Hard Knox with Amanda Knox
Knox Robinson Productions
You don't have to be stuck in a prison cell to feel trapped in your own life. Drawing on her extraordinary journey, Amanda Knox explores how we make sense of struggle, truth, and change in a world that constantly tests us. In conversations with writers, thinkers, and creators Hard Knox dives into the ideas and experiences that help us grow more grounded, thoughtful, and free.
Each week, subscribers also have a chance to Ask Amanda Anything. Amanda is here to answer your questions, about her, about you, about how to lead a more fulfilling life. And nothing is off the table!
To submit your questions and comments, subscribe at www.amandaknox.substack.com, where you’ll also gain access to ad-free and bonus episodes, subscriber-only essays, and more.
www.amandaknox.com
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Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 14, 2025 • 1h 6min
Ask Amanda Anything - Advice for Jurors, Judging One's Soul, Favorite Meal
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Free: My Search for Meaning
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Aug 12, 2025 • 1h 17min
How to Be Good Without Being Boring (Dessa)
Dessa is a genre-defying rapper, writer, poet and thinker. In this sharp and witty conversation she talks with Amanda about why being a “good person” so much messier than it sounds, moral hangovers, the science of heartbreak, and what it means to live thoughtfully in a world that rewards hot takes and hustle.
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Free: My Search for Meaning
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Aug 8, 2025 • 57min
Old School: Acknowledging the No (Chris Ballew)
Welcome to Old School, where we revisit some of our best episodes from previous years with some current reflections on why these episodes are still fascinating.
Chris Ballew never expected or even particularly wanted mainstream success. But when his band, the Presidents of the United States of America, hit it big, he had to reckon with what success meant to him and figure out how to say no when everyone around him wanted him to say yes.
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Free: My Search for Meaning
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Aug 7, 2025 • 47min
Ask Amanda Anything - Navigating Conflict, Responding with Intention, Power Dynamics
In this episode, Amanda explores how to navigate conflict without getting trapped in outrage cycles, and why responding with intention matters more than always being right. She shares how power dynamics shape the way we speak up, and why the choice to let something go can be just as meaningful as the decision to push back.
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Free: My Search for Meaning
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Aug 6, 2025 • 1h 7min
Why Getting Lost Might Be the Point (Rick Steves)
Rick Steves is a renowned travel writer, television host, and guidebook author known for turning tourism into a tool for cultural connection, personal growth, and global citizenship. In this episode, Rick Steves shares how decades of exploring the world have shaped his values, his politics, and his understanding of what makes life meaningful. He and Amanda talk about finding joy in discomfort, why venturing outside your comfort zone builds resilience, and how travel can be a spiritual act—not because it offers answers, but because it teaches you how to ask better questions.
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Jul 31, 2025 • 54min
How to Turn a Slur Into a Symbol (Simon Tam)
Simon Tam shares how naming his band “The Slants” launched him into a decade-long legal battle over identity, free speech, and what it means to reclaim power. He and Amanda explore why owning the narrative is a form of resistance and what happens when activism becomes art—and vice versa.
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Jul 29, 2025 • 1h 8min
How Strength Becomes a Cage (Melissa Arnot)
How do you let go of control when survival once depended on it? In this candid and searching conversation, world-renowned mountaineer Melissa Arnot talks with Amanda about the tension between self-reliance and vulnerability, what Everest taught her about fear and identity, and why the real challenge begins after the climb. Together they explore the limits of resilience, the myth of mastery, and how to make peace with the parts of yourself you can't outwork.
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Free: My Search for Meaning
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Jul 25, 2025 • 49min
Old School: The Point of No Return (Roz Savage)
Welcome to Old School, where we revisit some of our best episodes from previous years with some current reflections on why these episodes are still fascinating.
Twenty years ago, Roz Savage was a management consultant living in London with her husband. From the outside, it looked like a good life, but Roz was miserable. Until she blew up that life and found a new one on the other side of the ocean. She'd just have to row for three and half months to get there.
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Free: My Search for Meaning
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Jul 24, 2025 • 41min
Ask Amanda Anything - Living Without a List, How to Find Common Ground, Parenting for Independence
Amanda reflects on what it really means to be an adult, how to foster trust without control, and why setting boundaries that keep kids safe doesn't mean clipping their wings. She also shares her “thrift store mindset” for navigating life that explains why letting go of rigid expectations makes room for surprise, gratitude, and a mushroom-shaped lamp you didn’t know you needed.
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Jul 22, 2025 • 1h 31min
How Iranian Women Are Leading a Revolution (Zahra Amanpour)
Why are Iranian women leading the fight for freedom—and how have they sustained that fight for over four decades? In this powerful conversation, Zahra Amanpour shares how her life was shaped by the Iranian resistance after her father was executed by the regime, and why she believes women must be at the forefront of revolution. Amanda and Zahra explore how faith can be both weaponized and reclaimed, why choice—not conformity—is the heart of feminism, and how global solidarity can be a tool for real political change.
NCRI Women's Committee : @womenncri : https://wncri.org/
Zahra's LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahraamanpour/
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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