Mallory O'Meara

Coming Up

That foundation sharpened the instincts that would later define her public work. Even then, the draw was clear: atmosphere, momentum, character, and the mechanics that hold a story together. Today, Mallory O'Meara is an author and historian, and co-host of Reading Glasses and Reading Smut. The move from set and screenplay to page and microphone reads less like a break than an expansion of form. The same curiosity now travels across criticism, research, and conversation, carried by a practical interest in how stories are made and how they circulate.

Where They Are Now

Since 2017, Mallory O'Meara has co-hosted Reading Glasses, a role that gives her a regular public rhythm and a space to think aloud about books with ease. In 2025, she added Reading Smut, widening that practice into another format while keeping the same register: informed, direct, and engaged with the social life of reading. Together, the two shows trace a working life built on expertise and the habit of sharing it. Her recent books show the range of that work. Girls Make Movies (2023) turns to the making of culture itself, with attention to the women whose labor and vision shape what audiences see. Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s First Stuntwoman (2025) extends that interest in recovering figures who are easy to overlook, using biography to bring hard-to-remember history back into view. Across both titles, the approach stays consistent: treat history as a living practice, not a closed record.

Signature

Mallory O'Meara's signature dishes include Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol and Girls Make Movies. Taken together, these books point to a writer working with subjects that are lively, layered, and resistant to flattening. Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol places women and alcohol inside social history, where the subject is as much culture as consumption. Girls Make Movies returns to film production and the women whose work shapes what gets made and remembered. Across both, the throughline is clear: film, history, women’s stories, and the craft of tracing how they overlap.

In Their Words “I’m a huge nerd, and whenever I get into anything, the first thing I want to do is read about its history.” “I’m a huge monster fan, and she was my hero.” These lines point to the engine behind the work: appetite, admiration, and a research habit that starts in enthusiasm. The first quotation describes a method grounded in reading and historical curiosity. The second shows the force that can drive recovery work, especially when the subject is under-credited or half-remembered. Put together, they suggest a writer who looks closely and treats that attention as part of the craft.

Honors

Mallory O'Meara's honors include James Beard Award, SCIBA Award for Biography (2019), and Rondo Award for Book of the Year (2019). The recognition attached to her name reflects the range of the work and the clarity of the voice behind it. Moving through food history, film history, and the overlap between them, O'Meara has built a career on deep reading and vivid storytelling, with a steady belief that the past can still read as immediate when it is handled with precision.