The Essay: Shakespeare's Sisters

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Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

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The Essay: Shakespeare's Sisters: Katharine Wright

Shakespeare's Sisters

Katharine Wright

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Shakespeare's Sisters, Katharine Wright

Where is Katharine Wright's place in aviation history?

Lucy Powell considers the impact Katharine Wright had on the success of her two brothers, those famous pioneers of aviation.

Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Lucy Powell tells the story of five brilliant women, all the siblings of renowned achievers in the arts and science, whose own success was overlooked – either by their own epoch, or by the annals of history ever since. Virginia Woolf famously reflected on the neglect of brilliant women with her fiction of “Shakespeare’s Sister”.

The Wright brothers are two of the most famous siblings in history. But they also had a younger sister who, when their mother died, took on the responsibility of running the household at age 14. When they successfully flew to Europe, it was Katharine, as the only French speaker among them, who communicated their scientific achievements, helping them find fame. Lucy explores the story of one of very few American women to receive the Légion d’honneur, who also played a crucial role in the women’s suffrage movement.

Produced by Debbie Kilbride
A Tempo & Talker production

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Lucy Powell explores the work of brilliant siblings through their relatedness to genius.

Lucy Powell, University of Oxford Leverhulme Fellow and former New Generation Thinker, explores the work of brilliant siblings through the lens of their relatedness to genius.

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