Two Strange Moments with Writer Joan Gelfand
BABBLERY.com: Writer Joan Gelfand’s career has been bookended by two “strange moments,” with the power of the 70s women’s movement at one end and the fight against authoritarianism on the other.
Category: Writing
Minibabble: Creativity in Difficult Times
When writer and artist Patrice Vecchione found herself crippled by anxiety and despair in early 2025, she responded the only way a creative person can: she wrote. In this mini-episode,….
Minibabble: Dystopian novels – Warning, not blueprint.
Some thoughts from Babblery host Suki Wessling about how we should read and act upon dystopian literature. It seems that reasonable people take these novels as warnings, many people seem to take them as blueprints for how we should mold our future.
Minibabble: Carol Fisher Saller on Inclusivity in Children’s Fiction
In this mini-episode, we focus on a change that has both energized and confused writers: the push for representation and the elimination of cultural appropriation. Author Carol Fisher Saller speaks with refreshing candor about the difficulties she faces as a white writer who genuinely wants to write representative, inclusive kidlit. She talks about the myths and misperceptions, as well as the challenges, as she tries to make her way in a changed industry.
Minibabble: On hanging out with Harriet in the closet
…and wishing it was a dumbwaiter Some thoughts on the importance of children’s literature, and how we bring the books we read as children with us throughout life. Read the….
Minibabble: Brooke Berman, Director at Midlife
Brooke Berman is a first-time film director. She’s also a middle-aged woman, a mom, and a wife with a full writing career under her belt. In this mini-episode, we explore what she learned from directing her film, Ramona at Midlife.
ReBabble: Ramona at Midlife Watch Party
What happens when a group of midlife women watch a film about a group of midlife women? Well, we have thoughts! Host Suki Wessling gathered a group of friends who had watched the movie to talk about their reactions to this story, which is unusual in how it centers women’s lives and friendships.
Filmmaker at Midlife: In conversation with Brooke Berman
Brooke Berman is a first-time film director. She’s also a middle-aged woman, a mom, and a wife with a full writing career under her belt. In this episode of The Babblery Radio Show & Podcast, we explore how she got to the point of directing her film, Ramona at Midlife, and what she learned in the process.
Minibabble: Thinking about greed in the redwoods
This is an unusual version of “Just me, talking to you.” In this case, I recorded my thoughts while walking in the redwoods. It’s largely unedited (I took out a….
Exactly Who We Are: The Portraiture of Jana Marcus
What happens when a photographer, a mature woman herself, welcomes older women into her studio to get the “full glamour treatment”? In this episode, we explore how a session with photographer Jana Marcus inspired and thrilled the women who took part. Even though beauty is supposed to be a superficial attribute, seeing themselves as beautiful, strong, and desirable had a deep and lasting effect on these women.