In this episode of A Fresh Story: Book Talk, Olivia Howell interviews novelist Kristin Bair about her powerful new book Clementine Crane Prefers Not To—a fierce, funny tale of midlife burnout, motherhood, and learning to say no. Inspired by personal experience and literary classics, Kristin’s novel speaks to any woman navigating identity shifts and emotional reinvention.

In this emotional episode of A Fresh Story, author Anna Rollins shares how she spent 15 years secretly writing about food, sex, and faith—until a traumatic birth and the pandemic pushed her to finally speak her truth. Her memoir Famished explores the intersection of purity culture and diet culture, and this conversation is a must-listen for anyone healing from body shame, religious trauma, or creative fear.

In this episode of A Fresh Story, Olivia Howell sits down with Laura Danger, educator and author of No More Mediocre, to explore the emotional weight of care work, domestic inequity, and weaponized incompetence. Laura shares personal insights, actionable tools, and powerful stories that challenge the myth of the “good enough” partnership and offer a new path toward equity, intention, and community care.

In this emotional episode of A Fresh Story, Olivia Howell interviews Tiffany Graham Charkosky about her memoir Living Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy. Tiffany opens up about losing her mother at 11, navigating genetic testing, and parenting without a roadmap. A must-listen for anyone exploring grief, motherhood, life transitions, or writing through personal trauma.

In this inspiring episode of A Fresh Story, artist and YouTuber Scott Christian Sava shares the journey behind his book Becoming an Artist: How to Make Art Like a Human by Embracing Failure, Discovering Your Creative Voice, & Finding Joy in the Process. We explore creativity, community, and why art isn’t about perfection—it’s about being human. A must-listen for artists and dreamers alike.

In this episode of A Fresh Story, we sit down with Leslie Gray Streeter—journalist, memoirist, and now debut novelist—to unpack the heartbreak, humor, and honesty woven into her new book, Family and Other Calamities. With wit and grace, Leslie shares how she turned personal loss and professional scandal into fiction that cuts close to the bone.

In this episode of A Fresh Story, teen leadership coach Lorraine Connell shares powerful stories from her book A Teacher’s Story, revealing how real leadership often begins in quiet, unexpected ways. Learn how one act of belief transformed teens into confident leaders—and why rethinking leadership is essential for parents, teachers, and youth mentors.

Minna Dubin is the author of MOM RAGE: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood. Her writing has been featured in the New York Times, Oprah Daily, The Times Sunday Magazine, Salon, Lit Hub, Parents, and Romper. As a leading feminist voice on mom rage, Minna has appeared on MSNBC, Good Morning America, The Tamron Hall Show, the BBC and NPR.

Laura McKowen is the bestselling author of Push Off From Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety (and Everything Else), and the founder of The Luckiest Club. We chatted with Laura about her journey to sobriety, how even the darkest of Fresh Starts can lead to beautiful journeys, the foundation of The Luckiest Club during the early days of the pandemic, and of course, her gorgeous book Push Off From Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety (and Everything Else).

Zoe Fishman is the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year in the Literary Fiction category. She is the critically acclaimed author of six novels, the most recent of which is The Fun Widow's Book Tour, which was published in March of this year. We chatted with Zoe about her husband’s sudden passing, how her entire world changed overnight, and how writing helped her heal, grieve, and grow.

We chatted with Emily, the founder of The Lost Bookshop, about her many fresh starts in life - including supporting her partner through cancer, a diagnosis and experience of breast cancer as a young woman, figuring out her career, pregnancy loss, grieving a parent, and ultimately - following her dream and opening The Lost Bookshop - Delhi, New York’s independent bookstore.