Media

Columnist, Free Expression, The Wall Street Journal

Read Meghan’s weekly column for WSJ’s Free Expression, covering a wide range of topics from contemporary culture to book reviews.

Meghan Cox Gurdon joins Irene Rawlings on Women, Books & More to discuss her memoir, Free Range Girl, and her book about the joy of reading aloud, The Enchanted Hour. In 1976, twelve-year-old Meghan moved with her father to a rural Maine homestead without electricity or indoor plumbing. Her account of that year brings humor and adventure to questions about childhood freedom, family, and growing up.

We talk about everyday life on the homestead, finding friends as the girl “from away,” and what Meghan learned to do for herself. Looking back, she considers both the gifts and the risks of that independence—and how raising five children shaped her understanding of it.

We also explore what happens when childhood memories meet an adult’s understanding of family. What did writing the memoir reveal about her parents and the choices she couldn’t fully understand at twelve?

Meghan Cox Gurdon on Being a Greedy Reader

Totally Booked with Zibby

Wall Street Journal journalist Meghan Cox Gurdon talked to Zibby Owens about her new book Free Range Girl: A Memoir which focuses on the year that twelve-year-old Meghan spent with her father in rural Maine in 1976.

Meghan shares how her life shifted from conventional (with her mother) to highly unconventional on a homestead with her father and how memoir writing helped her make sense of her life and unearth memories.

She and Zibby also talked extensively about the role of books. Meghan went from being a "greedy reader" as a kid to reading aloud to her five children and eventually covering children’s books.

Podcast

What was childhood like before screens, constant supervision, and endless distractions? In this episode of Bookish Flights, I'm joined by Meghan Cox Gurdon, longtime Wall Street Journal book critic and author of , a memoir about her unconventional childhood in rural Maine during the 1970s. We talk about the process of writing a memoir, the freedom of growing up in a different era, and what we can learn from looking back at our own stories. We also discuss her previous book, , exploring the challenges of deep reading in today's distracted world and the importance of reading aloud to foster connection and a lifelong love of books.

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