Judith Thurman is a staff writer at "The New Yorker," and the author of many books, including "Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller" and "Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette."

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(00:00) “How’d you get to be that thing you are?”—origin story

(02:18) Precocious reader, teacher mom, “foreordained” to write

(04:52) Yes-and-no confidence; from drivel to good

(07:10) Poet in Europe: barmaid, tutor, no money

(09:48) 1970s NYC—dangerous, electric, cheap rent, first bylines

(12:22) Nation → Ms. magazine → journalism takes off

(14:05) Knocking on The New Yorker’s door; Gottlieb says yes

(16:40) How a New Yorker piece gets made—editors, rewrites, heat

(19:12) Subjects and boundaries: strong & “lost” women

(21:58) Emily Wilson to Vanessa Beecroft; fasting spa detour

(24:41) Writing (against) Gertrude Stein; Handmaid’s Tale hindsight

(27:20) Why Stein’s “cult” endures—salon as tourist attraction

(29:58) Anne Frank’s freedom to feel; the monumental annotation

(32:36) Amelia Earhart—image-making, legend, and dying young

(34:28) Biographies as marriages; choosing a life to live with

(35:57) Isak Dinesen begins: Ms. piece, Denneny, the $10k “bride price”

(38:43) Rethinking colonialism—Kenyan correspondent, mea culpa

(41:52) Writing life: night vs. morning, momentum, humility; truth famine & journalism’s role