This episode introduces the first of 12 letters from their collaborative visual arts project “Letters to Our Unborn Children: An Exploration of a Woman’s Decision to Remain Child-Free by Choice.” They discuss the “Strategist” archetype behind the letter, and share their research and insights around the themes in the letter. They are joined by guest Meghan Daum, author of “Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids.”

Meghan Daum is the creator and host of The Unspeakable Podcast and the author of six books, most recently The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through The New Culture Wars, a New York Times Notable Book for 2019. Her collection of original essays, The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion, won the 2015 Pen Center USA Award for creative nonfiction. A Los Angeles Times opinion columnist from 2005 to 2016, she has written for numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and Vogue. Meghan is the recipient of a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2016 National Endowment for the Arts grant. She has taught graduate writing students at Columbia University and The University of Iowa and now teaches private workshops in personal essay, memoir and op-ed. In 2022, she founded The Unspeakeasy, an intellectual community for freethinking women (and occasionally men). Her next book, a collection of essays entitled The Catastrophe Hour, will be published in April 2025.

Recorded on Oct 8, 2024.

Additional Links (for listeners to learn more)
– Learn more about Meghan Daum’s “The Unspeakeasy” community at theunspeakeasy.com
– Follow Meghan on Substack at meghandaum.substack.com
– Pickup Meghan’s books at Bookshop
– Check out The Unspeakable podcast on YouTube.
– Find more about the Letters project at letterstoourunbornchildren.com

The Strategist