The Desire Question

Laura Federico speaks with author Rachel Khong about her new short story collection, My Dear You. They discuss the Susan Sontag quote: “What I really wanted was every kind of life, and the writer's life seemed the most inclusive” and how it’s really about desire for experience. The conversation moves through the book's central themes: midlife reckoning, ambivalence about parenthood, and the pandem...

Host Laura Federico speaks with food and culture writer Alicia Kennedy about her new book, On Eating . They trace how meat has long symbolized masculinity, power, and American abundance, and why we have the ability to create social change through food. They also talk about sibling grief and the role her brother plays in the book. *** On Eating by Alicia Kennedy Alicia's newsletter Tomato Tomato Th...

Actress, singer, and author Gina Gershon talks about her new memoir AlphaPussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs with Laura Federico , psychotherapist and host of The Desire Question . Gina resists the idea of AlphaPussy as a guidebook, saying the real message is to know and be honest with yourself. She turns the tables and asks Laura about sex in this climate of swipe cultur...

Tanya Bush —writer, baker, and author of Will This Make You Happy? —joins Laura Federico to talk about hunger as a form of desire, and why being hungry can feel more alive than being satisfied. They discuss appetite as self-knowledge, the younger self Tanya writes toward in the book, and how desire once drove her toward baking, romance, travel, and reinvention all at once. *** Will This Make You H...

Laurie Stone and Richard Toon —writers, artists, and married partners—join Laura Federico to explore desire as a creative force and the relationship between vulnerability and art-making. They discuss why desiring is more pleasurable than being desired, the etymology of desire as "wishing for what the stars would bring," and how writers must create space for readers without needing anything from th...

Grammy Award-winning violinist and acclaimed author Ling Ling Huang joins host Laura Federico to explore the tangled relationship between envy, desire, and creative life. From unwanted projections as a child prodigy to discovering her bisexuality later in life, Ling Ling discusses how she moved from being passively desired to actively desiring—and why that shift changed everything. They dive into...

Aidan Ryan and Rachelle Toarmino—two award-winning writers who are also married—join Laura Federico to explore desire, ambition, and creative partnership. They discuss the ecstatic "adrenaline rush" of making art, the relationship between absence and wanting, and how they navigate power dynamics in both their work and relationship. From Rachelle's viral poem "You up?" to Aidan's examination of his...

Laura Federico sits down with Stephanie Wambugu, author of the critically acclaimed debut novel Lonely Crowds , to explore the intimate relationship between desire and suffering in the lives of Ruth and Maria. Together, they unpack the complex dynamics of Ruth and Maria's decades-long friendship, examining how childhood shapes adult patterns of longing, the shadow Catholicism casts over pleasure i...

In this episode, sex therapist Laura Federico ( The Cycle Book ) talks with novelist Erin Somers, author of The Ten Year Affair , about desire inside long-term relationships, the fantasies we carry, and the secret inner lives that shape us. Erin’s novel is a sharp, funny, emotionally rich portrait of two parents navigating forbidden desire across parallel timelines. This conversation unpacks both...