Author, illustrator and podcaster Hillary Frank talks about how she tricked her way into radio, early writing failures, being driven by wanting to prove people wrong, the misogyny against mothers in media that she experienced while trying to tell audio stories about birth, motherhood and reproductive health, and how she finally started and grew her podcast The Longest Shortest Time. Frank talks about writing YA fiction and about her newly released nonfiction book, Weird Parenting Wins. Rachel and Hillary discuss the benefits and challenges of various storytelling formats, their shared desire to tell (or write) stories about parents that don’t make parents feel terrible, and the difficult balancing act of writing honestly and vulnerably about one’s kids or partner while protecting loved one’s privacy.
EXTRA RESOURCES FOR EPISODE 65Books by Hillary FrankWeird Parenting Wins: Bathtub Dining, Family Screams, and Other Hacks from the Parenting Trenches (TarcherPerigee, 2019)
The View from the Top (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2010)
I Can’t Tell You (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2004)
Better Than Running at Night (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2002)
Other Books and Writers Mentioned in the EpisodeEdward Gorey
Morse Hamilton
Other Relevant LinksThe Special Misogyny Reserved for Mothers an Op-Ed for The New York Times by Hillary Frank
Parenting Looks Nothing Like the Experts Say an Op-Ed for The Atlantic by Hillary Frank
Ira Glass
This American Life
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Episode 61: Rosa Alcalá (Translation Series, Ep. 1)
Episode 60: Robin Coste Lewis
Episode 59: Alison S. M. Kobayashi
Episode 58: Cate Marvin
Episode 57: Dorothea Lasky
Episode 56: Jennifer Kronovet
Episode 55: Anne Waldman
Episode 54: Gerald Stern
Episode 53: Tommy Pico
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Episode 49: CAConrad
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Episode 47: Erin Riley
Episode 46: Allison Parrish
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Episode 44: Matthew Zapruder
Episode 43: Airea D. Matthews
Episode 42: Gabrielle Calvocoressi
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