Send us a textIn this episode of Literary Aviatrix Classics with guest hosts Dr. Jacque Boyd and Capt. Jenny Beatty, we discuss The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation by Amelia Earhart. This book offers fascinating insights to where aviation was at the time the book was published and how Amelia and her contemporaries imagined aviation would impact the future. We also learn from AE’s own words about her pre-aviation life, her selection and participation in the ...

Send us a textIn this Literary Aviatrix Writers' Room interview with Lola Reid Allin, she talks about her writing journey including courses at Gotham Writers in NYC, overcoming the fear of sharing personal details, hybrid-publishing with She Writes Press, book launch promotion, and her lessons learned on the value of critique. 00:00 Book Release: 'Highway to the Sky'00:25 Finding Your Voice: The Journey of a Writer18:30 Facing your fears in memoir writing24:31 Hybrid Publishing with She ...

Send us a textIn this interview with Canadian pilot Lola Reid Allin, we talk about her new memoir, launching on September 17th, 2024. 00:00 Introduction and Book Launch01:17 Synopsis and Reading09:28 Lola's Aviation Career11:59 Transitioning Beyond Flying16:01 Inspiring Others: Why did you write the book?17:34 Challenges and Discrimination: Navigating a Male-Dominated Field32:18 Balancing Motherhood and a Flying Career39:55 Exploring the World: Lola's Adventures in Travel49:28 Supporting...

Send us a textIn this Picture Book Panel discussion, we hear from five recently published authors who navigated various routes to publication including traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing to get their stories into print. They very generously share those journeys with us here—everything from the decision about which route to go, to the editing process, how they found their illustrators, what their distribution looks like, the percentage return they receive on book sales, special military/...

Send us a Text Message.Join guest hosts Jacque Boyd, Jenny Beatty, and me as we discuss this out-of-print treasure, Neta Snook Southern’s I Taught Amelia to Fly. Through Neta’s own aviation journey, we get a very special lens into the experiences of aspiring pilots in the U.S. as they pursued their dreams during and after WWI. Her childhood stories emphasize the importance of exposing our girls to science and mechanics as that exposure imbued her with the skills and confidence to not only hol...

Send us a Text Message.In this interview with author and retired U.S. Coast Guard Captain Martha LaGuardia-Kotite, we talk about her career, which culminated in being recalled to active duty as the Commandant’s Press Secretary, then we get into her books - So Others May Live: Saving Lives, Defying Death; Changing the Rules of Engagement: Inspiring Stories of Courage and Leadership from Women in the Military; and My Name is Old Glory: A Celebration of the Star Spangled Banner. The first two bo...

Send us a Text Message.In this Literary Aviatrix Classics discussion with co-hosts Jacque Boyd and Jenny Beatty, we discuss Louise Thaden’s memoir, High, Wide, and Frightened, first published in 1938, two years after Thaden won the Bendix in its first co-ed year. This is a quintessential read for every pilot and avgeek, anyone who loves history, and anyone who wants a great story featuring a daring, inspiring woman who is also honest about her fears and mistakes. A beautifully written m...

Send us a Text Message.In this Literary Aviatrix Writers’ Room interview with best-selling author Maggie Shipstead we get into the details of her author journey. Maggie is an inspiration for anyone who aspires to be a professional writer. In our conversation, she talks about how a writing course with Zadie Smith during her undergrad at Harvard cemented her path as a writer. She went on to earn an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, followed by a two-year creative writing Stegner Fellowship a...

Send us a Text Message.In this interview with author Maggie Shipstead, we discuss her best-selling novel Great Circle. In this sweeping saga, we follow fictional pilot Marion Graves from her feral childhood in Montana where she first encounters a barnstorming pilot team and decides that flying is her life's purpose. She flies as a bootlegger transporting liquor, the flies as a bush pilot in Alaska before joining the Air Transport Auxiliary to fly during the war. Post-war, she decides to fly a...

Send us a Text Message.Welcome to the new ‘Literary Aviatrix Classics’ series, where I discuss books written by and about our aviatrix pioneers with my venerable co-hosts, Dr. Jacque Boyd and Captain Jenny Beatty. In this interview, we get to know Jacque and Jenny, and we announce the subject of our first ‘Classics’ discussion. Dr. Jacque Boyd is an educator and a general aviation pilot. She has a B.A. in Education, Psychology, and Special Education. In 1979 she was awarded the Amelia E...

Send us a Text Message.In this interview with inspiring pilot Polly Vacher, she talks about her memoir Wings Around the World: The Exhilarating Story of One Woman’s Epic Flight from the North Pole to Antarctica. She shares how she prepared for the trip, some of the obstacles that stood in her way and how she navigated them, the very difficult decision she was faced with in trying to achieve the goal she’d prepared for over two years to accomplish, and the highlights of meeting people all acro...

In this fun interview with mystery writer Edith Maxwell, publishing under the pen name 'Maddie Day', we talk about her historical mystery, A Case for the Ladies: A Dot and Amelia Mystery, which launched in March. In it, a young Amelia Earhart, who is living in Boston, taking flying lessons on the weekends, and working at an immigrant settlement house, helps solve the mystery of a series of murders involving immigrant women. Edith, who has published over 30 books, also shares her wisdom and...

In this interview with Bloomberg space journalist and author Loren Grush, we talk about her childhood growing up around Johnson Space Center with two NASA Engineers and how that led her to unearth the stories of NASA's first women astronauts. Thanks so much for listening! Stay up to date on book releases, author events, and Aviatrix Book Club discussion dates with the Literary Aviatrix Newsletter. Visit the Literary Aviatrix website to find over 600 books featuring women in aviation...

In this interview with self-published historical fiction and mystery/thriller author Penelope Haines, we talk details on going from Na-No-Wri-Mo participant to self-published author.  Thanks so much for listening! Stay up to date on book releases, author events, and Aviatrix Book Club discussion dates with the Literary Aviatrix Newsletter. Visit the Literary Aviatrix website to find over 600 books featuring women in aviation in all genres for all ages. Become a Literary Aviatrix...

In this interview with New Zealand pilot, flight instructor and author, Penelope Haines, we discuss her mystery/thriller novel Death on D'Urville and talk all things flying and instructing in New Zealand! Thanks so much for listening! Stay up to date on book releases, author events, and Aviatrix Book Club discussion dates with the Literary Aviatrix Newsletter. Visit the Literary Aviatrix website to find over 600 books featuring women in aviation in all genres for all ages. Become a...

In this interview with all-star award-winning young adult authors Sherri L. Smith and Elizabeth Wein, they discuss their fabulously researched and written young adult non-fiction American Wings: Chicago's Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky.  They give us a glimpse into this fascinating aviation history and the process that brought it to life in this new book, which is essential reading for any avgeek or aviation history buff! I've you're headed to WAI24 in Orlando,...

In this Aviatrix Writers’ Room interview with best-selling author Sara Ackerman, she shares how she went from three rejected, unpublished novels to finding an agent and becoming the successful author of six acclaimed historical fiction novels centered on Hawaiian history, including her latest release, The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West.  I've you're headed to WAI24 in Orlando, please join us for the Authors Connect Reading and Reception, presented by United Airlines and PASS International on...

In this interview with best-selling author Sara Ackerman, we talk about her latest historical novel, The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West, set against the backdrop of the Dole Air Race from the Continental U.S. to Hawaii in the late 1920's. In this reimagined story, female competitor Olivia West joins the fray in a race that historically included no female pilots. Acclaimed for her WWII historical romance novels set in Hawaii, we're privileged to have an Aviatrix join Sara's fictional cast of...

In this interview with helicopter pilot and author Kodey Bogart, we talk about her new picture book, Helo Girls: The Firefighting Pilot. Kodey is a decorated veteran Army Warrant Officer Medevac pilot and recipient of two Air Medals and the Sikorsky Rescue Award. She has extensive experience in a range of aviation operations, training, safety, test flight, air ambulance, and law enforcement. We spend a good portion of our interview geeking out about flying helos.  The Firefighting Pilot is...

Welcome to the new Literary Aviatrix Leadership and Development author interview series. Loree "Rowdy" Draude was a combat pilot among the first women to deploy on an aircraft carrier. She also navigated a very successful career in the tech sector. Now Loree brings her professional experiences together to help coach and inspire business leaders, and her love of art and creativity to entertain and inspire audiences with her one-woman show, "I Feel the Need." Her book, She's Just Another...

Announcing the FOURTH Aviatrix Book Club annual reading list! With so many fabulous books it's hard to choose only twelve. I hope you're as excited as I am about the diversity of genre, types of flying, and historical periods reflected in this list. I look forward to seeing you in the discussions.  Happy Reading! Thanks so much for listening! Stay up to date on book releases, author events, and Aviatrix Book Club discussion dates with the Literary Aviatrix Newsletter. Visit the...

In this interview with Leona Cobham, granddaughter of pioneering pilot and aviation advocate, Sir Alan Cobham, we talk about her wonderful middle grade book, Flying Circus Takes to the Skies, which features the adventures of four anthropomorphic vintage aircraft: Spiff, the Spitfire; Vul, the Vulcan; Tom, the Tomcat; and Woody, the Tiger Moth. Leona was inspired to write the book by her experience working with children and her concern over boys becoming ever-more reluctant readers. She...

In this interview with Astronaut Pilot Eileen Collins, she talks about her path, from her childhood in Elmira, New York, through community college and ROTC, to Air Force Flight Training, Instructing, a combat mission in Grenada, Stanford, and Test Pilot School, to becoming the first female, and mother, NASA Space Shuttle pilot and mission commander.  Thanks so much for listening! Stay up to date on book releases, author events, and Aviatrix Book Club discussion dates with the Literary...

In this interview with Coast Guard Aviation Electronics Technician and H65 Dolphin Helicopter Flight Mechanic, Ashlee Leppert, we talk about her memoir The Hurricane Within, which recounts her experiences in the Hurricane Harvey disaster response while she simultaneously endured troubling and mysterious physical symptoms that eventually grounded her from flying. Ashlee talks about her medical journey, how her faith guided her through her PTSD, her transition to civilian life, and how she...