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 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 Read More
In her twenty-fourth published novel, The Chemistry of Love, USA Today best-selling author, Sariah Wilson, writes about Anastasia “Anna” Ellis, a cosmetic chemist, who engages in a fake romance with Marco, the half brother of Anna’s boss, Craig, whose heart Anna is trying to win over. When creating this novel, Wilson said, “I knew that Read More
In his debut novel, Please Report Your Bug Here: A Novel, Josh Riedel takes us into the tech startup world of Silicon Valley where we meet 24-year old Ethan Block, a recent college grad who lives in San Francisco and has a job working with a new dating app called DateDate. “In the book, really Read More
Former musician, song writer, and music producer, Rick Bleiweiss, joins Writer’s Voices to discuss the second book in his Pignon Scorbion series, Murder in Haxford. Set in the fictitious town of Haxford, England, this historical detective mystery takes place in the summer of 1910, and occurs about a month after Chief Inspector Scorbion arrives in Read More
In her debut novel, The Sisters We Were, Wendy Willis Baldwin tells the emotional story of two adult sisters, Ruby and Pearl Crenshaw, and the bond they share as they work to overcome their childhood traumas. While one sister, Ruby, goes through her own major changes, it’s Pearl that has the life-changing transformation, from battling Read More
In her first published book, Have Mercy On Us, Lisa Cupolo shares with us her collection of ten extraordinary short stories, which encompass a wide variety of characters from all walks of life with many different voices. Winner of the 2020 W.S. Porter Prize for short story collections, Have Mercy On Us, includes stories set Read More
Award-winning author, Elizabeth Shick, stops by to discuss her debut novel and winner of the 2021 AWP Prize for the Novel, The Golden Land. A historical fiction set in dual timelines, “The story is about…Etta, she’s the narrator. It’s first person and she’s grieving the death of her grandmother, her Burmese grandmother, who she had Read More
Journalist, former L.A. Times reporter, and New York Times best-selling author, Sam Quinones, visits us to discuss his latest book, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth. A follow-up to 2015’s Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, The Least of Us tells of Read More
New York Times bestselling author, Michael Tougias, returns to Writer’s Voices to discuss his riveting survival biography, Extreme Survival: Lessons From Those Who Have Triumphed All Odds. Filled with real-life accounts from survivors who have faced extreme circumstances, Extreme Survival also includes survival techniques that readers can use in many different situations and in everyday Read More
Author of Boston Globe’s best-selling novel, Clover House, Henriette Lazaridis, shares with us her newest book, Terra Nova. Set in 1910, Terra Nova is a historical fiction that chronicles the incredible tale of Edward Heywoud and James Watts, two Antarctic explorers who are racing to the South Pole, and Edward’s wife, Viola, the woman who 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 Read More
In her debut novel, Daughters of the New Year, E.M. Tran tells the stories of three Vietnamese-American sisters whose mother emigrated from Vietnam to the United States after the Fall of Saigon. Remarkably, Tran’s novel is also told in reverse, starting in 2016 and going back to the 1970’s, spanning four decades. “It starts in Read More
Historian and journalist, Dr. Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos, visits with us to discuss her riveting new book, The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd. “In the course of writing my first book, …The Pirate Next Door: The Untold Story of Eighteenth Century Pirates’ Wives, Families, and Communities, I learned about Sarah Kidd and Read More
Former Days of Our Lives star and now author, Staci Greason, visits with us to discuss her fourth novel, All the Girls in Town. In addition to writing novels, Greason also writes essays, short stories, and screenplays. Her newest book tells the story of three women whose lives come together after they are all wronged 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. Read More
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 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 Read More
Children’s book author, Deborah Wiles, chats with us about her biography picture book, Bobby: A Story of Robert F. Kennedy. Beautifully illustrated by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Bobby tells the life story of President John F. Kennedy’s younger brother and covers the assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy himself. “Bobby is really a Read More
Author of book reviews, essays, and short fiction, Martha Anne Toll, visits us to talk about her debut novel, Three Muses. Three Muses is the esteemed winner of the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction and tells the story of John, a Holocaust survivor, and Katya, a prima ballerina, and the fateful events that led Read More
Emeritus professor of law and former director of Drake University’s Agricultural Law Center, Neil Hamilton, joins us to discuss his book, The Land Remains: A Midwestern Perspective On Our Past and Future. Published by Ice Cube Press, The Land Remains “tells the story of our land and our relationship to it, particularly with an Iowa Read More
Author of more than 20 books of fiction, essays, and personal narratives, Scott Russell Sanders visits with us to discuss his book, Small Marvels: Stories. The book contains a series of short stories about a fictional family, the Mills family, who lives in a fictitious town in southern Indiana. “All of the stories in the Read More
Author and poet laureate of color, Keith Recker, visits Writer’s Voices to discuss his third book on color, Deep Color: The Shades that Shape Our Souls. For Recker, “The first push into color really came out of my experience as a retailer and trying to decipher what people were thirsty for and how best to Read More
Children’s author, Rachel Vail, chats with us to discuss her newest book, Sometimes I Grumblesquinch. The story, a companion title to her best-seller,Sometimes I Bombaloo, tells of a girl named Katie who has big, angry feelings towards her little brother, Chuck. As readers engage in the story, they see as Katie grumblesquinches and suppresses her Read More
Author, painter, and sign language interpreter, Eileen Brill, joins us to discuss her debut novel, A Letter in the Wall. The idea for the novel came in 2007, when her and her family moved into her current home and an electrician stumbled upon a letter he found within the wall. The letter was addressed to Read More
Freelance journalist and parenting author, Lisa L. Lewis, speaks with us about her new book, The Sleep-Deprived Teen. In it, she explains why sleep is so important for teenagers and how detrimental it can be when they don’t get their recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night. While there are things parents can 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 Read More
Annie Hartnett visits with us to discuss her newest novel, Unlikely Animals. “It is a book that is about a young woman named Emma who has returned home to a small town in New Hampshire, and she’s got a slight healing touch in her hands that she was born with, so there’s like a touch Read More
Karen Winn’s debut novel, Our Little World, explores the relationship between two sisters and how it’s affected after the disappearance of a young girl in their small, east coast town. “So Our Little World, it does take place in a small, rural town in New Jersey called Hammend. It’s a fictional town but it is Read More
Children’s book author, Tui Sutherland, joins us to discuss the latest book in her Wings of Fire series,The Flames of Hope. Named the #1 New York Times best-selling series, Wings of Fire begins with seven dragon kingdoms that are based on the habitats they live in. “There are mud dragons, and sky dragons, and ice 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 Read More
Author and sorority alumnae, Robin Benoit, visits us to talk about her debut novel, The Eighty-Year-Old Sorority Girls. The book tells the story of a group of 80-something friends who are dealing with the decline of their friend’s mental health. “The hardest aspect of this for me was the main character, Vivian. Vivian is the Read More
J Fremont’s historical novel, Magician of Light, tells the story of renowned French jeweler and glass designer, Rene Lalique. “He was just such a prolific artist that you could just go on and on and on about everything that he did and so that was one thing when I wrote this is I had to, Read More
Author and investigative reporter, Katherine Stewart, visited with us to discuss her second book, The Power Workshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. “I’ve been writing about the rise of the religious right as a political force and its consequences on our democracy, and a lot of times people think of the religious right Read More
Tom Clavin, author of 18 nonfiction books and several national best-sellers, speaks with us about his new book, To the Uttermost Ends of the Earth: The Epic Hunt for the South’s Most Feared Ship – and the Greatest Sea Battle of the Civil War. “…What most people don’t know is that there was this major Read More
Connie Berry, author of the Kate Hamilton Mysteries, chats with us to discuss the fourth book in her series, The Shadow of Memory. In this latest novel, Kate, an American antiques dealer, works to uncover a dark secret hidden in Victorian England. While The Shadow of Memory is part of a series, this book can 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 Read More
Author and internal medicine physician, Lydia Kang, joins us to talk about her WWII, historical spy novel, The Half Life of Ruby Fielding. Her story follows the lives of brother and sister, Will and Maggie Scripps, both of whom work for the war effort in 1940’s New York City. “One of the characters, Will Scripps, Read More
Professor, physician, and New York Times best-selling author, Dr. Sayantani DasGupta, speaks with us to discuss her young adult debut novel, Debating Darcy. Her story is a retelling of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice, and her heroine is Leela Bose, a member of her high school’s speech and debate club, who has met her 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 Read More
Award-winning author, Vanessa Hua, joins us to discuss her bestselling, historical novel, Forbidden City. Set in 1960’s China, Forbidden City takes place in the time before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution, and is centered around Mei Xiang, a young villager, who is recruited to be a dancer for the Chinese Communist Party leader, Chairman Read More
Author and former literature professor, Larry Baker, visits with us to talk about his newest novel,Wyman and the Florida Knights. The book tells the story of Peter Wyman, a famous American portrait painter, who is nearing the end of his life and wants to escape his past by seeking a place of refuge. “He’s told 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 Read More
Former log-rolling champion, avid hiker, explorer, motivational speaker, and author, Kristine Ochu, joins us to talk about her international best-selling novel, Campfire Confessions. “So the story is about, you know, three best friends with three big secrets. Their lives seem perfect, but of course, you know that’s deceiving, appearances, right? …So when Annie’s secret is 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 Read More
Author of two acclaimed memoirs, Annette Libeskind Berkovits, joins us to discuss her debut novel, The Corset Maker. The story follows the life of 12-year old Rifka Berg and tells of her extraordinary journey beginning in pre-World War II Poland, then to Palestine, through the Spanish Civil War, and finally to post-war Paris, all the Read More
In Paul Merrill’s first book, Fast Food Detective: An Offbeat Novel, he writes “a detective-comedy-romance spoof on men and women’s relationships.” The story is about Larry, a hapless assistant manager at a fast food restaurant, who loses his job and then tries unsuccessfully at getting any future jobs in the industry. From there, he decides Read More
Leader of the JOMO movement, podcast host, and author, Christina Crook, speaks with us about her newest book, Good Burdens: How to Live Joyfully in the Digital Age. She explains that the concept “good burdens” comes from an American philosopher of technology named Dr. Albert Borgmann. Borgmann, who is also a professor emeritus at the Read More
International best-selling author, Sabaa Tahir, talks to us about her seventh published book, All My Rage. “So All My Rage is a contemporary novel, as opposed to a fantasy. It is following the story of two characters, three characters, actually. The main two are Noor and Salahudin. They are two young kids growing up in Read More
Author and 5th generation Iowan, Mary Christopher, joins us to discuss her first book, Our Friend Sitting Bull, which tells the real-life account of her great grandparents, Lizzie and George Dell, and their friendship with the famous Lakota Indian chief, Sitting Bull. The story begins with the four-month long journey of 20-year old Lizzie and Read More