Elena meets the author

Elena's journal

Words between episodes

Personal essays, places I've loved, people worth knowing and the written Q&As that came before the podcast. 295 pieces, going back to 2014.

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Ayelet Waldman | A Perfect Hand | Jane Austen Meets Nora Ephron in Victorian England

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis is an Adventure in Time and Place without the Jetlag

22 November 2025

Gratitude Schmatitude

16 November 2025

Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar- This Slender Novel Resonated Big-time

7 November 2025

I Have Begrudgingly Become an Adventure Traveler in my 60’s: THIS IS WHAT I’VE LEARNED.

11 October 2025

NYTimes Bestseller, The Correspondent, by Virgina Evans: A Fabulous Novel- Here’s the Q&A

Prose Playground- Upcoming Talks and Seminars

Marjan Kamali talks about The Lion Women of Tehran

Q&A w the Talented Yael van der Wouden

Q&A with Bestselling Author Annabel Monaghan, It’s a Love Story

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern: A Chat with Lynda Loigman About Her Latest Novel

Highlights from Q&A with Neroli Lacey, author of The Perfumer’s Secret

Q&A with Elinor Lipman: Every Tom, Dick & Harry

Key Takeaways from My Conversation with Rochelle Weinstein, Author of We Are Made of Stars

21 February 2025

Highlights from My Chat with Anastasia Rubis, author of Oriana

9 February 2025

Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître D’: Q&A with Author Michael Cecchi-Azzolina

24 January 2025

Building Material: The Memoir of a Park Avenue Doorman: Q&A with Author Stephen Bruno

13 December 2024

Q&A with Rufi Thorpe: Margo’s Got Money Troubles

30 November 2024

Q&A with Alison Espach: The Wedding People

15 November 2024

Elena Meets Kate Feiffer, Author of Hilarious Morning Pages

1 November 2024

Q&A with Dawn Tripp: Jackie

18 October 2024

Q&A with Jillian Lavender: Why Meditate? Because it works.

Q&A with Ann Leary: I’ve Tried Being Nice

20 September 2024

Q&A with Lea Carpenter: Ilium

6 September 2024

Q&A with Ruth Reichl: The Paris Novel

Q&A with Beatriz Williams: Husbands & Lovers, an Ideal Summer Read

Q&A with Clare Pooley: How to Age Disgracefully

Q&A with Bestselling Author Annabel Monaghan… Summer Romance

Q&A with Holly Gramazio: The Husbands

Q&A with Elizabeth Fremantle, Author of Disobedient

Q&A with Lyn Slater, How to Be Old: Lessons in Living Boldly from the Accidental Icon

Q&A with Author Adrienne Brodeur, Little Monsters

28 January 2024

Q&A with Elinor Lipman, Ms. Demeanor

28 December 2023

Q&A with Brittany Means- Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways: A Memoir

27 November 2023

Q&A with Acclaimed Author Dani Shapiro

27 September 2023

Wiser than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus- Tips from the Frontline

17 September 2023

Q&A with Leigh McMullan Abramson- A Likely Story

Q&A with William Schwalbe- We Should Not Be Friends- The Story of a Friendship

Rethinking Family Traditions in the Name of Second Marriages

Q&A with Alisha Fernandez Miranda- My What If Year

Say Yes to Adventure, Camino di Santiago

Notes on Easter Day

Q&A with Terrific Author Amy Poeppel- The Sweet Spot

Mii Amo, a Retreat to Return to

18 February 2023

Holiday Part II- An Outsider’s Guide to Mexico

1 February 2023

Q&A w Lynda Cohen Loigman, The Matchmaker’s Gift

26 January 2023

Christmas Vacation Part I- Caring for Your Vocal Cords

24 January 2023

Stretch Takes Me Out of My Comfort Zone, and That’s a Good Thing

16 January 2023

Q&A with Mary Laura Philpott- Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives

28 December 2022

December Nerves

7 December 2022

Q&A with Jeannie Zusy- The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream

29 November 2022

Q&A with Zibby Owens- Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature

11 November 2022

Q&A with Clare Pooley- Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting

27 September 2022

Q&A w Annabel Monaghan- Nora Goes Off Script

Being a Catastrophist Is Not the End of the World

Can a Sexagenarian Be Sexy?

Q&A with Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me

Q&A with Wajahat Ali

Throwing Stretch Under the Bus, Again

Turning Sixty

22 January 2022

My Quest for Fun

Q&A w Qian Julie Wang, Author of Instant Bestseller ‘Beautiful Country’

28 December 2021

Q&A with Lisa Napoli on her Fascinating Book about the Founding Mothers of NPR

27 November 2021

Q&A with Alexander Nemerov: Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950’s New York

26 October 2021

When Sexy is No Longer on the Brain….

15 October 2021

Q&A with Elise Valmorbida, The Happy Writing Book

26 September 2021

A Topic Close to my Heart- Love After 50- Read my Q&A w Author Francine Russo

Honeymoon Round II: Some Top Tips for the More Mature Traveler

Q&A with the Fabulous Katherine Heiny- Early Morning Riser

Marriage, Round II: A Month In and Still Going Strong

Q&A w Jasmin Darznik, Author of The Bohemians- a Super Summer Read

A Kindred Spirit in LA- Nickey Kehoe

Conscious Uncoupling: A Decade Later

Q&A w Liese O’Halloran Schwarz- What Could Be Saved

Julia, Class of 2021: My Commencement Letter

Is Stretch My LeBron?

Q&A with Susie Yang: White Ivy

Dual Sim, Dual Life

Reflections by me

Writers & Lovers: my Q&A with the Fabulous Lily King

27 February 2021

This Tender Land: Q&A with William Kent Krueger

26 January 2021

Q&A with Travel Visionary Melissa Biggs Bradley

Q&A with Margot Livesey- The Boy in the Field

26 December 2020

Q&A with Hip Jeweller Jessica McCormack

14 December 2020

My Three Wise Women: Christmas Shopping Made Easy

9 December 2020

Q&A with Debra Jo Immergut- You Again

29 November 2020

Q&A w Brilliant Novelist Sue Miller: Monogamy

26 October 2020

No Longer Next of Kin

The Equivalents, A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960’s

27 September 2020

Travels to Martha’s Vineyard

11 September 2020

Frances Palmer: Force of Nurture

6 September 2020

House Lessons: Renovating a Life- Q&A with Sage Author Erica Bauermeister

A City to be Saved: One Brick at a Time

Author Laura Zigman talks about Painful Writer’s Block and Her New Book Separation Anxiety

Coping with Covid: Escape to Magnificent Maine, amongst other Ideas

Q&A with Curtis Sittenfeld

Dear Therapist- Lori Gottlieb Answers All My Questions

Avoiding the C word- Read My Dovid-20 Time-killers

Their Lives and Loves , The Mountbattens

Love in the Time of Corona

Corona Challenges: Don’t Scratch that Itch and Other Danger Zones

60 is the new 40

16 February 2020

Confessions of …

4 February 2020

A Buatta-ful Sale- The Prince of Chintz’s Things are on the Block

23 January 2020

Xmas-NY’s: Revelations more than Resolutions

Step by Step Guide for Mother of the Bride

4 December 2019

Sexual Desire: Three Women Tell Their Story

27 November 2019

Little Women and a Man- Author Geraldine Brooks Talks about Pulitzer-winning March

11 September 2019

My Intoxicating Gap Summer : and I Don’t Just Mean the Rosé

6 September 2019

Parenting: a few thoughts on…

Lebanon with Madame Tour Guide Extraordinaire

A Woman Obsessed

When All is Said: The No. 1 Irish Bestselling Phenomenon

Perfection is so over-rated

My Time as a Camera Sherpa

Sensational Scandinavia: Travels with Stretch

The Possible World: Hooked, on Page 1

Eloise and Weenie go to Durham

28 February 2019

Claire Tomalin: Writing a Life

26 January 2019

New Year’s Resolution: Done + Dusted

19 January 2019

A Room of OUR Own: Living with Stretch

17 December 2018

‘Aroused’ Author Randi Hutter Epstein Makes Science Easy to Understand & Fascinating

1 December 2018

Because Nothing Ever Annoyed You: How Perfection Happens

18 November 2018

Revolutionary Idea: Collaborating is Fun

7 November 2018

A Year Later…

25 October 2018

Off Season, On Island Escape

23 October 2018

London Art Studies- Art Lovers Listen Up

13 October 2018

Pamela Druckerman Q&A

26 September 2018

Playing Hookey with Photographer Jane Beiles

21 September 2018

Show to See: Stone Walls by Mariana Cook

9 September 2018

Sailing in the Big Blue Yonder

Author Adam Baron Goes Deep with Boy Underwater

Sculpture Walk: Summer Day Outside of the City

Going on Vacation

New Film Captures the Angels and Demons of Alexander McQueen

Interview with Amor Towles: <em>A Gentleman in Moscow</em>

Surface Work: Women Abstract Artists Shine in this London Show

Getting Older, Staying Younger: From Miguel to Rancho La Puerta

<em>The Madonna of the Mountains</em>: A Riveting Read

A Weekend in Austin: Kelly and the Cowboys

27 February 2018

Lost in Transition: Adjusting to a New City and a New Roommate

15 February 2018

Bestselling Author Celeste Ng Talks About <em>Little Fires Everywhere</em>

26 January 2018

Top Tips from Top Shopper: Lisa Fine on Jaipur

26 January 2018

Boot Camp with Mel, Me and the Moose

11 January 2018

Travels with Antoinette & Josephine : Big Ben to Big Apple

5 December 2017

London Lights Up At Christmas -

26 November 2017

Joan Didion: <em>The Center Will Not Hold</em>

14 November 2017

Passage to India with Lisa Fine

11 November 2017

Notes on Manhattan

16 October 2017

Whodunit Writer Tells Us How He Dun It

What’s Cooking in New York this Autumn

22 September 2017

Duke Drop-off

Lynette and Eloise: Small Shows, Big Punch

Stephan Janson: Milan’s Best Kept Secret

Summertime in the City: a Delight

Rainless Retreats for the Writer (and Sun Worshipper) in You

Leaning Towards Sheryl

Summer Reads from the next Oprah and the current Elena

Art-y Weekend Outside New York

Pink Floyd, Hockney and Hodgkin Are Shining on London Now

Spot the BS: Tips from Nancy and Lucy

Pacing Manhattan

Foodie Mecca Comes to Chelsea

‘Spanish Crossings’ and How It All Started with a Sentence

Interviews I Like: The Lenny Interview

Llama Sutra: A Book to Devour

Moving House, Moving On

Friends on the Shelf

Miami, I want to love you, I do, I do

Inside Dior: a Doc to Download

26 February 2017

Bill Bowes: a Class Act

10 February 2017

A Thriller with Big Themes: Valentina

30 January 2017

Taming the Urban Jungle: Apps that NYers Love -

26 January 2017

New Year, New Attitude

Clifford Street, a gem of a street

18 December 2016

Want to Write Like Tolstoy? Author Richard Cohen Offers Up a Few Tips

3 December 2016

Ho, Ho, Ho: Fill that Sleigh with Top London Weekend Sales

1 December 2016

Rauschenberg at Tate Modern: A Must See

29 November 2016

Top Tips from Connolly’s Isabel Ettedgui

28 November 2016

An Interview with Vesna Goldsworthy

28 October 2016

Surviving Your Child’s 18th (PARTY!)

24 October 2016

Carmen Herrera: 101 and going strong

30 September 2016

Book I loved: The Last Pearl Fisher of Scotland

27 September 2016

Ola Barcelona & Mallorca

10 September 2016

Not Enough Greens in the Big Apple? Hop to Brooklyn’s Botanic Garden

5 September 2016

Art for Good: Gund for Art

1 September 2016

Calling All Romantics: The Love Story Behind the Love Story: Doctor Zhivago

Two Quirky Shops on the Upper East Side: Creel & Gow, Hayward House

Ciao for now

Shelter Island Take Two: Anticipation & Adventure

Present Ideas: My Top Picks

John Derian, a Creative at Work and Play

Tate Modern Fatigue: Wanna Save the Tate for a Later Date? Then Read On

The Toast I Meant to Give

Girlfriends Anonymous

Claire Lloyd at the Hand Sale: You Snooze, You Lose

Time to Detox: Before Summer Retox

Casa Magazines: Best Magazine Shop in the Big Apple

The School for Scandal: (rumour is it’s actually very good)

Young Bright Things: The Next Big Thing

Three Lives Bookshop -

A Life In Buttons

Aspen Sans Skis

Romance Across an Ocean

Blukicks: Shoes that Put a Little Kick in Your Step

Lunch Hopping at Pharmacy 2 and Brunswick House

Must Read: The Lightbox, by KJ Orr

29 February 2016

Vogue Dazzles through the Decades

10 February 2016

Viva la Vintage

1 February 2016

The Women’s Room

29 January 2016

Spotlight on Author Adam Baron about fast-paced Blackheath

29 January 2016

Jussara Lee: Zero Waste and Tons of Talent

25 January 2016

Words out on Mukul: the Mayan Word for Secret

Making Christmas Shopping Fun- It’s Possible

30 November 2015

Hots Spots in King’s Cross, Marylebone and yes, sleepy Fulham

13 November 2015

College Trip Tips for the People Who Aren’t Going to College: the Parents

6 November 2015

Feeling Frazzled from Frieze?

14 October 2015

The Pope, Putin and Me

New Gagosian, New Chalayan: Read All About it in Sotheby’s Magazine

11 September 2015

Leave Your Stilettos at Home -

4 September 2015

More Art: Short, Sweet and NOT Boring

Gimme Shelter

Rail: Work-Wear that Works Off Duty

The Great and Groovy Outdoors

Come Fly With Me

Jane Fonda: Still Going Strong at 77

Daffodils at Dawn

Sugarman is Back

Kerry Washington: Number One on a Call Sheet

It’s Way Out There in the Outer Sunset

Take Me Back

STANDSEVEN: Talk about the Ultimate Feel Good Purchase

The Last Asylum by Barbara Taylor Bradford: Memoir of Madness

Bloomin’ Bloomsbury

Wirth is Worth a Visit

Blogger’s Block: Holiday Here I Come

Vroom Vroom

From Burnt Toast to Vietnamese Fusion

Still Beautiful

27 February 2015

Fondation Louis Vuitton- Selfie Heaven

18 February 2015

A Chilean Looks Again

10 February 2015

Scottish Caper

30 January 2015

It’s that Time of the Month

26 January 2015

See, Smell, Taste and Touch

20 January 2015

Calling All Writers: Aspiring, Procrastinating and Actual

26 November 2014

Pebble: An Aladdin’s Den of Goodies

21 November 2014

How I Love a Good Pop-Up

14 November 2014

Mayfair Bejewels and Bedazzles

7 November 2014

No FOMO in Sizzling Brooklyn

30 October 2014

Make the Most of Balmy London- Outdoor Sculptures are Very In

17 October 2014

The Mouse that Roared

10 October 2014

Lessons for Life

10 October 2014

Dead and Dumber

10 October 2014

London is a Feast for the Eyes

Cool is a Place called Somerset- Hauser & Wirth’s Rural Triumph

22 September 2014

Take Me Back

8 September 2014

Surfin’ USA

3 September 2014

The other Mykonos

Bamford Country

Cote d’Azur a la Isy

If You Can’t Take the Heat, Go See A Show

Slow Down and Smell the Truffles

Don’t Forget Your Sunscreen

Capering in the Cotswolds

Come for Caviar, Quail’s Egg and a Giggle at Sketch

Ham Yard Heaven

The Imaginary Genius of Bill Viola

My Mykonos

Summer-time Birthday Presents

Fabulous Fendi, Duke Street Emporium and Color Me Tumi

Hipster Heaven

Photography Prize 2014

The London Original Print Fair

St Tropez Off-Season

Glorious Glass

Art as Therapy

Anna Quindlen- A Few of My Favorite Quotes

William Makepeace Thackeray

Half-Pipe Skates to Selfridges

Uruguay, the Ultimate Place to Chill

London: A Literary City Guide

Chilternist Choices

Flesh and Buns

Yamamoto at the V&A

KERB Appeal

Donkeys Bring Message of Peace to London

Urban Zombie

Prisoners Make Art

Only in England

My Home is Quite Literally My Palace at Lisbon’s Palacio Belmonte

Nora Ephron’s Final Act

Escape to Chewton Glen’s Tree House Suites

Dispatch from Capri

A Trip to Rwanda with Women for Women International

Making a Difference in Cambodia