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  2. Episode 31: Amy Ephron, Maia Wapnick, Anna Ephron Harari

Episode 31: Amy Ephron, Maia Wapnick, Anna Ephron Harari

Jan 3, 2023

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, according to Amy Ephron, Maia Wapnick and Anna Ephron Harari, co-authors of The Amazing Baby Name Book: A (Possibly) Helpful and Slightly Amusing Guide from A to Z, a witty and wise and altogether wonderful compendium of baby names for would-be parents. And when that name is Ephron, and it comes attached to a writing family that’s lived by its wits and wisdom and abundant sense of wonder for three generations…well, then that name signals that our podcast listeners are in for a rollicking conversation about writing and storytelling.

Join us as we visit with Amy, Maia, and Anna to discuss how their mother-daughter(s) collaboration came about, and what it was like to grow up in a household where the written word was something to nourish and celebrate. Then stay with us as we continue the conversation with Amy, as she reflects on her childhood, as the daughter of successful screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron, and younger sister to the writers Nora, Delia, and Hallie, and on her own eclectic career as a novelist, screenwriter, journalist and film producer.

“When you’re a writer you put yourself out there,” notes Amy, author of several books, including the novels A Cup of Tea, Bruised Fruit, and The Other Side series of novels for children, and a longtime contributor to Vanity Fair, Vogue, The New York Times, and Air Mail. “People who have other jobs don’t necessarily understand what that means, that in a way you’re selling your own voice, you’re selling your own vision. And I don’t mean to make it more than it is, it’s just that we are indelibly freelance, and you don’t know what your next job is. And at the same time, you have the ability to create your own next job, but you don’t know how that will land. So it’s a brave choice to be a writer, I think. For anyone.”

No matter your name.

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