What if you could mail one page of hard-won wisdom back in time? We close our first season by stitching together intimate, practical letters to younger selves from our Season 1 slate of bestselling authors and advocates. The result is a generous chorus on patience, courage, and the long game of becoming—told through personal stories that feel both specific and startlingly universal.

You’ll hear how fear of judgment kept powerful ideas in the dark, and how choosing excitement over approval brought them into the light. Guests reflect on growing up feeling different, the ache of early loneliness, and the steady relief that comes from finding your people. We talk about trading perfection for progress, asking mentors for guidance, and trusting that slow work is still real work. There’s even space for humor, like the beloved pair of wildly bright running shoes that became a tiny rebellion and a lesson in owning your style.

These reflections aren’t abstract pep talks; they’re field-tested reminders shaped by rejection letters, late drafts, and the quiet hours where craft is built. If you’re early in your journey—or simply need a reset—you’ll find clear takeaways: keep going when results lag behind effort, share discouragement with a friend who can cheer you forward, and return to the ideas that make you feel most alive. Growth is the goal. Belonging will meet you on the path.

If this season finale moved you, tap follow, leave a quick review, and share it with someone who needs a kind nudge today. Tell us: what would your note to your younger self say?

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A life-changing writing class, a fierce love for language, and a new mom’s clarity: that’s the spark behind Nicola Yoon’s leap from engineering and finance to bestselling novelist. We sit down with the author of Everything, Everything, The Sun Is Also a Star, Instructions for Dancing, and One of Our Kind to unpack how vulnerability, precision, and curiosity power stories that become empathy machines.

Nicola shares how maternal protectiveness inspired her debut (Everything, Everything), what it felt like to watch lines she wrote come alive on set, and why the movie isn’t a replacement but “more art” about characters she loves. We dig into the difference between a controlled, solitary novel and the logistical jazz of filmmaking; how real conversations with her husband informed Natasha and Daniel’s philosophical chemistry in The Sun Is Also a Star; and the craft choices—subtext, gesture, rhythm—that turn everyday dialogue into scenes that breathe.

We also go deep on grief and hope. Instructions for Dancing was born in hospital waiting rooms and confronts the hardest question of all: if love always ends, is it still worth it? Nicola opens up about writing One of Our Kind, an adult novel that’s intentionally bleaker, the cultural pressures that shape identity, and the misremembered feminism of The Stepford Wives that influenced her structure and suspense. Then we shift to joy: building the Joy Revolution imprint to champion swoony YA romances starring people of color, nurturing debuts with revision-heavy care, and proving that stories of delight belong alongside stories of struggle.

Plus: short stories vs novels, writer’s block cures (including first-person shooters!), setting books in Los Angeles, and a playful lightning round. If you care about storytelling, adaptation, romance, representation, or the exact order of words in a sentence, you’ll feel right at home here. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves book-to-film stories, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show.

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Glamour can distract, but it can also reveal what truly matters. We sit down with Alexandra Brown Chang, the New York Times bestselling author of By Invitation Only, to explore a Parisian debutante world where status is loud, traditions are ancient, and friendship ends up being the quiet force that wins.

Alexandra pulls back the curtain on the real-life experiences and customs that inspired the novel—from portrait sittings to Le Bal’s media frenzy—and explains why she built the story with Paris as a living character. We compare Piper’s first‑time wonder with Chapin’s seasoned skepticism, revealing how the city refracts identity, class, and desire in different lights. Alexandra shares how being multiracial informed Piper without defining her, and why she’s determined to write characters whose identities are rich, layered, and never reduced to a single attribute.

The creative journey is as vivid as the setting. Alexandra spent five years shaping the manuscript, querying hundreds of agents, and turning a misdirected email into a breakthrough connection. Once the book sold, editing became a collaborative masterclass that sharpened structure and voice. We talk routines, flow states, and the surprising truth that you can come of age at any age—through college, early careers, and the messy, thrilling spectrum of your 20s. Along the way, Alexandra cites influences like Jenny Han, Lisi Harrison, and Cameron Crowe, and highlights two causes close to her heart: Inside Out Writers and the Peninsula Humane Society.

If you love YA coming‑of‑age, female friendship, fashion, and stories where setting shapes destiny, this conversation will light you up. Listen now, share it with a friend who loves Paris, and leave a quick review so more curious readers can find the show.

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Joy doesn’t always arrive on schedule. For Nydia Armendia-Sánchez, it showed up when she started writing the stories her kids couldn’t find on the shelf—tales that honor migration, bilingual families, and the quiet power of a mother’s voice. We sit down with Nydia to trace her path from early art student to award-winning children’s author, and the moment she chose to turn family history into Not Far From Here, a tender picture book about belonging, hope, and the journeys that shape us.

Language lives at the heart of Nydia’s work. She explains why Spanglish belongs on the page, how bilingual choices can feel intuitive and musical, and why leaving “here” undefined invites every reader to see their own roots. We then wander into Frida Kahlo’s Flower Crown, where Nydia offers a fresh lens on a cultural icon through the motifs of plants, animals, and growth. With research fueled by Casa Azul webinars and virtual tours, and luminous art by Loris Lora, the book pairs lyrical biography with an interactive plant hunt that quietly teaches kids about native species and conservation.

Nydia also shares a preview of two Guatemala-set books: The Women Before Us: Weaving Stories in My Huipil, a celebration of Mayan backstrap weaving and the symbols women carry, and Vroom Vroom Vámonos, a playful journey narrated by a retired school bus reborn as a chicken bus. Along the way, we talk about the craft and constraints of picture books, the collaborative magic between writers and illustrators, and why representation in children’s literature is not a trend but a necessity. If you care about bilingual books, Latine stories, Frida Kahlo, or simply want to feel inspired by creative courage, this conversation will stay with you.

If you enjoyed the show, follow and subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more readers and families discover these stories.

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A six-year-old lands in a new country without knowing the alphabet and discovers, by third grade, that reading feels like magic. That spark became Cindy Pon’s compass as she wrote underdogs who straddle worlds, crafting YA stories that welcome readers who’ve never seen themselves on a cover. We sit down with Cindy to trace that path—from Silver Phoenix, a Chinese-inspired fantasy that arrived when the market offered few comps by Asian American authors, to Want, a near-future thriller where Taipei is as vivid as any hero.

Cindy walks us through her creative engine: why she favors duologies, how she breaks rules in service of story, and what it took to write a teen boy’s voice that didn’t sound like her own. We explore the mechanics behind Want’s cyberpunk edge—slang that mirrors power, squads built for heists, and the way tech headlines caught up to her pages. More than set dressing, near-future Taipei becomes a sensory world: traditional temples next to neon-filled, night markets. The conversation moves through gatekeeping and marketing realities, the burden of being first, and the quiet forms of resistance available to any storyteller who insists on centering their community.

Along the way, Cindy shares practical tactics for writer’s block, why food belongs at the heart of worldbuilding, and a first look at her new YA fantasy that travels from London to Mexico City with a Chinese contortionist at a magical circus. The throughline is hope. Even inside dystopia, she believes in found family, small acts that tip the scales, and stories that leave you braver than they found you. If you care about YA fantasy, representation, sensory worldbuilding, or just need the reminder that your voice matters, this conversation will bring you joy.

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Two truths drive this conversation: images shape policy, and classrooms shape futures. Hollyn speaks with actress, activist, and storyteller Estefanía Rebellón—refugee from Cali, Colombia and co-founder of Yes We Can World Foundation—to unpack how a consent-first media ethic and year-round education are changing the lives of migrant children at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Estefanía takes us from her first days in Miami ESOL to the moment she saw kids stranded without school during the 2018 border crisis. That shock became action: mobile schools, bilingual curriculum, and mental health support that enroll children within 24 to 48 hours of arriving at a shelter. She explains why the team runs all year, adapts to each shelter’s needs, and stretches every dollar—right down to price-scanning supplies—so learning doesn’t stop when headlines fade. We also explore the “Migrant Process” class, where students build pride in heritage and learn to introduce their countries by strengths, not stereotypes.

A major thread is ethical storytelling. Estefania rejects “pity pics,” prioritizing consent and uplifting images so children aren’t forever defined by their hardest moment. That philosophy feeds a broader narrative change effort featuring Latine creators who share vulnerable stories to reach beyond echo chambers and invite honest debate about immigration. We talk about moving from marches to durable systems, building leadership that outlives any founder, and why asking communities what they need should come before designing programs.

If you care about immigration, education access, and the power of narrative to reduce stigma and inspire policy, this is your roadmap. Hear practical ways to volunteer, donate, and amplify work that centers dignity while delivering measurable impact. If this conversation resonates, follow the links below, share with a friend, and leave a review—your support helps us keep elevating stories that move people to action.

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A single book magically changed a life. Hollyn talks to award-winning author Alda P. Dobbs about her childhood spent dodging a harsh kindergarten teacher and resisting English to the night she read The Catcher in the Rye straight through, discovering that stories can carry a person across borders without moving an inch. From there, we trace the spine of her Petra Luna novels to the heartbeat of her great‑grandmother’s escape during the Mexican Revolution, layered with her grandmother’s poverty, her mother’s grit, and Alda’s own experience returning from military service to a world that looked at her differently.

We go deep on research that makes history breathe: oral histories of children who survived the revolution, refugee accounts in period newspapers, and the field notes of journalist John Reed traveling with rebel troops. Alda explains how corridos and folk songs shaped scenes and tone, and why she carefully places Spanish words into English prose so readers feel the cadence without reaching for a glossary. We talk craft, too—how studying The Hunger Games helped her structure momentum and build a heroine whose resilience feels urgent and real for today’s classrooms and book clubs.

Then we pivot to her picture book, The Giving Flower: The Story of the Poinsettia, uncovering a surprising journey from Aztec gardens to Spanish legend to an American ambassador’s greenhouse. Alda shares the discipline of picture‑book writing—500 to 800 words where every syllable earns its place—and the collaborative art process that turns research into luminous spreads kids want to revisit. Throughout, the throughline is connection: stories as bridges that let a Ukrainian child, a Texas teacher, or a bilingual family see themselves in a girl crossing a desert a century ago.

If you value history that feels human and craft tips you can use, hit play and join us. Subscribe, rate, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories—and tell us which moment stayed with you long after the outro.

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A revolution uproots a family. A kid grows up between languages and continents. Years later, a studio note says, “cut all the gay characters,” and a writer decides he’s done waiting for permission. Our talk with Abdi Nazemian is a global tour—from Tehran to Paris, Toronto, New York, and LA—and an illustration of how storytelling can hold all those lives in one place.

Abdi talks about how reading scripts in Hollywood taught him structure, even as the system kept pushing his stories out. Self-publishing The Walk-In Closet changed that, giving him a way to tell stories no one else would greenlight. We get into how YA fiction became a space for honesty and detail—like Like a Love Story, which captures AIDS-era New York with both the rage of ACT UP and the hope of the dance floor. The Chandler Legacies looks at the damage and the power of institutions, asking if the same places that hurt us can also help us grow. Only This Beautiful Moment zooms out to three generations of an Iranian family, showing how queerness, exile, denial, and love all mix together when you stop looking for easy villains.

Then there’s Desert Echoes, where young love runs into grief and addiction in the California desert. Music runs through it all—Madonna, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Lana Del Rey—not as background noise but as a shared language that connects people who feel alone. Abdi reminds us that nuance matters more than purity, that messy conversations with family are worth having, and that history—like the 1953 coup in Iran—still shapes the choices we make now.

In the end, his message is simple but powerful: joy and sorrow always coexist, and stories help us hold both.

If this moves you, share it with a friend, follow the show, and leave a review. The more we talk about complex stories, the more space we make for them.

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What if a 13-year-old trained an AI on fairy tales—and the world learned back? Hollyn sits down with New York Times bestselling author and filmmaker Abigail Hing Wen for our first live taping at Annabelle's Book Club LA to unpack The Vale, Abigail's middle grade debut about a boy who builds an AI-generated realm and then has to save it when reality starts to glitch. From dual timelines and lyrical lore to concrete tech metaphors, Abigail shows how story can make complex ideas feel simple, vivid, and urgent.

We explore the craft behind weaving two narratives—the grounded voice of Bran in the real world and the elevated whimsy of the Book of Elf—plus the Easter eggs that bridge them: recurring motifs, mirrored characters, even accent choices in the audiobook. Abigail shares why she coined “clean AI,” training models on public-domain works and family-made art to seed ethics into the plot itself. You’ll hear how a carnation-in-colored-water metaphor turns data provenance into something kids can see and feel, and why middle grade gives her the space to make kids the heroes without losing emotional depth.

The conversation jumps from page to screen: writing and directing The Vale: Origins as a live action–animation hybrid, the puzzle of designing seamless transitions between worlds, and the lessons she carried over from executive producing Love in Taipei during pandemic lockdowns. We talk about adaptation tradeoffs, diverging endings, and how hundreds of collaborators inevitably shape a movie’s identity—while the books keep telling the longer story. Along the way, Abigail offers grounded advice for aspiring authors and creators on finding your singular perspective, building community, and choosing the right medium for your message.

If stories shape the tools we build, then this is a guide to building better ones. Listen, share with a friend who loves AI or fantasy, and leave a review so more curious minds can find us.

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NYT-bestselling author Abigail Hing Wen discusses writing the LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI trilogy, producing LOVE IN TAIPEI for Paramount+ (and Netflix), and directing her first short film THE VALE: ORIGINS (starring Lea Salonga), a prequel to her new middle-grade novel THE VALE. Lightning Round topics: favorite movies, superpowers, whether cereal is a soup, guilty pleasure dance songs, and fun trivia about the infamous door scene in the TITANIC movie!

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