Adriana Trigiani's You Are What You Read

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by “beauty & style expert” David Kibbe with his latest book, David Kibbe's Power of Style: A Guided Journey to Help You Discover Your Authentic Style. David is the creator of the IMAGE IDENTITY system. Clients from all over the globe travel to New York to undergo this head-to-toe transformation process. In this conversation, David talks about the power of personal style, and how clothing can carry not just energy—but memory.

Hello, dear listeners. On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by “The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown”, Keith McNally. Keith is the founder of some of New York’s most iconic restaurants…Balthazar, Balthazar Bakery, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, Pravda, Schiller’s Liquor Bar, Morandi, Cherche Midi, Lucky Strike, Nell’s, Cafe Luxembourg, and the Odeon. Keith joins us today with his editor Aimee Bell to talk about his instant New York Times bestselling memoir, I Regret Almost Everything. Keith and Aimee collaborated to bring readers a deeply moving, hilarious and irreverent book about Keith’s life.

Peter Wolf is bringing rock ‘n’ roll to You Are What You Read this week with his all-new memoir, Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses. Peter Wolf is best known as the lead vocalist of The J. Geils Band. In 1970 the band was signed by Jerry Wexler for Atlantic Records where they went on to release nine influential albums and earned a reputation as one of rock’s most exciting live acts. In 1979 they were signed by EMI America topping the charts world-wide with their hit songs “Freeze Frame,” “Love Stinks,” and “Centerfold.” Peter began his career as a solo artist in 1984 with his album, Lights Out. He collaborated with Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard, John Lee Hooker, and Mick Jagger, among others. His album Sleepless was voted one of the top five hundred albums of all time by Rolling Stone. He currently tours with his band ‘The Midnight Travelers’ and will be releasing his ninth solo album in 2025.

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by Molly Jong-Fast. Molly is a contributing writer at Vanity Fair, a political analyst at MSNBC News, and host of the podcast “Fast Politics.” Her new book, How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir, hit shelves this week. Molly is the only child of the famous Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. In 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly’s husband discovered he had a rare cancer…Molly talks about it all in this conversation.

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by Michael Patrick King., award-winning writer, director and executive producer of HBO’s SEX AND THE CITY and the franchise follow-up series, AND JUST LIKE THAT, which is in its third season and available to stream on HBO MAX now. This is a conversation about Michael's rise in Hollywood, from his start in the New York City theater circuit as a playwright and standup comedian, to his illustrious work in film and television. 

We were thrilled to record a live episode of You Are What You Read at PEN America’s World Voices Festival with bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and Fiona Davis. This was a conversation about women in literature… in both books and in publishing. Jodi talks about her latest novel, By Any Other Name, a story about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name. Fiona tells us about her novel, The Stolen Queen, set in 1978 when two women team up to find one of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s missing Egyptian artifacts. We’d like to thank PEN America for hosting us for this conversation. We are thrilled to share it with you today. 

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by quintessential music maker and founding member of The Four Seasons, Bob Gaudio. Bob’s career in music started at a young age. At the age of 15, he co-wrote his first hit, "Who Wears Short Shorts," for a group he started, The Royal Teens. His song, "Sherry," in the early '60s, launched The Four Seasons’ incredible string of hits. At the time, he also began a productive and creative relationship with Bob Crewe, a teaming that produced an amazing run of hits for The Four Seasons, including "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Rag Doll," "Walk Like a Man," "Bye Bye Baby," "Silence Is Golden," and in 1967, Frankie Valli's classic, "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." Gaudio also produced and co-wrote with his wife, Judy Parker, "Who Loves You," for The Four Seasons and Billboard Magazine's longest-charting single (54 weeks), "December '63 (Oh, What a Night)." Bob has collaborated with Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra, and has produced albums for Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, Barry Manilow, Peabo Bryson and The Beach Boys, to cite just a few. This is a conversation about Bob's greatest hits- the songs we will be tuning up this summer! 

On today’s episode of You Are What You Read we are doing a deep dive into the life of Audrey Hepburn with Hollywood historian Tom Santopietro. In his work, Tom has studied the greats. His titles include The Sound of Music Story, The Importance of Being Barbra, Sinatra in Hollywood, The Godfather Effect, Why To Kill A Mockingbird Matters, the New York Times Editor’s Choice Considering Doris Day, The Way We Were: The Making of a Romantic Classic, and now he is bringing us a definitive tribute to the glamor and character of a beloved icon, Audrey Hepburn. In Audrey Hepburn: A Life of Uncertainty, Tom shares rarely published details, photographs and stories about that will amaze you.

On this week’s episode of You Are What You Read, we are joined by Susan Morrison, author of the all-new biography, LORNE: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live. Susan Morrison is the articles editor of The New Yorker, former editor in chief of the New York Observer, and an original editor of SPY magazine. In her latest work, she studies Lorne Michaels and his fifty-year helm as creator and producer of Saturday Night Live.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, we are celebrating two, very special mothers this week…educator, mother (of 8), grandmother (of 13) and dear friend, Barbara Forste, and her daughter, award-winning actress, producer and publisher, Sarah Jessica Parker. Barbara Forste is a lifelong supporter of the arts and of literacy and education. She worked in market research for Procter & Gamble, as a second grade teacher, and as a child-wrangler at the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera and the American Ballet Theater. She is a co-founder and director of The Children’s Circle, a national association for the education of young children. Her very busy daughter, Sarah Jessica Parker, has worked in theater since 1976 from the title role in Annie, to most recently with her husband, Matthew Broderick, in the revival of Neil Simon‘s comedy play, Plaza Suite. From theater to television and film, Sarah Jessica is known most widely for her portrayal of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City and its sequel, And Just Like That; as well as the films based on the show, Sex and the City, and Sex and the City 2. Sarah Jessica is the publisher of SJP Lit, her own imprint in partnership with Zando Books. She recently executive produced the documentary, The Librarians, a film highlighting librarians across the country who have been fighting against book bans. It will be available for streaming soon. 

Adelphi University hosted us at their annual Writers & Readers Festival this year where we were delighted to hold this conversation in front of a live audience of students, teachers, readers and writers. The Writers & Readers Festival was founded by Adelphi alumna and bestselling novelist Alice Hoffman. This is a conversation about how mothers can pass down their love of reading to change their children’s lives and ours.