Melissa Febos is the critically acclaimed author of Whipsmart, Abandon Me, and Girlhood. She joins Laura and Adrian for a candid and captivating conversation on her newest book Body Work (out 3/16). They explore the craft and complexity of writing truthfully about our lives and loved ones.
Taylor Harris is the author of the affecting memoir This Boy We Made, which details her family’s journey through the American medical system in search of a diagnosis and treatment for her son Tophs. In this discussion, we explore the function of faith, anxiety, parenthood, medical mysteries, and institutional racism. …
Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of the award-winning book The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir. Alex joins TFP this week to discuss the historically controversial lesbian novel _The Well of Loneliness:_ is it really a lesbian novel, or perhaps more of a trans novel? Have we …
Friend of the podcast Moira Donegan is an opinion columnist for Guardian US who longtime TFP fans will remember from our first season. Moira makes a glorious return to discuss her recent deep dive into Betty Friedan's _The Feminine Mystique._
**Jeanette Winterson** CBE is the author of 27 influential feminist texts, including _Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Sexing The Cherry, Gut Symmetries, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?_ , and most recently, _12 BYTES: Where We Might Go Next._ In a special event partnering with the independent …
Sarah Marshall and Alex Steed are the hosts of the podcast YOU ARE GOOD (formerly WHY ARE DADS), the film podcast unafraid of feelings. With Laura and Adrian, they dive into the odd complexity of REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, the 1990 film adapted from law professor Alan Dershowitz’s 1985 book.
Meera Menon is the director of two feature films: _EQUITY_ (2016), starring Anna Gunn as a high-powered Wall Street broker, and _FARAH GOES BANG_ (2013), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the inaugural Nora Ephron Prize from Tribeca and _Vogue_ (and which Meera co-wrote with one of …
Merve Emre is associate professor of English at the University of Oxford. She is the author of _Paraliterary: The Making of Bad Readers in Postwar America_ 2017), _The Ferrante Letters_ (2019), and _The Personality Brokers_ (2018). She is the editor of _Once and Future Feminist_ (2018), _The Annotated Mrs. Dalloway_ …
The wildly talented Terry Castle, Walter A. Hass Professor in the Humanities, has taught literature at Stanford for almost 40 years. She was once described by Susan Sontag as “the most expressive, most enlightening literary critic at large today”, and detailed her friendship with Sontag in the classic essay “Desperately …
Annalee Newitz is pretty much nerd royalty. They are the author of the novels _The Future of Another Timeline_ and _Autonomous_ , which won the Lambda Literary Award. As a science journalist, their work appears regularly in the _New York Times_ and _New Scientist_ , as well as in _The …
Inkoo Kang, recently announced as the Washington Post’s newest TV critic, was also named the best critic of 2021 by the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards for her work at _The Hollywood Reporter_. Inkoo co-hosts the [All About Almodovar](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-about- almod%C3%B3var/id1533092827) podcast, and has previously written about film, TV, and …
Susan Stryker is an author, professor, filmmaker, and heroine of the trans and queer rights movement. Her extensive bibliography includes two editions of _The Transgender Studies Reader_ and _Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area_ ; her documentary films include _Christine in …
Laura and Adrian joyfully reunite in part 2 of this guestless double-wide kickoff to The Feminist Present’s third season. And we have a new, cinematic theme! In addition to the book nerd chatter you’ve come to count on from us in the present, for this season we’re also reflecting on …
Laura and Adrian joyfully reunite in this guestless double-wide kickoff to The Feminist Present’s third season. And we have a new, cinematic theme! In addition to the book nerd chatter you’ve come to count on from us in the present, for this season we’re also reflecting on the past: we’ve …
Cheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir _Wild_ , the New York Times bestsellers _Tiny Beautiful Things_ and _Brave Enough_ , and the novel _Torch_. She’s also Laura’s favorite living author. Laura barely kept her shit together talking with Cheryl about unconditional positive regard …
**Lyz Lenz** is the author of two books, the latter of which, _Belabored: A Vindication on the Rights of Pregnant Women_ , was released while she was fleeing an Iowa derecho mid-pandemic with her two young children. She was, until very recently, a columnist for the Cedar Rapids Gazette; her …
**Sister Roma,** the “most photographed nun in the world,” **** has been an influential member of the [Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence](https://www.thesisters.org/) since 1987. The Sisters are an Order of queer and trans nuns that debuted in San Francisco on Easter Sunday 1979; originally formed to draw money and attention to …
**Nick Mitchell** is Associate Professor of Feminist Studies and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received, and [returned](https://cres.ucsc.edu/news-events/news/mitchell-cola.html), UCSC’s Chancellor’s Award for Diversity in early 2020, and has been a vocal proponent of the [Cops Off Campus](https://twitter.com/ucftp?lang=en) movement throughout and beyond the University …
Farai Chideya has covered every American presidential election since 1996. She’s the author of six books, as well as a journalist and commentator whose work has been featured on NPR, CNN, ABC News, Newsweek, FiveThirtyEight, Oxygen, and many other outlets. After the 2016 election, she became a fellow at Harvard’s …
Imran Siddiquee is a filmmaker, writer and activist, whose articles have appeared in The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, Bitch and Salon. They are also an active filmmaker and organize the BlackStar Film Festival. Laura and Adrian talk with Imran about masculinity, [pop culture](https://www.salon.com/test2/2015/07/13/reveling_in_the_darkness_true_detective_game_of_thrones_and_the_missing_critique_in_tvs_cult_of_gritty_realism/), and race, about [being from a place called Springfield](https://longreads.com/2017/12/29/the-other-people-in- …