15-year-old book enthusiast Hollyn Alpert (https://www.storieswithoutborders.org/blank-1) hosts the Stories Without Borders (https://www.storieswithoutborders.org/blank-3) podcast, in which she interviews authors, artists, entrepreneurs and others who use the power of stories and service to build connection, empathy and understanding around the world.
Author-Board Game Designer LIZZY IVES (Fat Witch Summer, Bookwyrm) on Cozy Fantasy, Body Positivity and Centering Friendship
A cozy fantasy can be soft without being shallow, and Lizzy Ives proves it. We sit down with the author of Fat Witch Summer and Thick Witch Travels to talk about how you build a whimsical YA fantasy road trip that still challenges anti-fat bias, questions unfair systems, and leaves room for real joy. Along the way, Lizzy shares the quote that shaped her worldview as a teen, and why expanding perspective is one of the most powerful things stories can do. We get specific about craft and career...
24 Oct 2026
Author-Journalist EMILY BARTH ISLER (Aftermath, Always Enough Love) on Neurodivergence, Memory and Storytelling as Advocacy
Some conversations make you rethink what a “kids’ book” is allowed to hold, and this is one of them. I’m joined by critically acclaimed storyteller Emily Barth Isler, author of the middle grade novels Aftermath and The Color of Sound and the picture book Three Pieces of Broken Glass, to talk about writing for young readers when the real world feels too heavy to explain and too urgent to ignore. We start with Aftermath, a novel that threads grief, friendship, and healing through the rea...
10 Oct 2026
Author-Advocate WINNIE M. LI (Dark Chapter, Complicit) on Media Narratives, Sibling Dynamics & Art as Healing
We talk with author, educator, and survivor-advocate Dr. Winnie M. Li about addressing trauma through fiction without letting it define a whole life or career. We dig into how the media shapes public narratives about sexual assault, why art can build community, and what it takes to maintain balance and perspective in a creative life. • Winnie’s path from film industry work to novels and activism • Writing Dark Chapter after a long recovery period • Media coverage, anonymity,...
26 Sept 2026
Author-Artist DAVID YOON (Frankly in Love, City of Orange) on Humor, Sense of Self and Creativity as a Habit
You can feel it when a writer has lived inside their questions, and David Yoon has. We sit down with the New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love, Super Fake Love Song, Version Zero, and City of Orange to talk about what happens when identity, family, and ambition all tug on you at once and why the “hard” work is often the honest work. We start with David’s origin story as a latchkey kid and immigrant son who writes to be heard, then jump into how Frankly in Love grew from a fake...
17 Jan 2026
ADVICE TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF: Words of Wisdom from Stories Without Borders Season 1 Guests
What if you could mail one page of hard-won wisdom back in time? We close our first season by stitching together intimate, practical letters to younger selves from our Season 1 slate of bestselling authors and advocates. The result is a generous chorus on patience, courage, and the long game of becoming—told through personal stories that feel both specific and startlingly universal. You’ll hear how fear of judgment kept powerful ideas in the dark, and how choosing excitement over approval br...
3 Jan 2026
Author NICOLA YOON (Everything, Everything, One of Our Kind) on Love, Truth, and Joy Revolution
A life-changing writing class, a fierce love for language, and a new mom’s clarity: that’s the spark behind Nicola Yoon’s leap from engineering and finance to bestselling novelist. We sit down with the author of Everything, Everything, The Sun Is Also a Star, Instructions for Dancing, and One of Our Kind to unpack how vulnerability, precision, and curiosity power stories that become empathy machines. Nicola shares how maternal protectiveness inspired her debut (Everything, Everything), what ...
20 Dec 2025
Author ALEXANDRA BROWN CHANG (By Invitation Only) on Paris, Friendship, And A Debut To Remember
Glamour can distract, but it can also reveal what truly matters. We sit down with Alexandra Brown Chang, the New York Times bestselling author of By Invitation Only, to explore a Parisian debutante world where status is loud, traditions are ancient, and friendship ends up being the quiet force that wins. Alexandra pulls back the curtain on the real-life experiences and customs that inspired the novel—from portrait sittings to Le Bal’s media frenzy—and explains why she built the story with Pa...
6 Dec 2025
Author NYDIA ARMENDIA-SÁNCHEZ (Not Far From Here, Frida Kahlo's Flower Crown) on Language, Heritage, and Family Stories
Joy doesn’t always arrive on schedule. For Nydia Armendia-Sánchez, it showed up when she started writing the stories her kids couldn’t find on the shelf—tales that honor migration, bilingual families, and the quiet power of a mother’s voice. We sit down with Nydia to trace her path from early art student to award-winning children’s author, and the moment she chose to turn family history into Not Far From Here, a tender picture book about belonging, hope, and the journeys that shape us. Langu...
22 Nov 2025
Author CINDY PON (Silver Phoenix, Want) on Writing Underdogs, Sensory World-Building, and Existence as Resistance
A six-year-old lands in a new country without knowing the alphabet and discovers, by third grade, that reading feels like magic. That spark became Cindy Pon’s compass as she wrote underdogs who straddle worlds, crafting YA stories that welcome readers who’ve never seen themselves on a cover. We sit down with Cindy to trace that path—from Silver Phoenix, a Chinese-inspired fantasy that arrived when the market offered few comps by Asian American authors, to Want, a near-future thriller where Ta...
8 Nov 2025
Actress-Advocate ESTEFANÍA REBELLÓN (Yes We Can World Foundation) on Educational Equity and Narrative Change
Two truths drive this conversation: images shape policy, and classrooms shape futures. Hollyn speaks with actress, activist, and storyteller Estefanía Rebellón—refugee from Cali, Colombia and co-founder of Yes We Can World Foundation—to unpack how a consent-first media ethic and year-round education are changing the lives of migrant children at the U.S.–Mexico border. Estefanía takes us from her first days in Miami ESOL to the moment she saw kids stranded without school during the 2018 borde...
25 Oct 2025
Author ALDA P. DOBBS (Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna) on the Mexican Revolution, Spanglish, and the Magic of Literacy
A single book magically changed a life. Hollyn talks to award-winning author Alda P. Dobbs about her childhood spent dodging a harsh kindergarten teacher and resisting English to the night she read The Catcher in the Rye straight through, discovering that stories can carry a person across borders without moving an inch. From there, we trace the spine of her Petra Luna novels to the heartbeat of her great‑grandmother’s escape during the Mexican Revolution, layered with her grandmother’s povert...
11 Oct 2025
Author-Producer ABDI NAZEMIAN (Exquisite Things, Call Me By Your Name) on Identity, Queerness, and Difficult Conversations
A revolution uproots a family. A kid grows up between languages and continents. Years later, a studio note says, “cut all the gay characters,” and a writer decides he’s done waiting for permission. Our talk with Abdi Nazemian is a global tour—from Tehran to Paris, Toronto, New York, and LA—and an illustration of how storytelling can hold all those lives in one place. Abdi talks about how reading scripts in Hollywood taught him structure, even as the system kept pushing his stories out. Self-p...
4 Oct 2025
Bonus Episode: ABIGAIL HING WEN Discusses AI in Storytelling and her New Bestseller THE VALE, Live at Annabelle's Book Club!
What if a 13-year-old trained an AI on fairy tales—and the world learned back? Hollyn sits down with New York Times bestselling author and filmmaker Abigail Hing Wen for our first live taping at Annabelle's Book Club LA to unpack The Vale, Abigail's middle grade debut about a boy who builds an AI-generated realm and then has to save it when reality starts to glitch. From dual timelines and lyrical lore to concrete tech metaphors, Abigail shows how story can make complex ideas feel simple, viv...
27 Sept 2025
Author ABIGAIL HING WEN (Loveboat Taipei & The Vale) on Writing Books, Making Films, and Working in Tech
NYT-bestselling author Abigail Hing Wen discusses writing the LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI trilogy, producing LOVE IN TAIPEI for Paramount+ (and Netflix), and directing her first short film THE VALE: ORIGINS (starring Lea Salonga), a prequel to her new middle-grade novel THE VALE. Lightning Round topics: favorite movies, superpowers, whether cereal is a soup, guilty pleasure dance songs, and fun trivia about the infamous door scene in the TITANIC movie! Follow, subscribe and learn more about Stories With...
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