kunsthaus Winterthur), Charlotte Matter (art historian and professor of contemporary art at the University of Basel) and Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher) At: Spitzplatz, Zürich
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    27 mins
  • 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
    Apr 11 2025
    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 they delved into Tsing’s optimistic ‘end of the world’ to reflect together ‘On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins,’ and what that might mean for architecture. With: Jaehee Shin (architect and editor), Paul Grieguszies (architect), Ji Min An (architect), and Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher) At: Frauenkulturarchiv, Chur
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    29 mins
  • 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
    Dec 15 2023
    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, and specifically Canadian architecture and it’s context in Canadian nature, and the Canadian immigrant experience. With: Mariana Siracusa (bookseller and scholar), Helen Thomas, (architect, writer, and publisher), Adam Caruso (architect and teacher) At: Spazio, Milan
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    33 mins
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