For the final episode of Season Five, Courtney Harler speaks with two Courtneys, Courtney Zoffness and Courtney Maum. Maum is, of course, a returning guest, and Zoffness is new to the podcast.

Courtney Zoffness is the author of the debut memoir in essays called Spilt Milk, out in 2021 from McSweeney’s. As a fiction writer, Zoffness was the second-ever woman to win the Sunday Times Short Story Award in 2018, the world’s richest prize for a single short story. She’s taught for many institutions and currently directs the creative writing program at Drew University.

Courtney Maum is the author of several novels, and most recently the memoir called The Year of the Horses, out in 2022 from Tin House. She’s also helped countless writers navigate the publication process with her craft guide, Before and After the Book Deal. Courtney Maum is a writing coach and executive director of the nonprofit learning collaborative called The Cabins.

Today we talk about the humble beginnings and early invisible work of writers, vulnerability, publication and promotion in the digital age, distractibility, reading recommendations, and more.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

Today Courtney speaks with two talented memoirists, Amy Long and Emma Bolden.

Amy Long is the author of the debut memoir, Codependence, winner of the 2018 Essay Collection Competition with the Cleveland State University Poetry Center. Amy holds an MFA from Virginia Tech and an MA from the University of Florida. She’s also the creative genius behind Taylor Swift as Books, the very popular Instagram account.

Emma Bolden is the author of several chapbooks and collections of poetry. She is the recipient of fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Her debut memoir, Tiger in a Cage: A Memoir of a Body in Crisis, was published by Soft Skull Press in 2022.

We discuss advocacy and agency in women’s health, social media in service to the literary community, narrative structure and voice in memoir, and the joy found in artistic anticipation.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

In honor of National Poetry Month, we’ve invited back to the podcast one of our favorite poets, Mihaela Moscaliuc. Anna Qu, a prose writer, also joins the conversation.

Anna Qu is the author of the critically acclaimed Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Sarah Lawrence College and teaches writing, both fiction and nonfiction, for several graduate programs. She’s currently serving as a Black Mountain Institute Shearing Fellow in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mihaela Moscaliuc is the author of three collections of poetry: Cemetery Ink, Immigrant Model, and Father Dirt. Currently a program director and associate professor at Monmouth University in New Jersey, she’s also a brilliant editor and translator. The two “Deep Cut” poems Mihaela shares with us in this episode can be found now in the current issue of the Gettysburg Review.

Today we talk about navigating multiple languages and cultures, negotiating familial traditions and expectations, as well as overcoming shame and guilt as immigrant writers.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.