[PREVIEW] Lindy West Doesn’t Need Your Permission

[PREVIEW] Lindy West Doesn’t Need Your Permission

March 12, 2026 · 26 min · Episode 236

About this episode

Virginia Sole-Smith interviews Lindy West about her new memoir, Adult Braces, and discusses themes of fatness, public perception, and friendship.

You're listening to Burnt Toast. I'm Virginia Sole-Smith. Today my conversation is with none other than the beloved, the brilliant, Lindy West. Lindy is the author of four books, The New York Times bestselling memoir, Shrill , as well as the essay collections, The Witches Are Coming and Shit, Actually , and her brand new memoir Adult Braces , out now. Lindy is a former contributing opinion writer for The New York Times . Her work has appeared in This American Life , The Guardian , Cosmopolitan , GQ , Vulture , Jezebel and many others. She is the co-host of the comedy podcast, Text Me Back!!! and the author of the newsletter Butt News . Lindy was a writer and executive producer on Shrill , the Hulu comedy adapted from her memoir, and she co-wrote and produced the independent feature film, Thin Skin . She lives on the Olympic Peninsula in rural Washington state. Lindy joined me to chat about her brand new memoir, Adult Braces . We get into her relationship to fatness, having people comment rather relentlessly on her marriage, why more best friends should start podcasts and so much more—including a quesadilla she invents in real time while we recorded. You are going to love this…

People in this episode

Host: Virginia Sole-Smith

Guest: Lindy West

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The New York Times, This American Life, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vulture, Jezebel, Hulu

Books & works: Shrill, The Witches Are Coming, Shit, Actually, Adult Braces, Thin Skin

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