Mega-Bestselling Author Kathryn Stockett on Finding Her Voice Again After ‘The Help’

The Oprah Podcast

Harpo

Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Oprah?sub_confirmation=1 New York Times best-selling author Kathryn Stockett talks with Oprah about her long-awaited novel The Calamity Club. She reveals how daunting it was to write a second novel in the wake of the success and the criticism of her smash debut hit The Help. The book sold over fifteen million copies, rose to number one and was on the best-seller list for more than two years. In 2011 it became a hit movie garnering four Oscar nominations and an Oscar win for Octavia Spencer as Best Supporting Actress. In The Calamity Club Kathryn shifts her perspective and writes a coming-of-age story set in the Depression era South about its two main characters Birdie and Meg. Kathryn explains how the cast of characters live inside her and yearn for expression through her written word. She shares her desire to tackle shocking challenges that women faced during that time. She says eventually the story evolved into an adventure about a group of bold, unbreakable women who overcome incredible hardships to reclaim their lives. The camaraderie, courage, resilience and the love between these characters will have you crying one page and laughing out loud the next. Three readers zoom in from their homes with questions for Kathryn about the book. BUY THE BOOK! 'Calamity Club' https://www.amazon.com/Calamity-Club-Novel-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/1954118813 Chapters: 00:00:00 - Welcome Kathryn Stockett, author of ‘Calamity Club’ 00:02:58 - 17 years between books 00:05:00 - Kathryn on the criticism of ‘The Help’ 00:06:03 - How it changed her writing 00:08:15 - Getting fired by her publisher 00:09:30 - Characters and plot of ‘Calamity Club’ 00:12:20 - How Kathryn found her characters 00:13:40 - Reactions to ‘Calamity Club’ 00:17:20 - Will there be a sequel? 00:20:43 - How will ‘Calamity Club’ be received? 00:25:17 - Women in the 20s 00:27:10 - Theme of found family 00:28:02 - What she wants readers to take away 00:31:55 - Advice to young women 00:35:35 - Kathryn’s favorite character 00:37:00 - Writing this story kept her sane 00:38:08 - Finishing the book Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The criticism from the help did shape how you started to approach this story and write the story.
0:09.0	After many faults starts writing this story, I got fired.
0:15.0	My publisher fired me because it had taken me so long.
0:19.0	Because you were still operating out of fear?
0:21.3	Yeah.
0:21.9	There's something, I guess, scrappy inside of me that, you know, if you kick me when I'm down,
0:28.9	I'm going to come out of that a little bit wiser and a little bit braver.
0:33.7	You're still going to write the book, even though you don't have a contract.
0:36.6	I don't give up easily. I got to say, I'm really stubborn.
0:40.3	So when I got fired, it kind of put a fire under my ass to prove them wrong.
0:47.3	This success of this book is going to be the best revenge for the publisher that fired you. I can't even believe it.
0:52.3	It was fun to write. It was. It was. even believe it. It was fun to write.
0:55.0	It was fun to write.
0:55.8	It was.
0:56.7	It was painful.
0:57.5	It was fun.
1:02.4	Hey, everybody.
1:04.3	Thanks for stopping by the Oprah podcast.
1:06.1	A warm welcome to you all.
1:07.9	I know millions of you read The Help.
1:13.5	Catherine Stockett's 2009 debut novel, which became a global phenomenon,
1:20.6	selling over 15 million copies. Not many authors get to say that in their lifetime, not in three lifetimes. Back in 2011, the actress Octavia Spencer won an Oscar for her role in the hit film,
	...

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