Episode Details

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Alix Strauss recently reissued The Joy of Funerals, 20 years after its initial release (with St. Martin's Press). This fascinated me, as so often I hear authors wonder, "Can I still promote my book? It's been out for a year!"

In this episode of the Write the Damn Book Already podcast, we chatted about:

• what compelled her to reissue the book
• what she's doing differently this time around
• how being a frequent contributor to the NYT informs her confidence about being a "good" writer
• what she loves most about the writing community
• how she summons and nurtures unflinching belief in her book. 

I had to sit quite far from the mic for the majority of the interview so it didn't pick up my near-constant laughter; the woman is hysterical!

ABOUT ALIX

Alix Strauss is a trend, culture, and lifestyle journalist; an award-winning, four-time published author; speaker; and frequent contributor to The New York Times. 

Her books include: The Joy of Funerals (St. Martin’s Press & Palagram Press), Based Upon Availability (Harper Collins), and Death Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous and the Notorious (Harper Collins).  She is also the editor of Have I Got a Guy for You (Simon & Schuster), an anthology of mother-coordinated dating horror stories. Her work has been optioned for several TV and film projects. 

A media-savvy social satirist, she has been a featured lifestyle, travel, and trend writer on national morning and talk shows including ABC, CBS, CNN, and the Today Show. During the past 25 years, she has written over 1500 articles. Her articles have appeared in Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Conde Nast Traveler, the Financial Times, Time Magazine, and Departures, among others, and cover a range of topics from trends in beauty, travel, and food to celebrity interviews. 

The Joy of Funerals is an Ingram Award winner and was named Best Debut Novel by The New York Resident. Alix was the inaugural “First Chapters” pick, Cosmopolitan Magazine’s new launchpad of fiction excerpts, giving readers exclusive sneak peeks of gripping new work. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in the Primavera Literary Journal, Hampton Shorts Literary Journal, The Idaho Review, Quality Women's Fiction, The Blue Moon Café III, Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish: The Heeb Storytelling Collection and A Kudzu Christmas. Her short story, “Shrinking Away”, won the David Dornstein Creative Writing Award. She is the recipient of several awards and fellowships from programs such as the Wesleyan Writers Conference, the Skidmore College Writerʼs Institute, the Sarah Lawrence Summer Program, and the Squaw Valleyʼs Screenwritersʼ Summer Program.

Alix lectures extensively and has been a keynote speaker, moderator, or panelist at over 200 conferences, symposiums, seminars, and summits, including The Southern Festival of Books, The Northwest Bookfest, The New England’s Writer’s Conference, Wesleyan Writer’s conference, The 92nd Street Y, New York University, Center for Communications, University of Connecticut, and Columbia University. She was chosen to speak at the National Jewish Book Festival and is on the National Speakers Bureau for Israeli Bonds.  

CONNECT WITH ALIX

Website: www.alixstrauss.com

Instagram: instagram.com/alixstrauss

Facebook: facebook.com/alixstrauss

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