In his first memoir, Shooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Lost, and Addiction, Rhodes Scholar and acclaimed financial author Jonathan Tepper writes a powerful and moving memoir about his childhood growing up in San Blas, a district in Madrid known for its pervasive heroin problem. In his book, he explains that in 1983, his parents, both missionaries, relocated the family Read More
Former EMT and paramedic, Joanna Sokol, joins Writer’s Voices to discuss her powerful new memoir, A Real Emergency: Stories from the Ambulance. During the decade she spent working in the ambulance, Sokol often kept a small journal in her back pocket and wrote down patient notes as well as anecdotes about her day-to-day experiences with them. Those notes were then Read More
In The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother, poet, novelist, and editor, Jill Bialosky, writes a moving family memoir centered around her mother, Iris Yvonne Bialosky. Her book starts in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic first begins and Iris has just passed away after succumbing to Alzheimer’s while in hospice care. From there, Bialosky continues Read More
Shelley Fraser Mickle, an award-winning author and storyteller for NPR’s Morning Edition, visits Writer’s Voices to talk about her heartwarming and hilarious new memoir, Itching to Love: The Story of a Dog. Along with various other things, her book is filled with anecdotes of the decade she spent with Buddy, her neighbor’s mischievous dog, who was a constant visitor at Read More
Former professional ballet dancer and author, Janine Kovac, joins Writer’s Voices to discuss her third book, The Nutcracker Chronicles: A Fairytale Memoir. Her second memoir centers around her life as a dancer and is inspired by her time dancing in The Nutcracker, which she performed in for many years. Her breakout role was dancing as Clara’s brother, Fritz, at the Read More
Law enforcement veteran and author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, Black Klansman, Ron Stallworth, joins Writer’s Voices to discuss his second memoir, The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country. This time around, Stallworth works in Salt Lake City, Utah, a place with a predominantly White, conservative and Mormon population, and learns that the gangs Read More
In Suspended by No String: A Songwriter’s Reflections on Faith, Aliveness, and Wonder, Emmy and Grammy-nominated musician and writer, Peter Himmelman, presents a collection of essays that touches on topics that both inspire and reflect on everyday life. While his book includes some personal recollections, he doesn’t consider it to be his memoir even if it may appear to be. Read More
In Mattie, Milo, and Me, Moth StorySLAM winner, Anne Abel, shares her moving memoir about the role her dogs, Mattie and Milo, played in her journey of recovery from her traumatic childhood. Her first dog was Mattie, one she took in when her son was 10 years old, and ended up falling completely in love with. However, when Mattie died Read More
Scientist, speaker, and dean of the Franke College of Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana, Dr. Alan Townsend, visits Writer’s Voices to discuss his memoir, This Ordinary Stardust: A Scientist’s Path from Grief to Wonder. In his book, Dr. Townsend wrote about the two devastating events in his life that occurred a decade ago when his then 4-year-old Read More
Award-winning journalist and author, Gina DeMillo Wagner, visits Writer’s Voices to discuss her first book, a memoir titled Forces of Nature: A Memoir of Family, Loss, and Finding Home. The book tells of her journey as the sibling and caregiver of a disabled brother and how that experience shaped her as an adult. Wagner explained, “My older brother, Alan, had Read More
Author and businessman, Tom Seeman, visits Writer’s Voices to discuss his remarkable, new memoir, Animals I Want To See: A Memoir of Growing Up in the Projects and Defying the Odds. As one of 12 children, Seeman and his siblings grew up in an African-American community in the projects of Toledo, Ohio. While his family was poor and the streets Read More
In her debut memoir, Little Avalanches: A Novel, author and writing instructor, Becky Ellis, writes about her emotional and tumultuous journey growing up as a World War II veteran’s daughter. Along the way, she delves into her father’s war story as he fought as a combat soldier in World War II and the horrific traumas he brought back with him, Read More
Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wellesley College, Helena de Bres, shares with us her fascinating new book about twins, How To Be Multiple. Illustrated by her own identical twin sister, Julia, How To Be Multiple explores the various philosophies of twinhood, the relationship between twins, her own personal experiences as a twin, the role of twins in history and pop Read More
Author of hundreds of essays and a dozen books, Robert Boyers, joins Writer’s Voices to discuss his newest book, Maestros and Monsters: Days and Nights with Susan Sontag and George Steiner. Categorized as a memoir, this book is about Boyers’ close friendships with both Sontag and Steiner, both brilliant and intellectual minds, who despised each other and only came together Read More
In Living and Leaving My Legacy, educator, speaker and author, Merle R. Saferstein, writes a two volume memoir drawn from her vast collection of personal journal writing. The first volume, which was published in June 2022, covers her earlier life and discusses her career, her marriage, and raising children, and the second volume, released in June 2023, focuses on her Read More
Sports journalist and former Golf Channel anchor, Lisa Cornwell, visits Writer’s Voices to discuss her riveting memoir in Troublemaker: A Memoir of Sexism, Retaliation, and the Fight They Didn’t See Coming. Co-written by Tucker Booth, her book details the hostile environment she worked in while employed at the Golf Channel, and the discrimination, and subsequent retaliation, she and other women Read More
In The Gap Between: Loving and Supporting Someone with Alzheimer’s, lawyer and debut author, Mary Moreland, provides readers with an insightful resource for those caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Structured by theme, her book includes direction and advice on how to manage and care for the sick loved one, challenges they may come across as they encounter Read More
TV and podcast host, Nancy Regan, shares her candid, debut memoir, From Showing Off to Showing Up: An Imposter’s Journey from Perfect to Present. Part memoir and part self-help, her book delves into her evolution from someone who judged herself too harshly and worried about what others thought of her to letting down her guard, presenting her authentic self, and Read More
Veteran journalist and contributing editor for The Daily Beast, Goldie Taylor, visits us to share her powerful debut memoir, The Love You Save. In her book, she chronicles her difficult childhood, having been raised in East St. Louis by a single mother who worked constantly to make ends meet while she and her two older siblings were left at home Read More
Former Chicago Sun-Times and Austin American-Statesman music critic and now journalism professor, Don McLeese, joins us to discuss his riveting new memoir, Slippery Steps: Rolling and Tumbling Toward Sobriety. Published by Ice Cube Press, the memoir delves into McLeese’s alcohol dependence, his denial regarding his substance abuse, and how Alcoholics Anonymous eventually helped him down his road to recovery. “Yeah, Read More
Award-winning author and journalist, Elisa Bernick, joins us to discuss her engaging, new memoir, Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Ball (and other lies). “So Departure Stories is part social history, part memoir, that uses my family’s story to explore both antisemitism and the struggle for women’s rights in Minnesota in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. This was a time Read More
Author of two novels and three short story collections, Peter Orner, shares with us his new book, Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin. Filled with personal essays and short stories, Still No Word from You was named after a line in a letter Orner found written from his grandfather to his grandmother. “It comes from my grandfather Read More
H.H. Leonards and Dr. Donna Boyd
Author H.H. Leonards and CEO of R.H. Boyd Publishing, Dr. LaDonna Boyd, join us to discuss their memoir, Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus: Life, Lessons, and Leadership. Leonards is the founder of The Mansion on O Street, a place where Rosa Parks sought refuge for the last decade of her life after she was brutally accosted in her Detroit home. Read More
84-year-old Tova Friedman, one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, visits us to discuss her haunting memoir, The Daughter of Auschwitz: My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope. Co-written by Malcom Brabant, Friedman’s memoir details the vivid memories she had of her survival in a Jewish ghetto, Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz. With so few Holocaust survivors left, she felt Read More
High school senior and author, Polo Altynski Ross, joins us to discuss his first book, a translation of his great grandfather’s memoir titled, The Polish Prince. Before his great grandfather, Zbigniew Janczewski, passed away in 2018, he learned that Ross had a great interest in his memoir. Because of this, he gave Ross his story to take care of so Read More
Author and associate professor, Melissa Febos, visits Writer’s Voices to introduce her memoir, Girlhood. Newly published in paperback, Girlhood is a collection of personal essays detailing the deepest, most intimate parts of her life. “I would say that Girlhood is… it takes the experiences of my adolescence, particularly around sexuality and body image, and really…dissects the lessons and conditioning and Read More
USA Today and international bestselling author, Wade Rouse, visits with us to talk about his newest memoir, Magic Season: A Son’s Story. “It’s a book very deeply personal that follows the relationship of me and my father through the very last baseball game we ever watched together, which was a 2015 playoff game between the Cards and the Cubs, and Read More
Author and public interest lawyer, Justine Cowan, sits with us to discuss her memoir, The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames, in which she tells the harrowing story of her mother’s traumatic childhood raised in a London orphanage. “…I had never heard the name Dorothy Soames when I was growing up, but I didn’t really know a lot about my mother’s Read More
Professor, licensed psychotherapist, and author, Beth Anstandig, talks to us about her first book, The Human Herd: Awakening Our Natural Leadership. Part memoir, part self-help, the book introduces readers to her Natural Leadership model, a concept she pioneered and has taught for the past 25 years. The idea is that our Natural Leadership can emerge from within us if we Read More
First time author, Kate Swenson, talks to us about her heartwarming, new memoir, Forever Boy: A Mother’s Memoir of Autism and Finding Joy. “So my son Cooper is now 11 and he was diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism at age 3 and the title really talks… I’m hoping the title really shines a light on how we get forever with Read More
In Knocked Down, award-winning author, Aileen Weintraub, enthralls readers with her hilarious, yet touching, memoir detailing her childhood through to her difficult pregnancy. “So Knocked Down is my story about being a Brooklyn girl who moves to the country, ends up having this whirlwind romance, and ends up on bed rest in a rickety old farmhouse for five months because Read More
CEO of KS Consulting & Capital, author, and cancer survivor, Kelley Skoloda, talks with us about her memoir, A Way Back to Health: 12 Lessons from a Cancer Survivor. A few years ago, Skoloda received a shocking diagnosis after her first routine colonoscopy, where doctors found a polyp that turned out to be cancerous. She said, “I was kind of Read More
Jeffrey Morse joins us from Mooresville, North Carolina, where he discusses his memoir, Finding Forward: You Have the Will Within. Morse, who had built successful careers in both the military and commercial aviation, awoke one day to find he had suffered from a brain aneurysm and a dissected artery. When asked why he wanted to write this book, Morse said, Read More
Laura Galloway and her memoir – Dalvi – Six years in the Arctic tundra. … “I made a trip to the Arctic and I absolutely loved it…. it was such a profound juxtaposition from the life that I was living in New York,…. ..During my travels to the Arctic … I met a reindeer herder … And we started along Read More
Dolores Johnson tells us about suffering and joys of her bi-racial family in – Say, I’m Dead, a family memoir of race, secrets and love. “Say I’m dead is a multi generational story of my family; who endured fear, secrets and separation and finally transformation; because they were not bound by the forbidding race mixing norms and laws in America.” Read More
“Rob said to me, ‘Don’t think of what’s best for you, think of what’s best for your readers; because your readers want to learn more about what autism is, what kind of an impact you have on others, and more importantly the educators and the parents of kids who have autism…this is going to impact them the most. So don’t Read More
A dancer and a writer Renee K Nicholson reflects on the experience of writing her memoir – Fierce and Delicate – Essays on dance and illness. “Anytime you’re writing a memoir, you’re excavating your past and there are things in our past that are always painful. But there was also something wonderfully cathartic about it. It wasn’t just, ‘ Oh, Read More
Kathy Gereau talks about gathering the stories that went into her memoir – Serious Little Catholics “One of the things people ask me about is; How can you remember all that stuff that happened? When ever (my family ) would get together we would tell stories. Remember when this happened? So it’s kind of something that’s part of our family Read More
“The book title: It’s called The Field House ; A Writer’s Life Lost and Found on an Island in Maine. The Field House is the name of Rachel Field’s summer house. That is what it has been called for fifty years by Sutton Islanders. She called it – The Playhouse – because she used money from her plays to buy Read More
Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan
Writers Voices talks with Jennifer Jordan and Liza Rodman co-authors of -The Babysitter – My summers with a serial killer. A true crime memoir about Liza’s childhood caretaker, serial killer Tony Costa. Liza talks about her writing – ” I wrote my first book when I was ten years old…100 pages. After that I wrote two really bad collections of Read More
Russia was changing rapidly during the late 1980’s under Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika and glasnost. Frank Thoms was one of first Americans to get a glimpse of this new Russia, as an exchange teacher. Despite being raised in the 1950’s, when Russia and Communism were most definitely “the enemy,” Thoms always had a fascination with the country. When he finally Read More
“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 the schools were being forcibly Read More
“Looking for a way of making sense of things that I encounter, or experiences I’ve had;, reading I’ve done, people I’ve met. Trying to think about it for myself; and convey what I think I’ve found to others.” David Hamilton talks about his writing process and the essays in his new book – A Certain Arc, essays of finding my 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 sons went to a different Read More
“I grew up around a lot of music…I fell in love with it right away. I just became obsessed.” Dave Isaacs talks about his life and music in his new book ” The Perpetual Beginner – A musicians path to lifelong learning. “The book is for people who feel like their skills don’t match up to their years, the time Read More
” I wanted to go back and really, really understand my father, and piece the story together.” Ariana Neumann shares the writing of her book – When time stopped – A memoir of my father’s war and what remained. “I think we all have a narrative thread that we sort of weave through our lives…I think if I had a Read More
“How do you talk about that which is too big to talk about? That moment of awe and wonder.” David Oates shares his wonderment in his memoir – The mountains of Paris – “It’s such a specialized cave we go into, to sort of change our mind for a bigger mind; that is a shared mind…I think that experience is Read More
“I never thought that the power existed in me to be able to forgive myself and to forgive God.” Tom Voss speaks about – Where War Ends, a combat veterans 2,700 mile journey to heal – Recovery from PTSD and Moral injury through meditation. – the memoir he wrote with his sister Rebecca Ann Nguyen. “The challenge is, you have Read More
“Stories are important to understanding a life.” Dan Waters tracks down his own story in his memoir – “These Boys and their Fathers. “I just used everything I knew, to stick it together…(if) you can’t get at something straight on, you have to maybe go at it sideways. With this memoir, I had to go at it sideways.You have to Read More
Born out of an “obsessive immersion” Robert Clark talks about his new memoir – My Victorians. “It was for some reason very important for me to be in the same space as these people. Just as important as reading their books or looking at their art.” Like a “literary stalker. ” I took refuge in this Victorian world…that is sort Read More