Lori McMullen grew up in Florida. Her novel – Among the Beautiful Beasts – tells the story of the early life of Everglades advocate Marjory Stoneman Douglas. “Anybody who grew up in south Florida and went through the public school system … knows the name of Marjory Stoneman Douglas.” She is kind of a fixture Read More
When the Tempest Passes…and the Wicked is No More -is set in the l890’s; it’s author Linda Kephart-Nash tells her grandmothers story from the early the deaths of her siblings to the disappearance of the fiancé she loved so much and the humiliation of being left at the altar, “The wedding was set and the Read More
Pam Jenoff is with us again talking about her latest novel – The Woman with the Blue Star – Historical fiction set in Poland during WW2 “I like to tell all the stories and I like the gray areas in people. When I grew up, history was very black and white, in broad brush strokes. Read More
Historical Fiction writer Jane Healey describes the core of her fascinating new WW2 spy novel -The Secret Stealers. “The Secret Stealers is based on the trues stories of the women of the OSS, the office of strategic services, which was the precursor to the CIA in WW2… it’s also based on some of the true Read More
Alan Gratz takes on 9/11 for young adult readers in his novel – Ground Zero. “I was getting requests from kids, ( they know I write about tough topics) – ‘ Write about 9/11! Write about 9/11!’. And I kept thinking, I don’t know if I can do that emotionally; if I’m ready to go Read More
Judithe Little talks with us about her latest work of historical fiction – The Chanel Sisters. “ I was first drawn to the idea when I found out Coco had a sister, because I had no idea that she even did. And then I was just so intrigued by the idea of what it would Read More
Jenny Lacoat speaks with WRiters Voices about – The Girl from the Channel Islands – a World War II novel based on real events “The channel islands were the only ( part of Britain) that was occupied during the war…. The islanders were left completely defenseless against the might of the Wehrmacht (Nazi.s)” “This was Read More
Joy Jorden-Lake talks about -Under A Gilded Moon. A southern novel of historical fiction. “There’s something fascinating about the gilded age and this era…Very charming but also very worrisome The immense wealth that could be used in beautiful ways … some used their wealth in ways that some of us would be kind of horrified 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
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
“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
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
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
“Walking in Stefania’s… shoes and feeling the weight of each decision as she made it. I think we need to feel that so that we wont ever forget it.” Sharon Cameron share with us the making of her historical novel – The light in hidden places – based on the a true story of remarkable Read More
“We like to think we would do something,,,find a way to be heroic..” Katrin Schulmann talks about her life and the stories behind her new novel -This Terrible Beauty. “How do we redeem ourselves, when we are a nation as Germany was…I wanted people to read it and reflect on their own lives and their Read More
“Political scientists and the public at large, don’t pay attention to literature as a component of resistance.” Belgium during the Nazi occupation, E. R. Ramzipoor’s novel – The Ventriloquist – tells how the Belgian resistance published a newspaper poking fun at the Nazis. “There were so many ordinary people who resisted in these crazy creative Read More
“With historical fiction we have an opportunity to examine…a more specific piece of history. So, together with readers we are bringing this history out of the dark.” Ruta Sapetys and her new novel – The Fountains of Silence. “Why is it we know these names like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, but we don’t know much about Read More
“When I write I see it as a movie. I think I write very visually.” Kari Bovee teaches and inspires, talking about her new historical fiction mystery – Grace in the Wings. ” (I) try and figure out the motivation that these people had and put them in a situation that they would have never Read More
Julie Berry, her latest historical fiction novel – Lovely War ” We have this tendency to look at the past as though it’s not applicable to us; because they had weird hair styles and weird clothes and had outmoded technology; and even some goofy opinions and tastes, by our own measure. That therefore they weren’t Read More
“This is a story of a great superstition and a great love.” So begins our interview with Sofia Segovia, creator of The Murmur of Bees, a novel of historical fiction and magical realism. ” I want to write the human experience, I want to write the human condition in a historical moment and I want Read More
“If I have the true version of a scene or a story I stick with that….you cannot make anything up that is more interesting or rings truer than the truth.” Martha Hall Kelly talks about her writing and researching of historical fiction with her latest novel – Lost Roses. “The more I find out about Read More
“Writing this book (set in Germany during WW2) I thought alot about…what you would become numb to just by being there and experiencing things day after day, week after week and how would that look different to you than how it looks to us now, all these years later.” Jillian Cantor talks about her love Read More
“My mother died when I was only thirty, she was fifty-seven. I hoped to give her a chance at another life…” John Thorndike talks about his motivation for writing his new historical novel – One Hundred Fires in Cuba. “Clare (the heroine) was generated by my mother…..The book is really her story and her battle Read More
Historical fiction novelist Pam Jenoff talks with Writers Voices about her fascination with WW2 “I regard my books as love songs to the people who lived through that most difficult era; and even if the story doesn’t come from personal experiences…my love for the period and the things it can illuminate for us, come from Read More
“I created these characters that were really composites of the different women I had read about. The characters came out of the research in different ways.” Jane Healey brings to life the stories of Red Cross Clubmoble girls during WW2 in her novel – The Beantown Girls. “They brought the comforts of home but also Read More
Ellen Keith speaks with Writers Voices about her new historical novel – The Dutch Wife. Set in Amsterdam and Germany during WW2 and in Argentina in the 1970’s. “I was really amazed that after the horrors of WW2 and the cases of mass genocide, that there were still so many other atrocities that took place Read More
Monica and Caroline chat with Camille DiMaio, author of – The Way of Beauty about her writing process and some of the themes she touches on in her novels. “That’s what I love about historical fiction. The issues that people were dealing with a hundred years ago are not really different. We are dealing with Read More
Listen along with Writers voices to the sweet stories of Ethel Barker as she tells the the true life tales behind her new novel – The Andersens of Eden. Set in the Iowa of the early forties, written as a tribute to the veterans of WW 2, it is also a way of teaching history. Read More
Writers Voices dives into the the writing process of novelist Jennifer Egan and the background for her new book Manhattan Beach. Set in the New York of the early 1930’s, “my hardest book to write” required research. “A sense of what the collective memory of that time was for people of different ages. Her love Read More
“Often I ask myself, and I hope my readers ask themselves, ‘What would I have done in those circumstances.” Pam Jenoff talks with Writers Voices, about her book – The Orphan’s Tale,, a novel of historical fiction set in WW2 France and Germany. “I was shocked by the brutality in France. The incremental persecution of 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
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
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
Historical fiction about real-life bandits who commandeered the Serato wilds of Brazil. The novel, “Backlands,” brings to life early 20th century Brazil with a tangibility that transports the reader immediately to another time and another world, that of Lampiao and Maria Bonita. When one imagines bandits, nostalgia of an era may not be the first Read More
For some people it is the ocean, some the desert, some mountains. For Ralph Luikart, husband of author Marcy Luikart, it was always the Big River calling to him. A few years back, Marcy helped him fulfill a lifelong dream of building a raft and floating down the Mississippi River, and from that adventure came Read More
John Shors’ novel Beside a Burning Sea is our topic for this interview. John Shors lived for several years in Kyoto, Japan, where he taught English after graduating from Colorado College. He later trekked across Asia on a shoestring budget, visiting ten countries and climbing the Himalayas. He became a newspaper reporter after returning to Read More
Iowa Terror takes on 9/11 through the story of Jesus Iowa, an immigrant who experiences Sept. 11, 2001, along with the rest of America, except that he understands what was really happening. Author Mike Palecek was a peace prisoner in the 1980’s, serving time in county jails and federal prisons for civil disobedience. During the Read More
“Dark Birthright” is a story reflecting the cultural, political, and religious dynamics of 17th century Scotland. It paints a dynamic picture of life in the Highlands, fishing communities, and a village of witches worshiping the Goddess. Author Jeanne Treat was born and raised in Western New York, near the shores of the Niagara. She is Read More
Former Fairfielder James Tipton visits with Monica and Caroline about his recently published historical novel. “Annette Vallon: A Novel of the French Revoluion,” is based on the life of William Wordsworth’s French lover. What about this woman, a footnote in literary history, inspired 15 years of research and writing? Listen in to find out INTERVIEW CONTENTS Read More