The Academic Life

By: Christina Gessler
  • Summary

  • A podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Created and produced by Dr. Christina Gessler, the Academic Life podcast is inspired by today’s knowledge-producers around the world, working inside and outside the academy. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
    Christina Gessler
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Episodes
  • Before and After the Book Deal
    Sep 12 2024
    Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about publishing but were too afraid to ask. Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book (Catapult, 2020) by Courtney Maum is a funny, candid guide about breaking into the marketplace. Cutting through the noise, dispelling rumors and remaining positive, Before and After the Book Deal answers questions like: are MFA programs worth the time and money, and how do people actually sit down and finish a novel? Should you expect a good advance, and why aren’t your friends saying anything about your book? Before and After the Book Deal has over 150 contributors from all walks of the industry, including international bestselling authors, agents, editors, film scouts, translators, disability and minority activists, offering advice and sharing anecdotes about even the most taboo topics in the industry. Their wisdom will help aspiring authors find a foothold in the publishing world and navigate the challenges of life before and after publication with sanity and grace. Covering questions ranging from the logistical to the existential, Before and After the Book Deal is the definitive guide for anyone who has ever wanted to know what it’s really like to be an author. Our guest is: Courtney Maum, who is the author of five books, including Before and After the Book Deal, which Vanity Fair named one of the ten best books for writers, and The Year of the Horses, chosen by The Today Show as the best read for mental health awareness. A writing coach, director of the writing workshop “Turning Points,” and educator, her mission is to help people hold on to the joy of art-making in a culture obsessed with turning artists into brands. Passionate about literary citizenship, she sits on the advisory councils of The Authors Guild and The Rumpus. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the producer of the Academic Life podcast. She holds a PhD in history, which she uses to explore what stories we tell and what happens to those we never tell. Listeners may also enjoy this playlist: The Artists Joy: A Guide to Getting Unstuck Becoming the Writer You Already Are The DIY Writing Retreat The Top Ten Struggles in Writing a Book Manuscript & What to Do About It Make Your Art No Matter What The Emotional Arc of Turning A Dissertation Into A Book Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can help support the show by posting, assigning or sharing episodes. Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 200+ Academic Life episodes? Find them all here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • In the Garden Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth, and Magic
    Sep 5 2024
    Alexandra Chan thinks she has life figured out until, in the Year of the Ram, the death of her father—her last parent—brings her to her knees, an event seemingly foretold in Chinese mythology. Today’s book is: In The Garden Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth, and Magic (Flashpoint Books, 2024), by Dr. Alexandra Chan, who is a left-brained archaeologist and successful tiger daughter. But she finds her logical approach to life fails her in the face of profound grief. Slowly, painfully, wondrously, she discovers that her father and ancestors have left threads of renewal in the artifacts and stories of their lives. Through a long-lost interview conducted by Roosevelt’s Federal Writers’ Project, a basket of war letters written from the Burmese jungle, a box of photographs, her world travels, and a deepening relationship to her art, this archaeologist makes her greatest discovery to date: the healing power of enchantment. In an epic story that travels from prerevolution China to the South under Jim Crow, from the Pacific theater of WWII to Iceland, and beyond, Alexandra Chan takes us on a journey to meaning in the wake of devastating loss, sharing the insights and tools that allow her to rebuild her life and resurrect her spirit. In the Garden Behind the Moon is a captivating family portrait and an urgent call to awaken to the magic and wonder of daily life. Our guest is: Dr. Alexandra A. Chan, who is a mom, archaeologist, photographer, painter and writer. She is the author of Slavery in the Age of Reason: Archaeology at a New England Farm, and In The Garden Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth, and Magic, as well as journal articles and book chapters about the archaeology of northern slavery, early African America, and questions of race, place, identity, and becoming. She lives with her husband, her two sons, and their menagerie of animals in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is the producer of the Academic Life podcast. She holds a PhD in history, which she uses to explore what stories we tell and what happens to those we never tell. Listeners may enjoy this memoir playlist: The Translator's Daughter We Take Our Cities With Us Whiskey Tender Secret Harvests The Things We Didn't Know Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can help support the show by posting, assigning or sharing episodes. Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 200+ Academic Life episodes? Find them all here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • You Will Get Through This: A Mental Health First-Aid Kit- Help for Depression, Anxiety, Grief, and More
    Aug 29 2024
    You Will Get Through This: A Mental Health First-Aid Kit- Help for Depression, Anxiety, Grief, and More (Experiment, 2024) was written by three practicing therapists to serve as a tool kit. Drawing on the techniques the book’s authors Julie Radico, Nicole Halverson and Charity O’Reilly use with their own clients, You Will Get Through This offers a holistic understanding of more than twenty common life challenges, plus compassionate and evidence-based strategies for when you’re struggling. In each chapter, you’ll find what the research says about the issue, coping mechanisms that are used in actual therapy rooms, step-by-step guidance on using these strategies in real life and overcoming common obstacles, and tips for communicating with your loved ones. You will also find practical advice on accessing professional help, deciding if a therapist is the right fit for you (and breaking up with them if they’re not), and paying for therapy. Our guest is: Dr. Julie Radico, a board-certified clinical health psychologist with ten years of experience working in primary care settings. In 2023, she opened an independent consulting, coaching, and therapy practice. She holds a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and master’s degrees in clinical psychology & counseling and clinical health psychology. She is the co-author—with Charity O’Reilly and Dr. Nicole Helverson—of You Will Get Through This: A Mental Health First-Aid Kit. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the producer of the Academic Life podcast. She holds a PhD in history, which she uses to explore what stories we tell and what happens to those we never tell. Listeners may also enjoy this playlist: Mindfulness Talking to Strangers Being Well in Academia Tell Me What You Want Belonging : The Science of Creating Connection The Good-Enough Life The Value of Taking A Break from Overworking and Underliving Managing Your Mental Health During Your PhD Addiction and Sobriety in Academia Making A Meaningful Life Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can help support the show by posting, assigning or sharing episodes. Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 200+ Academic Life episodes? Find them all here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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    1 hr and 1 min

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