Jason Hartman talks with author, editor and literary coach, Ariel Gore. Some call her The Indiana Jones of literature” and her books include Bluebird: On Women and Happiness (forthcoming from Farrar, Straus and Giroux), the critically acclaimed writing guide How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead, the Booksense pick novel The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show, the Oregon Book Award finalist Atlas of the Human Heart, and cult classic The Hip Mama Survival Guide.

She founded the award-winning parenting zine Hip Mama back in 1993. Over the years, the zine featured many new and emerging writers. Still, The New Yorker raved: Gore’s the quality of the writing that sets Hip Mama apart. Ariel now serves as Hip Mama’s consulting editor. The Utne Reader said, Ariel Gore’s transformation from globetrotting teenager to the hippest of mamas reads like a movie script about a Gen-X slacker following her bliss to unlikely success.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ariel ran away from high school at age 16 to become an international bag lady. She rambled back home a few years later as a new teen mom. She earned her BA in communications from Mills college and her Master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. She lives in Portland, Oregon.