Bonnie Garmus: Life Lessons in Balance
Bonnie Garmus strokes a W4+ for Green Lake Crew in Seattle, WA.
This episode was made possible in part by Live2Row Studios, Breakwater Realty, RowSource, and our Patrons.
Bonnie Garmus was a competitive masters rower for years before an offhand comment during a business meeting prompted her to begin writing her debut novel, "Lessons in Chemistry," which was adapted into an Apple TV+ series.
Everyone wants to talk with Bonnie about the book’s main character, Elizabeth Zott, but we turned the table to ask Bonnie about the role rowing plays in her life – and her book – which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly 100 weeks.
EPISODE GUEST
Bonnie Garmus
IG & Threads: @bonnie_garmus_author
QUICK LOOK
00:00 - Episode lead-in and intro
03:04 - The Huddle: Get to know Bonnie Garmus
03:35 - Rowing Week: erging
05:15 - Meeting the Queen
07:26 - Hot Seat Q&A
08:38 - Cold open water swimming as a kid with her Dad
11:42 - Learning to row at Green Lake Rowing Club in Seattle
15:08 - Feeling a boat pick up and go for the first time
17:34 - Tara explains “the rower life cycle”
19:33 - How rowing effected Bonnie’s life
22:50 - Rowing as a character in "Lessons in Chemistry"
22:46 - Rowing as a hardship for Elizabeth to handle
29:14 - Was any of the book’s rowing based on Bonnie’s personal experience?
30:11 - What Bonnie really thinks about the Apple TV+ adaptation of "Lessons in Chemistry"
32:34 - Learning to never quit
33:19 - About that other book adapted for screen: "Boys in the Boat"
39:01 - SSN events and initiatives
EPISODE Mentions
EQUIPMENT
Pocock Racing Shells
Wintech Racing
FOUNDATIONS
George Pocock Rowing Foundation
MOVIES & TV SHOWS
Boys in the Boat
Lessons in Chemistry
MUSEUMS
MOHAI
REGATTAS
Head of the Charles
Henley Royal Regatta
Race Around the Rock
RESOURCES
The Queen’s Reading Room
ROWERS
Jill MacCorkle
Sean MacCorkle
UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS
University of Washington
This episode was written, produced, hosted, and edited by Tara Morgan and Rachel Freedman. Tara provides additional audio engineering and is our sponsor coordinator. Rachel manages the website, social media, and e-newsletter. Our theme music is by Jonas Hipper.