PODCAST

This Mama Is Lit!

Literary Mama

Literary Mama"s podcast featuring interviews with mama writers. literarymama.substack.com

arts parenting

All Episodes

25:00

Aileen Weintraub: Bedrest Becomes You

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2025/03/12

Holly Rizzuto Palker and Brianna Avenia-Tapper chat with Aileen Weitraub, author of Knocked Down: A High Risk Memoir, about the sacrifice of motherhood, interfaith marriage, and the gifts of grief. Grieving the loss of her father while on bedrest has Aileen poking at the notion of how the boy becomes a man when he loses a father. But what about the girl? What does she become?Aileen Weintraub is an award-winning author, journalist, and editor whose latest book is Knocked Down: A High-Risk Memoir,

29:20

Nancy Johnson: No Margin for Error

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2025/02/26

Holly Rizzuto Palker and Amanda Fields chat with Nancy Johnson, author of People of Means, about ancestral pride, Black excellence and social reckoning in each and every moment in time. They explore the notion of how nothing has changed, yet so much has in a short period of time. Ultimately, Nancy writes to open the dialogue on race and welcome complicated conversations about the racial divide in our country.A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson worked for more than a decade as an

30:04

Sarah Sawyer: Where Does Girlhood Go?

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2025/02/12

Eva Langston and Amanda Fields chat with Sarah Sawyer, author of The Undercurrent, about power in girlhood, mystical physicality in motherhood and secrets unravelled. Sarah also leaves us with a wise warning from her own mother: beware of life events that involve women throwing parties.Sarah Sawyer's debut novel was touted by Gillian Flynn as "A mystery of remarkable scope, bristling with intelligence, beauty, and humanity. It is, quite simply: stunning." The Undercurrent (Zibby Books 2024) tells

30:34

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha: Love Is An Action

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2025/01/29

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, a poet, essayist, and translator, works tirelessly to break down language and thoughtfully craft it to match the human condition. She is author of three books of poetry: Something About Living (UAkron, 2024), winner of the 2024 National Book Award and winner of the 2022 Akron Prize for Poetry, Kaan & Her Sisters (Trio House Press), finalist for the 2024 Firecracker Award and honorable mention for the 2024 Arab American Book Award, Water & Salt (Red Hen), winner of the 2018

30:50

Ava Chin: Dimensionalizing Paper People

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2025/01/15

Ava Chin is the author of Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming (Penguin Press, 2023) where she shatters the silence that The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 imposed on the disenfranchised Chinese immigrant community. Her extensive research paired with her rich library of oral histories passed down through familial generations were woven together to create an American Library Association Notable Book and a Best Book of the year by TIME, the San Francisco Chronicle,

32:03

Nicole Cooley: Climate Catastrophe, Grief, and...

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2025/01/01

Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana - the tragedies of Katrina and the climate crisis run deep for her and pour onto her pages. Her most recent book is a collection of poetry Mother Water Ash (Louisiana University Press, July 2024) that explores the aftermath of sudden death and the feelings of loss we collectively experience with the endless ecological catastrophes. A prolific poet, Nicole is the author of seven books including Girl after Girl after Girl (Louisiana State University

30:26

Molly Spencer: The Communal Experience of Time

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/12/18

Molly Spencer is an award-winning poet, critic, editor, and writing instructor at University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her debut collection, If the House (University of Wisconsin Press, 2019) won the 2019 Brittingham Prize judged by Carl Phillips. A second collection, Hinge (SIU Press, 2020), a finalist for the National Poetry Series, won the 2019 Crab Orchard Open Competition judged by Allison Joseph. Invitatory (2024, Free Verse Editions/Parlor Press), her third

33:58

Nancy Reddy: Myths of Motherhood

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/12/04

Eva Langston and Amanda Fields chat with Nancy Reddy, author of The Good Mother Myth, about how flawed social science presumptions have blurred our visions of motherhood and trusting our intuition.Author Website: https://www.nancyreddy.com/Substack: https://nancyreddy.substack.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancy.o.reddy/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancy.reddy.1Preorder The Good Mother Myth: https://read.macmillan.com/promo/smpthegoodmothermyth/ This is a public episode. If you

31:34

Dr. Tovah Klein: Resilience in Uncertain Times

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/11/20

Anointed the “Toddler Whisperer” by Good Morning America, Dr. Tovah Klein is consistently tapped for her expertise in childhood development by New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Motherly, CNN, Today, and Slate, among many others. Her most recent book Raising Resilience has been hailed by Amy Schumer and is a USA Today bestseller. As the Director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development and a psychology professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, Klein is an

28:53

K.T. Nguyen: Lived Experience as Fiction

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/11/06

K.T. Nguyen’s 2024 debut psychological thriller You Know What You Did has received praise from People Magazine, CrimeReads, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Book Riot, Parade, Elle Magazine, The Seattle Times, and The Telegraph. A former Glamour magazine editor, she’s lived in New York City, San Francisco, and Taipei and has now settled just outside Washington, D.C. with her family where she enjoys native plant gardening, playing with her rescue terrier Alice, and rooting for the Mets. K.T. is a proud

28:16

Kate Feiffer: A Story Within A Story

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/10/23

To find out more about Kate and her work, visit her website at https://www.katefeiffer.comYou can also follow her on Facebook @Kate FeifferInstagram @KFeifferTikTok @katefeiffer This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com

32:20

Ona Gritz: Investigating Family Secrets

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/10/09

For more information about Ona, please go to her author website at https://www.onagritz.com/More details regarding her awards is given here: https://www.onagritz.com/praise-awardsHer books include:Everywhere I Look https://bookshop.org/p/books/everywhere-i-look-ona-gritz/20981700The Space You Left Behind https://www.west44books.com/inc/_s24_The_Space_You_Left_Behind.phpTake a Sad Song https://www.west44books.com/inc/_f24/TakeaSadSong.php This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this

33:24

Carley Moore: Protest and Identity

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/09/25

To find out more about Carley, please visit her website: https://www.carleymoore.com/Heart Less, her new collection of poetry is available from https://www.indolentbooks.com/heart-less/The Not Wives is available from https://www.feministpress.org/books-n-z/the-not-wivesPanpocalypse is available from https://www.feministpress.org/books-n-z/panpocalypse This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

32:05

Catherine Newman: On The Sandwich Generation

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/09/11

For further information on Catherine and her work, please visit https://www.catherinenewmanwriter.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com

31:30

Kelly Sundberg: Rebuilding After Abuse

This Mama Is Lit! ·

2024/08/28