Women of Letters

Jana M. Perkins
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In-depth conversations about work, writing, & professional success with the women shaping our cultural landscape. An interview series now in its 3rd season.

  1. “Everything was building to this”: The Postscript

    4d ago ·  Bonus

    “Everything was building to this”: The Postscript

    Each month, between interviews, I hop on the mic to share a new episode of The Postscript: a new section of Women of Letters I’ve been working on which features a life update from me + a behind-the-scenes look at my conversations with our recent guests. I talk about what my first month in Croatia has been like (both the good and the bad); how some of my other big moves over the years have gone and what I’ve learned from them that I’m applying to this one; why I always make it a priority to get things in writing; how I’ve recently gotten super into Instagram Reels, to the point that I now have 20 or 30 of them recorded on my phone; and  the way that seemingly small moments or interactions can radically reshape our lives. — Jana M. Perkins, PhD, is an award-winning scholar. Her research has garnered over a quarter of a million dollars in funding from leading institutions across North America and the UK, including the University of Cambridge and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). As a data scientist with a background in literary scholarship, her expertise extends across disciplines to yield the unique analytical frameworks which characterize her approach. Her forthcoming book, co-authored with Miranda Dunham-Hickman, will be published by Routledge. Visit her online at janajm.com or @janajm on Instagram. —— Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    43 min

  2. May 21

    “I never intended to publish it”: Claire Jia on her career as a novelist and screenwriter

    If you’ve been a longtime reader, you’ll know that two of the subjects I most regularly gravitate towards in my personal reading are books about female friendship and books about the diaspora experience. So you can only imagine my delight at discovering Claire’s debut novel, Wanting, which contends with both. In addition to having been called “Ferrante-like” by the New York Times Book Review, her novel has also been declared a best book of the summer by outlets ranging from LitHub to Harper’s Bazaar. I was grateful to have a chance to sit down with her and learn more about how her experiences living between two different countries as a Chinese-American have shaped the way she approaches her career. P.S. I am so excited to be able to gift two copies of Claire’s amazing book, Wanting. Head over to our Substack to enter to receive your copy. 📚 — Claire Jia is a writer from the suburbs of Chicago. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Modern Love column, The Rumpus, Reductress, and more. She writes for television and video games, including the 2023 Peabody Award-winning We Are OFK. Her family is from Beijing, and there’s nothing she loves more than haggling for stationary in a chaotic Beijing marketplace. Today, she lives in Los Angeles with her friends. Wanting is her debut novel. —— Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    1h 16m
  3. “There is never a point at which people will stop doubting you”: The Postscript

    Apr 30 ·  Bonus

    “There is never a point at which people will stop doubting you”: The Postscript

    Each month, between interviews, I hop on the mic to share a new episode of The Postscript: a new section of Women of Letters I’ve been working on which features a life update from me + a behind-the-scenes look at my conversations with our recent guests. In this episode, I talk about finally having my tickets to Croatia booked (!) and the search for an apartment, New York Magazine’s article on how much money people make, the importance of introducing structure into your routine when you’re making a major life change, why the myth of the straight career path is damaging, the wrong thing to say when someone shares some big news with you, the way to get closer to a ‘yes’ from the gatekeepers standing in the way of a goal, & my best advice for how to improve your writing. — Jana M. Perkins, PhD, is an award-winning scholar. Her research has garnered over a quarter of a million dollars in funding from leading institutions across North America and the UK, including the University of Cambridge and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). As a data scientist with a background in literary scholarship, her expertise extends across disciplines to yield the unique analytical frameworks which characterize her approach. Her forthcoming book, co-authored with Miranda Dunham-Hickman, will be published by Routledge. Visit her online at janajm.com or @janajm on Instagram. —— Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    43 min
  4. “I think whole is always better than good”: Savala Nolan on her career as an essayist and professor

    Apr 23

    “I think whole is always better than good”: Savala Nolan on her career as an essayist and professor

    With her latest book, Savala has accomplished the rare feat of building on a widely celebrated first book with a second book that—already, in its first month post-publication—is on track to be equally if not more so. (Ms. Magazine, for example, has proclaimed it a most anticipated feminist book of 2026.) The 12 timely essays of Good Woman: A Reckoning offer a striking blend of cultural commentary, reporting, and memoir across topics like the surge in GLP-1 messaging that’s reshaping expectations around our bodies; the ways that racism amplifies misogyny; how women have been socialized to be agreeable and ‘good’; and why compliance didn’t bring her wholeness, happiness, or safety. It was a joy, when we spoke, to get to learn more about this collection alongside the experiences that have shaped her career. P.S. I am so excited to be able to gift two copies of Savala’s latest amazing book, Good Woman. Head over to our Substack to enter to receive your copy. 📚 — Savala Nolan is an essayist and professor who writes about race, bodies, and gender. She helped create the Peabody Award–winning podcast The Promise, and directs the social justice program at UC Berkeley, School of Law, where she teaches about the role of identity in lawyering. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s magazine, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time, Forbes, LitHub, and more. —— Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    1h 42m
  5. “I had to figure out how to get through”: Victoria Redel on her career as a novelist, poet, and professor

    Mar 26

    “I had to figure out how to get through”: Victoria Redel on her career as a novelist, poet, and professor

    Victoria’s latest novel is the rare book that is so wide-ranging and lushly articulated that it eludes description. To simply say, for example, that it’s a work of historical fiction about two women painters in 17th-century Amsterdam would be to fail to capture so much of what it also is: an ode to women excelling, against all odds, in their chosen professions; a meditation on who has power and how it’s wielded; a decades-long love story; and a nuanced study on the complexities of mentorship. And yet, for Victoria, it’s only the latest in the string of successful works that have marked her prolific writing career. I was delighted to have a chance to sit down with her and talk all about it. P.S. I am so excited to be able to gift two copies of Victoria’s latest amazing book, I Am You. Head over to our Substack to enter to receive your copy. 📚 — Victoria Redel is a first-generation American author of four books of poetry and six books of fiction, most recently the poetry collection Paradise and the novel I Am You, published in October 2025 by Zando Project/SJP Lit. Victoria’s work has been widely anthologized, awarded, and translated into many languages. Her novel Loverboy (2001) was adapted for feature film directed by Kevin Bacon. She’s received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and The Fine Arts Work Center. Victoria has taught at Columbia University, the New School, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and was the McGee Distinguished Professor at Davidson College. She is a tenured faculty in the graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City and Utah. —— Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    1h 21m
  6. “I wanted there to be a way to share that with you”: introducing The Postscript

    Mar 18 ·  Bonus

    “I wanted there to be a way to share that with you”: introducing The Postscript

    If you’ve been a longtime reader or listener, you’ll know that this kind of one-on-one is something I haven’t done before. So I’m definitely feeling a little bit nervous in this moment. But I also have a lot of excitement around it, because with this episode we’re launching a new section of Women of Letters called The Postscript. Listen in for a personal note from me, with a behind-the-scenes on our interviews with Alia and Melissa, a life update on why I’m moving to Croatia, and a peek behind the curtain on Season 3. — [0:00] Introduction on the inspiration behind The Postscript [7:05] Building on our interview with Alia Hanna Habib (full interview here) [14:42] Building on our interview with Melissa Febos (full interview here) [20:32] A life update on what’s been happening in my world these days [23:38] Behind the scenes on the production of Season 3: why the planning for a new season begins about 6 months out from the publication of the first interview, how I decide on each season’s new set of questions, and one of the projects I’ve been wanting to take on for a long time that we’re finally getting to do now —— Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    32 min
  7. “I became a person who took those kind of risks”: Alia Hanna Habib on her career as a literary agent and an author

    Feb 26

    “I became a person who took those kind of risks”: Alia Hanna Habib on her career as a literary agent and an author

    The publishing industry occupies a unique space in our cultural landscape: it is ubiquitous in its influence, and yet persistently opaque in its operations. Alia has been working to change that. In addition to representing some of today’s most successful authors as a literary agent, she has also taken on the task of demystifying the world of publishing with her debut book, Take It From Me: An Agent’s Guide to Building a Nonfiction Writing Career from Scratch. In it, she details each step of the process with characteristic generosity of insight. Her account offers precisely the kind of peek behind the curtain that will interest even those who aren’t themselves in publishing, revealing, as it does, an insider’s perspective into how the books we love make their way into the world. P.S. I am so excited to be able to gift two hardcover copies of Alia’s amazing book. Leave a comment with your thoughts on our Substack post of this interview — womenofletters.substack.com/p/alia-hanna-habib — or restack the post to enter to receive your copy. 📚 — Alia Hanna Habib is a literary agent and Vice President at The Gernert Company, which she joined in 2017 after starting her publishing career as a publicist at HMH and working as an agent at McCormick Literary. She is the author of Take It From Me: An Agent’s Guide to Building a Nonfiction Career from Scratch and of the publishing-themed Substack Delivery & Acceptance. Among the New York Times-bestselling and prize-winning clients she represents are Clint Smith, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Lauren Oyler, Nathan Thrall, Merve Emre, Adam Serwer, and Hanif Abdurraqib. She is on the board of n+1 literary magazine and on the creative council of Aspen Words. She was profiled by New York Magazine for their special issue on “The 49 Most Powerful New Yorkers (You’ve Never Heard Of).” She lives in Brooklyn. —— Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    1h 26m
  8. “I went back to what I’d always been passionate about”: Petya K. Grady on her career as a writer, featured Substacker, and UX strategist

    12/16/2025

    “I went back to what I’d always been passionate about”: Petya K. Grady on her career as a writer, featured Substacker, and UX strategist

    With her work on A Reading Life, Petya’s newsletter exemplifies the vibrant literary community that has emerged on Substack. Her writing charts the terrain between casual reader and devoted bibliophile, offering essays on her favourite reads, interviews chronicling the reading lives of fellow book-lovers, and frameworks for cultivating a more sustained reading practice. She views reading as an antidote to scrolling, and — as her thousands of subscribers can attest — it’s a perspective that continues to resonate with all those who encounter her work each week. Our wideranging conversation explores how she developed her approach and why it matters now. — Petya K. Grady is a writer and UX strategist. Now entering its sixth year, her popular literary newsletter, A Reading Life, has been named a Substack Featured Publication. Originally from Bulgaria, she lives in Memphis with her family. — — Song: “Walk Through the Park,” by TrackTribe

    1h 8m
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About

In-depth conversations about work, writing, & professional success with the women shaping our cultural landscape. An interview series now in its 3rd season.

Information

  • Creator
    Jana M. Perkins
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jana M. Perkins
  • Show Website
    Women of Letters

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