#129 Louise O'Neill: A Feminist Reimagining Of The Little Mermaid - a podcast by Emma Gannon

?This episode is with Louise O'Neill, the award-winning Irish novelist. Louise has written a? feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid? which has ?just been? published by Scholastic?. ?A spokesperson for ?the? publisher said ofThe Surface Breaks: “Christian Andersen’s dark, original fairy tale is reimagined through a searing feminist lens, with the stunning, scalpel-sharp writing that has won Louise her legions of devoted fans.”? In the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, Ariel changes her body to please a man, is at the beck and call of her father and she even has her voice taken away from her. I got to interview Louise O'Neill at Waterstones Piccadilly in May (2018) about the book as part of a live podcast recording. We discussed feminism, writing fantasy literature, her inspirations ?and why Mermaids are back on trend again.

?"It's funny once you become a feminist you can't enjoy any pop culture, everything is fucking ruined"."

On her main character Gaia: "I just wanted to see her as a girl who wanted to take up more space in the world."

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