“If there was a way to do things environmentally and socially responsible, while making money – who wouldn’t want to do that.” Adam Hammes comes to Writers Voices with a practical vision for a better future, one business at a time. “Nothing comes into a business that didn’t come from some ecosystem…In my opinion, people Read More

“We wouldn’t have the Oscar winning film, ‘The Shape of Water’, without Millicent Patrick.” In this Writers Voices Mallory O’Meara reveals her obsession with movie monsters and her admiration for the subject of her new book, ‘The Lady from the Black Lagoon – Hollywood Monsters and the lost legacy of Millicent Patrick. “She designed the Read More

“In almost all contemplative traditions…at the core of them is this sense of helping others, this sense of compassion.” Marc Lesser author and teacher talks with Writers Voices about his new book – Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader – lessons from Google and a Zen monastery kitchen -. ” I think we totally underestimate Read More

“… We need to help patients prepare for is all possible outcomes. As it stands we only talk about the good outcomes.” Sunita Puri author of – That Good Night – Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, shares insights and stories of her time as a palliative care doctor. “Part of how I ended Read More

“We were more mastering the art of sharing, than critiquing. It was less about take this apart and it was more, you know, respond to this,…how did it play upon you, what does it make you think of.” Sara Ruhl talking about her correspondence with poet Max Ritvo and her book – Letters from Max, Read More

“The book is really about being drawn instead of driven.” Dr Bryan Robinson shares his insights on stress management and his new book # Chill – Turn off your Job and Turn on Your Life. “Self care and self compassion are some of the best medicine to help us be better people…. Unfortunately many people Read More

Monica and Caroline talk food with Lisa Joy Mitchell and her new cookbook – Sacred and Delicious. …”all living creatures and all human beings have these patterns…dynamic principals that are working in our body. So we are looking to uncover what is the basic imbalance your experiencing and therefore how can we balance it….Most people Read More

“I think people who are more liberal and progressive need to stop drinking the purple kool aid that the media is serving up….I’m writing an expose about how great (the Veterans Health Administration ) is.” Journalist Suzanne Gordon speaks about veterans, health care and her new book – Wounds of War. “The VHA is way Read More

“I suspect that most if not all the people we have thought of as evil…I suspect that there has been some extreme malfunction going on in their brains, that is what I believe.” Writers Voices talks with Sue Klebold on her book – A Mother’s Reckoning – Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy, Sue is Read More

“People like ideas that have one foot in the familiar and one foot in the novel.” Allen Gannett on his new book, – The Creative Curve. ” Ideas that are familiar enough to feel safe but novel enough to be interesting, novel enough to be intriguing.”…”I think the reality is creators are creating for people Read More

In the past thought was that ” if you just had the perfect dog training technique…if you just did everything right, then you could make (your dog) how you want them to be.” Kim Brophey talks to Writers Voices about her new book. Meet Your Dog. “Let’s look at what the dog was designed for… Read More

“Such an ironic story. Here you have someone who is so closely associated with the ( Civil Rights) movement; but as it turns out there’s also a hidden life, that he is essentially the FBI’s eyes and ears.” Marc Perrusquia on his new book – A Spy in Canaan – How the FBI used a Read More

Enter the world of the acting coach as Writers Voices talks with Warner Loughlin about her book – An acting revolution, The Warner Loughlin Technique. “We repeat that, that we’ve known since childhood, but we also try to repair as well. …if we start with a bare human emotion and what caused that character to Read More

Writers Voices talks with publicist Emily Miles Terry about the business of promoting books. “(With) the rise of technology in general, we are just competing for people’s time. When you’re in the business of content, there is so much for people to be doing….it becomes harder and harder to sell a book…It’s interesting to see Read More

Author Helen Thorpe tells of her year with the children of refugees as they learn english in her latest book The New Comers.. – I was given unique access to them and their journey, she confided, ” I had to rise to the occasion and handle these kids with care. ” …” When you hear Read More

Barb Hall speaks with Writers Voices about the creation of – Women and the Land. A book celebrating women farmers of Iowa. Some of the women came to farming; “follow(ing) in their mother’s’ footsteps,” others left the farm swearing never to return only to find their way back “because something was missing”. The conversation highlights Read More

Writers Voices interviews James J Owens. The founder of the non-profit organization – The World is Just a Book Away (WIJABA); promoting reading and providing libraries to children all over the world. His new book – which started as a reading list – is also called – The World is Just a Book Away. He Read More

What can you do to promote social change? Monica speaks with two activist authors whose books answer that question. Julia Turshen and her new cookbook – Feeding the Resistance, offers “lots of proactive, productive information, ways to get involved in (your) community. Filled with recipes and inspiring stories, it showcases the many ways people are Read More

“Comedy is never written, it is rewritten.” Join Monica and Caroline as they talk with Stephen Rosenfield about his new book – Mastering Stand-up. Director of the American Comedy Institute, he shares insights and anecdotes about the work of comedians he has known and admired. “Stand-up is an artform….””The truth comes out very quickly in Read More

Author and podcaster Sharon Weil talks to Monica and Caroline about her new book ChangeAbility. “I was so aware of how overwhelmed people get in the face of one change but it’s often multiple changes happening at the same time.” Social change, personal change and a look inside the writing process are all a part Read More

Writers Voices takes on kids and internet with Ana Homayoun and her new book Social Media Wellness. “When parents and educators understand the language… then they can start having the conversation. Sharing insights into the problems of teens and tweens as they try to navigate the ever changing world of social media. ” (We) didn’t Read More

Neil Pasricha shares his personal tools for living a happier life in his new book – 2 Minute Mornings. Author of the blog 1000 awesome things and The Book of Awesome he talks about his writing and his life. “It was the pain that actually created the (first) book, that people like….. It all built Read More

Peter Kalmus on his book- Being the Change, “I view society as kind of like a wave, where individuals are the water molecules – we are moved by the culture and we move the culture…I’m so concerned about what we’re doing, as a species, to the biosphere that gives us our life. I feel it’s Read More

..” slow down and examine life and such concepts as place and reading and literature and family and custom and tradition.” Writers Voices talks with essayist Allen Mendenhall on his book – Of Bees and Boys. “….essays are an attempt to organize the fragmentation and disarray of ordinary experience in our own past.” “The essayist Read More

Daniel Connolly, The Book of Isaias. “Once you read this book you really come away with a much deeper understanding of how we got here on illegal immigration…what’s at stake for the future of the country and where we’re going.” “What I was trying to do in writing this book is give people a story Read More

“How did we go Barack Obama to Donald Trump?” Mugambi Jouet attempts to “make sense of the polarization of American Society” in his new book – Exceptional America. A historical perspective on the forces behind the bitter divisions reshaping our society. A former public defender Mugambi speaks on the changes in our attitudes on crime Read More

Deepak Singh brings Writers Voices into his immigrant experience with his new book – How May I Help You? “I have a lot of compassion for people who work retail, also a different perspective on how people live on such small amounts of money and are still able to put on a smile on a Read More

” Many of them are quite sad stories, some of them are a bit mad and some of them are downright bizarre,” Nick Middleton on his book – An Atlas of Countries That Don’t Exist – “There are all these shadowy countries that never got a look im, that you’re not suppose to (know about)… Read More

“There are plenty of adventurers these days doing …l things and calling it exploration, but all of the men and women in this book, I think of as true explorers.” Huw Lewis-Jones on his book – Explorers Sketchbooks -the Art of Discovery and Adventure. “Opening Explorers Sketchbooks allow us to jump…right into the heart of Read More

“Refugees are folks like us, caught up in wars not of their doing.” Writers Voices talks to Kenneth E. Miller about his book – War Torn – Stories of courage, love and resilience. “The experiences that refugees have when they finally get to wherever they’re heading, actually have as big an impact on their mental Read More

In this March 2017 interview, guest host Paul Gandy, board member of the Keeping History Alive Foundation in Fairfield, joins Monica to speak with Rachelle Chase about “Lost Buxton,” part of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series of pictorial histories. At a time when the Jim Crow laws were in full force, there was a Read More

“This is the story I wanted to tell, the story of a resurgent culture that has gone through so much tragedy and suppression and overcome so many obstacles – almost died.” Constance Hale brings her passion and her stories to Writers Voices, talking about her book – The Natives are Restless – A San Francisco Read More

“I thought I was writing about one thing and actually I ended up writing about something else.” Lisa Knopp shares her insights on food and disordered eating, talking about her new book – Bread. “I think in this time and place most women have disordered eating….It’s more typical than not, to have a negative view Read More

“Finding a letter that’s not been read by many people, and putting it on the website or putting it in the book; that’s like a natural high.” Shaun Usher shares his curated collection in – Letters of Note Volume 2. “You get to see people at their most guarded and people in their natural state. 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

“I say to you as a non-native reader, I say, come along with me…I’m gonna hand you off to some people and take you to a place where you’ve never been.” Kent Nerburn speaks with Writers Voices on the 25th anniversary of his book – Neither Wolf nor Dog, “The richness and the depth of Read More

” What happens if your brain is imbalanced – you get judged. Really it’s just an imbalance like any other.” Jim Brooks MD talks about his book – Reflections on Maharishi Ayurveda and mental health. “”I think most people know that there’s a deeper part of me, who I really am. No one really addresses 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

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

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

Back in 2015, narrative nonfiction writer, Daniel James Brown, joined Writer’s Voices to discuss his third published book and New York Times #1 bestseller, Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Now a major motion picture, Boys in the Boat tells the captivating true story 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

WRiters’ Voices welcomes political commentator and history professor Dr. Robert Watson,. The professor has written over 30 books, two encyclopedia sets and more than 150 articles, essays and book chapters. He has appeared on all the major cable news networks ,The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Hardball, BBC and more. Dr. Watson is also a Read More

Whether you are looking for motivation to read good literature, or a cheat sheet that will allow you to discuss books you should have read, Kevin Smokler’s “Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven’t Touched Since High School” may be just the ticket.  Published by Prometheus Books, “Practical Classics” includes both the “old” Read More

Monica Hadley and guest host and community activist Bob Ferguson interview Peter Fusaro,  noted speaker and author of 16 books including “What Went Wrong at  Enron.”  Fusaro’s passionis Green Energy and his three most recent books have been “Cut Carbon, Grow  Profits,”  “Energy & Emissions: Collision or Convergence” and  “Energy & Environmental Hedge Funds: The New Investment Read More

One of the most common problems writers face is the dreaded “writer’s block”. Our guest, Rosanne Bane, a writing and creativity teacher, has, for decades, been giving writers help with this problem. Her new book, entitled, “Around the Writer’s Block: Using Brain Science to Solve Writer’s Resistance”(Tarcher/Penguin), deals with the problems writers face in a Read More

Senior Editor and Multimedia Editor at The Atlantic, Jennie Rothenberg Gritz produces an online edition of the magazine, edits TheAtlantic.com’s National Channel, and creates original videos for the website. Before being with The Atlantic, she was senior editor of Moment, a national magazine founded by Elie Wiesel. Jennie grew up in Fairfield, earned her B.A. Read More

Author/playwright Dr. Lawrence McCullough is our guest this week. Fairfield’s Way Off Broadway, Iowa’s only professional musical theater company, is currently running the production, “Orphan Train”, which is based on the book Lawrence wrote about New York orphans sent to live in Iowa. The musical runs through Aug 12th. Gov. Terry Branstadt has declared Aug Read More

Author, economist, attorney, and entrepreneur, Michael H. Shuman has authored, coauthored, or edited eight books, including, the award-winning, “The Small-Mart Revolution”, “Going Local”, and, his newest, “Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity”(Chelsea Green Publishing). In this book, Michael shows investors how to Read More