iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Women of Letters

Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 02/12/2025

For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Anna Malaika Tubbs. We discuss her latest NYT-bestselling book, preparing for her viral TED Talk, her relationship to social media, what she’s working on now, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/anna-malaika-tubbs

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  Ripple effects and waves: In conversation with Anna Malaika Tubbs

"I was invited to give a TED Talk, and I was pregnant at the time. I knew that I would have to deliver the TED Talk when my baby was only three months old."

WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM

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“Tell us about some of the projects, ideas, or questions you’re currently working on.

Anna Malaika Tubbs: I am really excited because I wrote a script based off of my first book — The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation — and we now have a producer attached. Our next step is to look for a director, and then from there we’ll look for the actresses who will play these beautiful roles and honour these women with us.

I am so, so, so excited, because I have wanted to turn The Three Mothers into a film for a long time. It came out in 2021, and I think I was really looking for a different writer to help me do it — I didn’t know that I could do it — and then a couple of months ago, maybe half a year ago now, I realized that maybe I could be the one who wrote the script. And I did. My team feels really good about it, and I’m just excited for this next stage of my career.”

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“Anna Malaika’s latest book, Erased, showcases her characteristic ability to make complex ideas accessible at every level.

Building on both her acclaimed first book and viral TED Talk, it examines the far-reaching impacts of patriarchal systems and how our world continues to be structured around them. The book has earned her a second New York Times bestseller designation — along with a host of other accolades — further solidifying her status as one of today’s most influential writers.

I’m grateful, with this interview, to have learned more about the experiences that have shaped her career.

Jana M. Perkins, PhD 
Founder, Women of Letters"

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 17/11/2025

“Part of me wishes I’d opened my eyes up to writing earlier, but in a lot of ways I’m grateful that I had a different experience than most writers I know.” Emily J. Smith — @emjsmith.bsky.social — on how her years of experience as a woman working in tech informed her debut novel:

womenofletters.substack.com

Pushing against the pull: In conversation with Emily J. Smith

In this author interview, Emily J. Smith discusses her debut novel NOTHING SERIOUS, her background in tech, how she navigated the transition to writing full-time, and what she’s working on next.

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Reposted by Women of Letters

Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 28/10/2025

For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @emjsmith.bsky.social. We discuss her debut novel, her background in tech, how she navigated the transition to writing full-time, what she’s working on next, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/emily-j-smith

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Pushing against the pull: In conversation with Emily J. Smith

"Part of me wishes I’d opened my eyes up to writing earlier, but in a lot of ways I'm grateful that I had a different experience than most writers I know."

WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM

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Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold?

EJS: It’s been about ten years since I took my first writing class and allowed myself to pursue writing seriously. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I essentially rearranged my life around writing.

“It felt like I might be throwing my entire career away, something I’d worked very, very hard to establish. But it did not get thrown away. It was reshaped.”

I had always conflated my identity with my career—working in tech and nonprofits—but when I began writing I started to view my job as simply that, a job, and poured my energy into writing. Through classes and workshops, I made writer-friends, which shifted my social circle. Forming close relationships with other writers allowed me to keep going, to not feel completely insane taking my writing seriously despite frequent rejections and the daily struggle to coherently form thoughts. Exchanging work with these friends, having someone to send a draft to, to toss around an idea with, was life-changing.

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With her debut novel, Emily has accomplished the rare feat of writing a book that is timely, incisive, and deeply affecting — all while being the kind of impossible-to-put-down read that audiences dream of finding.

The book, along with its author’s Substack, draws on Emily’s years of experience as a woman working in tech to offer cultural commentary that is both intellectually rigorous and emotionally honest. In one exchange, for example, we see one character confronting another, saying, “You’d think a woman that smart would know better.” The book’s main character, Edie, responds without hesitating: “Not at all,” she says. “Smart women look for challenges.”

She’s one of the few writers whose latest work I never miss. I’m thrilled we were able to connect over this interview.

Jana M. Perkins 
Founder, Women of Letters

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 24/10/2025

“I always was very, very focused on career, and in particular on being able to earn enough money through my career. I never really thought about family life, or what I wanted a partnership or a structure to raise kids within to look like.” Read or listen to our full interview with Corinne Low here:

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 02/10/2025

For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @corinnelow.com. We discuss her new book, the economics of women’s lives, why she left a job at the top consulting firm in the world, becoming a tenured professor at Wharton, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/corinne-low

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Having It All: In Conversation with Corinne Low

"I really did not want my book to gaslight women about the real challenges that we face in making it all add up. I wanted to be really honest about my own struggles to make that all work."

WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM

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Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold?

CL: I majored in economics while I minored in kind of my true passion of writing.

I loved economics, and I thought it was a really elegant and beautiful way to understand the world. I didn’t necessarily know what a career in economics looked like, but a lot of my friends were interviewing for consulting positions. So, at the same time as I was deciding, like, maybe writing isn’t what’s going to pay off my student loans, my friends were interviewing for these consulting positions. They were like, “Oh, you get a signing bonus— it’s great!” And I was like, “I’ll just give it a try. I’ll interview.”

“You’re not going to be able to plan it out from the beginning. But how are you setting yourself up for that next step?”

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In her meticulously researched, newly published book, Corinne brings her years of expertise as a Wharton professor and an economist studying gender to answer the age-old question: is it possible for women to have it all?

From parenting to partnership to career planning to self-care, she offers a wealth of accessibly articulated and data-rich insight into so many subjects central to women’s lives—including a detailed account of the many reasons why, historically, ‘having it all’ has been such an elusive goal. If there was one book published on this topic in the last year I would recommend as essential reading, it would be this one.

Jana M. Perkins
 Founder, Women of Letters

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 29/09/2025

“I believe mentors are important because they’ve stood where you stood, and can advise you based on that, which is invaluable.” Our conversation with Nikkya Hargrove continues ⬇️

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 09/09/2025

Her debut memoir, the importance of having mentors, the decision to open a bookstore and write full-time, & so much more— A wide-ranging interview with LAMBDA Literary Nonfiction Fellow Nikkya Hargrove. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/nikkya-hargrove

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"  In conversation with Nikkya Hargrove

"I am a hopeful person, and determined too, and my hopeful determination has never led me astray."

WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM"

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“Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold?

NH: I loved asking questions as a kid, and always found myself wondering what the ‘true’ answer was… curious about the nuts and bolts of the big questions in life.

I, naturally, loved my honors English class and my teacher Mr. Troller, who had a way with words that I admired. My writing skills improved because of him. Then one day, I sat talking with my grandfather while in high school, and he said, “I think you’ll be a journalist one day,” which felt like a statement out of the blue.

Today, I am a published author, write for my local paper, and own a bookstore in my town. I am exactly where I am meant to be, even if I never thought of myself as a journalist or reporter.”

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“Editor’s note

Nikkya’s writing in Mama, her first book, is visceral and punctuated in its vulnerability. She recounts each of the emotionally saturated events that frame her memoir with open-hearted precision, including her mother’s incarceration, the adoption of her half-brother, and the experience of falling in love with her now-wife.

“We keep the conversation light,” she recalls of visiting her mother in jail as a teenager. “We do not go deep. We do not ask about fears, wants, or needs.” Her book, however, does exactly that, venturing into all of the above and more. It was a privilege to get to speak with her about some of the stories behind those stories.

Jana M. Perkins 
Founder, Women of Letters”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 19/08/2025

“When I was working on Wall Street, I felt an intense chronophobia—the fear of the passing of time—afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do everything I wanted to do in this life. I felt that my days did not belong to me. Today, somehow, I feel time-rich.” Our conversation with Carrie Sun continues ⬇️

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Reposted by Women of Letters

Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 31/07/2025

For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Carrie Sun. We discuss her widely acclaimed memoir, working at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world, why “process over outcome” is bad advice, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/carrie-sun

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“There are two kinds of writers: those who write what they know and those who write what they don’t know. I’m in the second camp. I wake up excited to ask questions that confound me and to find answers that surprise me.”

Jana M. Perkins
A measure of worth: In conversation with Carrie Sun

WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM

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“Where do you feel the most scarcity in your life? Where do you feel the most abundance?

CS: I have a newborn at home, so the obvious answer might be that I feel a scarcity of time. It’s interesting. While objectively I have no time (I’m writing these answers in the middle of the night as I nurse), I feel, oddly, an abundance of time. I think it has to do with control and agency.

When I was working on Wall Street, I felt an intense chronophobia—the fear of the passing of time—afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do everything I wanted to do in this life. Even though then I could take long showers and go out with friends, neither of which I have time to do now, I felt that my days did not belong to me. I felt time-poor. Today, somehow, I feel time-rich. I own my days. I also feel an abundance of gratitude to be in this position and, unexpectedly, a scarcity of anxiety: it no longer matters so much what happens in the future because I’m doing everything I want to do in the present.”

$A screenshot of text that reads: “Editor’s note Among the most compelling memoirs are those that offer a window into experiences so singular they would otherwise remain known to only a fraction of humanity. Literary treasures of this kind are scarce not because extraordinary experiences evade us, but because we so rarely encounter the writer who can transmute those experiences into essential reading. Carrie is one of those writers, and Private Equity is one of those memoirs. Named one of TIME Magazine’s must-read books of the year, one of Vogue’s best books of the year, and the work memoir of the year by Harper’s Bazaar, it chronicles, as its central focus, her time spent working at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world. Yet to say that Private Equity is a memoir about Wall Street, the financial industry, or even a professional coming-of-age is to fail to capture the breadth of insight it offers across so many intensely interesting subjects. As Carrie explains below, “A decision is only risky if what’s at stake is valuable.” I learned a lot about decision-making, risk, and value from her propulsively readable memoir, and it was a privilege to get to learn more about her in this interview. Jana M. Perkins Founder, Women of Letters”$

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 08/07/2025

“ Place is such a central thing in my work and in my life. It’s the great love of my life. I couldn’t really spend 2 years researching a book in a place unless I’m in love with that place.” Read or listen to our full interview with Kapka Kassabova here:

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 08/07/2025

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Reposted by Women of Letters

Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 30/06/2025

For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Kapka Kassabova. We discuss her experience of growing up in Bulgaria, her award-winning Balkan quartet of books, creating her own literary genre, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/kapka-kassabova

An image of Henri-Edmond Cross’s “Landscape” painting, which features a lush and brightly coloured impressionistic landscape.

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“Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold?

KK: It’s been quite surprising, really. And I think ‘path’ is a good word. It turns out that paths have been much more important to me as a creator and as a soul, as an evolving soul in this lifetime, than roads. Paths rather than roads.

When I started researching and writing about people and places, which happened with Border, I found my voice. And I found my voice thanks to the transformative encounters with people in those places that I had. And that was thanks to paths. Paths are away from roads. Paths are on the periphery of the center of power. The center of power is very fond of roads and other large infrastructure.

And after all the roads that I had traveled as an adult — you know, as someone who emigrated more than once, changed countries more than once, changed languages, sort of acquired various cultural identities along the way — in the end, the most important journey has been a journey of paths. In a way, researching Border, which was the book where I really felt that I found myself and I found my genre — I created my own literary genre and continued from there — it coincided with a life event, which was that I moved from the city to the countryside. And in doing that, I started to shed some of the baggage that we’ve just been talking about.”

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“Editor’s note

The only word that can be used to adequately describe Kapka’s work is ‘mesmerizing.’ The effect either of reading her writing or of listening to her speak is one of being swept into what feels like an alternate dimension, where everything is tinged with a kind of numinosity and wonder.

To experience the vividness of her perspective once is to seek its repeated encounter — and, fortunately for us, it can be found throughout what are currently more than a dozen of her published books and countless interviews. I’m delighted, with our conversation, to have added to this rich collection of transporting exchanges.

Jana M. Perkins 
Founder, Women of Letters”

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Reposted by Women of Letters

Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 20/06/2025

“Various people have said, ‘I failed to get a book deal.’ And I’m sitting here thinking, ‘Did you? Or did you just not get a book deal?’” Jennifer Baker on redefining success and failure:

womenofletters.substack.com

Author, Editor, & Podcast Host Jennifer Baker on Her Career | Women of Letters

In this author interview, Jennifer Baker discusses the mentors who supported her work, how to establish boundaries, and the importance of reframing the definition of ‘failure.’

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Reposted by Women of Letters

Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 30/05/2025

For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Jennifer Baker. We discuss the mentors who supported her work, how to establish boundaries, the importance of reframing the definition of ‘failure,’ & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/jennifer-baker

An image of Paul Cézanne’s “Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses” painting, which features flowers and apples placed over a tablecloth on a small table

A screenshot of text that reads: “What’s a commonly shared piece of advice that you disagree with, and why?

JB: I think there’s more I’d push back on in terms of perception than advice. Especially in the sense of creation.

I often, or at least too frequently for my taste, hear, “I failed to…”. And I’m always curious where this idea of “failure” comes from. Various people online, pick your social media mode, have said, “I failed to get a book deal.” And I’m sitting here thinking, “Did you? Or did you just not get a book deal? Because that’s not a singular occurrence.” Failure exists. There’s a lot we’re failing to do now as a nation, let alone a world. But in terms of trying and not getting, in terms of rejection? That’s not failure.”

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I first discovered Jennifer through her Minorities in Publishing podcast, which shines a light on underrepresented professionals in the book publishing world. Its episodes generously offer everything from real-world context on issues like representation to a behind-the-scenes look at the publishing industry to a deep dive into the personal histories of guests.

The podcast recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and is already charging ahead through its 11th year — a feat of longevity that, under her leadership, simultaneously comes as no surprise to long-time listeners and marks a significant accomplishment in today’s increasingly ephemeral media landscape. I’ll continue to be among the many who are celebrating this major milestone as we eagerly look ahead to its future from here.

Jana M. Perkins 
Founder, Women of Letters"

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 22/05/2025

“I was kind of stuck, in my articulation of that in the book, around wanting to make that point, but also wanting to not romanticize struggle.” Marianne Brooker on writing her Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize-winning book, Intervals:

womenofletters.substack.com

Author Marianne Brooker on Her Writing Career | Women of Letters

In this podcast author interview, British writer Marianne Brooker discusses the early influences that shaped her thinking, winning the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize in 2022, and her recent experiences with...

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Reposted by Women of Letters

Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 30/04/2025

I had the great pleasure of talking with Marianne Brooker for @womenofletters.org. We discuss her book Intervals, for which she won the 2022 Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social; her current writing projects; & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/marianne-brooker

An image of Francis Danby’s painting “The Avon Gorge at Sunset,” which features a pastel-coloured landscape at sunset.

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“Tell us about some of the projects, ideas, or questions you’re currently working on.

MB: I guess I want to do things that are a little bit different, in some sense. I’m trying to write a novel — I kind of want to experiment, and maybe be a bit less constrained by writing from life. But also, by myself, coalescing around similar kinds of questions as I was exploring in Intervals.

So I’m researching — I’m saying this very tentatively, because I’m not really saying it out loud very much at the moment yet, but — a kind of novel about the life of…

[…]”

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“Editor’s note

In all my reading, I’ve encountered few works like Marianne’s Intervals.

Her book offers a capacious look at life, death, and dying through a chronicling of her mother’s decision to withdraw from life-sustaining treatments. As she describes it, “Intervals are temporary places of rupture and of rest; they are liminal, partial and in-between. … I invite you to bear loose witness — to sit with me, as close to the pain as I can get — on the condition that the story doesn’t end here, that there is yet a world to win.”

The result is an expansive, important, and generous work. I gained a lot from having had the benefit of her perspective.

Jana M. Perkins 
Founder, Women of Letters”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 30/03/2025

When your Sunday has barely started and yet is already rich with the warm glow of a newly published Ayşegül Savaş story

newyorker.com

“Marseille,” by Ayşegül Savaş

Alba stretched her arms dramatically. “I mean, I guess it would be fun to have an amoureux in Marseille. Handy for holidays.”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 20/03/2025

I had the great pleasure of talking with Mary Jo Bang for @womenofletters.org. We discuss the books that shaped her thinking, her time studying with Lucie Brock-Broido, her current writing projects, & so much more. You can read the full interview at womenofletters.substack.com/p/mary-jo-bang. 📚💙

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“How did your childhood shape your ideas about what work looked like and what was possible for you?

Mary Jo Bang: My family was working class. Conversations between my parents almost always centered on work. When we visited relatives, the men talked to each other about what the boss said, what the union was going do, work-related resentments and degradations. In the kitchen, the women shared stories about what their children had done (good or bad), had sotto voce conversations about health issues, family resentments and neighborhood gossip.

I knew from a very early age that I was expected to marry, have children, cook, clean, and talk to other women in the kitchen. I also knew I wanted something different from that. I remember telling my adult cousin, when I was fifteen, that I planned to go to college. He laughed and said, “What for? You don’t need a degree to change diapers.” When I said I wasn’t having children, he shared a look with my mother that said I’d come to my senses and accept my destiny.”

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“Editor’s note

Every so often, you encounter someone who has done so much so well that it becomes difficult to capture the extent of their accomplishments. Mary Jo is one of those people.

She’s published nine books of poetry and numerous works of translation, with another — Dante’s Paradiso — forthcoming later this year. Her poems have been selected for inclusion in the Best American Poetry series multiple times, and she’s taught everywhere from Yale University to the New School to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Among the many awards she has received for her work are a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and a National Book Critics Circle Award.

It was a privilege to get to learn more about the life and writing of a poet whose work is as formidable in thought as it is wide-ranging in its cultural impact.

Jana M. Perkins 
Founder, Women of Letters”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 25/03/2025

“Of course, there were teachers—although early on, I didn’t always know how to make use of their support.” Mary Jo Bang, author of nine books of poetry, on mentorship:

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“Did you have any mentors along the way?

MJB: Of course, there were teachers—although early on, in high school, I didn’t always know how to make use of their support.

For a long time, I felt lost and out of my depth. My college teachers were encouraging and that was helpful, but even then, I don’t think I understood that they expected students to ask for their help. I was working as a research assistant for a sociology professor when I applied to graduate school, but I never told him I was applying. When he found out, quite by accident, he said I should have said something, he would have helped me. Fortunately, I was accepted without his help but it’s an example of my lack of awareness that help was there for the asking, had I known.”

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“When I studied photography, I had a number of teachers who told me I was making photographs that mattered. And when I studied poetry at Columbia, Lucie Brock-Broido seemed to know exactly the right thing to say to me about my poems. She helped me step back and see my writing as if it had been written by someone else. That remove was crucial to my understanding of how poetic language works. She not only influenced my writing, but also my ideas about teaching.

Marjorie Perloff’s books taught me how to read poetry by others. I became friends with her when I was a poetry editor at the Boston Review. I’m sure I wouldn’t be the poet I am without the combined influence of those two women. They had radically different ideas about poetry, which proved useful to me. Since there was no way to reconcile their antithetical approaches, I had to develop my own.”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 19/02/2025

I had the great pleasure of talking with Elisa Gabbert for @womenofletters.org. You can read our interview at womenofletters.substack.com/p/elisa-gabbert. 📚💙

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“Elisa Gabbert on Her Writing Career | Women of Letters

"I was a little too self-sufficient in my youth, I think, and a little too confident."

WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM”

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“EDITOR'S NOTE

I consider Elisa to be among the foremost essayists of our time.

As someone who is both a poet and an essayist, she writes in a way that few others do. Regular readers of her work will have noticed, for example, how her prose contains both the crystalline logic of well-reasoned argument and the subtle music of verse - how it features, simultaneously, the rational and the rhythmic, marrying thoughtful reasoning with sonic richness. It is thus no surprise that she regularly publishes in places like The Paris Review and The New York Times (where she has been a poetry columnist since 2020), or that she recently released her third book of essays.

If you haven't previously encountered her work or had the opportunity to study what makes it so distinct, this interview offers an excellent starting point. I'm grateful to have connected over it.

Jana M. Perkins
Founder, Women of Letters”

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“How did your childhood shape your ideas about what work looked like and what was possible for you?

Elisa Gabbert: Some of my earliest memories are of reading—reading was important to me long before writing ever was. But my teachers often told me I should be a writer, or simply took for granted that I was one. It wasn’t something I talked about. It’s striking to me now, that they knew something about my future I didn’t.

For a while I wanted to be a teacher, then later, an architect, and then a psychiatrist. I studied cognitive science and linguistics in college; I always liked the brain and language. I was reading all the time still, and writing a little, mostly poetry—but it wasn’t until my early twenties that I began to understand how writing could be, and should be, more central in my life, that I could make my life about books. Though it may have been obvious to everyone around me, it felt like a radical shift from inside.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 13/02/2025

Noreen Masud — @noreenmasud.bsky.social — on some of her early influences as a writer. Read or listen to the full interview at: 📚 womenofletters.substack.com/p/noreen-masud 🎶 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

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“Jana M. Perkins: Was there a particular genre of writing, or kind of writing, that you were especially drawn to early on that helped develop this sense in you that, okay — this is what I want to be doing?

NM: Anything with rhythm. My mother remembers me as a very young child - and I obviously have no memory of this — at the age of two, sort of reciting a poem that I had found in a children's magazine or something. I learned to read at sort of two and a half, so this is just about credible, I think. But rhythm I've always been drawn by and obsessed by, and I've always wanted to memorize any piece of writing that I didn't understand or whose rhythm transfixed me. So that started very early on, and then at 14 I discovered poetry in a very concrete way, and that coincided more or less with our having access to the internet: there were poems on the internet, and you could download them and learn them, and that absolutely laid the groundwork for everything that came after, for my writing today. My first book was mostly on poetry. I'm very preoccupied with the sound of a sentence when I write, like so many writers, and that all comes from an early preoccupation with poetry.”

An image of William Turner of Oxford’s painting “Salisbury Plain with Old Sarum in the distance, Wiltshire.”

Generated alt text: “A watercolor landscape painting depicting a rural agricultural scene under a dramatic cloudy sky. The composition is divided roughly into three horizontal bands: a vast, textured sky filled with rolling gray and pinkish clouds; a middle ground showing golden-lit fields or plains stretching to distant hills; and a darker foreground featuring what appears to be a figure (possibly a shepherd) with a flock of sheep arranged in a line across the rustic terrain. The color palette is subtle and naturalistic, consisting mainly of earth tones — browns, muted greens, and grays — with touches of blue in the sky.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 13/02/2025

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 22/01/2025

I had the great pleasure of talking with Noreen Masud — @noreenmasud.bsky.social — for @womenofletters.org. You can read or listen to our conversation at womenofletters.substack.com/p/noreen-masud. 📚💙

A screenshot of text over a background image of a painting featuring a prairire landscape that reads:

“Women of Letters | An interview with Noreen Masud

"The important thing is the time spent doing the thing that absorbs you. And in this world, that doesn't necessarily get to be a career."

Available January 21st, 2025
WOMENOFLETTERS.SUBSTACK.COM”

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“Editor’s note

As someone who now, effectively, lives between three different countries, I've become increasingly interested in the relationship between space and self. I'm finding that, far from being the passive surroundings onto which we project our experiences of the world, the places in which we conduct our days are, in fact, the very ingredients that determine who we are and how we are able to think.

These themes take center stage in Noreen's A Flat Place, a rich and winding work which has as its subject the specific environment of flat landscapes - those that are not just geographic, but social and psychological, as well. As she writes in her book, "A flat place helps us to reimagine what it means for something to 'happen' and to rethink what it means for something to 'matter.' To accept that not all discoveries involve digging for answers, or ascending heights."

It was a joy to take in the intricate cartography of her thoughts, both in this book and through our conversation.

Jana M. Perkins
Founder, Women of Letters”

A screenshot of text that reads:

“Did you have any mentors along the way?

NM: I owe a great deal to my undergraduate tutors, who were so kind to me in various ways.

I remember one tutor— I was short of money when I was an undergraduate, for various reasons.

And I was on the highest possible bursary, and I was also just very terrified of what would happen after and preoccupied with saving. And my undergraduate tutor said to me, "You should get these books. They'll help you." And I said, "Oh, you know — I'll see if they have them in the library or something." "No, you should actually get copies; it'll be useful." And I'm like, "Oh, you know, well — don't worry. I'll find a solution. I'll find a solution." Brushing it off; I wasn't going to buy them.

And I can't name this tutor, because she still might get into trouble for doing it. When I went down to my pigeonhole, I found money there and a note from her: 20 pounds, and a note from her, saying, "You must have the books that you need." So many rules were broken there. But that was life-changing for me, that gesture - that my education might be important enough to somebody for them to just give me money like that. I remember that very strongly.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 03/12/2024

A thoughtful exchange with Cass Marketos on how she got to where she is today. You can read the latest Women of Letters interview here: womenofletters.substack.com/p/cass-marke...

A screenshot of the editor’s note to the interview that reads: "I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Cass over the years. The way that she has repeatedly changed paths and always found what seemed like an even bigger, more exciting adventure at every turn has been a real motivating force. Having written a book, launched several non-profits, been the first employee at Kickstarter, and served as the deputy director of digital outbound during the Obama administration (to name just a few of her accomplishments), she’s had precisely the kind of dynamic career that I know many — myself included — have hoped to build for themselves but rarely saw modelled. As Cass writes in this interview, “I’m a big believer in the idea that whenever you arrive is right on time.” It’s a form of hope I’ll be carrying with me as we collectively navigate the months and years ahead. Jana M. Perkins Founder, Women of Letters"

An image of Simon Denis' “Cloud Study (Early Evening).” Generated alt text: “This is a beautiful cloud study painting, likely from the 18th or early 19th century. It shows a dramatic sky filled with billowing cumulus clouds in various shades of white and gray against a light blue background. The clouds appear illuminated by sunlight, creating bright highlights and darker shadows within their formations. At the bottom of the painting is a thin strip of landscape, showing what appears to be a dark tree line or forest against the horizon. The artist has captured the atmospheric effects masterfully, with subtle variations in color including touches of pink and golden hues, particularly in some breaks in the clouds near the horizon. The brushwork appears loose and expressive, especially in the rendering of the cloud formations.”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 21/11/2024

I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Cass over the years, so it was a joy to connect for @womenofletters.org. As she writes in this interview, “I’m a big believer in the idea that whenever you arrive is right on time.” It’s a form of hope I’ll be carrying with me through the months & years ahead.

womenofletters.substack.com

Women of Letters | An interview with Cass Marketos

“My path unfolded in the most convoluted way imaginable, yet somehow (also) the only way possible.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 13/11/2024

“I’d been writing short stories during my lunch breaks and thought I could maybe get into a writing program. In part because I wanted to write, and in part because I didn’t seem to be good at anything else.” On becoming a writer, from Ayşegül Savaş:

womenofletters.substack.com

Women of Letters | An interview with Ayşegül Savaş

“Writing was something I did on the side, as an escape from the many unrewarding jobs I worked during those years when I was a little lost.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 13/11/2024

womenofletters.substack.com

Women of Letters | An interview with Ayşegül Savaş

“Writing was something I did on the side, as an escape from the many unrewarding jobs I worked during those years when I was a little lost.”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 11/11/2024

I created a starter pack for women & non-binary folks who write across all sorts of genres and forms — novels, non-fiction, and everything in between. 📚💙

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 21/10/2024

One of the topics that most frequently emerges, across all of the interviews we’ve conducted, is how rarely there’s a set path laid out at the beginning of someone’s career — and how, despite that, the wayfinding into their eventual success unfolds nonetheless. e.g., As Ayşegül explains:

A screenshot from the interview that reads: “Fast-forward to today. How did the path to what you’re doing now unfold? AS: I was always very interested in literature, but I never considered that I could study it. It seemed too easy, or indulgent. I studied anthropology in college and spent the years after graduation working whatever administrative, tutoring, and babysitting jobs I was offered. I did not really stand out in my academic accomplishments, and I didn’t get the types of intellectually stimulating jobs in the social sciences that I thought should be my career path. I had, at this time, moved to California where my boyfriend was completing his PhD. When my U.S. visa expired, I decided to apply to graduate schools just so we could be together. I’d been writing short stories during my lunch breaks and thought I could maybe get into a writing program. In part because I wanted to write, and in part because I didn’t seem to be good at anything else. This is all to say that I wouldn’t have started writing if I had gotten an interesting job after graduation, or started a graduate program in anthropology.”

A screenshot from the interview that reads: “I got into a writing program where I continued writing short stories even though I didn’t have much direction: I did not get any fellowships or prizes. I was not published. It seemed that I was possibly wasting my time. After graduation, my boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Paris where I tutored high schoolers and my husband started a university research position. I was still writing, but without any conviction. The following year, I attended a cultural journalism workshop in Mexico, thinking that it might be more realistic to do journalistic work. The writer teaching the workshop, Jonathan Levi, advised me to start a novel, having noticed my desire to tell stories and my general lack of direction. It was as if I’d been waiting for someone to tell me this; it was the only encouragement I needed. I wrote and revised my first novel in the following three years, quickly found an agent and published it.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 16/10/2024

Just released: it’s the Women of Letters interview with Ayşegül Savaş. womenofletters.substack.com/p/aysegul-sa...

A screenshot of an editor’s note that reads: “My notes, in preparation for the writing of this introduction, formed a web of densely concentrated insight on the human experience courtesy of Aysegül's latest novel, The Anthropologists. The book follows its main character, Asya - a documentary filmmaker - through the kind of rich chronicling of her everyday life that is often offered within the context of anthropological writings. The small, in this way, is made large, expanding to fill the container of major narrative events in ways that would typically be reserved for moments of high drama. "Daily life," Asya says at one point in the novel, "was a difficult story to tell." Her grandmother responds by urging her to "forget about daily life," because, in her view, "no one cares about that." Yet, as the widely regarded success of this novel makes clear, there are, in fact, a great many people who care about that. If in your reading you enjoy attention to detail, incisively rendered commentary, and vivid jolts of emotion, you'll enjoy not only this interview but also its author's work in general, which you can find everywhere from The Paris Review to The New Yorker to the shelves of your favourite bookstore. Jana M. Perkins Founder, Women of Letters”

An image of Alfred Sisley’s “The Road from Moret to Saint-Mammès” painting. Generated alt text: “This painting depicts a serene rural landscape, likely in the French countryside. The scene is dominated by a cluster of tall, slender trees with vibrant green foliage that frames the composition. Their trunks are rendered in soft purples and blues, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. In the center-left of the painting, there's a small white house with a distinctive red-orange roof. The house appears to be a simple, rustic structure with a few windows and doors visible. A dirt path leads up to the house, winding through the grassy foreground. The sky is painted with soft blues and whites, suggesting a partly cloudy day. The overall impression is one of dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves, creating a play of light and shadow across the scene. In the distance, there are hints of other structures or landscape features, but they're rendered less distinctly than the foreground elements. The painting style is characteristic of Impressionism, with visible brushstrokes and a focus on capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere.
The color palette is predominantly cool greens and blues, punctuated by the warm tones of the house's roof and the earthy colors of the path. This creates a harmonious and peaceful mood, evoking a sense of countryside tranquility. Small figures can be seen on the path, adding a human element to the natural setting and giving a sense of scale to the landscape. The overall composition invites the viewer to imagine strolling down that country lane on a pleasant day, surrounded by the beauty of nature.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 07/10/2024

“I write biography that challenges the way that a scene is set in a biography — it’s more a lyric scene, a sensory-rich scene, rather than fact, fact, fact.” Read or listen to our full interview with Iris Jamahl Dunkle here:

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 25/09/2024

“The thing that drew me to Jack London was his book Valley of the Moon, which has a female protagonist. And I was like, ‘I love how he writes women!’ Well, the reason why he did that is because his wife wrote that part of the book.” Read or listen to the full interview here:

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 19/09/2024

Big day for Women of Letters. It’s officially: - the launch of Season 2, *and* - the launch of our podcast! A lot of hard work went into both of these milestones. It would mean a lot if you gave this first episode a listen. 💗

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 18/09/2024

Just released: launching both our second season *and* our podcast (!) 👩‍🔬, it’s the Women of Letters interview with Iris Jamahl Dunkle. womenofletters.substack.com/p/iris-jamah...

A screenshot from our interview with Iris Jamahl Dunkle that reads: “All of us, I think, have had the experience of seeing someone else take credit for something we’ve done. But how many of us can say that our work was used by another person to earn a Nobel Prize?

The American novelist, poet, and editor Sanora Babb can, as Iris so brilliantly illuminates in her forthcoming biography, Riding Like the Wind. In Babb’s case, it was John Steinbeck who took credit for her work when — despite lacking her permission — he used her notes to write The Grapes of Wrath. His novel went on to win not only a National Book Award but also a Pulitzer Prize, and in addition to being turned into an Academy Award-winning film it would also eventually play a major role in Steinbeck’s being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Meanwhile, the novel that Babb had written was shelved, and it would not appear in print for more than 60 years.

As Iris’s publisher explains..."

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 08/01/2024

“Even though I was so nervous that, for many years, I wrote with a hot water bottle on my stomach, there was a door open in my town.” — Canadian author Candace Savage on how she became a writer. Read the full interview here: womenofletters.substack.com/p/candace-sa...

Henri-Edmond Cross' “Valley with Fir” painting (1909)

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 30/11/2023

Earlier this week, we wrapped up the inaugural season of Women of Letters. I’m immensely proud of everything we’ve accomplished so far — and equally excited about what’s to come in future seasons: womenofletters.substack.com/p/season-one 🧵

Edward Lear's “Agia Paraskevi, Epirus, Greece” drawing from 1857

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 18/11/2023

“Kids of my generation feared nuclear annihilation just as today’s kids fear climate change; both are terrifying futures that diminish the significance of ordinary life. More than ever, we need cultural activities that knit us together in positive ways — what Virginia Woolf calls ‘building it up.’”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 08/11/2023

📚 “My advice to anyone interested in literature is to read, read, read. Put your phone in another room. After an hour of reading you might feel that you haven’t made very much progress, but after a day, a week of reading? Suddenly your brain is humming, crackling, and expanding.”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 08/11/2023

Out today!— It’s the Women of Letters interview with Frances Dickey 📝 womenofletters.substack.com/p/frances-di...

Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise and Eugène-Pierre Gourdet, “Design for a ceiling painted with clouds” (c. 1897)

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 05/11/2023

“The keeping of bees,” Jenna writes in her latest book, Revery, “is a blending of science and spirit; a passion that is, at its roots, an act of hope.” It was a finalist for the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-fiction.

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 17/10/2023

Out today!— It’s the Women of Letters interview with Jenna Butler 📝 womenofletters.substack.com/p/jenna-butler

William A. Harper's painting “The Trees”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 16/10/2023

Brb, basking in the glow of this response from a forthcoming @womenofletters.bsky.social interview

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 03/10/2023

“I could not have figured out who I was without them,” Nancy writes in her memoir MY BRILLIANT FRIENDS of the three fellow scholars from the book’s title: Carolyn Heilbrun, Diane Middlebrook, and Naomi Schor. “Each of these women made my life worth living.”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 28/09/2023

📝 “When I graduated from college in 1961, I did not think I was following any kind of path. I never pictured myself as an academic, certainly not a successful one with a PhD (a degree, I thought, reserved for men).”

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Jana M. Perkins, PhD @janajm.com · 26/09/2023

Over the *moon* to finally be sharing this with the world — for Women of Letters, I interviewed the incredible, iconic, inimitable Nancy K. Miller:

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 26/09/2023

Out today!— It’s the Women of Letters interview with Nancy K. Miller 💬 womenofletters.substack.com/p/nancy-k-mi...

John Frederick Kensett’s “Newport Rocks” painting

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