In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of poet W. S. Merwin. Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate in 2010, William Stanley Merwin had a career that spanned seven decades. A poet, translator, gardener and environmental activist, Merwin has become one of the most widely read and honored poets in America, the recipient of two [...]

In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of fiction writer Kate Chopin, who dared to write about female sexuality, longing, and identity at a time when women were expected to focus on husbands and family. Chopin’s works mostly take place in Louisiana and lyrically reflect the many cultures of the region: Creoles, Acadians, [...]

In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of television pioneer Norman Lear. We are joined by pop culture historian Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, whose bestselling books detail the stories and cultural impacts of television and film. Her latest book, So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (And Why We’re Still So Obsessed with It) [...]

*Episode note: In the introduction, we incorrectly called the book co-written with Vince Lombardi Running into Daylight. The correct title is Run to Daylight. In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of journalist and author W. C. Heinz. Most well known for his sports reporting, Heinz was one of the nation’s preeminent sports [...]

In this special episode, we take a look back at some of our favorite moments from the top episodes of our two ongoing series – Nation of Writers and AWM Author Talks.

In this episode, we discuss the life and work of writing icon Joan Didion, a writer’s writer. Not only a groundbreaking journalist, essayist, novelist, and screenwriter, Didion was also a keen observer of life in all its humor, disappointment and grace. Perhaps best known for essay writing and collections such as The White Album, The [...]

In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of indigenous author and orator William Apess. In 1829 Apess published his memoir A Son of the Forest, which describes his journey to reclaim his Pequot identity after being taken away from his family and forced to work as a servant for white families. The memoir [...]

In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Edna St. Vincent Millay. The wildly popular Jazz Age poet ventured fearlessly beyond traditional poetic subjects to tackle political injustice, social discrimination, and female sexuality in her bestselling books, beginning with Renascence and Other Poems in 1917. The first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize [...]

In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of Betty Friedan. The feminist writer and activist acclaimed as the mother of second-wave feminism, and pathbreaking author of The Feminine Mystique, was powerful and polarizing. As a journalist she covered racism, sexism, labor, class inequality, and anti-Semitism. As a wife and mother, she struggled to [...]

In this episode, we’ll discuss the life and work of poet Phillis Wheatley Peters. Kidnapped in West Africa, Wheatley Peters was renamed after the ship that brought her to Boston to be sold as a slave. A precocious child, she was given an education, which was unusual at a time when enslaved African-Americans could be [...]