The Lion's Den - with author Iris Mwanza
Breaking Down Patriarchy
Amy McPhie Allebest
4.9 • 654 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amy is joined by lawyer and author, Iris Mwanza, to discuss her novel - The Lion's Den - plus the status of patriarchy in Zambia, worldwide, and the critical role that books play in shaping public attitudes.
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Iris Mwanza is a Zambian-American author and gender equality advocate. Born and raised in Zambia, early exposure to inequality has been a driving force in her life - from becoming a lawyer, writing a Ph.D. dissertation on women and children’s rights, a career fighting for gender equality, and now a thriller with gender equality as its heart.
Iris has spent an inordinate amount of time studying and has law degrees from Cornell University and the University of Zambia, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Her day job is Deputy Director of the Women in Leadership team in the Gender Equality Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and her night job is to write. Her debut novel The Lions’ Den took nine years of nights and weekends to finish.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee Allabest. Stories give structure to our lives. |
| 0:07.2 | From our very first picture books to our favorite novels, works of fiction form an essential |
| 0:12.5 | lens through which we can more clearly look out at the world around us and reflect on our |
| 0:17.1 | own experiences. Novelist Iris Mwanza writes that, through stories, we can cast light on what baffles, haunts, |
| 0:25.4 | hurts, and can destroy us. |
| 0:27.3 | And good stories enable us to learn, debate, heal, and move in the direction for understanding |
| 0:34.0 | and grace, adding that this healing, this learning and debate, is her hope for her |
| 0:40.2 | own recently debuted story, The Lionsden. This novel, following the investigations of grace, |
| 0:47.5 | a lawyer navigating the corrupt legal systems of 1990 Zambia, is a mystery, a drama, |
| 0:53.7 | a romance, and I have to tell you, it is undeniably a good |
| 0:57.5 | story, the sort that sparks thought and challenges readers to reconsider the world around us, |
| 1:03.1 | to become better people, all while being an absolute page turner. So with that in mind, |
| 1:09.2 | I am so very, very pleased to welcome the author of this |
| 1:12.7 | book to the podcast today. She's a novelist, a lawyer, and a gender advocate, Iris Mawanza. |
| 1:18.7 | Thank you so much for being here, Iris. |
| 1:21.3 | Thank you for having me. I'm just absolutely delighted to be your guest. |
| 1:26.2 | Well, I'm so thrilled to have you here and to talk about your |
| 1:28.7 | book and to talk about the work you do even more broadly. Iris Mawanza is a Zambian-American author |
| 1:35.4 | and gender equality advocate. Born and raised in Zambia, early exposure to inequality has been |
| 1:41.3 | a driving force in her life, from becoming a lawyer, writing a PhD |
| 1:45.0 | dissertation on women and children's rights, a career fighter for gender equality, and now |
| 1:50.0 | the author of a thriller with gender equality at its heart. Iris has spent an inordinate amount |
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