“You can’t understand the history of Africa without understanding the travels of Livingston.” Petina Gappah shares her obsession in the making of her new novel – Out of Darkness, Shining Light. ” I’ve been thinking about this novel for a really, really long time…I got to know the mechanics of expedition life extremely well….My worry Read More

“I think it’s critical just to understand how this business works, what is expected of you as an author and it is so much beyond the writing these days.” Novelist Rea Frey gives advise to new writers and talks about her latest work of domestic suspense – Just because you’re mine. “To be a writer Read More

“I’ve actually been telling these types of stories my whole career.” Crime fiction mystery novelist Ed Rucker talks about his new book -Justice makes a Killing and how his years as a trial lawyer make his writing true to life. “Trying a case before a jury is much like telling a story. The defense have Read More

“I think a writer to me is somebody who is at large in the world and noticing things with a particular kind of attention.” Rachel Kushner shares her thoughts on writing and on her current novel -The Mars Room. “I was really struck by what happens when the long theatrical process of a trial is 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

“I’ve always been a story teller.” John Jamison shares his insights on life and writing, talking about his new book – Disbelief – the third of a series of Emily Graham thrillers. “Emily is the driving character, she is a living, breathing thing. ‘She’ carries the scars of every chapter of every book she’s been Read More

“The nineteenth century is a distant land, it is so distant in time. So we need cultural and historical context to enrich the experience of the reader.” Les Klinger extols the usefulness of anthologies as he promotes his latest one – Ghost Stories – Forgotten Classic Tales. “We were looking for power, emotion, and the Read More

“I’m always interested in other people and their relationships and different kinds of marriages. I just listen and watch and just sort of soak it up”; Lea Geller talks about life, writing and her new book – Trophy Life. “Some of us move through life with more chaos around us than others, and I think Read More

“You can’t exactly argue with what grips you…I began to imagine characters that became a part of the book, when I was seventeen.” H.S. Cross chronicles the progress of her imagination and shares a passage from her new novel Grievous. “”I think that ( this novel is) for people who really love to get lost Read More

“A lot of my crime fiction writing (has) dealt with the study of violence, the philosophy behind violence, why people do it and just as important, how it affects them afterwards.” E. A Ayer talks about the genre of crime fiction and his new novel – The Unrepentant. I see crime fiction writers as “trying Read More

“When I was in Afghanistan I would really try to get a sense of how it smelled there, and how dusty it was, and what it felt like when the sun was shining on you….There’s stuff you just can’t get if you don’t go,” John Wray talks with Writers Voices about the research and the Read More

“I think a lot of writers who write crime fiction have turned to it to metabolize fear. Probably a lot of readers turn to crime fiction for the same reason.” Lisa Unger talking about her novel “Under My Skin. “For me the human psyche, the brain..that is the place of intense curiosity and probably most Read More

“She ( the main character) was traveling along the same lines that our country had, when it came to some of the gay rights movement, in a way.” Tammy Lynne Stoner talks about her novel, Sugarland ” It was a difficult time to be a woman for sure and she really was there to represent Read More

Kathryn Berla talks about her new novel – the Kitty Committee, a haunting novel of obsession, regret and the search for absolution. “I usually write about redemption or I like to write about redemption. There is usually an aspect of that in all of my books. So I feel like Grace, ( the main character) Read More

“It’s a dangerous story about a dangerous place..” Roger Johns talks about his newest mystery novel – River of Secrets. “Baton Rouge has a lot of elements to it that seemed…at some instinctive level more accommodating to stories of the kind I wanted to tell…. When you write a mystery it has to work like Read More

“I often did try to kind of look up at the clouds and imagine that I was moving them myself. .. (a ) little glimmer of this idea of a character, a long, long time ago”. Cai Emmons talks to Writers’ Voices about her new book – Weather Woman. ” I wanted her power to Read More

Christina Dalcher on her new novel – Vox. “It’s a dystopian novel about what happens when a particular faction gains power and decides to silence a large portion of the population…. I did write Vox with a particular faction being in charge and a particular faction being oppressed, but it could have gone the other Read More

Writers Voices talks to Vanessa Hua about her novel – River of Stars. ” A pregnant Thelma and Louise tale.” about chinese immigrants. “I think that’s sort of the fun and challenge of fiction. You start with a blank page that feels as big as the world…but then as you go along…you sort of see Read More

Amy Blumenfeld talks to Writers Voices about her new book – The Cast. “It’s about authenticity about listening to your gut and not giving up on your gut, knowing who you are, but also respecting the person that you love the most….I was really interested in exploring what happens when there’s love and respect and Read More

“To me this was a true Shakespearean tragedy… the falling of the family patriarch.” Randy Susan Meyers, on her new book – The Widow of Wall Street – ” Everybody wants to think they are above being fooled…. Here is this women who, in my book, gets totally bamboozled and they want to think it Read More

” I think there is so much darkness and garbage in the world….I write for my girlfriends and all women I hope, I just think when I close a book at the end of the night and click my lamp off I want to go to sleep feeling good.” Andrea Thome talks with Writers Voices Read More

“Writing a novel and having it rejected…it’s like being an athlete and getting injured. I think you have to ask yourself what do I need to do to overcome.” Writers Voices talks writing and mystery writing with Elena Hartwell on her new novel – Three Strikes You’re Dead. “I think the two primary things that Read More

Writers voices talks writing with Sue Halpern author of Summer Hours at the Robbers Library. “They (the characters) definitely develop and I think what happens is that you sort of start, you wind them up a little bit and then they take on a life of their own and they may start talking to you. Read More

“Randall, my lead character, is the kind of guy that I think a lot more of us should be. He instinctively questions authority. He doesn’t take things at face value…..People like that cause our civilization to evolve.” Writer’s Voices chats with Mile Nemeth, author of the crime fiction novel – The Undiscovered Country. “The theme Read More

“On the otherside she was just so amused by everything. everthing,was so freaking funny” Elizabeth Moore talks to Writers Voices about her novel The Dreaming Road, A vivid personal accounting of her connection with her daughter after her death by suicide. ” There are alot of people who will really doubt me if I try Read More

Go deep into the process of character development with Chinese born author Yang Huang and her new book – My Old Faithful. “A story is not done until (the) characters have taken over and (can) be authoritatively felt on the page… So you may have birthed them. but in subsequent drafts they need to be Read More

“I’ve always been intrigued by what goes on behind closed doors of seemingly perfect lives.” Kaira Rouda speaks with Writers Voices on her new novel – Best Day Ever. “There is a lot of sorrow and heartache hidden behind the perfect facade. ” A conversation about writing, publishing and her personal reflections on living the Read More

Visit the world of humorist Steven Doster, as he talks about his new novel – OMG Don Quixote & Candide seek Truth, Justice and El Dorado in the Digital Age LOL . “It all built from me finding this little town… it was a spanish town surrounded by French soil.” Speaking of Don Quixote like Read More

“I always thought I wanted to embark on this incredible journey of writing a novel…” Writers Voices interviews Kate Hamer on her new book – The Doll Funeral. The topics ranging from the process of getting published, “The more I talk to everybody that’s published, the route to publication is always very circuitous, and takes Read More

Listen along with Writers Voices to the adventures of Linda Stasi in the research for her new novel – Book of Judas. With a background in investigative journalism, she traveled where ever the story took her, to uncover the mysteries that form the plot of her book. “The truth is more important than the scary… Read More

“Of all the people at the meeting I was the only female, the only minority and I was the only person being kicked out of the ( gentlemen only) bar” Shaz Kahng talks about shattering the glass ceiling and her new novel – The Closer. “What I’ve tried to do in the book and also Read More

“They are real people to me. I guess they are an elaboration of character traits of people that I know.”. Ladee Hubbard tells stories of the lives and muses on the motivations of “The Talented Ribkins”. Part historical fiction, part magical realism, part mystery, she says of her main character , (I) discover some value Read More

“I do try to create a whole world; the sights, the sounds, the feel of everything.” Writer’s Voices talks with Michelle Gable about the writing of her new novel – The Book of Summer. “I want it to feel real and I want people to have questions.” On the process of writing .. “I’m always Read More

I am much more interested in the truth, in words being used to advance the truth, or advance goodness, and so I do prefer to write.” Sonia Taitz talks with Writers Voices, about writing and her latest novel, Great with Child. “Writing is a little bit like dreaming. When you have a dream a lot Read More

Benjamin Ludwig discusses the importance of voice and his novel – Ginny Moon. ” Voice is really all I care about in a novel. If I can get voice for a character, if I can identify the voice and live in the voice and reproduce the voice, that this character possesses, that this character is Read More

“That was really fun for me that year that I was unemployed…I loved that I could wander around Dublin with a notebook and see the city through these fresh eyes, quite childlike eyes…see it as a more magical place.” Caitriona Lally on the creation of her novel – Eggshells. “I wanted to try and examine Read More

“It’s a universal story. It has some amazing beautiful lessons for us today.” Linda Egenes talks about her latest book – The Ramayana – A new re-telling of Valmiki’s Ancient Epic – Complete and Comprehensive. “It is really embedded in the culture ( of India and southeast Asia). It’s very much a living guide….It’s been 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

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

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

First-time novelist Julie Long was born and raised in Fairfield, Iowa. She was uprooted in her early teens, and when she next returned to Fairfield she found it had been partially taken over by…. Meditators! If you think the average small college town has a town-gown divide, you haven’t seen anything. But Julie herself had Read More

Fairfield author, Rudy Wilson, returns again for a visit on Writers’ Voices to discuss his novel, “Girl Walking Backwards” and much more. Rudy is best known for his novel, “The Red Truck”, and has an MFA in English/Fiction Writing, from the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, where he was a manuscript reader for admissions to Read More

Some of the most impactful books of the last half-century fall within the genre of visionary fiction. Author Warren Goldie, currently living in Fairfield, Iowa, defines visionary fiction as novels where “…the power of the human mind is a key part of the story. Mystical experiences, visions, profound insights, paranormal experience and all sorts of fascinating phenomena drive the Read More

Rudy Wilson returns to Writers’ Voices this week to expound in articulate and inimitable fashion on the life of a dedicated writer. From the travails of Rudy’s early life and how they make their disguised appearance in his novels, to working with famed editor Gordon Lish of Alfred Knopf (who also edited Raymond Carver among Read More

Katie Ganshert is an Iowa writer who sets her books in small-town Iowa. Join us for this conversation about her newest book, “Wishing on Willows,” and learn how Katie got published!

Kate McGuinness just published her first novel, “Terminal Ambition,” a legal thriller that explores issues of sexual harassment and discrimination. It was put out by Kate’s publishing company Two XX Press. Kate studied writing at the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Janet Fitch, who authored the Oprah Book Club selection “White Oleander.” Read More

B.K. Loren joins us for a discussion of her debut novel, “Theft,” categorized by writer Ann Pancake as a riveting combination of “part environmental novel, part elegy to place, part family tragedy, part murder mystery.” Her writing has garnered Pushcart nominations, fellowships, and inclusion among Best American Spiritual Writing anthologies. She has worked as a Read More