Podcast appearances and mentions of elissa altman

All memoirists at some point in the writing process will grapple with what's theirs to tell. This week's show focuses on this all-important topic of permission. When do you need it? Who gives it to you and when and for what purpose? And do you need permission at all—from anyone but yourself? Centered around topics in guest Elissa Altman's latest book, which is titled Permission, this is an empowering, deep-felt, and permission-giving episode—and something all writers, especially memoirists, can use to stay the course and keep going. Elissa Altman is the author of the Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create and the award-winning author of three memoirs: Motherland; Treyf; and Poor Man's Feast. Altman's work has appeared everywhere from Bitter Southerner and Orion to The Guardian, Narrative, O: The Oprah Magazine, Lion's Roar, Krista Tippett's On Being, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington. She has a popular Substack, Poor Man's Feast, and she's also a James Beard Award-winner for narrative food writing and was a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in Memoir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Episode 234, featuring an Author Spotlight with memoirist Elissa Altman. We talk about her writing process, including the use of two particular desks that she sits at depending on the focus of her work. We also get into the specifics of journals vs. diaries and, of course, we asked her about writing implements! Her new book, PERMISSION: THE NEW MEMOIRIST AND THE COURAGE TO CREATE, is out now. In our Just Read segment we talk about books in several different genres. Emily finished a novel, Chris read a poetry collection and a work of literary criticism, and we did a joint read of a short story in our Penguin Classics collection of ghost stories: LEAVING by Roxana Robinson WHEN I WAS STRAIGHT by Julie Marie Wade JANE AUSTEN'S BOOKSHELF by Rebecca Romney “GREEN TEA” by Sheridan Le Fanu We recap an exciting joint jaunt to NYC to meet up with Aunt Ellen, where we saw the Belle de Costa Green exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum and attended Selected Shorts: Classics with a Twist with Meg Wolitzer and Friends at Symphony Space. As always, there are more books and Biblio Adventures discussed than we mention in this blurb. Special thanks to Janet Clare author of TRUE HOME, for sponsoring this episode. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2025/episode234

Hi all, Jess here. This episode was Sarina's idea, and when you listen you will understand why. It can be hard to focus on the work, whether it's editing, world building, conjuring meet cutes, or translating research-based hope for the next generation. That said, it's important that we keep creating and putting our words out into the world. We hope you are able to keep working while navigating the a balance between consuming, processing, and reacting to the news cycle and shutting the world out in self preservation. Stuff we talked aboutWrite Through It: An Insider's Guide to Writing and the Creative Life by Kate McKeanKate Mckean's websiteWe Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter (release date August 12, 2025)The OpEd ProjectAuthors Against Book BansPossession by A.S. Byatt and the film I adore based on the bookA Complete Unknown filmHamilton, Non-Stop (“why does he write like he's running out of time?”)On Writing by Stephen KingAll In by Billie Jean KingPermission by Elissa AltmanMeditation for Mortals by Oliver BurkemanHEY. Did you know Sarina's latest thriller is out NOW? Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high-profile commission restoring an historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. But inside, she's a mess. She knows that stalking her ex's avatar all over Portland on her phone isn't the healthiest way to heal from their breakup. But she's out of ice cream and she's sick of romcoms. Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He's dining out while she's wallowing on the couch. The last straw comes when he parks in their favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off to see who else is in his car. Instead of catching her ex in a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder—and the primary suspect.Digital books at: Amazon | Nook | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Audible Physical books at: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indigo | More paperback links here!New! Transcript below!EPISODE 448 - TRANSCRIPTKJ Dell'AntoniaListeners who I know are also readers. Have I got a summer book for you, if you haven't yet ordered Dying to Meet You. Sarina Bowen's latest thriller with just enough romance you have to so let me lay this out for you. Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high profile commission restoring a historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine, but inside, she's a mess. She knows stalking her exes avatar all over Portland on her phone isn't the healthiest way to heal from their breakup, but she's out of ice cream and she's sick of rom coms. Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He's dining out while she's wallowing on the couch. The last straw comes when he parks in their favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off to see who else is in his car. But instead of catching her ex and a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder and the primary suspect. But Rowan isn't the only one keeping secrets as she digs for the truth, she discovers that the dead man was stalking her too, gathering intimate details about her job and her past, struggling to clear her name, Rowan finds herself spiraling into the shadowy plot that killed him. Will she be the next to die? You're going to love this. I've had a sneak preview, and I think we all know that The Five Year Lie was among the very best reads and listens of last summer, Dying to Meet You, is available in every format and anywhere that you buy books and you could grab your copy, and you absolutely should…right now.All TalkingIs it recording? Now it's recording, yay, go ahead. This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone. Try to remember what I'm supposed to be doing. All right, let's start over. Awkward pause. I'm gonna wrestle some papers. Okay, now, 123,KJ Dell'AntoniaHey, I'm KJ Dell'Antonia, and this is hashtag AmWriting podcast the weekly podcast about writing all the things, short things, long things, pitches, proposals, fiction, non fiction, memoir. This is the podcast about finding a way to get your work done, and that is sure what we're gonna talk about this week.Jess LaheyI'm Jess Lahey. I am the author of The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation and you can find my journalism over at The New York Times, Washington Post and The Atlantic.Sarina BowenI'm Sarina Bowen. I am the author of many contemporary novels, including Dying to Meet You, which is brand new right now. KJ Dell'AntoniaYay!Sarina BowenYay. Thank you.Jennie NashI'm Jennie Nash, I am the founder and CEO of Author Accelerator, a company on a mission to lead the emerging book coaching industry, and also the author of the Blueprint books, which help people get their books out of their head and onto the page.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd also in your past life, the author of a lot of other books.Jennie NashI know indeed. KJ Dell'AntoniaI think it's worthy. I do. I'm KJ Dell'Antonia, I am KJ Dell'Antonia. I am the author of three novels and two non fiction books, and the former editor and lead writer of the mother lode blog at the New York Times. We have all had a number of careers. And the reason I brought that up, Jenny is that I was just interviewing Kate McKean, who has a new book about the mechanics. Like, it's a great book. It's called Write Through It, and it's sort of like everything we've ever talked about the podcast on the podcast, all the how to stuff all rolled up into one book, which is really cool. But I was telling her that I kind of have a unspoken motto of only taking writing advice from people who have not published a book, very judiciously. Now my freelance editor is not someone who has, or, I think I don't know if she even wants to publish a book, and she's amazing. So with with some thought, but my point being that you have also published many, many, many books. So if anyone out there hesitates around that don't, don't. Yeah, all right, that was a really lot of introductions. We got something to talk about today, and I'm going to demand that Sarina announce our topic, because she came up with it. Okay.Sarina BowenWell, my topic is how to be present and devote yourself to your writing in a world that is so loud and confusing and it feels like whatever you're working on can't possibly matter as much as what's going on in the world, and all my writer friends are struggling with this right now. Jess LaheyIt's, it's hard, especially when the work that I do, the work around like writing about kids and parenting and stuff, requires a fair amount of optimism and requires a fair amount of like, it's gonna be great, and here's what you have to do in order to make it be great. And it's really, it's been very hard for me lately to to be in that head space.Sarina BowenWell, Jess, I would argue that, like, at least you're literally helping people. And some of us are fighting meet cutes and first kisses. Jess LaheyOkay, you are no but you are so helping people, because over and over and over again, what I hear from your readers and from readers of happy kiss, he a and kissing books that they are the the self care and the reprieve that they really need.Sarina BowenOkay, you you just are. You just gave, like, the point, the point at the top of the notes that I made for this discussion, because people keep saying that to me, and they're not wrong. But for some reason, it hasn't been enough lately, and I, um, I was struggling to figure out why. And then over the last 48 hours, in a feverish rush, I read this Karin Slaughter book that's called We Are All Guilty Here that doesn't come out until August, but please pre order it now and do yourself a favor, because it's so good. Jess LaheyI love her books. Sarina BowenYeah, so I had the opportunity to have that same experience from the reader side of the coin, which is that I totally lost myself in this fictional world. It It mattered to me as a person to work through those problems, um, in the way that a novel has a beginning and a middle and an end and and I think that part of my big problem right now is that I can't see an end to any of the stuff that's you know happening. So it was helpful to me to have the same experience that my readers described to me, to be like totally sucked into something, and to feel like it mattered to me in the moment.Jess LaheyWell…And to add on to that, I had a fantastic sorry KJ and Jenny, we're just we're off on our little happy tangent here. But I had a wonderful conversation with a fan recently in on one at one of my speaking engagements, and she was apologizing to me for feeling like she had a really close relationship with me, even though we hadn't met. And she said, and the reason for that is that you're in my head because I'm listening to your audiobook. And I said, You do not need to apologize to that for that to me, because I have the same experience. And she said, the thing that was nice, you know, because I'm such a big audiobook fan, I feel this weird, parasocial, fictional connection to this person, because it's not just their words, it's also their voice. But the thing that she said was really sweet was she listened in her car, and her car became a place of refuge and a place where she knew she was going to hear a voice that would make her feel like it was going to be okay. And so even though I hear that and I know that, and I've experienced it from the other side with the audiobooks that I listen to, it's still, it is still very hard to look down at the empty page and say, How do I help people feel like everything's going to be okay? And it's, it's a difficult moment for that.KJ Dell'AntoniaI have been thinking about this too, because I think we all are, and let me just say that this is not just a, you know, we're not, we're not making a grand political statement here, although we, we certainly could. This is, uh, it is a moment of some global turmoil. Whether you think this global turmoil is exactly what the universe needed or not it is still... um, there's a lot.Jess LaheyIt's just a lot, and it's all the time, and it's like, oh, did you hear this? Did you hear this? And I feel like I'm supposed to be paying attention, and then if I pay attention too much, I feel like my head is it so, yeah, it's just a lot. KJ Dell'AntoniaSo what I want to say is, I think we have to get used to it, and I think it can be done. And I take some encouragement from all the writers who wrote their way through World Wars, who wrote their way through, you know, enormous personal trauma, who have written their way through, you know, enormous political turmoil, in their own countries, both as you know people who are actually writing about what was going on, but also as people who were not, I happen to be a real stan of the World War II books about, not like the drama of the war, but then the home that keep the home fires as they as they would say, stuff like The Diary of a Provincial Lady in Wartime and Angela Thirkell. And it's just, this is what was going on. There's some stuff... I can't think of all of it, but anyway. I love that reminder that life went on, and I think we have had a pretty calm few decades, and that that's been very lucky, but it's actually not the norm. So we gotta get used to this kids.Jess LaheyYeah, I actually, I just flew home from a trip, and Tim was watching on the plane. Tim was watching a film with Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. You may know Wilfred Owen as the person who wrote, you know, Dulce et Decorum Est, the whole thing, these are the world war two poets and a world war one poet, sorry, and yeah, they had a lot going on and they were writing poetry. Yeah.Jennie Nash Well, I knew from the moment that Sarina posed this question that I was going to be the voice of opposition here today, because I am seeing this and feeling this great surge of creative energy and people wanting to write, wanting to create, wanting to raise their voice, whether it is in opposition or as an act of rebellion or as an active escape, or just as a thing that they've always wanted to do so they're finally going to do it. It feels similar-ish to me as the pandemic did, in that way. And you know what I was thinking about Sarina, is that you are in the both enviable and also not enviable position of having done this a really long time and and you you know how it goes, and you not that it's wrote by any means, writing a book is never wrote. But the the creative process is not new to you, I guess, and I have encounters with a lot of writers through the book coaches I train who are just stepping up into this and just raising their voice and just embracing that. This is a thing that they could do. And this is a, you know, like I just, I've seen people, you know, a lot of dystopian fiction, obviously wanting to be written, climate justice, social justice, you know, books from people who previously marginalized, even like satire about the crazy stuff going on in education, you know, in all genres, all realms, I just feel the people doubling down. And so I wonder if it's, if it's, you know, the writer friends that you talk to are largely in that same boat as you very accomplished and in it. And I don't know it's my conjecture, because I just, I'm really feeling the opposite.Jess LaheyActually, can I? Can I? Can I verify that through something else? So KJ and I have both mentored with The OpEd Project. It's about raising all voices to publish op eds in newspapers, not just, you know, the people that we're used to hearing from. And they put out an email for their mentors, because they said, This moment is generating so much interest in writing op eds, so that's a good thing too.Jennie NashOh, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, I don't know i i also have to say that I personally have made a choice that is inspired by Oliver Burkeman, which is I'm not paying attention, and I know it's a luxury to not pay attention to the news, and I know that that it's a privilege and maybe not always a good thing, but I just made a personal decision that can't right now, or you don't want to, for what it's worth, so I feel a little ashamed about that, to be honest... I feel a lot of times that I'm not doing enough when I catch a glimpse of what's happening or what's going on, or my husband is a voracious consumer of the news, so I it's not like I'm not getting news. I just get it filtered through him and through my children, for sure, and and I would also like to just give a shout out to this podcast, because sometimes through this podcast, I listen to Jess and Sarina, On a podcast you recorded a couple weeks ago about pirate the pirate site episode, and learned so much, and it was so great, you know, so I don't know. I have to say that too, that maybe my stance is coming from a place of not being fully... pulling a little over my own eyes, I guess.KJ Dell'AntoniaNo, I think it's great that you are finding something that you're seeing like a surge of of positive energy. I mean, part of me, as I'm listening to you guys, wants to go well, but you know, nothing I'm I'm doing is a voice of protester opposition, but that's okay. We don't have to be voices of protester opposition. And we have to remember that most of the people in our country do not oppose this. So it's a little bit of a weird I mean, it's it's a weird moment that one's that one's tough, but it's also true. It's not, it's just change. It's just, it's just turmoil. But I love your point that there's, um, there's excitement and energy in turmoil. Maybe this is also a question of sort of where you are in your life, like, where, whether, the turmoil is exciting or stressful, or, I don't even know where I was going with that... okay.Jennie NashWell, but I, I think there's, I've been thinking just a lot about AI and where it's going and what's going to happen. And some days I worry, and some days I fret, and some days, you know, I don't, I don't think about it or whatever, but, but I, the thing I keep coming back to is you can't keep a creator down. You know, the creators want to create. And it's the the process of that, the the creative process, whether somebody doesn't matter what they're writing and and Sarina, that speaks to where, where you are. You know, they could be writing a meet cute, or a first kiss, or what have you, but the fact that they want to be a creator in a world that's on fire is, to me, the hope... the sign, the sign of hope. You know, I actually I'm about to take a trip to Amsterdam, where I've never been, and of course, we're going to go to the Anne Frank House, and I may reengage myself with that story, and thought about it and looked at it, and it's like just the the urge to create, the urge to put it down, the urge to do the thing. And maybe that was an act of protest as well. But, you know, not, not a meet cute, but I just, I just, I believe in the power of the creator and and of that. And Sarina, you're so good at it, at that, at that process, and putting yourself in that process, and being in that process, and it makes me sad that you're questioning it in a way. Sarina BowenWell, you know, I don't know. I actually kind of disagree that, that we can look away right now, because there's a lot at stake for for the for the world that writers operate inside and AI is really important, because there's a lot of super important litigation going down right now about what what is legal in terms of using our work to create AI and to not pay us for it. But also, there are other writers who are being silenced and having their student visas, you know, rejected and and it's only work of other people that is pushing back on this. So it's in some ways, I I can't really say, Oh, it's okay for me to look away right now and go back to this scene, because there are moments that matter more than others, but but in order to not give up my entire job at this moment, because it's so distractingly difficult, what I find I've had to do is figure out which sources really matter and which parts of my day are productively informational, and which parts are just anxiety producing. So by by luck, I went on this long vacation, long for me is like nine days, but we'd been planning it forever because one of my kids is overseas, and we were going there at his exact moment of having a break. So I had a vacation in a way that I haven't in a really long time. And I found that being off cycle from the news really affected my the way that I took it in. And it improved my mental health, even though I was ultimately about as well informed as if I hadn't left but I didn't have any time in the day to, like, scroll through the hysteria on threads. I could only take in the news from a few, like, you know, real sources and and that was really informational to me, like I didn't.. I had not processed the fact that how I take in the necessary information affected whether or not it merely informed me or also made me feel like everything was lost. So that that was pretty important, but also just the fact that that I've also been trying to be out in the world more and be where people are, instead of, instead of looking at my computer screen. And it's not like a work smarter, not harder thing, but like, choose your moments. You know, I believe that we still need to be engaged at this moment and to ask ourselves, what is possible for us to do. But that doesn't mean we have to scroll through all the stress online all day long in order to get there. And to me, that's that's what's made the difference.Jess LaheyWe've had a rule in our house for a little while now that I'm not allowed to bring up any newsy things or talk about any newsy things after a certain point in the evening, because it messes with Tim's sleep. He would wake up, you know, churning about and thinking about whatever it was that I talked about from the news most recently. So any of those outrage moments are just not allowed in our house in the evening. And I think that's a really healthy barrier to put up and realize that there are points in my day when I can handle it and points in my day when I can't.KJ Dell'AntoniaIt's also possible that the thing that I could most usefully do to change things that I think should be changed is to give money to other people who are working to change them. Because, you know, we can't all... shouting on social media?, not, not useful, right? I'm not gonna run for office, personally. I do have a family member who does that sort of thing, and I love that, but I'm probably not going to, I guess, check in with me in 10 years. I'm, you know, there's only so much I when I think about, okay, what could I possibly do? Most of it is I can give money to people who are doing things that I want done, and the only way I have money to give to people who want things, who are doing things that I want to get done, is to do my job, which is, is to to write books. So there's that. Jess LaheyI would like to highlight, however, that Tim and I have both been periodically calling our representatives and having some really, you know, it's obviously not the representative themselves or our senator that we're talking to. We're talking to, you know, someone in their office, some college kid in their office, but the conversations have been fascinating. I've learned a lot just through those conversations. And they don't just sort of take your message and then hang up. They're willing to have a conversation. And it's been, it's been really fascinating. So calling your representatives is a really worthy thing to do.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, many decades ago, I was that person, and therefore I'm a little cynical about it.Jess LaheyWell, I do want to give a shout out right now, I've been watching one of my former students who ran for Mitt Romney's Senate seat in Utah as a Democrat, which is an impossible task, but she did really, really well, and she just got to open for Bernie and AOC at the at a thing in in in Utah. And so watching her, or watching people who are, you know, really getting engaged, and by a lot of them are younger people. That's and, you know, my thing is younger people. And so it circles back around to the more supporting I'm doing of people who are younger and people who are energized and excited about getting in there and writing the op eds and speaking and running for office, that has been another place of reprieve for me.Jennie NashSo I would love to to ask Sarina about... No no, because something she said, you know, when she said, I I disagree, it just it got me thinking, because I wanted to defend myself, and I don't know, and say, Well, no, I'm not I'm not that terrible. I'm not whatever. But I been listening to you talk, I was realizing that I I really have prioritized my own mental well being over anything else, and in terms of checking out of the things, and I've heard you talk about this before, on on a podcast, but my default response, like on the piece you talked about, about writers and being under attack and what's going on, that's just one tiny thing that's going on in the world of chaos. But that tiny thing I do tell myself I can't do anything. I'm just one person, you know, what? What can I really do? And therefore, then I don't do anything. So I do the bare minimum. I do the bare minimum, you know, like I give money to Authors Guild, right? You know, but it, I'm just going to put myself out there as the, the avatar of the person who says that and doesn't do anything and and then, to be perfectly honest, feels is a little smug when you're like, I'm dying and I'm wrecked and I'm whatever, because you're informed and you're actually doing things, and I'm like... oh, you should be like me and and not do, and then I feel bad about myself. So I just want to put that back as a conversation piece, because I know you have thoughts about that, that one person can't do anything. Sarina BowenYeah, so I often feel like there's a lot of problems I would like to solve and and if I tried to take on all of them, then I would be paralyzed, like there would be nothing I can do. And also, there are moments when we have to really pull back and and put our oxygen mask on before assisting others like that is a totally legitimate thing to do. And when I had this experience of going on vacation, and then it was such a big reset for me, I thought, Oh, you dummy, like, you know, that's like a thing I need to keep relearning is that, oh wait no, sometimes we really do have to drop out for for a little bit of time, because we will be more energized afterwards, but, but I bet that that one thing that you're supposed to do will announce itself to you fairly soon. You know what I mean? Like it just because you're having this moment of pulling back and needing to do that doesn't mean that that's a permanent position for you. Like, I don't, I don't believe that, like, because, because I know you care. So...Jennie NashYeah, yeah. But it's, it's just interesting the different, the different reactions and responses. And I often find myself saying something to my husband, which I'm not proud to share. But the thing that I say is, where is our leader?, who's stepping up?, whatever the topic is, or the area or the realm is like, who's who's going to save us? I I'm looking for somebody else to be the solution. Sarina BowenWell, but, but that that's important though, because part of that is just recognizing that, that without a power structure, who knows what to do? Like, I've been lucky in that, like, I've spent a lot of time on conference calls with The Authors Guild, and I've found that I respect those people so much that you know, when the CEO of The Authors Guild, Mary Rasenberger, has an idea, you know that it's always worth hearing out and not everything you know gets done or becomes a priority of of the but, but I know who to listen to, and that wasn't always true, you know. So I've also subscribed to the emails from Authors Against Book Bans. That's another organization that has a lot of energy right now, and they're doing a fantastic job of paying attention. So, you know, it's, it's okay to pick one little realm and, and that's lately been my solution. Because, yeah, we're not we, we need leaders and, and the reason we're all we're so frustrated is because the lack of true leadership, the lack of leaders who can say, I made a mistake. I don't know everything. I don't have all the answers. Like, that's, you know, that's the kind of people we need in the world, and they're pretty thin on the ground right now. So, yeah, I totally hear what you're saying.KJ Dell'AntoniaSo, I mean, why do we have to say that's useful? I mean, how are we... We're all still working. I mean, yeah, you know, you can listen to Jenny and I trying to write our book every week. And I happen to know that, you know, Sarina is chowing is, you know, nibbling away at new drafts, as is Jess. So we're doing it. We're just distracted.Sarina BowenWell, I always say that everything about writing, you have to learn more than once, like you learned it on a project, and you figure something out and you're like, Oh, right. And I think this is another one of those moments when how to reset yourself, how to. To you know how to find that moment of peace is, this is maybe the the lesson of the week, like, even if you don't, even if you don't write the best chapter of your life between now and the middle of of May, you know you can turn your attention to paying attention to your inner voice and how, how am I feeling right now? And how could I feel better? Like, do I need to go meet a friend in a coffee shop to work? Because that has been a real boon to me lately. Just being changed my scenery change the hours when I look at my inbox, that's another thing that I've done. Right now, I asked my assistant to please watch this one inbox, because I can't watch it myself right now. It's too much of people pulling on my arm. So just, you know, to turn some of the small levers that we have in our lives with regard to how writing fits into your life and see what's working. Like, it's okay to, like, break your strategy a little bit to see, you know, if you can shake up the problem.KJ Dell'AntoniaI've been trying really hard to answer the voice in my head that says... I just can't do this right now with, well, okay, maybe, maybe you could, like, what if we just sat here for another 10 minutes? Like, what if you just, okay... I hear you like, to sort of like, be the other side for myself, like... hey I hear you, that sounds really rough, but what if we just did this anyway? Just, just tried. And you know, it's, it moves, it moves.Jess LaheyAlong those same lines. What's been saving me is, as you all know, anyone who's listening to this for a while knows I love, love, love the research process, and I have a very big stack of books to get through, that is research, formative, sort of base level research, foundational research for this thing I want to write and and hearing other people's ideas, and hearing how other people put ideas together, and that just fuels me. And then on the fiction side, I've been and I hadn't even realized I've been doing this until we started talking about this topic. I have been watching a lot of movies I love about the act of creation. I re watched one of my favorites, “Possession” with Jennifer Ehle, and it's just one of my favorite films about… it's based on the the A.S. Byatt novel, Possession, and it's about poets. And then I was watching a movie about a novelist, and I was just re-listening to the new Bob Dylan movie a complete unknown, and hearing about other people's creative process fuels things in me. And I even just listening to the Bob Dylan movie while I was watering the garden, I was like, Oh, I could go, I can't write music, but, but I can still write these other things. Wait, hold on, I'm a writer. And then you start realizing, oh, that creative process is accessible to me too. And you know, whether it's the creative process that changes the world, or the creative process that gives you an outlet. Selfishly, either way, I think it's, it's important, and so I love digging back into and I've talked about, you know, re listening to Amwriting sometimes when, when I need that boost.KJ Dell'AntoniaIsn't it funny that if Stephen King says, well, I spent, you know, 2016 not doing something, but, but like writing this new book. We're all like, yay, you do that, we love you for that, and that for all of us, we're just like, oh no, you should be... I mean, we gotta, we should do what we do.Jess LaheyYeah, I guess I always think about, there was a moment when I first I saw him, I was so lucky to get to see Hamilton on Broadway, and I remember just that line about writing like you're why does he write like he's running out of time, that idea that like the stuff just is coming pouring out of you, and you've got to put it somewhere before it's over. You know, I love that feeling of desperation, and I get that from listening to other people's creations and other people's research and other people's creative acts. It's, it's good.Jennie NashThat's very cool. That is very cool. I I don't know, I guess I'm really good at, or lately have been really good at, at turning off, turning off the inputs, just because I have to too many input puts that will just do me in. And so for me, it's catching myself, catching myself floating over to social media, or catching myself clicking into something that I don't really want to read like you're saying, Sarina, at this this time of day, you know, I sit down to lunch and I don't, I don't want to read that thing. So setting setting aside time to engage with that is like the, the only way that I'm able to do it. And I'll try to choose to read something longer, a longer form thing, or or listen to a podcast. Rather than sound bites or snippets of things. So I'm trying to be self aware about not getting pulled down into the sound bite things. That's, That's what I mean by disengaging is, you know, not going on threads at all. I'm not going on... I sort of can't even look at Facebook or even Instagram. It's just all too, too much, and especially, especially Instagram, where, you know, you'll have all these calls to action, and then... bathing suits. I mean, maybe that's just me, right?KJ Dell'AntoniaNo, you're right. You're right. It's very...Jennie NashJarring. you know...KJ Dell'AntoniaYou can't control which bits of it like, at least, if you're looking at The Times, you're you know... or The Wall Street Journal, you're getting a section. Instagram is like, this terrible thing just happened here by this Jenny K quitter...Jennie NashIt's very jarring. So I don't wish to be there, and I do have to give a shout out to Substack. How great is it to be able to read things without all the noise and distraction from the people that you choose, who are smart and saying smart things. That's that's the thing that I choose, that I really like and kind of toward what you said Jess, happened to be reading the memoir from Billie Jean King called All In. Jess LaheyIt's so good!Jennie NashAnd and it's, I mean, talk about just a person who lived her values and made massive change, and understood how change is made, and is paying it forward in her life, and it is so inspiring. And it's, it's not quite, it's not quite the creative act, but it, I guess it's creation of change, but I find it hopeful and inspiring, and I think that's where I come up with the the question of, who's gonna who's gonna save us? Like, Where's, where's our person to lead? Like, like she was at the time when women's... not just athletics, but equality. She did so much for women's equality, and still is, you know, so it makes me hopeful that such people will be rising up and and I will be able to identify and support them. Jess LaheyI just finished listening to and reading on the page. I did it both ways. Permission by Elissa Altman about having the courage, it's a memoir, and the courage to create. And she it, she also articulated for me, just how wonderful it is to... I don't know, even if it's not out for mass publication, sometimes writing things down that are the stuff you've gone through and the way you're feeling that's just worth it in and of itself. But anyway, that was a lovely book I highly recommend, Permission by Elissa Altman.KJ Dell'Antonia But also I just want to say, and this is sort of suddenly hopped into my head. So I'm working on a book, surprise! Um, I'm trying to do something bigger and different that says a lot of things, and I have thoughts about it and and, um, I actually think I need to shut down input... for... I'm not gonna, I can't do this if, if there's a lot of stuff pouring into me, all the time, and I, I think that's, I think that's fair. I think sometimes, I mean, I was thinking about the person who wrote Permission, and I was thinking, You know what I'll bet she didn't read a lot of while she was writing that? People shouting at her that, that, you know, the better thing for her to do would be to churn butter in a nap dress. I think it probably It took some time to do that. And these poets that we're talking about, they're not writing a poem. Oh, you know, line by line. In between reading thread's posts, they're they're putting their time and energy into their work, and this is kind of what we've been saying all along, like, like, moderate it, choose your things, pick pick your moments. And maybe, you know, some time of quiet to hear what you think about what's going on, as opposed to what everyone else thinks about what's going on, and to let that, to give yourself permission for that to be whatever it is. Maybe it's not what we think, you know? Maybe, maybe its something different. That's okay. So I, I want to shout for, for that, for, okay, do, turn it off, work on a thing.Sarina BowenYeah, I feel like if, um, Jenny's point about taking your news from social media is totally different than taking your news from the front page of your favorite newspaper. And I guess to KJ's point that if we turn off the voices that are serving us the least well at this moment, what we might find is that there are more hours in the day to both get our work done and then have a minute to say, what else could I... what else could I do? Is that donating my time somewhere or just getting my own house in order? You know, I find I have more time to do things that matter when I am spending less time in the loud places that aren't serving me personally.Jess LaheyAgreed. Jennie NashSo well said.Jess LaheyI think we should end it there, mainly because we're we've run long, but, I'm really grateful for the four of you, I was going to my last point was going to be that my saving grace has been realizing recently that that it's the people in my life that I want to invest in. I had a realization someone told me some news of via someone else, and I didn't realize how disconnected I had become from the people that are real in my life, and how much more attention I was paying to people I don't know anything, people who I don't know that I have a parasocial relationship with. And so I'm my I have sort of a mid year goal, which is to make sure that the people who are actually in life real important to me, are most important to me. And so I've pulled back from those parasocial relationships and gone toward the real relationships, and I'm grateful so much for the three of you. I feel like you all rescue me in moments of doubt. So thank you.KJ Dell'AntoniaYay! People are a good use of time, as our friend, Laura Vanderkam says. So Jess shouted out the book Permission. I think if anybody else has a useful book for this moment, I want to offer up, as we have before, Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. It is a series of four weeks, worth of basically three page long thoughts on how to deal with our own inevitably limited lives and personal resources. And I love it. Does anybody else have anything that would maybe serve people in this moment?Jess LaheySarina. Sarina, nothing to serve Jenny. Jenny has the Billie Jean King. I mean, the Billie Jean King...that stuff is fantastic. Yeah, she's amazing.Jennie NashShe's amazing.Jess LaheyAll right. Well, thank you so so much everyone for listening to the podcast. We're great. So grateful for you, because you're why we get to keep doing this. And this is fun, and we love lowering our… sorry flattening the curve for a learning curve for other writers. So until next week, everyone, keep your butt in the chair and your head in the game. The hashtag AmWriting podcast is produced by Andrew Perilla. Our intro music, aptly titled “Unemployed Monday,” was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for their work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Writing a memoir is not easy. Dredging up traumatic moments from your past can be painful. For some, it's downright destructive. In her new book, Permission, Connecticut-based writer Elissa Altman shares her insights into the art of writing memoirs and how revealing a hushed-up family incident tore her family apart. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum read it. You can listen to her review right here.

Today's featured poet is Elizabeth Sylvia, (03:39) who speaks with Ann Wallace about her new manuscript Eating Cake in the Garden with Marie Antoinette, as well as her 2022 collection, None But Witches: Poems on Shakespeare's Women (Three Mile Harbor Press). They spoke about Marie Antoinette's model farm, a product of opulent privilege but also a site of refuge at a time of revolution, and the unexpected connections to our current moment of climate crisis. Elizabeth's pastoral poems are tender and intimate, inviting us to walk around the garden, lay in the meadow, and feed the bees with her. Follow Elizabeth on Instagram here.   In Ask Randi, Dr. Randi Eckel, (0:35:40) a native plant expert for NPSNJ and owner of Toadshade Wildflower Farm, offers important advice for fall and winter clean-up. She reminds us that our gardens are not dead but very much alive in winter, which is why it is so crucial to leave the stems and leaves in our gardens as a habitat for wildlife to overwinter.   Kim Correro and Ann Wallace then speak with critically acclaimed food writer and memoirist Elissa Altman (0:44:40) about her writing, garden, and caring for her fiercely determined elderly mother, Rita. Elissa shares the complexities of her relationship with her mother, who is at the center of Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing (Ballantine Books, 2019). Throughout the conversation, Elissa discusses the perennial garden she shares with her wife, Susan Turner, as a space where she often finds inspiration and solace. We close by hearing about her new book, Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create (forthcoming in March 2025 from Godine Press and available for pre-order now), on the craft of memoir and transcending the fear that keeps vital stories from being written. Follow Elissa on Instagram here.   In the final segment, Margaret Roach, (1:11:45) the New York Times garden columnist and host of the award-winning podcast A Way to Garden joins Ann and Kim. In 2007, Margaret left New York City and her job as Executive Vice President and Editorial Director of Martha Stewart because she craved completely different rewards: solitude, a return to the personal creativity of writing, a closer connection to nature, and her first passion, the 2.3-acre garden in the Hudson Valley where, as she says, the birds taught her how to garden. Follow Margaret on Instagram here. Thank you for joining us on The WildStory. Follow us on Instagram @Thewildstory_podcast

Happy Mother's Day, Sisters! We hope it will be a joyful one for you and your families. As we know well, our relationships with our moms can run the emotional gamut over the lifespan. We also know that some moms are made for mothering (or work really hard at it!), while some simply fall short because of circumstances they can't (or don't know how to) control.  In Liz Scheier's beautiful, honest memoir, Never Simple, she describes her difficult and complex relationship with her mother, Judith. As a result of Judith's borderline personality disorder (BPD), Liz's childhood was fraught with chaos and volatility. When Liz was 18 years old, her mother dropped two bombshells. One, that her mom had been married for most of the previous two decades to a man Liz had never heard of. And second, that everything she had told Liz about the man she'd claimed was Liz's dead father was entirely fictional. Never Simple is Liz's story about what happened next. We loved our illuminating and intimate conversation with Liz -- and you will, too. Never Simple has garnered praise from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly (starred review), Kirkus, Library Journal, Bookpage, Booklist, and bestselling authors Augusten Burroughs, Jenny Lawson, Isaac Mizrahi, Elissa Altman, Greer Hendricks, and Mira Bartók. It was chosen as a Best Book of March by Amazon and Apple Books, a People Picks by People Magazine, an Indie Next pick, a Barnes & Noble Top 10 Favorite Ebook of 2022, and was featured as one of “15 March Reads to Get You Through the Month” on Good Morning America. It was a finalist for a Lambda Award.  

Author Elissa Altman joins Libby to discuss her practice of walking, writing, and the themes of her books, including Motherland, which explores her complicated relationship with her mother. She also talks about her upcoming book, On Permission: A Manifesto For Writers, Artists, and Dreamers, which delves into the concept of finding permission in creativity and storytelling. She also discusses the role of walking in her creative process, along with the meditative and healing qualities that walking brings to her life, bringing up familiar themes of walking as a form of art with Libby. For more on Elissa Altman, visit https://www.elissaaltman.com/  Keep in touch:  https://www.thismorningwalk.com/ Instagram: @thismorningwalk Alex Instagram: @alex_elle  Libby Instagram: @parkhere     Blind Nil Instagram: @blindnilaudio Please direct business inquiries to: blindnilaudio@magnolia.com Music Credits:  Valante / Ramo / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Woodstock Bookfest will be live and in person this weekend in Woodstock, New York. The festival features an amazing line-up including: Masha Gessen, Mark Whitaker, Sophie Strand, Sari Botton, Gail Straub, Elissa Altman, Nick Flynn - just to name a few.Of course, they'll have a Story Slam and ending with their signature panel, Memoir-A-Go-Go! Yes, there will be Little Bites and Big Libations. Festival Founder, Martha Frankel, is here with details.

Megan Febuary, is the author of For Women Who Roar as well as a Trauma-Informed Book Coach. She invites new and experienced women who know they have a story, to write and publish it, find their voice and heal in the process. She received her M.A. from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology with an emphasis on The Body Is A Storyteller. Megan is the creator of Book Year and Founder of For Women Who Roar, through which she has taught embodiment, and helped publish over a 1000 works of women. Megan's passion for narrative focused trauma care and embodied storytelling began at a young age when through her own creative journey you found that it wasn't about the end product, but the process of creating as a form of healing trauma. As an entrepreneur, podcaster, curator of multiple print publications, and leader of creative events, retreats and panels, she has grown a global community of over 100,000 women featuring authors such as Elissa Altman, Lisa Taddeo, and Nana Ghana. Megan, believes in reconciling with the stories we've exiled, staying with the parts of ourselves we keep abandoning, and the potentially messy process at the heart of creative recovery. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cutting-for-sign/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cutting-for-sign/support

Chris and Emily sit down for a good old fashioned book chat. There's no interview this episode, just us. Emily is reading an advance copy of Elizabeth Strout's forthcoming novel, LUCY BY THE SEA (9/20/2022), and Katherine May's memoir, THE ELECTRICITY OF EVERY LIVING THING: ONE WOMAN'S WALK WITH ASPERGER'S. Chris is deep into MANSFIELD PARK by Jane Austen (#AustenInAugustRBR) and getting back into THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS by Isabel Wilkerson. We've read some good stuff since our last episode! THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (issue 4) by Sarah Gailey, THE WOMAN COULD FLY by Megan Giddings, A LOST LADY by Willa Cather (for the Mookse and The Gripes Podcast summer book club), THE MANY DAUGHTERS OF AFONG MAY by Jamie Ford, and NATURE'S BEST HOPE: A NEW APPROACH TO CONSERVATION THAT STARTS IN YOUR YARD by Douglas W. Tallamy. Emily headed north to Maine for a two-day event with Katherine May and Elissa Altman at The Barn Swallow Book Shop in Rockport. Chris braked hard for a historic marker in Newport, New Hampshire honoring editor, writer, and women's rights advocate Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (1788-1879). She also attended an online event hosted by Bank Square Books/Savoy Bookshop & Cafe with Dr. Mark Haper, author of CHILL: THE COLD WATER CURE. We also had a Biblio Adventure together to see the movie adaptation of WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING. We gave it two thumbs/paws up! We love marshland and all the critters therein except mosquitos and flies which were noticeably absent from the movie. But as conservationist Douglas Tallamy explains, bugs are an integral part of our survival on earth so we will work on our attitudes towards insects. Tallamy writes in NATURE'S BEST HOPE: “As insane as our war against insects may seem, and as effective as it has been, I am nevertheless optimistic that we can form a new relationship with insects and treat them like the good fairies they are. Why am I willing to put a smiley face on this? Two reasons: First, our response to insects is, in part, an oversimplified, innate reaction to things that hurt or annoy us now and in our distant past. If bees sting and mosquitoes bite, it is easy to group all small flying things into one category we label enemy. But we now have knowledge on our side, and with that, we have the capacity to be a bit more discriminating. We can easily learn to distinguish the good from the bad, the helpful from the irritating. By numbers, nearly all insects are harmless and beneficial, and we can learn to appreciate rather than kill the insects that we rely on just as easily as we can learn that dogs, through genetically identical to wolves, can be our loving pets rather than our predators. I am also confident that we can form a new relationship with insects, because we have done it many times before with other creatures. Whales still swim in the sea because we have learned to value the earth's largest species as majestic living beings instead of as mere providers of lamp oil. Wolfes hunt in Yellowstone again because we now know they are essential to the long-term persistence of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Puffins, auklets, and murres have returned to many Aleutian Islands because we have decided not to let the rats we introduced to those islands eat their brains as they sleep. Fish breed again in the ocean sea kelp beds off California because we now prefer that our sea otters keep sea urchins in check rather than become our fur coats. Egrets fly once more over the Everglades because we value their showy feathers more in flight than on ladies' hats. And we are well on our way to forming a new relationship with bees, even though they sting, because we have finally realized we cannot exist without their pollination services. These and many more examples of how we have come to appreciate rather than destroy nature have convinced me that we can also learn to share the earth with the most essential of all creatures, the little insect fairies at our feet” (127-128). To see all of the books and events mentioned in this episode, check out the show notes at: https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2022/episode162

Elissa Altman is an author of memoirs, essays, and narrative stories – including winning a James Beard award for her food blog, Poor Man's Feast. Her latest book, Motherland, details her complicated relationship with her mom. But when Pete the dog became a mediator of sorts, he opened up a new empathic, caring side of her mom that Elissa had never been able to see before. For more information about the episode, guest, and featured social media or links: www.dogsavethepeople.com/episodes/elissa-altman If you liked this episode, then please support our Independent podcast production, go to www.buymeacoffee.com/dogpeople to buy us a (virtual) coffee as a one-time donation or recurring monthly membership.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Elissa Altman, author of ‘Motherland' and more.Katherine finds Elissa in that pre-Christmas zone, which serves as the perfect jumping-off point for a very upfront, candid and fascinating conversation on family. Specifically, Elissa's relationship with her mother. Like every family, it's a relationship which is unique and comes with its own inimitable history, and as such, informs where the two find themselves this present day, and it's a wonderful thing to hear Elissa talk openly about all that is contained within this box of memories and present moments. In addition, Elissa catches up with Katherine about the New England Winter, being a feeder, her relationship with her father, mental wellbeing, getting out of the 'swamp' via nature and its grounding properties, rediscovering and reprocessing her musical proclivities, and all with a real glint and sparkle.ELISSA LINKSMain siteMotherlandTwitterInstagramKATHERINE LINKSPatreonHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elissa Altman is an award-winning author of literary memoir, essay, and food narrative, who writes from the place where sustenance, the power of the human spirit, and the promise of renewal converge.  For more of Elissa: https://www.elissaaltman.com/ To become a patron and help this program continue producing This show, and get access to patron-only events, go to www.patreon.com/hellohuman and pledge any amount. For more of us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellohumans.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellohumans.co/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelloHumans_co

Charity Nebbe speaks to Elissa Altman about her memoir "Poor Man's Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking."

One of the most popular forms of literature today is the memoir. These days, folks with barely three decades under their belt are writing their memoirs, but on this week's show, we hear from four wise women who relate a lifetime of memories along with valuable lessons learned in theirs. We begin with Southern baker and activist Lisa Donovan, whose book, Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger is a raw, honest, and brave telling of a life that will leave you hungry for more. In her memoir, Lisa explores how reclaiming her narrative is not merely an act of ego – but one of solidarity, universality, and inspiration. Then, we speak with award-winning writer Ann Hood. Her writings explore the human condition, frequently drawing upon her own life experiences, including her journey with grief following a terrible family tragedy. While none of her previously published eight books fall into the food genre, her most recent, Kitchen Yarns, explores her life through what she was eating (and cooking) during the most salient times. Next, we hear about Elissa Altman's unique upbringing. In her second memoir Treyf: My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw, the award-winning author and food blogger explores how tradition, religion, and the forbidden impacted her childhood growing up in Queens, New York. We end with Mary Giuliani, author of Tiny Hot Dogs. As an awkward kid growing up on Long Island in the 1980s, Mary's dream was to one day become a famous actor – preferably, a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Today, she plays a different kind of role: as caterer to the stars. Famous for her finger food recipes, she regularly works with A-list celebrities in the worlds of fashion, art, and movies. In her book, Mary weaves together a collection of memories from her life while offering a glimpse into the career of a celebrity caterer.

One of the most popular forms of literature today is the memoir. These days, folks with barely three decades under their belt are writing their memoirs, but on this week's show, we hear from four wise women who relate a lifetime of memories along with valuable lessons learned in theirs. We begin with Southern baker and activist Lisa Donovan, whose book, Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger is a raw, honest, and brave telling of a life that will leave you hungry for more. In her memoir, Lisa explores how reclaiming her narrative is not merely an act of ego – but one of solidarity, universality, and inspiration. Then, we speak with award-winning writer Ann Hood. Her writings explore the human condition, frequently drawing upon her own life experiences, including her journey with grief following a terrible family tragedy. While none of her previously published eight books fall into the food genre, her most recent, Kitchen Yarns, explores her life through what she was eating (and cooking) during the most salient times. Next, we hear about Elissa Altman's unique upbringing. In her second memoir Treyf: My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw, the award-winning author and food blogger explores how tradition, religion, and the forbidden impacted her childhood growing up in Queens, New York. We end with Mary Giuliani, author of Tiny Hot Dogs. As an awkward kid growing up on Long Island in the 1980s, Mary's dream was to one day become a famous actor – preferably, a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Today, she plays a different kind of role: as caterer to the stars. Famous for her finger food recipes, she regularly works with A-list celebrities in the worlds of fashion, art, and movies. In her book, Mary weaves together a collection of memories from her life while offering a glimpse into the career of a celebrity caterer.

Webster dictionary defines sustenance as a “something that gives support, endurance, strength.” In this episode, award-winning author and speaker Elissa Altman joins writer, speaker and disability advocate Elizabeth Jameson as they discuss the role of sustenance in their own lives. It is safe to say, this bedrock of support has been stripped from both of them in unique ways throughout their lives. Elizabeth, through the disease progression of MS that has her now living as a quadriplegic. And Elissa, through a contentious and traumatic relationship with her mother's mental illness. Together, they both reflect on what it takes to transform lack into abundance and bitterness into generosity of spirit.

Denise talks about writing memoirs and what her plan B is when things don’t go as planned. Women Beyond a Certain Age is a weekly podcast by Denise Vivaldo and Diane Worthington. They bring their own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoints to the topics they discuss. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.  Show links: Martha Hopkins, agent extraordinaire. Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for Food. Elissa Altman, writer extraordinaire.   Diane Worthington, host and producer. Diane’s books on Amazon.Denise Vivaldo, host and producer. Denise’s books on Amazon.All other hats worn by Cindie Flannigan. See Cindie’s work here.  

Veronica interviews Elissa Altman the author of best-selling memoir Motherland - a memoir of love, loathing and longing'. They discuss what it's like growing up with a difficult parent, how that affected them and led to their drinking. They also talk about that due to the current uncertainty, many people are having to share spaces with family members that can be triggering and difficult. To learn more, visit the show notes.

In this episode of the SHE RECOVERS podcast, Erin talks with author and columnist Elissa Altman about her latest book, “Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing and Longing.” In her new work, Elissa shares with brutal honesty the emotional cost of caring for an aging mother who has always needed to be cared for, no matter her age. Her story shows the importance and difficulty of practicing radical self care in the midst of family codependency and dysfunction. To learn more about Elissa Altman, click here.To learn more about Erin Wickersham, click here.To visit the SHE RECOVERS website, click here.SHE RECOVERS Facebook Page, click here.SHE RECOVERS Instagram Page, click here.

Denise chats with author Elissa Altman about her new book Motherland: A Memoir of Love Loathing, and Longing. Get Elissa’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Elissa-Altman/e/B001JOYTX0/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 Find out more about Elissa on her website: https://elissaaltman.com Join our community! https://www.facebook.com/groups/WomenBeyond/ https://www.womenbeyondacertainage.com WomenBeyond@icloud.com   Women Beyond a Certain Age is a weekly podcast by Denise Vivaldo and Diane Worthington. They bring their own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoints to the topics they discuss. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.    Diane Worthington:  https://seriouslysimplefood.com  https://www.amazon.com/Diane-Rossen-Worthington/e/B000APOMUE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1546204440&sr=8-1    Denise Vivaldo:  https://denisevivaldogroup.com https://www.amazon.com/Denise-Vivaldo/e/B001K8QNRA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1546204547&sr=1-1    Cindie Flannigan:  https://denisevivaldogroup.com/team/   https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindie-flannigan-27a29a133/          

Author Elissa Altman discusses her memoir, Motherland, Abbe chats with fellow podcast host Alli Hoff Kosik about re-reading books from childhood and shares what she's reading.

Author: Elissa Altman Book: “Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing” (featured at the 2019 Miami Book Fair) Elissa Altman is the critically acclaimed author of “Poor Man's Feast: A Love Story of Comfort”, “Desire”, and the “Art of Simple Cooking”. Her latest book is “Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing” which is being featured at the 2019 Miami Book Fair. Her column, "Feeding My Mother," ran for a year in the Washington Post and she has also been featured in in O: The Oprah Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the New York Times, just to name a few.

On this episode Elissa Altman talks to Debbie about life, food, love, and the new book she wrote on the difficult relationship she has with her mother.

After finishing her manuscript for Motherland, author Elissa Altman posted a hard truth about the writer's life on Instagram: doing this work can take a physical toll on your body. Our conversation explores this important topic, including how she's putting her body back together again after finding it left in shards from the emotional writing process. ELISSA ALTMAN is the critically acclaimed author of Poor Man's Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking and the James Beard Award-winning blog of the same name and Treyf: My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw. Her work has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The New York Times, Tin House, The Rumpus, Dame Magazine, LitHub, Saveur, and The Washington Post, where her column, Feeding My Mother, ran for a year. She has been anthologized in Best Food Writing six times. A finalist for the Frank McCourt Memoir Prize, Altman has taught the craft of memoir at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, The Loft Literary Center, 1440 Multiversity, Ireland's Literature and Larder Program, and has appeared live on stage at TEDx and The Public, on Heritage Radio, and NPR. She lives in Connecticut with her family. ElissaAltman.com Instagram: @elissa_altman Facebook Twitter: @ElissaAltman Books: Motherland, Treyf, Poor Man's Feast EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Elissa's technique for using journal entries to create scenes How a 10-year stint in the publishing industry ignited her creative spirit The Instagram post that launched a conversation about the physical toll of book writing Why writing is romanticized, but hardly romantic The concept of negative space and silences in our writing A self-care plan to prep for book publication How writing is like an obstacle course Who owns the right to tell a story? LINKABLE MENTIONS Memoirist Kathryn Harrison's book The Kiss Humorist and writer David Rakoff The Instagram post that launched a conversation about writing and self-care Elissa's TED talk about how senior citizens are absent from the American food conversation Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown The drunken lives of writers

What happens when a gay, middle-aged daughter who has never gotten along with her makeup-addicted, former television singer mother is suddenly thrust into the role of her caregiver? That's the subject of James Beard Award-winning food writer Elissa Altman's new book, "Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing and Longing."  Jana talks with Elissa about how “Motherland” evolved and what it was like for the author to revisit her complex relationship with her mother, Rita, this time through the prism of hands-on care.  At age 56, after countless therapy sessions and the publication of three memoirs, Elissa finally has a healthy relationship with her mother.  The key to their success? Setting firm boundaries. Elissa is still actively engaged in Rita's life, but they no longer speak fourteen times a day.  Tune in for a lively conversation.To purchase a transcript of this episode please visit this page: TranscriptsFor more details visit Elissa's websiteFollow her on Twitter: @ElissaAltman | Facebook | Instagram: elissa_altmanSubscribe to The Agewyz Podcast on iTunes 

After finishing her manuscript for Motherland, author Elissa Altman posted a hard truth about the writer’s life on Instagram: doing this work can take a physical toll on your body. Our conversation explores this important topic, including how she’s putting her body back together again after finding it left in shards from an emotional writing process.

In this special edition of our podcast This Is the Author, we’re celebrating Library Card Sign-up Month by asking authors to share some of their favorite library memories. Listen to Gretchen Rubin, Mira Jacob, Laura Lynne Jackson, Elissa Altman, Emily Nussbaum, Ocean Vuong, Geraldine Brooks, and Jane Green share why libraries are so special to them.

Elissa Altman, author of "Motherland," discusses the difficult task of caring for the elderly. BYU librarian Rachel Wadham wants to help struggling readers. Why the US holds on to guano islands with Northwestern's Daniel Immerwahr. Author Peter Lehr visits with us about the golden age of piracy. BYU professor and nature photographer Mike Rutter shares the wonder of trees.

In this episode, meet Elissa Altman, author of MOTHERLAND; Olivia Gatwood, author of LIFE OF THE PARTY; and Caitlin Moscatello, author of SEE JANE WIN. Whether they explored the mother-daughter relationship and the complexities of caregiving, tackling phobias through poetry, or the political campaigns of four female first-time candidates, these authors have all written and narrated timely and personal stories that will immediately pull you in. Find out what it was like for these authors to record their audiobooks, plus hear why one author likes to listen to audiobooks as she gets ready in the morning! MOTHERLAND by Elissa Altman: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/553946/motherland/ LIFE OF THE PARTY by Olivia Gatwood: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/600047/life-of-the-party/ SEE JANE WIN by Caitlin Moscatello: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/566480/see-jane-win/

This week, Martha's guest is Elissa Altman.

Elissa Altman's new memoir, MOTHERLAND, is absolutely beautiful! An intimate tale about her relationship with her mother, both the early stages when she felt "less than" given her mother's beauty and acting background, and in the late stages dealing with her mother's fall as her only caregiver. A tale of narcissistic personality disorder in the flesh, Elissa's story will rivet anyone who has struggled with a relationship. Our conversation was personal, open and filled with writing and daughter-ing insights. 

Best-selling memoirist Elissa Altman discusses with Marion and David the hard work of writing about family, getting to the truth, and the importance of what to include and what to leave out in her latest book, Motherland.

Denise talks about writing and what her plan B is when things don’t go as planned. Women Beyond a Certain Age is a weekly podcast by Denise Vivaldo and Diane Worthington. They bring their own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoints to the topics they discuss. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.  Show links: Martha Hopkins, agent extraordinaire, http://www.terracepartners.com Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write For Food, https://diannej.com/b/ Elissa Altman, writer extraordinaire, https://www.amazon.com/Elissa-Altman/e/B001JOYTX0?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1558382659&sr=8-1 Please subscribe and give us a nice review! Or even better—5 stars! Reach out to us on our Facebook Group or Facebook Page. Email us your comments, stories, questions or ideas for what you’d like to hear on future podcasts to WomenBeyond@icloud.com. We are on Instagram @womenbeyhondacertainage. We so look forward to spending time with you! Diane is an expert on California and American cuisine. She is the author of over 20 cookbooks and has twice won the James Beard Award. She is a nationally syndicated food columnist and an award-winning radio show host. You can find out more about her at: https://seriouslysimplefood.com Her books are on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Diane-Rossen-Worthington/e/B000APOMUE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1546204440&sr=8-1  Denise is an award-winning food stylist and author of The Food Stylist's Handbook as well as 8 other books. She speaks and teaches and wanders globe. She also blogs for the Huffington Post. You can find out more about her at: https://denisevivaldo.com Her books are on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Denise-Vivaldo/e/B001K8QNRA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1546204547&sr=1-1  Podcast credits: Cindie Flannigan does everything technical and internet-related. You can find out more about her at: https://denisevivaldogroup.com/team/  or https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindie-flannigan-27a29a133/

Every year, households across Louisiana celebrate the eight day festival of Passover. On this week s show, we re bringing in the experts to help us explore Jewish food traditions old and new. We speak with Joyce Goldstein, author of The New Mediterranean Jewish Table, about sephardic recipes of the Jewish diaspora. In compiling her book, Joyce set out to demystify the diverse traditions of Jewish cooking in the Mediterranean region. Next, we check in with a kosher experimentalist, food blogger Elizabeth Kurtz. Driven by a lack of kosher options for inventive palettes, Elizabeth is carving out new ways to follow the laws of kashrut in her latest book, Celebrate Food, Family, Shabbos. Longtime New Orleanians will certainly remember local Jewish food authority, Mildred Covert. For years, Mildred wrote regularly columns for the Times Picayune, exploring the ways to eat Creole and Cajun while keeping kosher. We honor her life and memory at Passover time with an archived interview. We also hear about Elissa Altman s unique upbringing. In her second memoir Treyf My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw, Elissa explores how tradition, religion, and the forbidden impacted her childhood growing up in Queens, New York. Finally, we hear about a clandestine Passover seder for the Jewish chefs of New Orleans, organized by Chef Daniel Esses of Three Muses. Daniel fills us in on his own continually evolving seder traditions. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

The holidays are here and we re celebrating family food traditions old and new We begin at the home of Chef Isaac Toups, where he and his family celebrate Christmas Cajun style Culminating an eventful year for Isaac he earned the title of "fan favorite" on Bravo s Top Chef California and opened up a new restaurant in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum Toups South we join the Toups family for an unforgettable meal. After we finish our s mores for dessert, we gather round for Isaac s annual reading of "The Cajun Night Before Christmas." Next, we get a glimpse of Broadway Christmases past with Bryan Batt and Tom Cianfichi. Actor and native New Orleanian Bryan Batt and his husband Tom have spent several years working in the theater over Christmas, which has made for some opulent and memorable holidays. We also celebrate Hanukkah with award winning author and food blogger Elissa Altman, for whom the holiday season means a unique blend of Hanukkah and Christmas traditions. Elissa shares with us some of her earliest memories growing up in Queens, New York, and what her holiday looks like today. We continue the eights nights of Hanukkah with James Beard Award winning Chef Alon Shaya. Alon describes his own Hanukkah traditions, from his family s origins in Israel, to his childhood in Philadelphia, and finally to his homecoming in New Orleans. It s time for food, family, and celebration on this week s Louisiana Eats

Elissa Altman, James Beard Award-winning writer of the blog and book, Poor Man’s Feast sits down with Linda to talk about food and memories and writing her latest memoir, Treyf: My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw. So many of life's events are intrinsically tied to smells, tastes, or a particular meal and Elissa explains how she weaves it all into her writing.

Martha Frankel’s guests this week are John Hall, Deni Bechard and Elissa Altman.

Martha Frankel’s guests this week are Ann Beattie, Kate Harding and Elissa Altman. 

We discuss all things gluten on this week's Go Fork Yourself. Along with Elissa Altman of Poor Man's Feast, Andrew & Molly work their way through the problems of the gluten-free label. Elissa also shares her advice for food writers and talks about her upcoming book.

Hear about Elissa Altman’s rich food history and her book, Poor Man’s Feast, on this week’s episode of Eat Your Words. Elissa’s blog of the same name won a James Beard Award for best individual blog in 2012. Tune in to hear Cathy Erway chat with Elissa about her upbringing, and how her mother and father influenced how she views food’s role in society. Hear how finding the love of her life helped Elissa realize the family element of food. How has food media and television altered people’s perception of food? Learn more about Elissa’s book; hear how she deals with incorporating her personal life into her memoir, and find out some of her favorite recipes! This program has been sponsored by Whole Foods, and music has been provided by The California Honeydrops. “We live in this crazy society where food is entertainment, and people who can’t cook a simple steak feel the need to go out and buy a home sous vide kit.” [10:20] “Younger people are getting their food information in different ways right now – food media & food television.” [13:45] — Elissa Altman on Eat Your Words