On Writing Well for Trade: A Conversation with author and scholar Donna Freitas

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In this episode you’ll hear: differences between trade books and monographs, how to translate academic scholarship for wider audiences, risks and rewards of writing for trade, and trade books as a means to address justice issues related to access to knowledge and audience hierarchies.

Our guest is: Dr. Donna Freitas, a longtime researcher and scholar on topics related to sex on campus, Title IX, and sexual assault. She has spoken about her work at more than 200 colleges and universities across the United States. Donna is also the author of many books, both fiction and nonfiction, among them, Consent on Campus: A Manifesto (Oxford University Press) and Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention (Little, Brown). She has appeared on NPR, The Today Show, and many other radio and news programs to talk about her research, and her work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal among other places. Her novel, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano will be published in April 2021 by Pamela Dorman Books/Viking in over twenty countries and languages. She lives in Brooklyn.

Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher ed scholar and practitioner. Dana was a follower and admirer of Donna’s work for many years and had the good fortune to connect with her in person when Donna served as a reviewer for Dana’s book, From Single to Serious (Rutgers UP). Things that make Dana’s heart happy include making delicious, healthy food, yoga, and wandering the coastline of the Jersey shore.

Listeners to this episode might be interested in:

• Freitas, D. (2017). The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost. Oxford University Press.
• Freitas, D. (2010). Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campus. Oxford University Press.

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