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
Fresh Air with Terry Gross
Episode 41: Danez Smith
Episode 40: Kaveh Akbar
Episode 39: Erika L. Sánchez
Episode 38: Sharon Olds
Episode 37: Sheila Heti and Sarah Manguso
Episode 36: Dialogue Arts Project
Episode 35: Aracelis Girmay
Episode 34: Dr. Joshua Bennett
Episode 33: Sabrina Orah Mark
Episode 32: Laynie Browne
Episode 31: Carmen Giménez Smith
Episode 30: Sarah Vap
Episode 29: Molly Peacock
Episode 28: Poems for Mother's Day
Episode 27: Rita Dove
Episode 26: Alice Notley
Episode 25: Ross Gay
Episode 24: Julie Carr
Episode 23: Morgan Parker
Episode 22: Undocupoets 2 — Javier Zamora, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, and Janine Joseph
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