#64 - Leila Taylor, Mistress of the Dark

Leila Taylor is the author of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. She is a writer and designer whose work focuses on the gothic in Black culture, horror, and the aesthetics of melancholy. She’s been published in The Journal of Horror Studies, The New Urban Gothic: Global Gothic in the Age of the Anthropocene, Dispatches from the Institute of Incoherent Geography, and The Repeater Book of the Occult. She has given talks for the International Gothic Association in Mexico and the U.K. and at Morbid Anatomy in New York. Leila received a Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University and an MA in Liberal Studies at The New School for Social Research. She is also Creative Director for the Brooklyn Public Library.

On this episode, Leila discusses the intersections of gothic culture and Black America, the history of goth music and the ghosts of history, and why dark art can help us find joy.

Pam also talks about the Full Wolf Moon, and answers a listener question about leaning into Lilith.

Our sponsors for this episode are Amanda Bienko, Witch Baby Soap, BetterHelp and Zouz Incense.