The ARTWIFE Podcast

In 2026, our collab is back! ARTWIFE Magazine is teaming up with The Inner Loop to bring you interviews with DC-area authors in August, September, October, and November. Join us on the first Tuesday of the month to hear from recently-published novelists, memoirists, and poets in the DMV.

Today we meet Lenna Jawdat. Lenna is a writer and therapist of Palestinian and Iraqi descent. Her work has been published in Poet Lore, The Massachusetts Review, The Margins, and elsewhere. Lenna received her MFA in Creative Writing from IAIA in May 2024. Her debut book, 70,000: Poems, was chosen by the American Booksellers Association for the Summer/Fall 2026 Indies Introduce and July 2026 Indies Next lists. She lives in Washington, DC on ancestral lands of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway peoples. Find her at www.lennajawdat.wordpredss.com.

Buy Lenna's book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/70-000-poems-lenna-jawdat/4019cb34bd88d58d?ean=9781771684545&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

Donate to the ARTWIFE Books & Wine GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-launch-artwife-books-wine-in-dc

In 2026, our collab is back! ARTWIFE Magazine is teaming up with The Inner Loop to bring you interviews with DC-area authors in August, September, October, and November. Join us on the first Tuesday of the month to hear from recently-published novelists, memoirists, and poets in the DMV.

Today we meet Hasan Dudar. Hasan is the author of the short story collection Carryout (University of Iowa Press). He is originally from Toledo, Ohio, and currently lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC, where he works in broadcast media. His fiction has appeared in Gulf Coast and Pinch, among other places, and was awarded the 2025 Pinch Literary Award in Fiction. A graduate of the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Hasan’s reporting has appeared in various publications including USA Today, Detroit Free Press, The Toledo Blade, Bloomberg News, TRT World, and Aljazeera America. In 2015, he co-produced the award-winning documentary The Last of Little Syria, which follows some of the last Arab American residents living in Toledo, Ohio’s historic Arab enclave.

Buy Hasan's book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/carryout-hasan-dudar/67abd2621a199420?ean=9781685970611&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

Donate to the ARTWIFE Books & Wine GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-launch-artwife-books-wine-in-dc

In 2026, our collab is back! ARTWIFE Magazine is teaming up with The Inner Loop to bring you interviews with DC-area authors in August, September, October, and November. Join us on the first Tuesday of the month to hear from recently-published novelists, memoirists, and poets in the DMV.

Today we meet Stephanie Dupal. Stephanie Dupal is a Franco-Canadian and American professor of English who teaches writing and literature at Northern Virginia Community College. She published two dozen stories, which appeared individually in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Norway. The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories is her first collection. She and her husband Travis rescue senior dogs and take on too many DIY home projects. They are parents to five children. Find Stephanie at www.stephaniedupal.com, on Instagram @stephaniedupalwriter, or via her link tree at linktr.ee/stephaniedupal.

Buy Stephanie's book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-kindness-of-terrible-people-and-other-stories-stephanie-dupal/773020b4ff4f503a?ean=9780996510318&aid=89218&listref=the-artwife-book-club

Listen to The Kindness of Terrible People playlist (2–3 songs per story, in the order of the collection: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4uKPOvGHA834DziiUBIxrs

See Clara Peeters' work at the National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/artworks/217102-still-life-flowers-surrounded-insects-and-snail

Amy Beach, Romance in A Major, Opus 23, recorded at Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, Virginia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raYTRuOp_nE&list=RDraYTRuOp_nE&start_radio=1

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

This month, we welcome Anna Lena Phillips Bell to talk about her most recent collection of poetry, Might Could. In this episode, we talk about the process of titling poems, the elements of craft that are often neglected in prose but amplified in poetry, what we can learn from plants, and more. Enjoy!

Donate to the ARTWIFE Books & Wine crowdfunding campaign and receive a 10% off coupon code: https://gofund.me/2604aca4c

Read the ARTWIFE interview in Washington Unbound: https://www.washington-unbound.com/interviews/creating-art-conversations-and-community

Visit Anna Lena's website: https://annalenaphillipsbell.net/

Buy Might Could: https://asterismbooks.com/product/might-could-anna-lena-phillips-bell

Read the title poem from Might Could: https://www.onlypoemsdaily.com/p/might-could-anna-lena-phillips-bell

Buy One Lightning Bug: https://www.stbrigidpress.net/books/one-lightning-bug

Buy Ornament: https://bookshop.org/p/books/ornament-anna-lena-phillips-bell/2fa84fa0660d3d72?ean=9781574416657&next=t

Visit Ecotone, where Anna Lena is an editor: https://ecotonemagazine.org/

Read Anna Lena's recommendation from María José Ramírez, Treinta especies en peligro de extinción: https://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/62903/

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

This month, meet Lauren Westerfield, the author, most recently, of Woman House. In this episode, we talk about the technical process of assemblage, the ekphrastic impulse, the implication of moving and physical spaces on the writing practice, and much more. Join us!

Donate to the ARTWIFE Books & Wine crowdfunding campaign and receive a 10% off coupon code: https://gofund.me/2604aca4c

Buy Woman House: https://www.umasspress.com/9781625349231/woman-house/

Visit Lauren's website: https://www.laurenwesterfield.com/

Read Blood Orange Review, where Lauren is editor-in-chief: https://bloodorangereview.com/

See Mayacamas No. 6 from Bernice Bing: https://www.famsf.org/artworks/mayacamas-no-6-march-12-1963

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

This month, we're joined by writer and friend of ARTWIFE LaLa Thomas. LaLa is our first YA writer on the pod(!) and in this episode, you can hear us chat about MFA programs, the state of reading among young people, and Unexpected, LaLa’s first novel and the perfect story to share with any young person (or adult!) in your life.

Buy Unexpected: https://parents.simonandschuster.com/9781665917285

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

Per annual tradition, The ARTWIFE Podcast is on spring break this month. So we're dropping in your feeds with an ep from the early days! This was only the 15th episode of the pod, and our first and only movie chat to-date. Enjoy!

It's our first-ever movie night on the pod! We're looking at Challengers, a perfect film about three self-loathing, deeply unwell people visiting psychosexual drama upon each other repeatedly for more than a decade. The stuff dreams are made of! But what does it have to do with writing? Well, everything. In this episode, we talk about the power of indoctrinating your audience/readers with sub-perceptual imagery and symbolism. We also look at the absolutely manic and a-chronological movement of this narrative through time and figure out how the hell it managed to work...and so successfully. Hop in!

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

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!