The 7am Novelist

• Milo Todd and Julie Carrick Dalton on Asparagus (and Making Room for Writers Unlike Yourself)

  Today, we hear from Milo Todd and Julie Carrick Dalton, close friends and supporters of each other, from their early novel drafts to their debuts and beyond. They’re going to talk about how they’ve done it, the work they do for others, and their hopes for the New Year.Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find Todd and Dalton’s latest books as well as many other books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page.Want to join our January write-a-thon? Go here for more information: 7amnovelist.substack.com/p/join-our-january-group-writeLooking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page.Milo Todd is co-EIC at Foglifter Journal, runs The Queer Writer newsletter, and teaches creative writing primarily to queer and trans adults. He’s received awards, accolades, and fellowships from such places as Lambda Literary, Tin House, Pitch Wars, GrubStreet, Monson Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. His debut, THE LILAC PEOPLE, publishes through Counterpoint on April 29, 2025.Julie Carrick Dalton is the Boston-based author of Waiting for the Night Song and The Last Beekeeper. She is the winner of the New Hampshire Writers' Project's People's Choice Award for Best Novel, and a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award and the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature. A former beekeeper and farmer, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of fiction in the age of climate crisis at universities, museums, and conferences nationally and internationally. She is on the faculty of Drexel University's Creative Writing MFA program and is an adjunct instructor at Tufts University where she teaches Climate Fiction & Activism. When she isn't reading or writing, you can usually find Julie skiing, swimming, kayaking, or working in her garden.Photo by Alisa Golovinska on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

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• Randy Susan Meyers and Jennifer S. Brown on Truth in Fiction

  Today, we hear from Jennifer S. Brown and Randy Susan Meyers about how they’ve supported each other’s writing careers, the work they do both locally and nationally to help others, and how staying true to your characters is the best policy when writing politically-charged fiction. Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find Brown and Meyers’ latest books as well as many other books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page.Want to join our January write-a-thon? Go here for more information: 7amnovelist.substack.com/p/join-our-january-group-writeLooking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page.Jennifer S. Brown’s debut novel, Modern Girls, was a USA Today bestseller, a Massachusetts Book Award “Must Read,” and a 2016 Goodreads Choice semifinalist for Historical Fiction. Her writing has been published in Fiction Southeast, McSweeney’s, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, The Southeast Review, and the Bellevue Literary Review, among other places. She teaches writing, both in-person in the Boston area and online through the Loft Literary Center. She holds a BFA in film and television from NYU and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. The Whisper Sister is her second novel.Randy Susan Meyers is the internationally bestselling author of six novels and a three-time Massachusetts Book Award finalist and “Must Read” awardee. Though her books explore domestic drama, societal issues, and cultural nuances—informed by her years working with community and governmental agencies—she gained the most insight into family and politics during four years bartending in a small Boston neighborhood pub. A Brooklyn-Boston mix, she believes happiness requires family, friends, books, and an occasional NY bagel. Meyers lives in Boston with her husband where she teaches writing seminars at Boston’s GrubStreet Writers’ Center.Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

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• Josh Barkan on Writing the Political

  Today, we hear from Josh Barkan whose fiction and nonfiction skirts our most pressing political issues, either directly or indirectly, and his advice about how other writers might do the same.Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find Barkan’s latest book as well as many other books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page.Want to join our January write-a-thon. Go here for more information: 7amnovelist.substack.com/p/join-our-january-group-writeLooking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page.JOSH BARKAN won the Lightship International Short Story Prize and was runner-up for the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, the Paterson Fiction Prize, the Juniper Prize for Fiction, and the Eric Hoffer Award for memoir. He is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his writing has appeared in Esquire. He has taught creative writing at Harvard, NYU, the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Hollins University and MIT. His books include the novel Blind Speed and short story collections Before Hiroshima and Mexico (Hogarth/Penguin Random House)—named one of the five best story collections of 2017 by Library Journal. His latest book is the memoir Wonder Travels. He lives in Boston.Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

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• Christine Murphy & Hilary Lahan on Writing Friendships

  Today, we get some hilarity (and good advice) from Hilary Isabelle Lahan and Christine Murphy about how the special nature of writing friendships and how to manage your own.Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find their latest books here as well as many other books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page.Want to join our January write-a-thon? Go here for more information: 7amnovelist.substack.com/p/join-our-january-group-writeLooking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page.Hilary Isabelle Lahan’s novel-in-progress, Pollen Mitt, Massachusetts, was a 2023 Top Ten Finalist for Reese’s Book Club’s Lit Up Fellowship. In 2021-2022, she attended GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator program as a Pauline Scheer Fellow. Previously, she graduated in creative writing and literature from Wheaton College (Norton, MA), where she received the Helen Myers Tate Memorial Prize for Original Verse. For more information, visit www.hilaryisabelle.com.Christine Murphy has lived, worked, and traveled in more than a hundred countries, including living for eleven months in a tent across the African continent and a year as a resident in a Buddhist nunnery in the Himalayas. A trained Buddhologist, Murphy has a Ph.D. in religious studies. Her first novel, Notes on Surviving the Fire, will be released on February 25. And I’m lucky enough to be interviewing her at Porter Square Books, Boston Editon, at 7pm. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

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  31:29
• Grace Talusan & Calvin Hennick on Making a Morning Writing Partnership

  Today, we hear from Grace Talusan and Calvin Hennick about how they made their unique writing partnership work.Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform.To find Talusan and Hennick’s debuts as well as many other books by our authors, visit our Bookshop page.Want to join our January write-a-thon. Go here for more information: 7amnovelist.substack.com/p/join-our-january-group-writeLooking for a writing community? Join our Facebook page.Grace Talusan is the author of THE BODY PAPERS, which won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant writing and the Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction. In 2022, she was awarded fellowships from United States Artists, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Brother Thomas Fund. She teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program at Brown University.Calvin Hennick’s debut memoir, Once More to the Rodeo, won the Pushcart’s 2019 Editors’ Book Award and was published in December 2019 by Pushcart Press. He is also a business and technology writer based in Boston. He wrote for many years for The Boston Globe and his prize-winning work has appeared in over 50 publications.Photo by Magnus Jonasson on Unsplash This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com

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