“The White Man Who Stayed” is, according to its author James Autry, “a memoir of somebody else’s life.” That somebody else is James’ cousin and personal hero, Douglas Autry, who returned to his native Mississippi following his service in WWII to become the rural Benton County superintendent of education during the period of time when Read More
They say there’s nothing new under the sun. This interview with former tech journalist, computer game designer, poet, futurist and archaeology writer (and more!) Rob Swigart pays tribute to this truism in a couple of ways. In “Mixed Harvest: Stories from the Human Past,” Swigart uses the ancient art of story-telling to both entertain and Read More
I have to admit that when I started reading “Sorrow”, I was annoyed that Joe, the hero, was such a loser. But as I got further in, not only did Joe start to grow on me, but I also came to appreciate the way Tiffanie DeBartolo wove important themes into this novel without being obvious Read More
“Lyrics for Rock Stars” is a collection of short stories by Pushcart-nominated author Heather Mateus Sappenfield. All of these stories are set in the American West, a region which the author, a native Coloradoan, describes as “always present and influential in my writing.” In this conversation, we talk about why short story writing is a Read More
Liza Nash Taylor says she came to writing late, after a successful career in fashion design. Stuck at home in her 1830’s Virginia farmhouse for 8 weeks with a broken ankle, she was inspired to write “Etiquette for Runaways.” She signed up for a low-residency MFA at Vermont College to work on the manuscript. While Read More
David Parrish loves biology and science, and he wants you to love it too. In “The Gyroscope of Life: Understanding Balances (and Imbalances) in Nature,” Parrish explores the scientific murkiness of concepts that we often consider to be binary – dead or alive? Male or female? Plant or Animal? And perhaps most controversial – science Read More
I learned a lot from this conversation with Michael Elias, a prolific and skilled writer. Elias is an author, screenwriter, playwright and director. Whatever interests him, he wants to write about and, he says, “I’m an all-over-the-place guy,” That’s worked out well for him – he has had success in many places. Screenwriting credits include Read More
Freddy Niagara Fonseca didn’t care for poetry when he was a boy living in South America, but at age 29, he was inspired by the inscription on a statue of Lord Byron in a park in Rome and immediately began writing poetry in his second language, English. In this conversation, we explore many forms of Read More
I have always been drawn to Spain, although I’ve only visited there twice, once the summer I graduated from high school, and again about 15 years ago. Reading “Finding Hemingway” and talking with author Ken Dortzbach was a treat, because I have memories (and stories to tell) of many of the location he visits in Read More
Debut novelist Brady Hammes, author of “The Resolutions” has a great day job – as a documentary film editor. One recent project, “Tom vs. Time” about NFL quarterback Tom Brady, won a 2018 Sports Emmy. In our conversation with Brady, he talks about why he wanted to write novels too, what he brings from one Read More
Scott Spencer has a pretty impressive writing resume. “An Ocean Without a Shore” is his twelfth novel. Two earlier novels were National Book Award Finalists, and four have been made into movies. He has taught writing at several universities, including Columbia and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and at Eastern Correctional Facility as part of the Read More
Many American school children of a certain generation, or perhaps several generations, were introduced to writing poetry through the Japanese form – haiku. It is very simple, and allows for great creativity within a defined structure – 3 lines, 17 syllables total, 5 – 7 – 5. Easy enough for even a child, but never Read More
“Beyond the Ghetto Gates” is Michelle Cameron’s third published book. She is also a partner in The Writers Circle, teaching creative writing to writers of all ages. In this interview, we discuss historical fiction, why Cameron focuses on less popular moments in history, writing from multiple points of view, and how The Writers Circle changed Read More
Ann Crawford’s tenth published book, “Life in the Hollywood Lane,” was inspired by her brief stint in talent management in LA, which she says is the best day job she ever had. In her trademark intimate confessional style, Crawford explores the depths of despair that can overwhelm even the most beautiful and talented aspiring actors, Read More
Two time National Book Award finalist Deborah Wiles is leading the way in writing documentary novels for young adults (and adults too) as well as middle grade fiction and children’s picture books. Her 60’s trilogy, “Countdown”, “Revolution” and “Anthem” recount historical events of her own childhood from the perspective of a fictional narrator. Talking with Read More
Phyllis Melhado has had a quote from renowned author Phyllis Whitney tacked up on her board for years. “Never mind the rejections, the discouragement, the voices of ridicule (there can be those too.) Work and wait and learn, and that train will come by. If you give up, you’ll never have a chance to climb Read More
In the South Asian archipelago known as the Andaman Islands, aboriginal tribes thrived for 60,000 years before the onset of British colonialism nearly wiped them out. Best selling novelist Aimee Liu struggled for years to set a book there, but got nowhere until she finally had the opportunity to visit the islands and learn of Read More
The San Francisco neighborhoods that Barbara Sapienza describes in such glorious detail are almost another character in her novel, “The Laundress.” After retiring as a clinical psycholgist, Barbara pursued her dream of writing. “The Laundress,” published by hybrid publisher She Writes Press, is her second novel. Barbara describes the flow between heart, mind and body Read More
Carol Ann Davis’ new book, “The Nail in the Tree: Essays on Art, Violence and Childhood” is as much a memoir of hope as it is of loss. She and her family were relative newcomers to Newtown, CT when the Sandy Hook shooting tragedy shocked our nation. By a quirk of school zoning, her young Read More
Alka Joshi began writing her novel, “The Henna Artist” at age 51, after leaving a successful career as an advertising copywriter, creative director and marketing consultant. She says that writing ads taught her a lot about the art of creating an engaging story, even if it lasted less than a minute. She was inspired to Read More
“This life is only one in a series of lives. There is so much more to reality than what we’ve had so far.” Brother and sister, Jim and Anna Counter’s insights on life and truth, shared in their book – Two Lives One Understanding. “Its amazing that our minds could be so exactly alike, with Read More
“I will be honest. Mormon history has lots of little things that make murder mystery writers very happy.” D.B. Bartley discusses her craft and her love of mystery writing, talking about her new novel – Death in the Covenant. “I don’t think any particular religion has any monopoly on either goodness or badness…. We all Read More
It began with a photo album, looking at pictures of the past brought it all back, the thoughts, the feelings, the perspective of that time, “The book just flowed out of me from there.” Rhoda Orme-Johnson speaks with Monica about her new book Inside Maharishi’s Ashram. A memoir about the early days of the TM Read More
Retired Professor Emeritus of Engineering John Ong spoke with Writers’ Voices almost ten years ago about his paper, “How to Look Across the Room.” In this paper, John tries to answer a question that occurred to him about 25 years prior, “how is it that I see?” He explored the subject thoroughly so that he Read More
Alana Waksman is a young independent filmmaker, graduate of USC film school, who moved to Montana to truly experience the environment in which she planned to set her first feature-length film, “Cheyenne is Burning.” In this interview, we follow Alana along the path from high school and college theater, to short story writing, to screen Read More
If it sometimes feel like the internet has changed how we humans do everything… well that’s not much of a stretch. It certainly has changed how (and what) we read, and write, and publish. The rising popularity of “flash fiction” or the “short-short” (that is, stories under 1000 words) may be one effect. As author Read More
“Religion is always involved in what is going on, it isn’t separate.” Newsweek’s religion editor emeritus, Ken Woodward speaks about his favorite topic as it relates our culture and his life in his book – Getting Religion. “I used autobiography to illustrate, in a most vivid fashion, what it was like growing up in the Read More
Captain Jerry Yellin’s son wanted to marry a Japanese woman, her father eventually allowed it saying, “Any man that can fly a P51 against the Japanese and live, must be a brave man and I want the blood of that man to flow through our grandchildren…. When I came home from that wedding, I started Read More
Husband and wife team Rich and Sandra Neil Wallace share an interest in sports and extensive resumes in writing for kids and young adults. Rich, formerly senior editor at the ever-popular “Highlights for Children” magazine, has written more than 25 novels, many with sports themes. Sandra, the daughter of a refugee and a concentration camp Read More
Pregnant at seventeen and forced into a prison-like home for unwed mothers. Liz Pryor speaks out in her memoir -Look at You Now, “I see it as a book of transformational coming of age… A girl who comes into knowing herself, and the world, in a completely different way then when she arrived…They basically fundamentally Read More
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s first book, “Surprised by God” told the story of her own spiritual awakening, which led her to study to become a rabbi of the Jewish faith. Then she became a mother. In “Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting,” Ruttenberg shines Read More
We are a tribe of storytellers. All of us. We love stories. So what better way to convey wisdom than through story? That’s exactly what Michael Bedar, certified spirtitual nutrition counselor and renowned speaker on topics of natural healing and wellness, does in his novel, “Sweet Healing: A Whole Health Journey.” In this book we Read More
Amy Gottlieb fell in love with literature at a young age, and numbers amoung her literary influences Garcia Marquez (100 Years of Solitude), Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient) and Virginia Woolf. In her debut novel, ‘The Beautiful Possible,” Gottlieb spins a tale that is at heart both a love story and a spiritual journey, but Read More
Michael C. White’s seventh novel, “Resting Places” is, as Anita Shreve says, “a beautifully crafted novel of unbearable loss and earned forgiveness.” In this interview, we learn about Michael’s writing process, how far ahead he plots, and why he gravitates towards the woman’s point of view. He cites the influence of his father as a Read More
Between “The Little House on the Prairie” books and TV show, there is probably no one over the age of 30 in the USA who hasn’t heard of Laura Ingalls Wilder. But very few know as much about her as today’s guest, William Anderson, who became entranced with the subject as a young boy and Read More
We cover a lot of ground in this interview with debut author and memoirist Saeeda Hafiz. Her book, “The Healing: A Memoir of Food, Family and Yoga” is not your typical “I found the right diet/exercise regime/spirtial path and now my life is perfect.” The reality is always a bit more complicated and Saeeda was Read More
Ruta Sepetys calls herself “a seeker of lost stories.” Her first historical novel (and soon-to-be feature film), “Between Shades of Gray” is based on her own family history and tells the story of a Lithuanian family sent to Siberia by the Soviet secret police in 1941. It became a New York Times bestseller and Carnegie Read More
Taylor Brorby is an MFA student in Iowa State University’s Creative Writing and the Environment program. While a student he co-edited, along with Stephanie Brook Trout, “Fracture: essays, poems, and stories on fracking in america,” published by Ice Cube Press of North Liberty, Iowa. Who would have thought of giving a literary perspective on the Read More
I really can’t say enough about our guest today, Dr. James R. Doty, MD and his book “Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart.” The story leads us from Doty’s impoverished childhood, with an alcoholic father and extremely ill mother, to his Read More
After a successful career in television and radio in the UK, primarily making documentaries, and raising a family, Kate Hamer decided what she really wanted to do with the rest of her life was write. She had been writing for years, but now she decided to give it her full attention, so off she went Read More
This is Michelle Gable’s second appearance on Writers’ Voices in less than a year. We first interviewed her in September 2015 when the paperback of her bestselling debut novel “A Paris Apartment” came out. Now she’s touring with her second published book (and we do talk about all the unpublished ones that came before), “I’ll Read More
When Clara Bensen decided to write a book about her adventure traveling to Turkey, Eastern Europe and the British Isles with Jeff, a university professor she had met just weeks before, on the internet dating site, “OKCupid”, taking with them absolutely NO BAGGAGE, (not even a small backpack), the first thing she did was Google Read More
Brett Blumenthal has spent most of her adult life writing and speaking about wellness.. “52 Small Changes for the Mind” is Brett’s fourth book, building on the success of “52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You,’ which was published in 2012. Both books are based on the proven idea that small changes Read More
How does a young, idealistic man from a privileged background become the headmaster of a private school dedicated to providing opportunity to students from all backgrounds, and from there dedicate his entire life to progressive education? In “Confessions of a Headmaster,” Dr. Paul F Cummins tells the story behind the founding of Crossroads in Los Read More
Judy Batalion’s mother was a pathological hoarder. That’s not the most interesting thing to know about Judy, but it is at the heart of her memoir, “White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daugherhood, and the Mess In Between.”. In our conversation with Judy we learn the root of this pathology, which extends back at least Read More
Kristina McMorris started her career in the arts at the tender age of 9, hosting an Emmy-award winning TV show. She continued acting in film before opening an event planning company, which led to a stint hosting Weddings Portland Style on the WB network. Other twists and turns in her career found Kristina becoming a professional emcee, a contributing writer for Read More
Marie Lu is a hot commodity in the world of Young Adult fantasy fiction. She published book 1 of the very successful Legend trilogy in 2013. Like all 5 of her books so far, it was a New York Times bestseller. Born in China, Lu didn’t really understand that books had authors as a child. Read More
Laura Schroff is the co-author, along with Alex Tresniowski ,of the #1 New York Times bestseller, “An Invisible Thread,” based on Laura’s own story of how she befriended Maurice, a boy she met panhandling on the street. Tune into this interview to hear the remarkable tale of serendipity that resulted in both that first Read More
Ellen Hopkins always wanted to be a writer. In her 30’s, she began her writing career as a freelance journalist. From there she branched out to children’s nonfiction., publishing 20 books such as “Orcas: High Seas Supermen.” As a teen and young adult, Ellen’s daughter struggled with drug addiction, and out of this sorrow came Read More
What was it about the deaths, just weeks apart, of Iowa City mother and daughter Ellyn and Caroline (Line) Found that inspired unpublished writer Bill Hoeft to want to tell their story? This is story of love, loss, inspiration and, perhaps most of all, community. I doubt that anyone who knew Ellyn or Caroline will Read More