Dr. Bella Ellwood-Clayton is an award-winning author and editor. She has a BA from Concordia University in Montréal and a Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne in sexual anthropology—and, yes, that makes for interesting dinner party conversations. Bella’s novel, Weekend Friends, was published in 2023 by Post Hill Press. Her nonfiction book, Sex Drive: In Pursuit of Female Desire, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2012. Bella has published short stories, poetry, and written for publications such as Huffington Post and Daily Life. She frequently appears on TV and gives talks, including a TEDx talk. Her work has been featured in a National Geographic documentary. Married to a real-life superhero, she lives in Melbourne and has two spirited—eek—teens and a mini Maltese who truly believes he’s a pit bull. When she’s not on her laptop, you can find her downward dogging, pleading with her offspring to go outside, randomly blurting out, “Oh, that’s a good story idea,” and consuming too many vegetarian dumplings.

You can learn more about her on her website www.drbella.com.au and follow her on Instagram @bellaellwoodclayton - which will be the best place to be kept up to date on her next release!

Support your local bookstore & this podcast by getting your copy of Weekend Friends at Bookshop.org or from Amazon.

Shawna Rodrigues left her award-winning career in the public sector in 2019 to consult and publish her first novel Beyond the Pear Blossoms. Her desire to connect and help others led to the launch of her podcast The Grit Show shortly thereafter. When she learned women host only 27% of podcasts, her skills and passion led to the founding of the Authentic Connections Network. She now helps mission-driven entrepreneurs better connect with their audiences by providing full-service podcast production and through a community for Entrepreneurs & Podcasters – EPAC. Podcasting is her primary focus, so she continues to support the writing community through this podcast, and her writing time is mostly focused on anthologies.

She offers a free 7 Steps to Perfect Your Podcast Title to anyone interested in launching a podcast. You can also follow her on Instagram-@ShawnaPodcasts, and learn more about the network and community at https://linktr.ee/37by27.

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