Episode Details

Grant Ginder is the author of six novels, including The People We Hate at Weddings (adapted into the 2024 film starring Kristen Bell and Ben Platt) and his latest, So Old, So Young — a story that drops in on six college friends across five parties over twenty years. A University of Pennsylvania grad and former Washington speechwriter, Grant now teaches in the MFA program at NYU.

In this episode:

• Welcoming baby Celia via surrogacy — and the woman who made it possible
• How Frankie the dog became the world's gentlest big… er, little-sister supervisor
• The So Old, So Young structure: five parties, twenty years, six friends
• Writing (and wanting to burn) his first novel at 23 after a brutal breakup
• The millennial reckoning with homeownership, kids, and the markers of "real" adulthood
• Sipping gin and tonics through a Watch What Happens Live taping with Erika Jayne and Elizabeth Perkins
• The Long Island Railroad wine binge that birthed The People We Hate at Weddings
• Meeting husband Mac (and the handshake that almost killed it)
• Phones, performance culture, and why we were "so lucky" to grow up offline

📚 Grab So Old, So Young — https://www.grantginder.com  🏳️‍🌈 Catch Grant at East End Books in Provincetown this September, including an event with John Glenn for his queer Arthurian retelling The Lost Book of Lancelot.

Chapter Markers / Timestamps

00:00  Welcome — meet author Grant Ginder

00:30  Surprise! A brand-new baby (not a horse)

02:58  The surrogacy journey & their "hero" surrogate

05:31  So Old, So Young — the book

06:00  Getting tipsy on Watch What Happens Live

08:45  Five parties, twenty years: the book's structure

11:35  Laguna Beach to UPenn to speechwriting

13:00  Writing a novel at 23 after his first heartbreak

14:41  "How did I get to 40?" — the passage of time

17:50  Why millennials hit adulthood differently

20:36  The People We Hate at Weddings

21:55  Four bottles of wine & the train ride that started it all

23:48  The 2024 movie (Kristen Bell & Ben Platt)

24:08  Meeting husband Mac — and the dreaded handshake

29:11  Phones, performance & a Swedish Lapland digital detox

31:40  How Frankie the dog took to baby Celia

32:54  What's next: new book + a September in P-Town

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

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