Hidden Histories with Nova Reid

My brand new podcast telling Untold Stories of Pioneering Black Women

So. This post may explain some of my radio silence on here - coupled with life, lifing.

I first started podcasting in 2020 - in my bedroom, with not a decent edit or microphone in sight. This new love was spurred on when all the work I had was gone in 60 seconds, due to the world being upended by Covid. Podcasting was a way for me to stay creative and connected to my audience in the absence of live events and try to make sense of current affairs. I loved it, intimate, unedited (literally) honest and it honoured my inherent love and need for storytelling. (It also stopped me leaving my mates multiple 30 minute voice notes on WhatsApp).

I’ve always loved the power of audio, since that is how I ‘read’ most books. I love both its intimacy and its accessibility. So I knew I wanted to record an audio version, of my book, The Good Ally, long before I had finished writing it.

Little did I know, it would be my audio presentation of The Good Ally, that would peak the interest of a development producer, who headhunted me to create something for Audible.

But long before this - it was when I started writing and researching The Good Ally that I first became captivated by recurring themes of resistance from Black women. Formidable women in the Caribbean that I never learned about throughout my entire schooling. Why was I only learning about them in adulthood? Why were so many of their stories untold?

Intrigued to find out more, the seed for Hidden Histories with Nova Reid, was sown. Born in Britain, of Jamaican heritage, with lineage lost to slavery in West Africa - my history is rich and my relationship with Britain is, well, complicated. So much of mine and our shared history has been, often deliberately, erased.

Through Hidden Histories with Nova Reid it has been an honour to unearth not just these women’s legacies, but their humanity. I share more about how they survived and moreso how they thrived, so that I can be here today, telling you their stories.

Because if we don’t record our histories - who will?

Launching in celebration of International Women's Month. Hidden Histories with Nova Reid – a six-part Audible Original podcast uncovering the untold stories of extraordinary, disobedient women - is out now.

From London to Leeds to Jamaica, we get to immerse ourselves into the worlds of extraordinary women, such as:- Queen Nanny of the Maroons, a spiritual warrior who led Jamaica’s resistance against British colonial forces, Cubah Cornwallis, a powerful healer who treated a future king of England, ground-breaking journalist Barbara Blake-Hannah. To the revolutionary activism of Olive Morris, Dame Jocelyn Barrow, whose work shaped modern British politics. Louise "Miss Lou" Bennett-Coverley, a radical poet who gave voice to Jamaican identity, Gertrude Paul, a Yorkshire based headteacher from St Kitts who fought for racial equality in education, to the disobedient women whose names remain unknown.

Linking their historical impact to present-day legacies, I explore what we can learn from these remarkable women and the powerful roles they play in both our healing and our liberation.

I will be sharing behind the scenes content, exclusively for paid Substackers about the making of this show, my favourite episodes and why, mischief on production in Jamaica, the highs and some of the realities of the lows of making an original podcast.

It's been quite the journey to get here - and I'm pretty proud of it and I really hope these stories move you.

All six episodes of Hidden Histories with Nova Reid are available now – only on Audible, globally. (If you like to binge listen – you're welcome!) Can’t wait to hear what you think!

Thanks for being here. Nova Reid is a writer, mental health advocate, TED Speaker, Producer and author of The Good Ally. You can find out more about her work on www.novareid.com