Yesteryear author Caro Claire Burke on the Discourse Game and tradwives.
Plus: Anna Wintour needs a new assistant, Zohran's team runs on Zyn, and more.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I was pleased to see many of you on Saturday night at Sunset Beach on Shelter Island. Some readers made a day of it, and drove out to the Hamptons from the city, and got some frosé and Feed Me towels before grabbing the last ferry off the island to drive back to Manhattan. My favorite Gen Z feather-rufflers Ella Devi and Alex Bronzini-Vender made the trip from Long Island, as did Amanda Lee Burkett. New York Magazine’s Alexis Swerdloff and Sam Hine were already on the island, so they didn’t have much of an odyssey to Sunset Beach’s disco ball. I met two young men from the island who recently paid for a blue checkmark for their clam chowder review Instagram page, Chowder Hour. Expect an interview with them soon. Hope everyone had a good weekend.
Today’s newsletter includes: caro claire burke gives us a baller (gloves off) Guest Lecture interview, Anna Wintour is hiring a new assistant, new money millionaires want to buy second homes in Maine, a Feed Me-exclusive discount to The Holes, and the Mamdani administration runs on Zyn.
This interview is part of a Feed Me feature called Guest Lecture. In this series, I introduce you all to an expert who I’m curious about, and give paid readers an opportunity to ask them anything they want. Past guests have included Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Klein, and Joe Weisenthal.
Today, caro claire burke, author of the bestselling novel Yesteryear, answers your questions about tradwives, rejection in the publishing industry prior to Yesteryear, and adjusting to public life after selling 1.4 million copies of her book.
“Thank you for writing such an amazing book. I couldn’t put it down. Are there any aspects of the ‘trad-wife’ life that you admire? And if so, which elements would you apply to your own?” - Deanna
Trad-wife hobbies I admire: eating fresh food, making meals at home, and avoiding screen time (tho kind of lol for the ones who claim to avoid screen time yet share their kids’ entire lives online).
“How much empathy did you personally feel for your main character (who seems to divide readers) and did that change over the course of writing the novel?” - Eva
I could’ve spent the rest of my life writing from the perspective of Natalie. I think she’s the most ambitious, hysterical, tragic, and fascinating mind I’ve ever occupied. I love her endlessly. I don’t know if my relationship to her changed over the course of writing the novel, but I certainly relate to her even more in the wake of the novel’s publication.
“What has most surprised you, if anything, about how any part of your book has been interpreted either by fans or by the ‘trad-wife’ community?” - Rachel
How open to the conversation many “traditional women” are. I have met so, so, so many conservative/Christian/Republican women on tour. Some of them love the book, some of them kind of like it, some of them dislike it. Regardless, countless have shown up to my signings eager to have conversations inspired from what they read, and that has been extremely cool to witness.
