The Oprah Podcast
Mega-Bestselling Author Kathryn Stockett on Finding Her Voice Again After ‘The Help’
02 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The criticism from the help did shape how you started to approach this story and write this story.
After many false starts writing this story, I got fired.
Chapter 2: What challenges did Kathryn Stockett face after the success of 'The Help'?
My publisher fired me because it had taken me so long.
Because you were still operating out of fear.
Yeah, there's something, I guess, scrappy inside of me that, you know, if you kick me when I'm down, I'm going to come out of that a little bit wiser and a little bit braver.
Chapter 3: How did criticism of 'The Help' influence Kathryn's writing process?
You're still going to write the book, even though you don't have a contract.
I don't give up easily. I got to say, I'm really stubborn. So when I got fired, it kind of put a fire under my ass.
Chapter 4: What is 'The Calamity Club' about and who are its main characters?
to prove them wrong.
This success of this book is going to be the best revenge for the publisher that fired you. I can't even believe it.
Chapter 5: How did Kathryn Stockett develop the characters in 'The Calamity Club'?
It was fun to write.
It was fun to write.
It was. It was painful. It was fun.
Hey everybody, thanks for stopping by the Oprah Podcast. A warm welcome to you all. I know millions of you read The Help, Kathryn Stockett's 2009 debut novel, which became a global phenomenon, 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, The Help, based on the book. And now, Kathryn Stockett's long-awaited second novel, The Calamity Club, is finally here. And I know so many of you are going to devour this book.
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Chapter 6: What themes does 'The Calamity Club' explore regarding women in the 1930s?
And it's already, I can tell you, runaway bestseller. I knew that that was going to happen. And I'm thrilled to be sitting on my front porch with the author, Kathryn Stockett.
Chapter 7: What message does Kathryn want readers to take away from 'The Calamity Club'?
I know you prefer everyone call you Kitty, so I will do the same. Kitty, welcome. So glad to be with you.
Chapter 8: What advice does Kathryn have for young women facing challenges?
So glad to be here.
Let me just say, I fell in love with this coming-of-age story. And this is what I realized when I read this. I thought, all of my favorite books are coming-of-age stories, beginning with Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, of course, Celie in The Color Purple.
Mm-hmm.
Maya Angelou's story is a coming-of-age story. I know why the caged bird sings, and of course, to kill a mockingbird and scout. There's something about a young girl's voice, coming of age, that speaks to me so deeply, because I was a Southern girl, coming of age. And obviously, because you have done such an incredible job with this book, that also spoke to you.
This is a story of a group of bold, unbreakable women who overcome hardships to reclaim their lives. The love between them was just, I was crying one minute and laughing really out loud to myself the next. And then cheering. I think it's both heartbreaking and it's also hilarious at the same time. So you've said writing a second novel in the shadow of the help was daunting.
You know, living life and raising my daughter as a divorced woman. But I think it took me so long because I told myself I would be cautious with this next book. Mm-hmm. I would write something short and simple and not draw the kinds of criticism that some people had for the help. And what I ended up with was a very vanilla, you know, banana-flavored book.
version of this book that... Because you were trying to write not to offend anybody. That's right. And I was trying to write something that had no heart in it. And what I finally had to admit myself after many years of failure was that you cannot write about Mississippi and certainly not in the 1930s without talking about race, without talking about discrimination and the absurdities of
of some of the rules that were in existence, especially in a place like Mississippi.
Yes. Where I was born. Yes. Yes. And was very happy to get out of at the time that I did. I understand. Yes. And you understand. Yes. I always say I was born at the right time. I was born in... I'm going to start talking like Mississippi now. I was born in 1954.
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