Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex and Tara sit down with powerhouse author and podcaster, Bianca Marais. A newly minted USA TODAY bestselling author who is also co-host of the popular writing podcasts, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, aimed at helping emerging writers get published, Bianca has penned several extremely successful books, such as The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, Hum If You Don't Know the Words, If You Want to Make God Laugh, and the Audible Original, The Pry...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex sits down with husband-wife powerhouse Dalton and Emily Bequette. With a meet-cute as beta readers, it is no wonder they went on to take their love beyond the page with their upcoming YA fantasy novel (out July 29th), FLAMEHEART. Emily is a high school English teacher, where she works to instill an appreciation for reading and writing in her students. A blue-collar man, Dalton works in heavy machinery, which allows him to brainstorm plot points and get ...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex and Tara have a thought-provoking and wisdom-filled discussion with John Kenney, author of three novels and four books of poetry, including LOVE POEMS FOR MARRIED PEOPLE. His first novel, TRUTH IN ADVERTISING, won the Thurber Prize for American humor. He is a long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine’s Shouts & Murmurs column and currently lives in Larchmont, NY. Listen as they discuss what it’s like writing a darkly humorous book abo...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex talks with Ai Jiang, the author of multiple award-winning short fiction and the highly anticipated A PALACE NEAR THE WIND (releasing April 15th). Ai is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian, currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop's 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of A Palace Near the ...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Tara and Alex chat with Megan Tady, author of award-winning SUPER BLOOM, published May 2023 via Zibby Books, and her most recent, BLUEBIRD DAY. She runs the freelance writing and editing company Word-Lift. Her writing has appeared in Woman's Day, Reader's Digest, The Huffington Post, and Ms. Magazine, among others. Listen as they discuss where the idea for Bluebird Day came from, how she achieves the precarious balance between humor and heart, t...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Tara chats with author David A. Robertson, a two-time Governor General’s Literary Award winner, the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award recipient, and received the Writer’s Union of Canada Freedom to Read award. He is a podcaster, public speaker, and social advocate alongside many other accolades. He was honored with a Doctor of Letters by the University of Manitoba in 2023 for outstanding contributions to the arts and distinguished achievement and is a ...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex and Tara chat with prolific writer, Kasie West, author of YA books such as The Fill-In Boyfriend, P.S. I Like You, Listen to Your Heart, and her newest: Better Than Revenge. Her books have been named ALA-YALSA Quick Picks, Junior Library Guild selections, and ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults books. When not writing, Kasie loves binge-watching television shows, reading, and traveling. Listen as they discuss everything about her new bo...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex sits down with Jennifer De Leon, award-winning author of the YA novels Borderless, featured on the TODAY show, and Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From. She is also the author of White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing. She is an active speaker, presenter, and educator who loves to connect with readers of all ages. Jenn lives outside the Boston area with her husband and two sons. Listen as they discuss everything from the white spaces BIPOC authors...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex and Tara sit down with Sarina Louise, an up-and-coming author from The Author Conservatory Program. As a teen, Sarina was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease, an illness that made her give up on her dream of being an author. Now, after walking a miraculous healing journey, she writes young adult stories that don’t shy away from brokenness, but always promise that healing is coming. Listen as they discuss the launch of her first Anthology publica...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex and Tara sit down with the wisdom-filled talent Gayle Forman. An award-winning author and journalist, Gayle has written several bestselling novels, including those in the Just One Day series, Where She Went, and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than forty languages and was adapted into a major motion picture. Her first middle-grade novel, Frankie & Bug, was a New York Times best children’s book ...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Tara talks with Mansi Shah about her novel A GOOD INDIAN GIRL. Born in Toronto to Indian immigrants, Mansi is also the author of The Direction of The Wind and The Taste of Ginger. Now based in Los Angeles, Mansi left her long-time career as an entertainment attorney in Hollywood to travel the world and write full-time. She loves to cook, and food often plays a prominent role in her books. Listen as they discuss why Mansi decided to move from law to fiction...

Send us a text In today’s episode, Alex and Tara sit down with the icon herself, Ann Liang. Ann is the New York Times and Indie bestselling author of the critically acclaimed YA novels This Time It’s Real, If You Could See the Sun, and I Hope This Doesn't Find You. Born in Beijing, she grew up traveling back and forth between China and Australia but somehow ended up with an American accent. She now lives in Melbourne, where she can be found making overambitious to‑do lists and having profound...

Send us a text In the first episode of season 5, Tara sits down with Kerryn Mayne. Kerryn is an author, former wedding photographer, and current police officer. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she writes about it or prepares an endless stream of snacks for her kids. Kerryn lives in the Melbourne suburbs with her husband, four children, and a highly suspect lovebird. Listen as they discuss her debut novel, LENNY MARKS GETS AWAY WITH MURDER, her career pivot from wedding photograp...

Send us a text In this episode of Hope Prose, Alex and Tara sit down for their end-of-season wrap-up and chat about their hopes for the future and beyond. → Connect with Alex on her Instagram or visit her TikTok to find out more about what she’s working on and upcoming projects! → Connect with Tara on her Instagram, or website to find about more about her publications, interviews, and more! The Hope Prose Podcast's Instagram Alex's Instagram Tara's Instagram

Send us a text In this episode of Hope Prose, Alex and Tara are throwing it way back in time and chatting with debut historical romance author Hannah Honegger Hannah is an author, screenwriter, and actress who was destined to write a series about the American Revolutionary War when she was born on July 4th. Finding obscure stories in history is one of her passions and she never seems to be without a new book idea.. Listen as they discuss her debut A LADY, little-known spy stories, t...

Send us a text In this episode of Hope Prose, Alex sits down with literary agent extraordinaire Bethany Jett. Bethany is an associate literary agent with the C.Y.L.E. agency, as well as a multi-award-winning author, and a marketing strategist who earned top honors in her master’s program, where she earned her MFA in Communications focusing on Marketing and PR. Her motto is “Teach as you go,” which she lives out as the co-owner of Serious Writer, a company that teaches and empowers wri...

Send us a text In this episode of Hope Prose, Tara Conklin sits down to chat with Tara and Alex to discuss her latest book Community Board. A lawyer turned novelist, her books have been New York Times bestsellers, selected for Read With Jenna (the Today Show book club), Target book club, Barnes & Noble book club, IndieNext Pick, and translated into 8 languages. Listen as they discuss the importance of community, why she switched from law to fiction, Community Board's unique form...

Send us a text In this episode of Hope Prose, Elle Evans sits down to chat with Tara to discuss the details of her debut novel Wedding Issues. Originally from Massachusetts, Elle now lives in Philadelphia, where she works in health care. She is recovering from a recent five-year stint in Nashville for graduate school, punctuated by sweet Southern hospitality and even sweeter iced tea. Listen as they chat about balancing writing while training to be a doctor, what experiences in her ...

Send us a text In this episode of Hope Prose, New York Times Bestselling author Tracey Garvis Graves sits down to chat with Tara and Alex about her latest release THE TRAIL OF LOST HEARTS. Listen as they chat about what jumpstarted her career into writing, geocaching, the struggle of writing a character-driven book rather than plot, and her love of using landscapes as a secondary character. Due to character limitations, please find a full version of the show notes with content...

Send us a text In this episode of Hope Prose, Tara and Alex chat with debut Jenny Adams about her first book A Deadly Endeavor. She is a librarian turned novelist and holds degrees in Medieval Studies and Library Science from Ohio State University and Drexel University. She has studied fiction at Johns Hopkins University is an alumna of Blue Stoop’s 2019 YA Novel Intensive and the 2021 Tin House YA Workshop, and was a 2021 PitchWars Mentor. Listen as Jenny walks us through her journey to pu...