Writer's Voice With Francesca Rheannon

A bestselling novelist took a job at a big box store, was shocked by what she found, and decided to write a novel about it. We talk with Adelle Waldman about her new novel, Help Wanted. It’s about what happens when a group of workers at a big box store scheme to get their overbearing … Continue reading Adelle Waldman, HELP WANTED & Remembering Paul Auster →

We talk with Greg Wrenn about his book Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis. It’s about healing the maladaptive imprinting of childhood trauma with Nature — and psychedelics. Then, a climate journalist tries a new tack to craft a narrative about the climate emergency. We talk with Elizabeth Kolbert about her illustrated alphabet book, … Continue reading Earth Day Special: Greg Wrenn, MOTHERSHIP & Elizabeth Kolbert, H IS FOR HOPE →

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we feature two stories about war and secrets. First, we talk with Howard Mansfield about his book, I Will Tell No War Stories: What Our Fathers Left Unsaid About World War II. The book uncovers the truth about the terrible toll that war took on American airmen like Mansfield’s … Continue reading War & Secrets: Howard Mansfield, I WILL TELL NO WAR STORIES & Sasha Vasilyuk, YOUR PRESENCE IS MANDATORY →

Brad Gooch talks about his acclaimed new biography of Keith Haring, RADIANT.

A grandmother’s traumatic history reverberates through three generations… We talk with Tessa Hulls about her powerful graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts. It tells the story of three generations of women — her Chinese grandmother, Sun Yi; her mother, Rose; and herself —and how, in the process of writing and drawing their stories, she was able to … Continue reading Tessa Hulls, FEEDING GHOSTS & Remembering Frans de Waal →

Michael Zweig talks about his book, Class, Race and Gender: Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism, and Francesca reads her story, The Sheep's Blessing.

This week we talk about two novels that explore connections: between men and women, people and nature, the young and the old.

We talk with Rue Matthiessen, daughter of the famed writer Peter Mathiessen about her family memoir, Castles And Ruins: Unraveling, Family Mysteries, And Literary Legacy In The Irish Countryside. Then, Claire Coughlan tells us about her twisty-turny whodunit, Where They Lie. It’s a murder mystery set in 1968 Dublin, where the detective isn’t a policeman, … Continue reading St. Pat’s Day Special: Rue Matthiessen, CASTLES AND RUINS & Claire Coughlan, WHERE THEY LIE →

We talk with Amitav Ghosh about his masterful history of the opium trade, Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories. Then, Manjula Martin tells us about her personal and “pyro-natural” history of California wildfires — the ones she lived through in 2020 and the ones Indigenous people lived with before white settlers moved in and took … Continue reading Amitav Ghosh, SMOKE AND ASHES & Manjula Martin, THE LAST FIRE SEASON →

Charles Berber talks about Dying For Capitalism, How Big Money Fuels Extinction And What We Can Do About It. Then Andy Lee Roth on Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2024.

We talk with Les Leopold of the Labor Institute about his groundbreaking study of the political cost of mass layoffs. His book is Wall Street’s War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It. Then we re-air a clip from our 2013 interview with Les … Continue reading Les Leopold, WALL STREET’S WAR ON WORKERS →

The Rundown We talk with Michael Wolraich about his book, The Bishop And The Butterfly: Murder, Politics, And The End Of The Jazz Age. Then, we re-air part of our conversation with Paul Kix about You Have To Be Prepared To Die Before You Can Begin To Live: Ten Weeks In Birmingham That Changed America.  … Continue reading A Jazz-Age Murder That Toppled Gotham’s Mayor →

We talk with Elizabeth Flock about her book, The Furies. It follows three remarkable women — in the US, in India and in Syria — who took justice into their own hands to defend themselves, other women and their communities against abuse. Then, environmental journalist Stephen Robert Miller tells us about his book, Over The … Continue reading Women, Vengeance, and Justice: Elizabeth Flock, THE FURIES. Plus, Stephen Robert Miller, OVER THE SEAWALL →

Mind & Liberation: Unveiling Frantz Fanon’s Revolutionary Psychiatry and Post-Colonial Vision. Also, a Cherokee murder mystery. We talk with Adam Shatz about his acclaimed biography, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon. Then, a Cherokee murder mystery based on two very real crises affecting Indigenous communities: missing and murdered women and environmental racism. … Continue reading Adam Shatz, THE REBEL’S CLINIC & Vanessa Lillie, BLOOD SISTERS →

We talk with world-renowned climate scientist Michael Mann about climate, past, present and future. His book is Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis. The world is largely past climate denialism (except for the Republican Party and its fascist leader Donald Trump.) But what has replaced it … Continue reading Hope For The Climate Crisis: Michael Mann, OUR FRAGILE MOMENT →

We talk with authors Douglas Preston and Emma Donoghue about a collaborative novel whose characters — and their stories — are each written by a different, major literary voice: Fourteen Days: An Unauthorized Gathering. Then, we remember Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday by airing some of our conversation with Jonathan Eig, about his biography, King: … Continue reading Douglas Preston & Emma Donnoghue, FOURTEEN DAYS →

We talk with Cory Doctorow about his new novel The Lost Cause, “a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency.” It imagines an America where another better world is possible, while confronting the evils of today. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Find … Continue reading Cory Doctorow, THE LOST CAUSE →

We explore the people of North Sentinel Island, who are thought to be the last un-contacted tribe on Earth. Our guest is historian, essayist, and author Adam Goodheart and his book is The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth. Read The Interview Transcript Then, we talk with author, gardener and … Continue reading Adam Goodheart, THE LAST ISLAND & Jennifer Jewell, WHAT WE SOW →

Turtles are jaw-droppingly amazing. Some can run faster than a 10-year-old; some can climb trees; others have shells that glow in the dark. We talk with The Soul of An Octopus author Sy Montgomery and illustrator Matthew Patterson about this and more amazing things about turtles. Their acclaimed book is Of Time And Turtles: Mending … Continue reading Sy Montgomery & Matthew Patterson, OF TIME AND TURTLES →