Literary Aviatrix: The Power of Story - Women in Aviation

Send us Fan Mail Few figures loom larger in aviation history than Amelia Earhart. Yet after hundreds of books, countless documentaries, and nearly a century of speculation, how much do we actually know about the woman behind the legend? In this episode, Laurie Gwen Shapiro talks about her bestselling book, The Aviator and the Showman . Drawing on newly digitized interviews, archival discoveries, a...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a family scrapbook opens a door into a forgotten chapter of aviation history? Author Cindy Weigand never intended to become a historian of women in aviation. While sorting through her late mother's belongings, she discovered scrapbooks and newspaper clippings connected to her great-uncle Jack, a barnstormer of the 1920s. What began as a family history projec...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever wondered whether self-publishing is the right path—or how to do it without getting overwhelmed or taken advantage of—this conversation is for you. In this episode, I talk with publishing consultant Polly Letofsky, founder of My Word Publishing, to walk through what self-publishing actually looks like behind the scenes. From maintaining your rights to building the ri...

Send us Fan Mail Heidi Porch was 540 miles east-northeast of Hawaii when her engine began losing oil pressure. She was 500 feet above the Pacific when she turned off the master switch and prepared to ditch. In this episode, Heidi joins me to talk about Ditching the Sky , her gripping memoir of ferrying single-engine Cessnas across the Pacific in the 1980s—and the day her engine quit over open ocea...

Send us Fan Mail Australian private pilot and author Fran West joins me to talk about her remarkable three-month journey flying around the coastline of Australia in a Cessna 172—an adventure she later captured in her photo-rich journal, Plane Reflections . What began as inspiration from the 1978 aerial circumnavigation known as “Pelican’s Progress” became Aus Flight ’99—a meticulously planned, sho...

Send us Fan Mail Caroline Paul—former San Francisco firefighter, lifelong adventurer, and pilot—joins me for a wide-ranging conversation about her new book, Why Fly (launching February 24). We talk gyrocopters, paragliding, trikes, the “rat-tat-tat” rhythm of humor and terror in pilot stories, and the way aviation can become both refuge and mirror when relationships shift and life asks us to find...

Send us Fan Mail In this Aviatrix Writers’ Room conversation, former NASA public affairs specialist and author of four nonfiction picture books, Kirsten W. Larson talks about writing true stories for young readers. We dig into how she learned the craft, the communities and organizations that helped her grow, and the realities of traditional publishing timelines (especially for illustrated nonficti...

Send us Fan Mail I’m joined by Kirsten W. Larson, former NASA public affairs specialist and author of four nonfiction picture books—including Wood, Wire, Wings, the story of pioneering airplane designer E. Lillian (Emma) Todd, and A True Wonder, a biography of Wonder Woman as a cultural icon shaped by women’s history. We talk about how Kirsten became a children’s nonfiction author, why the back ma...

Send us Fan Mail In this interview, Merryl Tengesdal, Col USAF (ret.) returns to talk about Shatter the Sky: Tales of Dragon Lady 788 — a comic designed to bring confidence, critical thinking, and leadership lessons to younger readers. We discuss why comic books and graphic novels matter, how real-world aviation experiences shaped this story, and why kids (and adults) need to listen to their inner...

Send us Fan Mail In this deeply immersive Literary Aviatrix Classics conversation Dr. Jacque Boyd, Captain Jenny Beatty and I discuss Wings for Life , the extraordinary memoir of pioneering aviatrix Ruth Nichols. Nichols’ life reads like myth—altitude, speed, and distance records; repeated catastrophic crashes; unrelenting physical pain; and a relentless return to the cockpit. Beneath the headline...

Send us Fan Mail Pioneering airline pilot Lynn Rippelmeyer reflects on her extraordinary journey from being hired as a TWA stewardess in the early 1970s to becoming one of the first women to fly the Boeing 747, and later retiring from United Airlines after a career shaped both by deregulation, mergers, and furloughs, and by generosity, unexpected opportunities, and adventure. We talk about her two...

Send us Fan Mail If you love daring women, vintage airplanes, and real-world adventure, you’re going to love this one. Pilot and author Tracey Curtis-Taylor shares her journey from a $15 introductory flight in Canada to flying her restored 1942 Stearman across Africa, from UK to Australia, and across the United States. We talk about her inspirations — Lady Mary Heath, Amy Johnson, Out of Africa —...

Send us Fan Mail Hold on to your flight goggles — this episode might be our juiciest Literary Aviatrix Classics yet. In this roundtable, Dr. Jacque Boyd, Captain Jenny Beatty, and I dive into Aviatrix: The Story of Elinor Smith , the 1981 memoir of the teenage pilot who took the 1920s aviation world by storm. Elinor Smith — “The Flying Flapper of Freeport” — was famous for flying under New York’s...

Send us Fan Mail At age 47, Mary Build took her very first flight lesson. What followed was a remarkable 30-year career in aviation—flying seaplanes, running her own seaplane base in Maine, flying to Alaska, competing in the Air Race Classic, and serving as a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE). In this interview, Mary shares her powerful journey from overcoming personal challenges to becoming a respe...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I sit down with Captain Tammie Jo Shults — one of the first women to fly Navy tactical jets, longtime Southwest Airlines captain, and author of Nerves of Steel . Tammie Jo is best known for her extraordinary leadership on Southwest Flight 1380 , but as she shares in this conversation, her story is about much more than one day in the cockpit. It’s about the obstacl...

Send us Fan Mail This is my first in-person interview, recorded at Patty Bear’s home in a medieval village in Provence. Her new book, Captain Patty’s Wisdom Hacks , launches September 9 and is available for preorder now . We bridge the years after her memoir From Plain to Plane —from USAF KC-135 pilot (Desert Shield/Desert Storm) to nearly 30 years at United Airlines, parenting, coaching, and buil...

Send us Fan Mail This June, I sat down with bestselling author Tracey Enerson Wood to talk about her newest historical novel, Katharine, the Wright Sister: A Novel  (2024). The book shines a spotlight on Katharine Wright , the often-overlooked sister of Wilbur and Orville Wright—whose contributions were vital to the invention and promotion of the airplane. Tracey and I talk about her path from reg...

Send us Fan Mail From growing up in a Gandhian school in India, to serving ten years in the Indian Army, to founding a thriving flight school in South Florida, Yogini “Yogi” Modi’s journey in aviation is extraordinary. In this interview, Yogi shares how her father’s encouragement sparked her passion for flying, how she became one of the Indian Army’s microlight pilots, and how she has dedicated he...

Send us Fan Mail Shirley M. Phillips is a pioneering female pilot and author whose new aviation memoir , How Not to Fly an Airplane , captures four decades of pilot life stories and lessons from the cockpit. From her start as a teenage student pilot in New Hampshire to becoming the first pregnant airline pilot at her company, Shirley’s career in aviation is filled with grit, humor, and resilience....

Send us Fan Mail In this interview with author Lucille Ponte, writing under the penname Bridges DelPonte, we talk about the fabulous fourteen women featured in her non-fiction anthology, She Soars: Trailblazing Female Pilots in Florida, and her professional advocacy for women’s equality in the military as an attorney and law professor. The book highlights fun and interesting facts about names we k...

Send us Fan Mail In this interview I talk with author Leona Cobham about the latest in her middle grade chapter book series featuringa cast of vintage British aircraft characters, Airplane Adventures Flying Circus: Above and Beyond. I first interviewed Leona in 2023, and we talked briefly about her grandfather, Sir Alan Cobham and his pioneering contributions to air-to-air refueling. We talk a lit...

Send us Fan Mail In this interview with debut author Carolyn Dasher, we talk about her new novel, American Sky, which features two women who join the WASP in WWII and their legacy across three generations. Buy the book: https://literaryaviatrix.com/book/american-sky/ The blurb: Three generations of indomitable women navigate life on their terms in an epic and inspiring historical novel about love...

Send us Fan Mail In this interview with Nicole Glover, author of the Aviatrix Book Club discussion book for June 2025, The Improvisers, we talk about how she wove historical themes of aviation, race and civil rights, historically Black communities, music, family, and sisterhood into a magical fantasy fiction mystery set in the 1930s.  Buy the Book:  https://literaryaviatrix.com/book/the-improviser...

Send us Fan Mail Finally, another Literary Aviatrix Classics episode with my guest hosts Dr. Jacque Boyd and Captain Jenny Beatty! This episode is all about Amy Johnson. We started off with her book Sky Roads to the World but, truth in advertising, we did not love this book. It’s a great history of aviation exploits of the time with insightful predictions of what aviation would offer in the future...

Send us Fan Mail In this interview with author, lawyer, and pilot Erin Miller, we talk about her journey through the halls of congress to change federal law so she and her family could honor her WASP Grandmother, Elaine Danforth Harmon's wish to be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.  Did you know you can support your local independent bookshop and me by shopping through my Bookshop....