Francesca Wade "Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife"

Biographers in Conversation · Feb 11, 2026 · 53m

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Francesca Wade chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife was sparked by Francesca’s access to previously unpublished Leon Katz interview transcripts with Alice B. Toklas, revealing how Gertrude Stein deliberately constructed her public persona and how Toklas spent 20 years stewarding Stein’s posthumous legacy as instructed by Stein’s will.

Francesca challenges the conventional biographical form by structuring the narrative in two parts: first…