Maya Shanbhag Lang is the author of What We Carry: A Memoir and The Sixteenth of June, a novel. Lang’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Observer, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and In Style, among others. I got to do an Instagram Live event with Maya for this interview. I was dazzled while reading What We Carry because Maya's self-discovery and unpacking of the family and personal histories we think we know are palpable and profound. Maya and I talked about giving yourself permission to talk about things freely and processing experiences through writing and also, weightlifting, which she says became an exercise not in picking up heavy weights, but in finally setting them down and giving herself permission to do that. I love that. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.