Shows
This Mama Is Lit!Dr. Robyn Kozlowitz: No One Ever Wins Trauma PokerHolly Rizzuto Palker and Amanda Fields chat with Dr. Robyn Kozlowitz, author of Post Traumatic Parenting, about using guilt as a teacher, discovering how stress and trauma affect parenting, and creating patterns of joy. Dr. Kozlowitz argues that the best time to rewire our trauma brain is when we are parenting. It gives us an opportunity to heal our inner child through admitting our own damage and not passing it onto our children. By recognizing our trauma, we take the shame away.Dr. Robyn Koslowitz is a clinical child psychologist and the author of the recently released...
2026-01-2929 min
This Mama Is Lit!Michelle Lerner: Complicated GriefHolly Rizzuto Palker and Eva Langston chat with Michelle Lerner, author of Ring, about defining and treating complicated grief, living with irreparable damage, and finding healing in nature. Ring takes the reader on an unforgettable odyssey through the depths of human emotion, from the hollows of grief to the heights of newfound hope. In the backdrop of a snow-covered sanctuary designed to aid the dying, Lee, a middle-aged non-binary person from the Midwest, grapples with the unbearable weight of losing their young adult daughter. Abandoning their previous life and even the comfort of a longtime spouse, Lee is driven...
2026-01-1526 min
This Mama Is Lit!Claire Adam: Leaving the Baby BehindAmanda Fields and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Claire Adam, author of Love Forms, about forced delivery in Venezuela and testing the mother-child bond in fiction. Love Forms, longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, centers on Dawn, a 58 year old mother of two grown sons. She finds herself returning to her past and a secret she has kept for many years. When Dawn was 16, her parents sent her from Trinidad to Venezuela to have a baby and give her up for adoption. She’s now trying to track down the daughter she gave up, which leads her to re...
2026-01-0828 min
This Mama Is Lit!Teri Vlassopoulos: Technology, Fertility, and KaraokeAmanda Fields and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Teri Vlassopoulos, author of Living Expenses, about technology creep in modern relationships, fertility treatments’ effect on emotional intimacy, and bookstore karaoke. Teri’s most recent novel interrogates the strain that can accompany even the strongest of relationships and also the discovery that so often it is when we are on the way to something else and stuck in the in-between period that we discover our true selves.Teri Vlassopoulos is the author of Living Expenses (Invisible Publishing, 2025), Escape Plans (Invisible Publishing, 2015) and Bats or Swallows (Invisible Publishing, 2010). Her fiction and...
2025-12-2628 min
This Mama Is Lit!Liz Alterman: Humor is My Drug of ChoiceHolly Rizzuto Palker and Eva Langston chat with Liz Alterman, author of Sad Sacked, about the perils and freedoms of unemployment, the dichotomy of working moms, and the need to write the book you want to read. Diving deep into her own family’s dual layoffs, Liz’s memoir uses humor as a healing force as she details the downsizing and uploading of life’s losses and wins.Liz Alterman is the author of the young adult thriller, He’ll Be Waiting, the suspense novels The Perfect Neighborhood, The House on Cold Creek Lane, and You Shouldn’t Have Don...
2025-11-2831 min
This Mama Is Lit!Natasha Williams: Love and SchizophreniaEva Langston and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Natasha Williams, author of The Parts of Him I Kept, about parenting her father through schizophrenia and healing through memoir writing.The Parts of Him I Kept is an intimate account of a daughter’s coming of age in the face of her father’s schizophrenic unraveling. Williams investigates the limits of our medical and cultural understanding of schizophrenia while chronicling the shared burden and benefits of caring for a mentally ill family member. The Parts of Him I Kept asks us to consider the ways mental illness is as m...
2025-11-1330 min
This Mama Is Lit!Abigail Leonard: For Mothers Across BordersHolly Rizzuto Palker and Amanda Fields chat with Abigail Leonard, author of Four Mothers, about parenting in four different countries, politicizing motherhood, and supporting mothers with the power of community.Utterly moving and propulsively readable from page one, Abigail interweaves stories of four mothers from four different countries with a critically researched exploration of how parental support programs evolved in each country—and why some provide more help than others. As nations around the world debate programs like paid leave, universal daycare, reproductive healthcare, and family tax incentives, Four Mothers offers a uniquely intimate, moving portrait of wh...
2025-11-0629 min
This Mama Is Lit!50th Episode Retrospective: Fangirling & Finding a GrooveAmanda Fields, Brianna Avenia-Tapper, Holly Rizzuto Palker, and Eva Langston come together to reflect on the evolution of this podcast, memorable guests, and the conversations we can’t wait to have. From their very first attempts at recording to latest and greatest moments, they take time to reflect, celebrate and appreciate all the authors they have featured in addition to what they have learned from each other. The Literary Mama community is fierce and fabulous. Thank you to our loyal listeners who continue to show up for us. We have so much more to explore with you.Li...
2025-10-1534 min
This Mama Is Lit!Maggie Smith: My Work is PlayFor our 50th episode, Holly Rizzuto Palker and Amanda Fields chat with Maggie Smith, author of Dear Writer, about applying poetic license to writing and beyond, embracing the beginner’s mind, and aging in reverse through creativity. Smith’s national bestseller guides the reader on how to unleash the creative mind with ten ingredients, each one explored through inspirational essays and writing prompts. It’s a book for artists of all genres and for everyday life.Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1977, Maggie Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful; My Tho...
2025-10-0829 min
This Mama Is Lit!Catalina Margulis: Humor is My Favorite FlavorHolly Rizzuto Palker and Amanda Fields chat with Catalina Margulis, author of Again, Only More Like You, about a reckoning of journalism, ideas of what a "good mother" is, and hard-kept female friendships. For fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner, Again, Only More Like You offers a poignant and humorous look at friendship and reinvention at 40.Catalina is an author, podcast host and mother of four who has written for many of Canada’s top publications over the past 20 years. Cat was an editor at ELLE Canada, Flare, and Today’s Parent, she was a regular cont...
2025-09-1027 min
This Mama Is Lit!Penny Zang: Unfinished BusinessEva Langston and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Penny Zang, author of Doll Parts, about writing through grief, the “rights and wrongs” of motherhood, and finding inspiration in Sylvia Plath. For readers of The Virgin Suicides and I Have Some Questions For You, Doll Parts is a dual timeline suspense novel following one woman as she begins to uncover the truth of the death of her estranged best friend and the Sylvia Plath adoring sad girls they attended college with decades ago, all while holding a secret that will slowly unravel her new, suburban dream life.Penny Zang...
2025-08-2729 min
This Mama Is Lit!Lish McBride: Chaos is My BrandEva Langston and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Lish McBride, author of quirky books for teens and adults, about writing in different genres, navigating the publishing industry, and weaving humor through daily life.Lish McBride is a prolific writer of Young Adult and Adult books that often contain humor and magic. Her latest adult novel, The Suitcase Swap, is a love story born out of a JFK Airport baggage claim snafu. The book was first released in the United Kingdom and will be out in the U.S. soon. The audio version can be found here. Her...
2025-07-0229 min
This Mama Is Lit!Amanda K. Jaros: Writing in CommunityAmanda Fields and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Amanda K. Jaros, author of Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology, about mothering and stepmothering, running a motherhood magazine, and finding support in writing communities.Amanda is a writer and editor living in Ithaca, NY. Her writing passion began with personal journals and short stories as a child, which morphed into a series of mommy blogs after she had her son in the mid-aughts. Nearing forty, she decided to follow her dream and returned to school to earn her MFA in creative nonfiction from Chatham University (where...
2025-06-0428 min
This Mama Is Lit!Sandra Chwialkowska: Perfect VictimsEva Langston, Holly Rizzuto Palker + Amanda Fields chat with Sandra Chwialkowska, author of The Ends of Things, about screenwriting versus novel-writing + surviving a book launch with a newborn baby.Sandra Chwialkowska is a television producer and writer whose first novel, The Ends of Things, is a psychological suspense that explores female friendship and agency, and pushes back against the trope of the helpless female as a “perfect victim.” Her prolific years of screenwriting translate into engrossing cinematic writing on the page, and this novel grew out of her own fears of traveling alone as a woman.Sa...
2025-05-0725 min
This Mama Is Lit!Susan Kiyo Ito: Adoption, Birth Mothers, & Reproductive JusticeAmanda Fields and Holly Rizzuto Palker speak with Susan Kiyo Ito, author of I Would Meet You Anywhere, about adoption, the complexities of meeting one's birth mother, and reproductive freedom. Seeking her birth mother and fighting for reproductive rights inspires Susan to find the power of support in community and answers through her writing.A finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award and a Finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, I Would Meet You Anywhere is the stirring culmination of Ito’s decision to embrace her right to know and tell her own st...
2025-04-2331 min
This Mama Is Lit!Judith Smith: If Not Me, Then Who?Holly Rizzuto Palker and Eva Langston speak with Judith Smith, author of Difficult: Mothering Challenging Adult Children Through Conflict and Change, about mothering challenging adult children, and how to find solutions through acceptance and no assignment of fault. Becoming an adult is not nearly as clear today as it was 50 years ago. Major structural changes are needed for mothers not to blame themselves and begin to discover answers on how to move forward.Difficult is based on a series of in-depth interviews Judith Smith conducted with women (all over 60 years of age, across socio-economic and geographic locations...
2025-04-0929 min
This Mama Is Lit!Rachelle Bergstein: In Full BlumeHolly Rizzuto Palker and Eva Langston chat with Rachelle Bergstein, author of The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us, about why Blume, once the most banned writer in the United States is more relevant now than ever. Judy Blume's ability to reflect real life parenting, puberty and precocious kids built a trust with her adolescent readers and provided a solid training ground for the next generation of women's rights activists. The original Judy Blume generation has now grown up and taken her messaging into our own parenting and beyond.Rachelle is...
2025-03-2628 min
This Mama Is Lit!Aileen Weintraub: Bedrest Becomes YouHolly 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, about a Brooklyn girl who moves to the country, gets married, and finds...
2025-03-1225 min
This Mama Is Lit!Nancy Johnson: No Margin for ErrorHolly 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 Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates in markets na...
2025-02-2629 min
This Mama Is Lit!Nicole Haroutunian: Feminism and FriendshipAmanda Fields and Holly Rizzuto Palker talk with Nicole Haroutunian, author of Choose This Now, about feminism, friendship, art, and their impact on parenting. 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
2024-08-1428 min
This Mama Is Lit!Jane Friedman: On the Desire to Not Have ChildrenJane Friedman chats with Holly Rizzuto Palker and Amanda Fields about her publishing guru status, The Business of Being a Writer, and her choice not to have children. She also talks about her relationship with her mother and more. 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
2024-05-1522 min
This Mama Is Lit!Starting Over in Every Way PossibleJessica Strawser chats with Holly Rizzuto Palker and Brianna Avenia-Tapper about her newest book, The Last Caretaker. She talks about how her children inspire her writing, how her characters always try to do the right thing, domestic violence and more. 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
2024-05-0123 min
This Mama Is Lit!Tiffanie Drayton: Demon slayer, here we comeTiffanie Drayton sits in the Literary Mama guest chair with Amanda Fields, Holly Rizzuto Palker, and Brianna Avenia-Tapper to discuss her memoir Black American Refugee, abusive relationships, racism and inequity, and the horrifying landscape of the U.S. family court system.Episode call-outs:* Custody Peace: Website, X/Twitter* Tiffanie Drayton: X/Twitter 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
2024-04-0332 min
This Mama Is Lit!New Ways of Being MeHolly Rizzuto Palker and Brianna Avenia-Tapper chat with author, Estelle Erasmus, about her book Writing That Gets Noticed, about being a midlife mom, and about how she re-invented herself during motherhood. 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
2024-03-0627 min
This Mama Is Lit!Elizabeth Farfán-Santos: Remembering resiliencyAmanda Fields, Holly Rizzuto Palker, and Brianna Avenia-Tapper talk with Elizabeth Farfán-Santos, a Chicana author and medical anthropologist. Her newest book, Undocumented Motherhood: Conversations on Love, Trauma, and Border Crossing, is a hybrid ethnography, memoir, and testimonio centered on the courageous journey of a Mexican mother fighting for health and educational services for her hearing-impaired daughter. 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
2024-02-2729 min
This Mama Is Lit!Alyssa Ages: Betrayal of the bodyHolly Rizzuto Palker and Brianna Avenia-Tapper talk with Alyssa Ages. Ages is a mom, strongman competitor, endurance athlete, and freelance writer. Her debut book, Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength, was released in 2023. 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
2023-12-1119 min
This Mama Is Lit!Jacinda Townsend: The mom from hideous kinkyAmanda Fields, Brianna Avenia-Tapper, and Holly Rizzuto Palker talk with Jacinda Townsend. Jacinda is a novelist, creative writing professor, and long-time friend of Literary Mama. Find out more on Jacinda Townsend’s website and in LM’s profile of Townsend.. 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
2023-11-0221 min
This Mama Is Lit!Did I marry the wrong person? Talking infertility with Susan ShapiroHolly Rizzuto Palker, Brianna Avenia-Tapper, and Amanda Fields talk with Susan Shapiro, an award-winning writer and professor. Susan is the bestselling author/coauthor of 17 books, including Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Lighting Up, Unhooked, The Bosnia List, The Forgiveness Tour, The Book Bible, The Byline Bible, and American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy, coauthored with Aquilino Gonell. Find more on Susan Shapiro’s website. 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
2023-10-3121 min
Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.#46 Writing & Editing Parenting Stories with Holly Rizzuto PalkerIn this episode: Writing about parenting and personal life experiences [4:14] The power of relatability [8:48] Writing profile pieces for Literary Mama [13:40] ASJA and the impact of conferences [15:45] Actionable editing tips [16:54] Holly is an award-winning writer and an editor at Literary Mama, a board member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), and a mom to three kids and a dog. As a freelance writer, her passion lies in parenting and interfaith family relationships, although she also writes about a broad range of ot...
2023-08-1027 min