What ingredients are necessary to write? Where does a story begin and end? Why is the blank page both endlessly exciting and daunting? For renowned poet, memoirist, and educator Maggie Smith, these questions are the center of her life and work. And in her latest book, Dear Writer, she offers something bigger than answers.

Across ten principles, readers are greeted with a wealth of inspiration that invites artists of all genres to tap into their creative practice. Maggie extolls the beauty of attention, the power of vulnerability, but beyond the page, she also contends with the more nuanced “ingredients”—intuition, luck, retreat. Maggie spoke about all of these ideas and shared more about her own writing evolution, how slow storytelling haunts and heals us, and the questions she has about—and for—writing. This episode also opens with a story from Domenica Ruta.

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https://slowstoriespodcast.com/maggie-smith/ 

Subscribe to Slow Stories on Substack: https://slowstories.substack.com/     

Purchase Slowing: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759    

Purchase Dear Writer: https://bookshop.org/p/books/dear-writer-pep-talks-practical-advice-for-the-creative-life-maggie-smith/21525857?ean=9781982170844&next=t 

Purchase All the Mothers: https://bookshop.org/p/books/all-the-mothers-domenica-ruta/21707238?ean=9780593734056&next=t 

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What moves you—and where? Who are you when everything else falls away? What can you find in stillness? Renowned travel writer and speaker Pico Iyer has pursued these questions throughout his storied career and brings them close to home in his latest book, Aflame.

In 1990, after narrowly escaping a devastating California wildfire—with only his mother’s cat in tow—Pico was ultimately rendered homeless. At the recommendation of a friend, he eventually found himself at a Benedictine hermitage in Big Sur, California. Despite not identifying as a Christian, what followed for Pico was an unexpected, soul-stirring journey.

Encompassing more than one hundred retreats over the past three decades, Aflame brings Pico’s experiences at the monastery to the page. It’s an enriching exploration of silence, fire, and friendship. It’s an ode to impermanence. It’s a reminder to honor the quiet and care in our world. And it’s a testament to finding faith in stillness and, by extension, each other.

In this interview, Pico shared more about silence and attention, what monastic living has taught him about time and courage, and what slow storytelling means in his work—and life. This episode also opens with a story from Nicole Graev Lipson.

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https://slowstoriespodcast.com/pico-iyer/ 

Subscribe to Slow Stories on Substack: https://slowstories.substack.com/   

Purchase Slowing: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759   

Purchase Aflame: https://bookshop.org/p/books/aflame-learning-from-silence-pico-iyer/21427896?ean=9780593420287 

Follow Nicole: @nglipson

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Think about the last time you felt connected to night: the moon’s luminous glow, the rhythms of a house party, the pulsing of the music, the heartbeat of a community. Caleb Femi’s modern epic, The Wickedest, offers a way back to those feelings—and asks us to consider what lies beneath the surface.

In this interview, Caleb shared more about navigating life as a multidisciplinary artist, the private aspects of poetry, the singularity of visual storytelling, and how he honors time both on and off the page. This episode also opens with a story from https://slowstoriespodcast.com/caleb-femi/ 

Subscribe to Slow Stories on Substack: https://slowstories.substack.com/  

Purchase Slowing: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759  

Purchase The Wickedest: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wickedest-caleb-femi/21424991 

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What is the role of beauty in this day and age? For some, it’s an aesthetic pursuit; for others, it’s simply a state of mind. If we’re talking about the global, multibillion-dollar industry, it’s something else entirely. But for Gloria Noto, beauty is more than meets the eye. As the founder of NOTO Botanics, a multi-use, gender-inclusive, clean cosmetic line, Gloria and her team are committed to “championing ferocious individuality while cultivating a creative and mindful community along the way.”

Gloria’s extensive experience as a celebrity makeup artist, contributor, and former founder of THE WORK, an arts and culture publication, lends itself well to this mission: In many ways, NOTO’s true beauty lies in its ability to push the narrative of how we can all relate to beauty and identity more seamlessly. Gloria’s personal commitment to storytelling has also contributed to NOTO’s longevity in our rapidly changing world—and helped her reimagine what life looks like outside the pressures of entrepreneurship. Enter her Substack, Studio Noto, a personal journal featuring essays, musings, and prompts.

In this interview, Gloria shared more about her evolving relationship with work and creativity, what qualities are present in her visual “toolkit,” and how time, grief, and solitude have changed throughout her life. This episode also opens with a story by Maggie Featherstone.

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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/gloria-noto/ 

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Purchase SLOWING: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759  

Discover NOTO Botanics: https://notobotanics.com/ 

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What makes a day? Is it the routine of brewing morning coffee or walking through the neighborhood? Is it more meaningful if it's spent in the company of others? And if we do find ourselves alone, what are we able to see in our solitude?

Ayşegül Savaş's affinity for the details brings these questions to the forefront. She has a talent for transforming mundane moments into compelling prose that lingers long after a story ends. Her latest books—The Anthropologists, a slim novel following a young couple's search for an apartment, and The Wilderness, her debut work of nonfiction chronicling her first 40 days after giving birth—are no exception. They are elegant studies of time and place—of growing up and growing older, kinship and family, home and language, and life's small pains and pleasures. And while Ayşegül considers many of her books to be "quiet stories," it's in the silence that readers hear the heartbeat of her sentences—each a compelling reminder of what makes life worth living.

In this interview, Ayşegül shared more about the connection between mothering and writing, thoughts on creative lineage and family, and what it means to be in the present moment—in art and life. This episode also opens with a story by Cara Blue Adams.

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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/aysegul-savas 

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Purchase The Anthropologists: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-anthropologists-aysegul-savas/20328495?ean=9781639733064 

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Purchase You Never Get It Back: https://bookshop.org/p/books/you-never-get-it-back-cara-blue-adams/16910017?ean=9781609388133 

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What does it mean to be faithful?

This question is central to Lauren Elkin's debut novel, Scaffolding, which follows the trials and tribulations of two couples across time and space, occupying the same Paris apartment in 2019 and 1972. It is an incisive study of transformation—physical, emotional, geographical, familial. It is a question and questioning of desire: how we give it, show it, (try to) contain it, and ultimately let it shape us.

Lauren is known for nonfiction works like Flâneuse and Art Monsters, and the shape of this conversation moved in several directions, from reflecting on her previous books to global events. Lauren also shared more about her relationship with cities, her arrival at Scaffolding's central themes, and thoughts on the connection between grief, power, and time.

This episode also opens with a story from Hannah Bonner.

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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/lauren-elkin/ 

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Order SLOWING: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759 

A note from Slow Stories' own Rachel Schwartzmann regarding her new book, SLOWING!

Order SLOWING: https://lnk.to/Slowing/ 

Subscribe to Slow Stories on Substack: https://slowstories.substack.com/ 

Read Rachel's essay in Literary Hub: https://lithub.com/against-perfectionism-and-productivity-on-embracing-flaws-as-a-writer/ 

What does it mean to grieve? What does it look and feel like? Why is it still so hard for us to understand? These are just a few questions Amy Lin tackles in her astounding memoir Here After. In a series of crystalline vignettes, Amy recounts the unexpected death of her husband Kurtis, her subsequent medical crisis—and the winding journey to live after inconceivable loss.

In many ways, Here After is a story of falling—in love, apart, out of time. It's a story that alerts us to our hearts and heartbreaks. It's a story that asks the big, unanswerable questions, but perhaps most poignantly, it asks readers to be here—to bear witness. As Amy writes in the book: "I do not say: Everyone is so afraid of grief, and this fear is dangerous to the grieving. I do not tell him the painful lesson I am learning: Enduring the thing itself—he is not coming back—is unbearable but denying it is worse, is an even greater, even more insidious, threat to living, if that is what you want to do."

In this interview, Amy shared more about the value of seriousness in life, her thoughts on slow storytelling and creativity, and what time means to her now. This episode also opens with a story from Julie Chavez.

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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/amy-lin/ 

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Purchase Here After: https://bookshop.org/p/books/here-after-a-memoir-amy-lin/20214421?ean=9781958506325/ 

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Follow Amy: @literaryamy

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Pre-order SLOWING: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759 

Shared vision is at the heart of every great partnership—but a good sense of humor helps, too. Claudia Dey and Heidi Sopinka understand this sentiment.

The two creatives met as undergrads at McGill University—and later at a bush camp, cooking for tree planters—and have lived multiple lives since then. In 2012, they co-founded the conscious fashion brand HORSES, which values beauty, utility, wildness, and endurance. They've also translated their artistic prowess into writing and have crafted incisive, spellbinding novels like (Heidi's) Utopia and (Claudia's) Daughter.

In this interview, the duo shared more about balancing their creative pursuits, living and working in Toronto, their relationship with time and pace—and their relationship with each other. This episode also opens with a story from Jacqueline Suskin.

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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/claudia-dey-and-heidi-sopinka/ 

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Purchase Claudia's books: https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=claudia+dey/ 

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Shop HORSES: https://www.horsesatelier.com/ 

Purchase Jacqueline's books: https://bookshop.org/contributors/jacqueline-suskin/ 

Follow Claudia: @claudiadeytona

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Pre-order SLOWING: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759 

"Point of view has a terrible memory. I've looked at photos scrolling up and over, zooming in and out, and realize it is not love I want, just the ability to zoom back out. A woman loses herself when she can no longer zoom out." This is one of the many resonant passages readers will encounter in Victoria Chang's latest poetry collection, With My Back to the World. Across three parts, Victoria engages with the work of renowned artist Agnes Martin, who ultimately provides a portal for the writer to consider identity, existence, death, grief, depression, and time.

While these themes may be universal, Victoria's voice is singular. Page after page, her passion for language becomes all the more apparent. As she writes in "Gratitude, 2001": "What am I outside of language? Is this the solitude Agnes spoke of—standing in an auditorium without a microphone or an audience, at a podium reading wind. And where the skin that has been wound tightly around me my whole life, is also the thing that I've been writing on. To think, everyone will write one final word."

In this interview, Victoria shared more about her relationship with process and pace, the nuances of writing and publishing in this day and age, and what she's learned as an artist, educator, and mother. This episode also opens with a story from Amy Lin.

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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/victoria-chang 

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Purchase With My Back to the World: https://bookshop.org/p/books/with-my-back-to-the-world-poems-victoria-chang/19994823 

Learn more about Victoria's work: https://victoriachangpoet.com/ 

Follow Victoria: @fattery12

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Pre-order SLOWING: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759