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Literary Aviatrix: The Power of Story - Women in Aviation

Join Liz Booker as she interviews authors whose books feature women in aviation from across genres, historical periods, and types of flying, and be inspired by the tenacity, adventure, and courage of our sisters in the air. * Liz not only promotes books featuring women in aviation, but also provides the tools and information for other women to tell their stories. Check out Writers' Room interviews for in-depth discussions on writing, publishing, and book promotion. * Liz is a retired Coast Guard helicopter pilot and writer, and host of the Aviatrix Book Club, Aviatrix Writers' Group, and Literary Aviatrix website where you'll find hu...

Airline Captain Heidi A. Porch talks about her memoir Ditching the Sky about a ferry flight engine failure 540 miles from Hawaii, a Cold War rescue, and the long road from ocean ditching to the 747

61 hours 30 mins; February 27, 2026

Flying Around Australia: Author and general aviation pilot Fran West talks about Plane Reflections about her three-month flight around Australia’s coastline—weather, grit, and why turning back is sometimes the bravest choice

66 hours 44 mins; February 18, 2026

Caroline Paul’s Why Fly—open-cockpit flight, awe from above, and the hard-won clarity that comes when life on the ground gets turbulent

92 hours 53 mins; February 07, 2026

Aviatrix Writers' Room - Children's Author Kirsten W. Larson talks about writing, publishing, and her 'Reimagine Your Writing' craft books

21 mins; January 22, 2026

Kirsten W. Larson on Wonder Woman, aircraft designer E. Lillian Todd, and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne

37 mins; January 22, 2026

Breaking formation – U2 Pilot Merryl Tengesdal on graphic novels, confidence and courage, and raising the next generation of leaders.

23 mins; January 14, 2026

Aviatrix Classics: Pioneer Ruth Nichols’ Wings for Life—record-setting flights, devastating crashes, and the resilience to find purpose that joined aviation skill with Quaker compassion to deliver air relief worldwide.

221 hours 47 mins; December 31, 2025

Captain Lynn Rippelmeyer — From TWA Stewardess to Pioneering 747 Captain

95 hours 4 mins; December 22, 2025

Tracey Curtis-Taylor — Bird: Flying the Spirit of Artemis Across Continents and Confronting the Old Boys’ Club

82 hours 5 mins; October 31, 2025

Literary Aviatrix Classics: Aviatrix by Elinor Smith — The Flying Flapper Who Outsmarted Putnam, Outflew the Boys, and Spilled All the Aviation Tea

146 hours 9 mins; October 20, 2025

Finding Myself in Aviation | Mary Build’s Inspiring Story of Flying, Seaplanes, and Second Chances

66 hours 35 mins; September 27, 2025

Captain Tammie Jo Shults — Southwest Airlines Pilot of Flight 1380, Navy Jet Pioneer, and Author of Nerves of Steel

64 hours 11 mins; September 16, 2025

Captain Patty Bear Book Launch: Air Force KC-135 Veteran & Airline Pilot on Wisdom Hacks, Decision-Making, Career Transitions, and Women in Aviation

50 mins; September 04, 2025

Bestselling author Tracey Enerson Wood on her historical novel, Katharine: The Wright Sister, and how Katharine Wright changed the course of aviation history

34 mins; August 24, 2025

Yogini Modi: Entrepreneur, Aviation Mentor, and Community Leader, talks about how her flight school in Homestead Florida is helping to grow India's commercial pilots

59 mins; August 19, 2025

Shirley M. Phillips — How Not to Fly an Airplane: Lessons from 40 Years in Aviation

55 mins; August 09, 2025

Women's military equality advocate and author Bridges DelPonte talks about the 14 trailblazing women pilots whose histories intersect with Florida in her book She Soars

69 hours 25 mins; July 09, 2025

Author Leona Cobham, granddaughter of pioneering aviation advocate Sir Alan Cobham, joins me again to talk about the latest in her middle grade chapter book series featuring vintage British aircraft, Flying Circus: Above and Beyond

24 mins; July 06, 2025

Debut author Carolyn Dasher, talks about her new historical novel, American Sky, which features two women who join the WASP in WWII and their legacy across three generations

31 mins; July 01, 2025

Fantasy and speculative fiction author of The Improvisers, Nicole Glover, talks 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

28 mins; June 24, 2025

Dr. Jacque Boyd and Captain Jenny Beatty are back for another Literary Aviatrix Classics episode about Amy Johnson

81 hours 54 mins; June 17, 2025

Final Flight, Final Fight: Author Erin Miller talks about her crusade to change federal law to inter her WASP Grandmother at Arlington National Cemetery

63 hours 17 mins; June 04, 2025

In this Writers' Room conversation with author Susan Tate Ankeny, we talk about writing and traditionally publishing historical non-fiction

43 mins; May 28, 2025

Susan Tate Ankeny talks about Chinese American WWII WASP Hazel Ying Lee, the subject of her latest book American Flygirl

43 mins; May 10, 2025

Book Launch! Author Becky Aikman talks about her new book Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger in WWII about the women who flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary

41 mins; May 05, 2025

Aviatrix Writers' Room with USA Today Best-Selling Author Heather B. Moore who shares her tips on launching a writing career and how to navigate publishing options.

31 mins; April 30, 2025

Author Amanda Harrison talks about her book Solo2Darwin, a memoir of her attempt to fly solo along Amy Johnson's path from England to Australia in her open cockpit Tiger Moth airplane

65 hours 26 mins; April 29, 2025

USA Today best-selling author Heather B. Moore talks about her biographical fiction, Lady Flyer, about WWII WAFS/WASP pilot and leader Nancy Harkness Love

31 mins; March 23, 2025

Retired airline pilot and voice actress Pamela Almand, a.k.a. The Captain's Voice, talks about her flying career, how she became an audio book narrator, and what that relationship looks like for authors

37 mins; February 25, 2025

Aviatrix Classics - Jacque, Jenny, and I completely geek out on the incredible adventures of pioneering New Zealand pilot Jean Batten who set multiple records in the 1930s, including being the first person to fly solo from England to New Zealand

123 hours 21 mins; January 05, 2025

NYT Best-selling author Lorraine Heath talks about her novel The Girls of Flight City featuring the women who trained British Royal Air Force pilots before the U.S. entered WWII

27 mins; January 02, 2025

USAF Judge Advocate General Samantha Arrington Sliney dives deep into the evolution of military aviation pregnancy policies and talks about her new picture book All the Things Our Mommy Can Do coauthored by USAF Pilot Megan Biles

74 hours 11 mins; November 26, 2024

Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor recipient and Air National Guard Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter Pilot Mary Jennings Hegar talks about her memoir Shoot Like a Girl

52 mins; November 22, 2024

Aviatrix Classics - A Pair of Wings about Bessie Coleman with special guest, author Captain Carole Hopson

73 hours 22 mins; November 09, 2024

U.S. Army AH-64 Apache combat helicopter pilots Laura Pangallo Fryar and Morgan Samuels talk about their careers and their picture book Be Something Epic

58 mins; November 06, 2024

Alaska Bush and Glacier Pilot Kitty Banner Seemann talks about flying elite mountain climbers, hunters, and adventurers into remote locations in some of the most challenging conditions in the world.

74 hours 33 mins; October 21, 2024

Aviatrix Classics with guest hosts Dr. Jacque Boyd and Capt. Jenny Beatty - The Fun of It by Amelia Earhart

128 hours 33 mins; September 30, 2024

Aviatrix Writers' Room: Canadian pilot and author Lola Reid Allin talks about writing her memoir, Highway to the Sky, and hybrid publishing with She Writes Press

52 mins; September 12, 2024

Book launch interview with Canadian pilot Lola Reid Allin about her memoir, Highway to the Sky: An Aviator's Journey, out on September 17th 2024

62 hours 43 mins; September 12, 2024

Aviatrix Writers' Room Picture Book Publishing Panel: Five authors share their journeys through traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing.

69 hours 58 mins; August 13, 2024

Aviatrix Classics with guest hosts Dr. Jacque Boyd and Captain Jenny Beatty: I Taught Amelia to Fly by Neta Snook Southern

112 hours 36 mins; August 02, 2024

Leadership & Development: Author Martha LaGuardia Kotite talks about her books So Others May Live, about U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers and Changing the Rules of Engagement, which features several aviatrix heroines including Tammy Duckworth, Pam Melroy,

69 hours 33 mins; June 10, 2024

Aviatrix Classics discussion with Jacque Boyd and Jenny Beatty about Louise Thaden's memoir, High, Wide, and Frightened

75 hours 54 mins; June 05, 2024

Aviatrix Writers' Room interview with bestselling author Maggie Shipstead on her classical writing education and publishing journey.

40 mins; June 01, 2024

Novelist Maggie Shipstead talks about the feral bootlegging, Alaska bush, and Air Transport Auxiliary pilot character, Marion Graves, from her best selling Great Circle.

39 mins; May 31, 2024

Aviatrix Classics - Introducing my co-hosts, Dr. Jacque Boyd, general aviation pilot and aerospace educator, and Captain Jenny Beatty, professional airline pilot and aviation diversity advocate, both self-proclaimed aviation history and book nerds.

62 hours 37 mins; May 15, 2024

Pilot Polly Vacher talks about her record-setting solo flight from the North Pole to Antarctica to raise funds for the charity Flying Scholarships for the Disabled

69 hours 16 mins; May 11, 2024

Prolific mystery writer Edith Maxwell, writing as Maddie Day, talks about her writing career and incorporating historical details about a young Amelia Earhart into her new novel A Case for the Ladies: A Dot and Amelia Mystery

35 mins; April 07, 2024

Bloomberg space journalist and author Loren Grush talks about her book The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts

43 mins; March 17, 2024

Aviatrix Writers' Room - New Zealand pilot and author Penelope Haines on going from Na-No-Wri-Mo participant to self-published author.

34 mins; March 17, 2024

New Zealand flight instructor and author Penelope Haines on flying in the Land of the Long White Cloud and her Claire Hardcastle murder mystery Death on D'Urville

52 mins; March 13, 2024

Award winning authors Sherri L. Smith and Elizabeth Wein talk about their exciting new collaborative Young Adult release, American Wings: Chicago's Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality

105 hours 48 mins; February 22, 2024

Aviatrix Writers' Room: Sara Ackerman on becoming a best-selling historical fiction author after having three novels rejected.

20 mins; February 21, 2024

Best-selling WWII historical fiction author Sara Ackerman reimagines the 1920's Dole Air Race to Hawaii with a female competitor in her new release The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West

19 mins; February 04, 2024

Book Launch Interview - Decorated Veteran Army Helicopter Pilot Kodey Bogart talks about her flying career and her new picture book Helo Girls: The Firefighting Pilot

41 mins; January 14, 2024

Soar Into Joy with my first 'Leadership and Development' series guest, US Navy S-3B Viking pilot and Tech Industry veteran Loree 'Rowdy' Draude, first wave of women to deploy on a carrier, and one-woman show actress.

87 hours 23 mins; December 18, 2023

Aviatrix Book Club 2024 Reading List Announcement

13 mins; December 15, 2023

Author Leona Cobham, granddaughter of aviation pioneer Sir Alan Cobham, talks about her middle grade book Flying Circus Takes to the Skies, featuring four anthropomorphic vintage aircraft and their adventures

53 mins; December 01, 2023

Aviatrix Book Club November 2024 - USAF Test Pilot and First Female NASA Space Shuttle Pilot & Commander, Col. Eileen Collins (ret.) talks about her journey from childhood to space, and her memoir, Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars.

94 hours 7 mins; November 24, 2023

Aviatrix Book Club October 2023 Coast Guard H65 Dauphin Helicopter Flight Mechanic Ashlee Leppert talks about rescue response during Hurricane Harvey, earning the Air Medal, and being an honored guest at the State of the Union Address

38 mins; November 01, 2023

Aviatrix Book Club October 2023 UK RAF Chinook aircrew Liz McConaghy talks about her service in Iraq and Afghanistan and her subsequent mental health challenges in her memoir Chinook Crew Chick

50 mins; October 23, 2023

Book Launch: Former USAF F-16 Thunderbird no. 3 Demonstration Pilot and mom, Caroline ‘Blaze’ Jensen, talks about her new picture book THUNDERMOUSE

42 mins; October 09, 2023

Book Launch: Author Mary Carroll Moore talks about how her WWII WASP mother inspired her new thriller novel, A Woman's Guide to Search and Rescue, which features two modern-day female pilot characters

39 mins; October 07, 2023

Author Nell McShane Wulfhart celebrates the unsung heroines of equal rights in the aviation industry and the women's movement in The Great Stewardess Rebellion

34 mins; September 27, 2023

Writers' Room conversation with former travel-writer-turned-author, Nell McShane Wulfhart, on non-fiction book proposals, agents, and publishing with the Big Five

19 mins; September 27, 2023

WP47: Pilot and author Erin Mariah Murphy talks about her early career path toward the airlines via an aviation degree program

9 mins; September 26, 2023

AN22: Thriller novelist Sandy Parks talks about her writing routine and how to infiltrate the writers' conference circuit as a volunteer

9 mins; September 25, 2023

Aviatrix Book Club August 2023 Former Army helicopter pilot Connie Reeves talks about her thriller novel The Elimination Game, her career, and her contribution to the Military Fly Moms book.

66 hours 13 mins; September 17, 2023

WP46: USAF Lockheed U-2 'Dragon Lady' reconnaissance pilot Merryl Tengesdal talks about the physiological effects of flying on the edge of space

6 mins; August 24, 2023

WP45: General aviation pilot Erin Seidemann talks about flying to The Bahamas

7 mins; August 22, 2023

AN21: Journalist and Author Kathy Mexted talks about the transition from article writing to longer form biographical sketch for her book Australian Women Pilots

8 mins; August 20, 2023

WP44: Lauren Kessler reads about the 1929 Women's Transcontinental Air Race

5 mins; August 01, 2023

WP43: Amy Goodpaster Strebe does a reading from her comparative study Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of WWII

9 mins; July 31, 2023

AN20: Amy Goodpaster Strebe on publishing an historical graduate school thesis on the WASP and Night Witches with a university press.

9 mins; July 30, 2023

WP42: Accessing WWII history through the stories of the Women Airforce Service Pilots with Tricia Aurand

5 mins; July 20, 2023

WP41 Kathy Mexted talks about Australian Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Marty Gething, and Royal Flying Doctor Service pilot, Esther Veldestra

8 mins; July 19, 2023

Former US Army and Coast Guard helicopter pilot, Darcy Guyant, talks about his new picture book Into the Storm: The Coast Guard Adventures of Dolph and Gwen

26 mins; July 16, 2023

AN19: Merryl Tengesdal’s memoir writing advice to women in aviation: “Just Do It. Go take a dive in the sea of uncomfortableness and start doing the back stroke.”

11 mins; July 16, 2023

WP40: Keith O'Brien on how Florence Klingensmith's menstrual cycle was cited as the probable cause of her air race crash, rather than the flawed design of the GeeBee

7 mins; July 13, 2023

WP39: Historian Clare Mulley talks about gliding for research to describe Hanna Reitsch's aviation exploits, and how real and recent WWII feels through her research

6 mins; July 11, 2023

AN18: Thriller novelist Sandy Parks talks about how she developed her craft

8 mins; July 09, 2023

Critique groups, exploring poetry, attending conferences, writing competitions, and dealing with rejection in your writing with author and English/Creative Writing teacher Pat Valdata.

21 mins; July 02, 2023

Certified glider pilot/instructor and author Pat Valdata talks about soaring in her novel Crosswind and shares her aviatrix poetry collection Where No Man Can Touch.

41 mins; July 02, 2023

Hiller Aviation Museum founding curator and historian Charles Morgan Evans talks about his new book Helicopter Heroine--Valerie Andre: Surgeon, Pioneer Rescue Pilot, and Her Courage Under Fire

50 mins; June 21, 2023

WP38: Julie Tizard introduces her lesbian romance novel, The Road to Wings, and tells us why she wrote it (hint: Write the book you want to read.)

6 mins; June 16, 2023

WP37: How Rosemary Mariner took on the anti-feminists Phyllis Schlafly and Elaine Donnelly to achieve women’s equality in military aviation

7 mins; June 06, 2023

Book Launch: USAF Thunderbird Demonstration Team pilot Michelle 'MACE' Curran introduces her new picture book Upside Down Dreams and talks about pulling 9 G's for a living

41 mins; June 04, 2023

WP36: Pilot and author Carole Hopson talks about the two major themes in her historical novel about Bessie Coleman, A Pair of Wings: the dawn of aviation and the dawn of the great migration.

7 mins; June 01, 2023

WP35: Author Sherri L. Smith introduces her novel FLYGIRL about a fair-skinned Black woman who passes as white to join the WASP

5 mins; May 30, 2023

Book Launch Available June 1st 2023 - The Firsts: Women Pilots and How They Changed the Airlines, by Mary Bush Shipko

52 mins; May 28, 2023

AN17: Literary Agent Amy Collins talks about what you need to be ready to query agents and publishers based on the genre you’re writing.

8 mins; May 28, 2023

WP34: How Amelia Earhart's birthplace home inspired the middle grade mystery novel The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray

6 mins; May 25, 2023

WP33: Air Force Academy grad and retired airline pilot Patty Bear talks about how her father's excommunication from the Mennonite church led to her liberation in the air.

6 mins; May 23, 2023

AN16: The process and impact of publishing memoir with former Army Warrant Officer and Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot, Amber Smith

7 mins; May 21, 2023

WP32: Former WASP, Nadine Ramsey, purchases a Lockheed P38 Lightning in 1946

5 mins; May 18, 2023

WP31: NYT Best-selling author Kate Quinn talks about the inception for the WWII Night Witch character Nina in The Huntress

10 mins; May 16, 2023

Book Launch - Eileen Bjorkman's FLY GIRLS REVOLT tells the story of women in military aviation from the WASP to the repeal of the Combat Exclusion Policy

53 mins; May 14, 2023

AN15: Publisher Brook Warner of SheWrites Press and Sparks Press on hybrid publishing

9 mins; May 14, 2023

WP30: General aviation pilot Erin Seidemann on the fun and not-so-fun aspects of being a woman in aviation

8 mins; May 13, 2023

WP29: Bush pilot and author of the memoir THEY CALLED ME SKY HUNTER, Myriam Huser, talks about how a relationship in her twenties delayed her progress as a pilot

6 mins; May 09, 2023

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Literary Aviatrix: The Power of Story - Women in Aviation

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