Greta’s guest today will be familiar to longtime Nerdette listeners -- her name is Kate Schatz, and she’s an activist and author. She co-wrote Do the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book with W Kamau Bell, and she’s the author of Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide.

Now, she’s back with her first novel for adults! Where the Girls Were takes place in the Bay Area in 1968. It’s about Baker, a teenager whose future is bright -- until she meets a boy, and has sex with that boy, and gets pregnant.

Baker ends up at a “home for wayward girls,” a residence program where young pregnant women would be hidden from society until they gave birth. Their babies would be put up for adoption and the girls were expected to return home as if nothing ever happened.

“This is a book about choice and reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy and how truly complicated and nuanced it all is,” Kate says.

Kate talks with Greta about why she set the book in ‘68, the sneaky nefariousness of the word “unfit,” and where she finds comfort during tumultuous times.

SHOW CREDITS

Creator and host: Greta Johnsen

Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg

Composers: Ross Bellenoit and Jeremy Thal

Show art: Mac Maclean

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

An unimportant investigation into the difference between cupcakes and muffins with Bon Appetit test kitchen editor Shilpa Uscocovic.

SHOW CREDITS

Creator and host: Greta Johnsen

Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg

Composers: Ross Bellenoit and Jeremy Thal

Tile art: Mac Maclean

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For this deep-dive discussion of Tayari Jones’ novel Kin, host Greta Johnsen talks with Traci Thomas, who hosts The Stacks podcast.

They talk about the exquisite pleasure of reading a book that does exactly what it sets out to do, the beauty of female friendship, and the different ways the main characters are mothered despite the absence of their actual mothers.

Warning: this is a spoilery conversation! If you haven’t read the book yet, go listen to Greta’s spoiler-free conversation with Tayari.

SHOW CREDITS

Creator and host: Greta Johnsen

Senior Producer: Ben Goldberg

Composers: Ross Bellenoit and Jeremy Thal

Tile art: Mac Maclean

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.