This month we're joined by the wonderful Lina Patton. She's here to discuss her debut novel, The Lake Club, forthcoming from William Morrow on June 16, 2026 (and available for pre-order now at the link below!). Lina shares her insights about the role of joy in our work as writers, why finding companions in writing is just as important as finding mentors, and much more. Hear all this plus an excerpt from her novel to get a glorious glimpse of summer that'll carry you through these last weeks of winter. BTW: Catch the ARTWIFE gals at AWP! We'll be in the Bookfair at table T980 all three days, plus co-hosting an offsite reading with our pals at L'Esprit Literary Review on Friday, March 6th at Viva Books, 7 to 10pm. Free and open to the public!

Pre-order The Lake Club: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-lake-club-lina-patton?variant=44325804507170

Learn more about Hannah's novel, coming in 2027: https://indirectbooks.org/hannah-harlee/

This month, Molly McCloy joins the pod to talk about her memoir, Nine Grudges: The Spiteful Origins of the Happiest Dyke on earth, forthcoming from Red Hen Press on Sept 8, 2026 (and available for pre-order now---link below!). Molly talks with us about the necessity of agency in trauma narratives, the distinctions and overlaps between writing and oral storytelling, and plenty more. Plus, we inaugurate a new segment: The ARTWIFE Questionnaire! What are you waiting, babe...hop in!

Pre-order Nine Grudges: https://bookshop.org/p/books/nine-grudges-the-spiteful-origins-of-the-happiest-dyke-on-earth-molly-mccloy/79532e2d89f58b50?ean=9781636284880&next=t&aid=89218&listref=the-artwife-book-club

Find Molly: https://mollymccloy.com/ and mollymccloy.substack.com and https://pipelineartists.com/y-a-kafka-finding-agency-in-childhood-trauma-narratives/

Hear Molly's interview on KJZZ: https://www.kjzz.org/the-show/2025-01-07/arizona-writer-molly-mccloy-wants-you-to-change-the-way-you-think-about-the-word-dyke

Learn more about Hannah's novel, coming in 2027: https://indirectbooks.org/hannah-harlee/

The ARTWIFE Podcast ran into a snag with our scheduled guest for this month, so we're comin' at ya with a re-release instead! Happy New Year!

We're starting the year with one of the best books we've read in awhile: The Coin by Yasmin Zaher. After a quick zip through the (bananas, unhinged, incredible) plot, we use the lens of this book to talk about the concept of artistic values and how important they are for clarifying and magnifying the work we make. Jump in!

In this short lil snack of an episode, we reflect briefly on the act of reading and the ways in which we might be generous to the authors we read. Then Hannah runs down a list of her top 5 works of art from the year. Join us and find out if any of your faves made the list.

In 2025, ARTWIFE Magazine is teaming up with The Inner Loop to bring you interviews with DC-area authors! In March, April, and May, then again in September, October, and November, join us on the third Tuesday of the month to hear from recently-published novelists, memoirists, and poets in the DMV.

Today we meet Charlotte Taylor Fryar. Charlotte Taylor Fryar is the author of Potomac Fever: Reflections on the Nation's River (Bellevue Literary Press, 2025). Her essays, which have been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and recognized in The Best American Essays, can be found in Orion, Fourth Genre, Literary Hub, and the Southern Humanities Review, among other publications. Her writing has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, and the Inner Loop, where she is 2025 featured author. Charlotte holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and lives just outside in Washington D.C., less than 700 feet from the banks of the Potomac River. She is the Writer-In-Residence at a boarding school in northern Virginia, and operates a small community herbal clinic. For more information, visit www.charlottetaylorfryar.com/.

Buy Charlotte's book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/potomac-fever-reflections-on-the-nation-s-river-charlotte-taylor-fryar/aa8e5b82e2220550?ean=9781954276345&next=t&aid=89218&listref=the-artwife-book-club

The Inner Loop creates inclusive and accessible opportunities for our diverse network of both emerging and established writers to connect with each other, to connect to their community, and to transform the written word into a shared experience through the act of reading aloud. They put on monthly readings in Washington, DC, market writers who published with small- to medium-sized presses, host writing retreats and residencies, and provide other special programming throughout the year. Check out upcoming events at theinnerlooplit.org.

@theinnerlooplit on IG
facebook.com/theinnerloopdc

Astrologer Wonder Bright is back! This time, we explore the life and artistry of Cher. We look at topics like talent, singularity, self-expression, and creative partnership, all through the lens of Cher's artistic output. Join us!

Wonder Bright is an astrologer living in Portland, Oregon. She works with her clients to help them use whatever sliver of free will they possess to embrace their fates and step more fully into their lives. She uses traditional techniques to arrive at thoroughly modern conclusions and has written about this for The Mountain Astrologer and www.astro.com. For more you can find her at www.starsofwonder.com.

In 2025, ARTWIFE Magazine is teaming up with The Inner Loop to bring you interviews with DC-area authors! In March, April, and May, then again in September, October, and November, join us on the third Tuesday of the month to hear from recently-published novelists, memoirists, and poets in the DMV.

Today we meet Tamar Shapiro. Tamar Shapiro’s debut novel, Restitution, was published in September 2025 and named one of the 49 Must-Read Books of Fall 2025 by Town and Country Magazine. Her writing has also appeared in Poets and Writers, Electric Literature, and Literary Hub. A former housing attorney and non-profit leader, Shapiro is a 2026 MFA candidate at Randolph College in Virginia. She grew up in both the U.S. and Germany and now lives in Washington, DC. Find Tamar at www.tamarshapiro.com.

Buy Tamar's book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/restitution-tamar-shapiro/6a531c6f40eb28ee?ean=9781646036196&next=t&aid=89218&listref=the-artwife-book-club

Read Tamar's essay, starting on page 10, in The Writers’ Center Magazine: https://writer.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/TWC-Magazine_Fall2025_final_pages.pdf

The Inner Loop creates inclusive and accessible opportunities for our diverse network of both emerging and established writers to connect with each other, to connect to their community, and to transform the written word into a shared experience through the act of reading aloud. They put on monthly readings in Washington, DC, market writers who published with small- to medium-sized presses, host writing retreats and residencies, and provide other special programming throughout the year. Check out upcoming events at theinnerlooplit.org.

@theinnerlooplit on IG
facebook.com/theinnerloopdc

For the first time ever, we're joined on the pod by ARTWIFE Magazine's other mommy, Erica Harlee! If you've hung around ARTWIFE for any length of time, you already know that looking at the life of the artist and the craft of writing as it manifests in the pop cultural landscape is one of our favorite activities so you KNOW we had to jump on the mic to talk about the lyrical stylings of one Ms. Taylor Swift. It's not the first time we've talked about Taylor on the pod and we gotta imagine it won't be the last. Topics covered include: full-length albums as linked short story collections, the imagery of professional masculinity, and how we as writers can learn to live with the fact that there's no new material under the sun. In short: fun, ever heard of it??? Hop in!

In 2025, ARTWIFE Magazine is teaming up with The Inner Loop to bring you interviews with DC-area authors! In March, April, and May, then again in September, October, and November, join us on the third Tuesday of the month to hear from recently-published novelists, memoirists, and poets in the DMV. Today we meet Michele Evans. Michele Evans, a fifth-generation Washingtonian (D.C.), is the author of purl (Finishing Line Press, 2025), a contemporary poetry collection inspired by Homer's Odyssey and the verses of Phillis Wheatley Peters. Nominated for the 2025 Maya Angelou Book Award, purl reimagines feminine forces from Greek mythology and American history in today's world to celebrate the resilience of women bound by universal traumas threaded through life and literature. This Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee studied at Smith College, King's College-London, and the Graduate School at the University of Maryland. Her poems have appeared in print and online in Artemis, The ASP Bulletin, Maryland Literary Review, Mid-Atlantic Review, Yellow Arrow Journal, Welter Magazine, WWPH Writes, Zora's Den, and elsewhere. Michele currently teaches English and Creative Writing in Northern Virginia and serves as the adviser of Unbound, a nationally recognized and award-winning high school literary magazine. You can find her online at www.awordsmithie.com.

Buy Michele's book: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/purl-by-michele-evans/

Listen to the purl playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3AyhWN4uT3HmT7Ibr4Q8N5?si=zpdja7dZR92KFAlcHirr1w&nd=1&dlsi=fe4d895b137f4165

The Inner Loop creates inclusive and accessible opportunities for our diverse network of both emerging and established writers to connect with each other, to connect to their community, and to transform the written word into a shared experience through the act of reading aloud. They put on monthly readings in Washington, DC, market writers who published with small- to medium-sized presses, host writing retreats and residencies, and provide other special programming throughout the year. Check out upcoming events at theinnerlooplit.org.

@theinnerlooplit on IG
facebook.com/theinnerloopdc

Join us Tuesday evenings for the ARTWIFE Creative Hour: https://www.artwifemag.com/the-creative-hour

We've got a little somethin different this month: today, you'll hear an episode of The Free & Direct Podcast, in which ARTWIFE's founding editor Hannah Harlee joined Dan White of Indirect Books to talk about the endeavor of one Ms. ARTWIFE Magazine. Listen in to hear how we think about this here project and why we do what we do.

Per The Free & Direct Podcast:

Join us for the second half of our home-and-home with the excellent ARTWIFE Mag! Editor Hannah Harlee talks with Dan about her background in writing and editing, founding ARTWIFE, and how she came up with that excellent name. We also get into the confluence of visual and literary aesthetics and how ARTWIFE builds their expansive literary community. A great conversation and a great magazine!

The Free & Direct Podcast: https://1882literary.substack.com/

Indirect Books: https://indirectbooks.org/

L'Esprit Literary Review: https://lespritliteraryreview.org/

Join us Tuesday evenings for the ARTWIFE Creative Hour: https://www.artwifemag.com/the-creative-hour