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Come celebrate MTPR’s 60th anniversary with a birthday bash at the Union Club in Missoula! Join us February 7th at 6 p.m. for a night of music, cake, and mingling with MTPR staff and fellow public radio fans.

TWQ Mini: Returning to ‘Class’ by Stephanie Land, in anticipation of event with Chapter One Bookstore

Stephanie Land, author of ‘Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education’ (Atria/One Signal Publishers).

In advance of her appearance at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Hamilton, Montana—an event hosted by Chapter One Bookstore—we return to this (edited, truncated) conversation from 2023 with Stephanie Land, author of Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education (Atria/One Signal Publishers). Maid, Stephanie’s first memoir, was centered on her life as a working mother, as a housecleaner, but it was also a story about her dream of becoming a writer. In the immensely readable Class, Stephanie takes us with her as she pursues that dream, as she finishes college and earns her undergraduate degree in creative writing at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Facing barriers at every turn—including a byzantine loan system, not having enough money for food, navigating the judgments of professors and fellow students—Stephanie finds a way to survive, once again.

NOTE! Stephanie will be in Hamilton at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on February 23, 2025. This event is free and open to the public. More information can be found here.

You can listen to Lauren’s original conversation with Stephanie, published on November 9, 2023, here. Both conversations have been edited for time.

About Stephanie:

Stephanie Land is an American author and activist whose writing focuses on social and economic justice, as well as parenting under the poverty line. Her debut book, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, was a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a limited series on Netflix. Stephanie’s work has been featured in numerous outlets, and she is a frequent speaker at colleges and national advocacy organizations. Class is her second book.

The Write Question team for this mini episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, sound engineer. This mini episode is supported by Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana, a literary and community resource for the Bitterroot Valley—providing space to explore, discover, and share passions since 1974. More information can be found at Chapter1Bookstore.com.

The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss. Our music was written and recorded by John Floridis.

Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.

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Lauren R. Korn holds an M.A. in poetry from the University of New Brunswick, where she was the recipient of the Tom Riesterer Memorial Prize and the Angela Ludan Levine Memorial Book Prize. A former bookseller and the former Director of the Montana Book Festival, she is now an Arts and Culture Producer at Montana Public Radio and the host of it’s literature-based radio program and podcast, ‘The Write Question.’
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