About the Midwives
We’re Jade Chang and Ann Friedman, two best-selling authors and national magazine writers who, between us, have put in our 10,000 hours (sorry for Gladwelling) in screenwriting, podcasting, editing, and various entrepreneurial ventures. We are also friends who live in Los Angeles.
And we have way, way too many ideas. We wish we could pursue every single one of them. Alas, we are mortals, so we have to prioritize. We’ve had countless conversations about deepening an idea, shaping a concept so that it feels vital and rich, and knowing when a nascent project is worth the time and effort. Our workshops are about sharing those conversations with you.
Why “Midwives of Invention”? Because we believe YOU, the writer, are the mother of all inventiveness in your work. We are simply here to help your process along.
Jade Chang
Jade’s debut novel, The Wangs vs. the World was named one of the best books of the year by NPR, Elle, and Amazon. She has been invited to discuss the book at colleges (Yale, UT Austin) and companies (Google, Amazon), as well as on the air (Late Night with Seth Meyers, NPR’s Morning Edition). Her bestselling novel was optioned by Hulu and has been published in twelve countries. She is also a film and TV writer (The Baby-Sitters Club) and has written and voiced two non-fiction audio projects: The List (Amazon Originals) and You’ve Already Changed Your Life (Audible). Her journalism and essays have appeared in The NYT Magazine, The WSJ, The Best American Food Writing, and others.
Ann Friedman
Ann is an established magazine writer, an audio pioneer who co-created the beloved Call Your Girlfriend podcast, and a newsletter innovator whose long-running Ann Friedman Weekly has more than 50,000 devoted readers. She is the co-author (with Aminatou Sow) of the New York Times best-seller Big Friendship, which was featured on The Today Show. For many years, she was a columnist for both The Cut and The Los Angeles Times, and her features have been published in The New Yorker, ELLE, The Guardian, Bon Appétit, and more. She is a contributing editor to The Gentlewoman, where she writes short essays and cover profiles of fascinating women.