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This podcast is available on 6 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

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Elena Meets the Author

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by Elena Meets the Author

4.9(13 reviews)

49 episodes

Updated Weekly

Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇺🇸

Podcast Authority

Beta

PoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more

Quality39

Social0

YouTube68

Engagement32

Learn more

Podcast Overview

Welcome to Elena Meets the Author, the Podcast that brings you intimate conversations with authors about the art and craft of storytelling. Whether you’re a passionate reader, a curious creator, or simply love diving into the minds of creative thinkers, this podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at how stories come to life. Each episode features an in-depth interview with an author as they share their unique journey, the challenges they’ve faced, and the inspiration behind their work. From uncovering the spark of an idea to navigating the ups and downs of the creative process, we explore the human side of writing. My goal is to inspire and connect listeners with the magic of storytelling while celebrating the diversity of voices shaping today’s literary landscape. This podcast is especially for people who enjoy exploring creativity, personal growth, and the stories that move us. But the insights and inspiration we uncover are universal, offering something for anyone who appreciates the power of words. Tune in for thoughtful conversations that will leave you feeling inspired, connected, and ready to embrace your own creative journey. New episodes released biweekly! <a href="https://elenabowes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">elenabowes.substack.com</a>

Language

🇺🇲

Publishing Since

3/25/2024

View on Apple Podcasts RSS Feed

🇺🇸 Charts #3

Outreach generated

Apple 142

Spotify 827

Instant mention tracking

Perfect fit!

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Podcast Authority

Beta

PoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more

Quality39

Social0

YouTube68

Engagement32

Learn more

Excellent Areas

Good Performance

Growth Opportunities

excellent

Episode Length

40 minutes

Performing excellently!

good

Show Experience

32 episodes over 1.5 years

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needs improvement

Publishing Consistency

Every 17 days

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Recent Episodes

June 3, 2026

Mary Lisa Gavenas on Mary Kay Ash, Direct Selling, and Building a $2 Billion Empire

Mary Kay Ash built a $2 billion cosmetics empire out of a 500 square foot Dallas storefront. She was the first woman ever to chair a company on the New York Stock Exchange and the only woman included in Forbes’ Greatest Business Stories of All Time, a pantheon otherwise reserved for Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie. And when CBS This Morning introduced Mary Kay to America, they declared there was no more potent role for the self-made woman than Mary Kay Ash.Her story is scrappier and stranger than the pink Cadillacs and bouffant wigs you might remember.Born dirt poor in Hot Wells, Texas, she was running a household and nursing an invalid father by the age of 10. She was a mother at 17 and a grandmother at 34. By the time she founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963 at 45, she had already outlasted three divorces and two husbands’ deaths. The later death, of husband George Hallenbeck, the man who was supposed to be her business partner, came via a heart attack while jogging, just one month before the doors to Mary Kay were set to open.Her 20-year-old son Richard, a budding finance whiz, stepped into the breach. A legend was born.In this episode of Elena Meets the Author, I’m speaking to Mary Lisa Gavenas about her new biography, Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay, fifteen years in the making. We get into the restrictive 1960s norms that shaped what was possible for women, how Mary Kay adapted the direct-selling and party-plan models to build something genuinely new, the thinking behind her famous non-cash incentives like the pink Cadillacs, and the culture of encouragement and competition she created around her. We also talk about the criticisms levelled at direct selling, what made Mary Kay’s approach different, and what drew Gavenas to spend so many years researching and writing this particular story.If you enjoy the show, the best thing you can do is leave a rating and review on whichever listening platform you use, and consider subscribing to Behind the Stories on Substack. It’s the paid tier that keeps Elena Meets the Author going, and subscribers get insights from each episode, early access to upcoming guests, and the chance to help shape the show. You can find it at elenabowes.substack.com. Get full access to Elena Meets the Author at <a href="https://elenabowes.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">elenabowes.substack.com/subscribe</a>

May 20, 2026

EP. 48 Libby Page on Grief, Book Suggestions, and Writing This Book Made Me Think of You

A grieving young widow receives a phone call on her birthday. Her husband, Joe, died five months earlier. But before he did, he arranged something extraordinary: a year’s worth of books, one for every month, chosen to help her move on with her life.That’s the premise of Libby Page’s latest novel, This Book Made Me Think of You, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick and USA Today bestseller, and the book I’m talking about in this episode of Elena Meets the Author.Before you think it sounds too sad, it isn’t. There’s a handsome bookseller named Alfie, who Tilly has to visit every month to collect her next book. There’s travel: Bali, Paris, Manhattan, Tuscany. And there’s London, drawn with the kind of warmth that makes you want to head to your nearest international airport. Libby has written something that holds grief and joy in the same hand, which is much harder than it sounds.In our conversation, Libby talks about the inspirations behind the novel, including You’ve Got Mail and It’s a Wonderful Life, and how she balanced an emotional subject with a genuinely uplifting story. She describes the meticulous planning that went into the book’s 12-month structure, the pinboards, the 80 book references woven throughout, and the themed reading lists that give the novel so much of its warmth. We also talk about what the final gift Joe leaves Tilly actually means, her views on accessible versus literary fiction, her writing habits, the rejections she had before she was published, and how she overcomes writer’s block.There will be some spoilers, so if you haven’t read This Book Made Me Think of You yet, Libby’s enchanting novel is well worth reading first.If you enjoy the show, the best things you can do is leave a rating and review on whichever platform you use, and consider subscribing to Behind the Stories on Substack. It’s the paid tier that keeps Elena Meets the Author going. Subscribers get writing craft insights, early access to upcoming guests, and the chance to help shape the show. You can find it at elenabowes.substack.com. Get full access to Elena Meets the Author at <a href="https://elenabowes.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">elenabowes.substack.com/subscribe</a>

May 6, 2026

EP. 47 Grant Ginder | So Old, So Young | The Tiny Decisions That Became Their Lives

Today I’m speaking with Grant Ginder about his latest novel, So Old, So Young. I feel like I really get millennials and their anxiety-driven yet somehow still hopeful character. The book follows six college friends across five parties and twenty years. A New Year’s Eve, a wedding, a birthday, a kids’ Halloween, and a funeral. From a night where everything felt possible to a morning where they had to reckon with what actually happened in between. It’s about people who met at Penn in the early oughts and spent two decades showing up for each other, making tiny decisions they didn’t notice until those decisions became their lives.If you love character-driven fiction — which I do — this one is for you. Think Normal People. Or, if you’re a boomer like me, the 1983 film The Big Chill.Grant grew up in Laguna Beach, worked as a speechwriter in DC, earned his MFA at NYU, and now teaches writing there while living in Brooklyn with his husband Mac and their apparently disastrous dog, Frankie. He’s the bestselling author of six novels. Grant, not Frankie.In this episode of Elena Meets the Author, we talk about where the book came from- Grant’s own midlife anxiety, waking up in the middle of the night in a deep sweat, like that Talking Heads song, Once in a Lifetime with the phrase this is not my life- but oh yes, it is. - We discuss how the party structure gave Grant a way to write into that feeling. We talk about what long friendships actually give us, the particular tension between millennial hope and the reality of middle age arriving faster than expected, and how New York’s changing landscape can mark time in ways the characters themselves can barely track.We also get into the craft of it. Grant talks about cutting backstory across eleven drafts with his editor, the link between his speechwriting background and how he thinks about narrative arcs, and his advice on writing dialogue: listen to real speech, avoid exposition, and pay attention to when a character over-explains. In real life when someone over-explains, like one of Grant’s NYU students telling him why a paper is late, that’s usually a sign they’re lying.The episode is out now!This Podcast is listener supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Elena Meets the Author at <a href="https://elenabowes.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">elenabowes.substack.com/subscribe</a>

49 total episodes available

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Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

What is Elena Meets the Author?: Welcome to Elena Meets the Author, the Podcast that brings you intimate conversations with authors about the art and craft of storytelling. Whether you’re a passionate reader, a curious creator, or simply love diving into the minds of creative thinkers, this podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at how stories come to life.

Each episode features an in-depth interview with an author as they share their unique journey, the challenges they’ve faced, and the inspiration behind their work. From uncovering the spark of an idea to navigating the ups and downs of the creative process, we explore the human side of writing. My goal is to inspire and connect listeners with the magic of storytelling while celebrating the diversity of voices shaping today’s literary landscape.

This podcast is especially for people who enjoy exploring creativity, personal growth, and the stories that move us. But the insights and inspiration we uncover are universal, offering something for anyone who appreciates the power of words.

Tune in for thoughtful conversations that will leave you feeling inspired, connected, and ready to embrace your own creative journey.

New episodes released biweekly! <a href="https://elenabowes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">elenabowes.substack.com</a>
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates weekly.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 6 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.

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