Kate Lister (writer)

Kathryn Louise Lister (born 18 October 1981) is a British academic historian, writer, journalist and blogger, principally on women's rights and the history of sexuality and sexual behaviour.

Life and career
Born in Ulverston, Cumbria, she attended Ulverston Victoria High School and Ulverston Victoria Sixth Form College. She studied English literature at Leeds Trinity University and the University of Leeds, writing her doctoral thesis on "Women Authors and the Early Nineteenth-Century Arthurian Revival". She is currently a senior lecturer in the Centre for Victorian Studies at Leeds Trinity University.

In 2016, she set up an online blog and research forum, Whores of Yore, which by 2021 had over 360,000 followers on Twitter. She has since written and published extensively on sexuality in history, and in particular the history of sex work. Her book, A Curious History of Sex, was published in 2020, and was followed by Harlots, Whores & Hackabouts: A History of Sex for Sale, in 2021. As well as her blog, she writes regularly for the i newspaper, and has made appearances on British radio and television. She also supports charities for sex workers in Leeds. In 2017, she won a Sexual Freedom Award as Publicist of the Year for her blog.

She has been the host of the History Hit podcast, "Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal, and Society" since 2022. The podcast was nominated for Best New Podcast at the Audio and Radio Industry Awards in 2023.