Lily King is the author of five award-winning novels including Euphoria which was named one of the 10 best books of 2014 by The New York Times. Her most recent novel Writers & Lovers was published in March this year, and I LOVED it. In addition to her novels, she has published many stories and essays including a piece for Modern Love (An Empty Heart Is One That Can Be Filled). If you haven’t read it already, it’s one of my favorites in the column.

In this episode we talk about her new book, how she’s coping during quarantine, and re-imaging her book tour, virtually. She packs so much wisdom into this conversation, including on what she really needed to hear as a young writer.

Jessica Ciencin Henriquez is a Colombian-American writer and editor. Her personal essays and narrative journalism have appeared in the New York Times among many other publications. Her essays have also been featured in multiple anthologies, including Oprah's Little Guide to The Big Questions, and she is the author of the forthcoming memoir: If You Loved Me You Would Know.

Jess is also a wonderful writing teacher which is how we met!

In this episode, we speak on growing up between two vastly different cultures, on the necessity of vulnerability in art, on the key element that helps transform pain into gratitude. She notes that all of her success has followed rejection and shares a wonderful story that serves as a reminder that when the door doesn’t open, it’s not your door, and something better is around the corner. We also talk about our shared feeling towards the suggestion of growing a “thick skin” (spoiler, we don’t like it).

E. J. Koh is a poet, author and translator based in Seattle, WA. Her book of poetry is called A Lesser Love, and her memoir The Magical Language of Others is forthcoming this January.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with E.J. in her home recently, where we discussed everything from memoir writing, to inter-generational trauma, to her “Love Letter” project which is all about her mission to write a thousand letters to strangers by hand. She tells us what drove her to start the project and the common thread she’s noticed about the stories we tell ourselves.

Danya Kukafka is the bestselling author of the novel Girl in Snow and is currently at work on another book. 

In this episode we talk a lot about writing, and the whole process of publishing a book. We dive into the differences between writing long form fiction vs. non-fiction, what drew her towards fiction in particular, and she shares how her first published novel came to be.