Beautiful Writers Podcast

Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, and UN Messenger of Peace, is with us from the UK for a special eco-edition of the Beautiful Writers Podcast. I’m excited to celebrate the release of the Nat Geo film The Hope—showcasing Jane's lifetime of jaw-dropping conservation—with the use of stunning audio from the movie.
Joining us is our longtime mutual friend, Keely Shaye Brosnan, a fearless activist. Like Jane, Keely has been a leader in conservation for decades—involved in some of the most dramatic environmental wins of our lifetime (think Dolphin Safe Tuna Act, for starters). Excerpts from Keely's latest offering—the award-winning film, Poisoning Paradise (illustrating how agrochemical companies are treating the islands as pesticide-testing grounds for genetically engineered crops)—help bring this interview to life.
If you're like me, you fell in love with Jane as a kid, watching her climbing trees and grooming (and being groomed by!) wild chimpanzees in the Gombe forest like a female Tarzan. I felt similar magic the first time I met Keely. While profiling her over twenty years ago for my first book, she and her husband, actor Pierce Brosnan, showed me devastating film footage taken from a hidden camera onboard a fishing vessel. While I would never unsee the massacre of dolphins en masse (schools of tuna often swim under pods of dolphins, leading to all sorts of excruciating, high-stakes tragedy), Keely had my heart. Not only does she not look away, but she stands up and puts up one heck of a fight.
Both women are extraordinary writers. Jane's books are some of my all-time favorites: Reasons for Hope, Harvest for Hope, and Seeds of Hope, among them. While Keely's most known for her television writing, her book on gardening (in the works) is a poetic masterpiece—you can quote me on that. I loved hearing details of their passion for words, how they bust through writer's block, and get in flow.
As we all hunker down due to Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders at the time of this taping, Jane's viewpoint is unique. Her Roots & Shoots programs are global (with 2,000 groups in China alone!); she's intimately aware of the dire effects of the wild animal trade. But, as I anticipated, Jane continues to hold onto her signature hope for a better future. My hope is that we take this profound opportunity to reimagine how we want to treat our Earth Mother. We can't all be bigger-than-life eco-heroes, but we can all live #alittlegreener.
Until next time, stay safe, plant a tree, and write on!
Linda
xx

The world feels like it’s exploding. With Covid-19 and anti-racism protests both raging through our streets, I had a sensitive, maybe even a bold question to ask Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Patchett, two longtime literary idols of mine. How are a couple of white women so audacious as to write books where the majority of characters are not their race or gender?
How does a woman, sitting alone in a room, put her mind and heart into the soul of a man? Or an African American (enslaved, or modern-day). Or an Amazonian tribesperson. A Japanese business mogul. A Peruvian general. A terrorist. An American soprano. A brother and sister over the course of five decades. Or—as in the case with Sue’s new book—the wife of Jesus? And, in today’s tumultuous times, amid discussions about cultural appropriation, would they even attempt to tackle these topics if they were starting over?
Do you remember where you were when The Secret Life of Bees came out (Sue’s first novel that sold 6m copies and became a film starring Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Dakota Fanning)? I’ll never forget being glued to my couch for two days. Bees was my gateway drug to Sue’s memoirs, including the revolutionary, Dance of the Dissident Daughter—a beautiful unfolding of a woman’s spiritual life in a most feminine way. She’s currently on tour—from her house—for The Book of Longings (on the New York Times bestseller list now). Perhaps you heard Ann and me chatting early last year when she was here (where we discussed several of her incredible books: Bel Canto, State of Wonder, and Nashville among them). Since then, Ann has released the New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the PULITZER PRIZE, The Dutch House, plus, Lambslide, for the kiddos.
Like these ladies, this is a deeply FUN and rich conversation. I loved hearing about where they get their audacity, and empathy, to write about lives so far removed from their own. Also, where they write, how they write (about others), researching strategies, thoughts on social media, and my favorite question of all: how they STEAL time away from loved ones to get ‘er done. We have some laughs about that one.
I’m so glad you’re here!
Write on,
LS xo

Author, Visionary, & Oprah SuperSoul100 leader, Danielle LaPorte, isn’t risk averse. No. She’s “risk erotic.” But that doesn’t mean she didn’t get a not-so-little unwelcome surprise after choosing to walk from a Big 5 publisher and go rogue to self-publish her latest book, WHITE HOT TRUTH: Clarity for Keeping It Real on Your Spiritual Path from One Seeker to Another.
Linda and bestselling author Dani Shapiro (9 books; currently on tour for HOURGLASS: Time, Memory, Marriage) chat with D about what taking big risks really looks like when the realities of funding your mission, your art in the world, test your “limits.” This is what Danielle calls the teeth of entrepreneurship.
Three writers. Two on book tour. All mothers with sons. On today’s episode, they get real and really vulnerable about: Tradeoffs and damn hard parenting lessons learned (stuff you can’t take back and don’t ever want to regret); the fear of not looking pretty enough on stage; why confidence is not necessarily a writer’s friend; the courage it takes to step into a bigger arena (where the stakes keep getting higher), and how writing is like a lover who waits for you (who sometimes argues!).
They talk, too, about not having a Plan B; the GIFTS that come from saying no because of your values, health, or family priorities; what goes on Instagram and what doesn’t; how to find the spine of your book—the rhythm of things, and being in total effing denial about time. As you listen to Danielle say: “I’m so done with not having fun in getting where I want to go,” think about how that can be your new mantra. About how, via her example, you can walk and write lighter and brighter.
Write on.
Welcome.

Two of the top-selling YA Fantasy authors of ALL TIME give us a master class on earning, output, and living as epic a life as the stories they’re writing. On this fifth birthday of the Beautiful Writers Podcast, these #1 New York Times bestselling novelists—Nigerian-American Tomi Adeyemi (Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance) and her dear friend and mentor, Pakistani-American Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes series)—astound with their frank, nothing-is-sacred admissions. Still only in their twenties and thirties respectively, these women have nevertheless learned to stay disciplined and committed to a story long after it’s lost its spark, faced brutal rejections and failed deal-making, and even stared down the “evil eye,” giving them fierce determination. Homeschooling during a pandemic while on deadline? No problem. Who says you can’t write a battle scene while setting the table and yelling at the kids to wash their hands?
TIME Magazine’s list of “100 Best Fantasy Novels of All Time” includes two books apiece by Tomi and Sabaa. Imagine that! Keeping company with titles that go back as far as the ninth century (The Arabian Nights) and include classics like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, The Fellowship of the Ring, A Wrinkle in Time, and several of the Harry Potters, our guests, with their black and brown heroic characters—created long before the Black Panther movie electrified audiences—have written stories that will stand the test of time.
Tomi and Sabaa tell us what it’s like to write a series where girls in their ancestral countries finally feel seen; how they feel deserving of making seven figures, and what it takes to embody the courage to walk away from major publishers or movie studios if the soul of their stories is compromised. They reveal whose music pumps through their veins on the regular to enable them to wake up every day and be their own heroes.
However, that doesn’t mean that Tomi and Sabaa don’t have to rest up and HEAL from all their epic world-creation. Or that dating is easy when you feel the need to hide what you do from strangers. Or that being black or brown at this time in history doesn’t bring radical weight and urgency. World-changing is never uncomplicated. But when film companies like Paramount (which first optioned Sabaa’s books—she’s since changed course in a “secret,” exciting development), and Disney/Lucasfilm (which are developing a franchise from Tomi’s books—only the third one after Star Wars and Indiana Jones), it’s the little things that keep them grounded: the puppies, chocolate, the welcome interruption of UPS deliveries. Of course, kids, siblings, and parents pulling focus and busting their chops always remind them of what matters—and that even characters fleeing a maniacal king or empire still need to eat and sleep and will laugh, have crushes, fall in love, and be annoyed with the person they love.
This is an episode I’ll go back to again and again when I need a shot of confidence. This is the show I’ll share with my grandkids. “Oh, you think you can’t do that thing you want more than anything? Listen to this!”
Welcome.

You’ve watched Maria Shriver on TV for decades. Read her many bestsellers. Cheered as she and her family founded and championed some of humanity's greatest causes. Now’s your chance to get to know her more intimately than perhaps ever before. Maria’s here, on for the first day of her new book tour! In this playful, deep interview for I’VE BEEN THINKING: Reflections, Prayers, and Meditations for a Meaningful Life (Pamela Dorman Books/Penguin Random House), Leeza Gibbons and I talk with this New York Times bestselling author of six (surely now seven!) titles.
We muse about family, friendship, parenting, and divorce. On the struggle to believe we’re doing enough; the different ways we three get our writing done; Time Debt and what’s truly important, and the steps we should all be taking to safeguard our precious brains from Alzheimer’s and other dementia.
Guys. This episode is epic for me. It’s hard to put into words what it means to host the show with someone who’s touched my life so beautifully for so long (Leeza). But to then have another idol of mine for nearly twenty years (Maria) as our guest?!—Good God. Life can be so surreal. And, as Maria points out, it can also be incredibly complicated. For everyone. Doesn’t just knowing that make it easier already?
Imagine this. Your uncle promises the country that he’ll land us on the moon—uttering some of the most famous words in the history of our world. Your parents start the Peace Corps, Head Start, Jobs Corps, and the Special Olympics—all organizations still uplifting the masses. How the heck, against this backdrop, do you find your words, your voice? And yet, as you’ll hear, it was Maria’s words, Maria’s voice that truly changed the course of my life and in part gave me the freedom I have now.
I’m extra excited to share this conversation with you—one in which Leeza stumps Maria during our rapid-fire Q & A with the hardest—and I’m guessing funniest—question she’s ever been asked. (Hint: It may have to do with hair and coffee, although not hairy coffee.)
Then, as Maria tells us she’s NEVER before been asked our next question, and I hear these long-time besties laugh—I’m now thinking: How in the world did I get so lucky? Here’s a woman who worked her way up from writer to producer to anchor at both CBS News and NBC News, and traveled the world interviewing presidents, kings, activists, and more—and has been interviewed countless times herself. Did we really just hit the back-to-back question jackpot here? (Smiley.) Surreal indeed.
I’m so glad you’re here.
Welcome!
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