Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Journalist Ann Jones talks about Afghani women, the war in Afghanistan, and whether life is any better for its people since the US invaded their country. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Thomas Rice tells us about FAR FROM THE LAND: AN IRISH MEMOIR. He left his beautiful but hardscrabble family farm to emigrate to America in 1959. Also, we hear excerpts from a 2008 interview with Alphie McCourt about his memoir, A LONG STONE’S THROW. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
In the spring of last year, Christian McEwen interviewed the poet, Marianne Boruch when she came to Smith College for its poetry reading series. Boruch is the author of seven volumes of poetry, as well as two volumes of prose. She was born in Chicago, grew up in a Polish Catholic family, and was already writing poems by the time she was in high school. Her work is strongly influenced by her Catholic childhood, as well as by her love of nature, and her interest in dreams. “I think we get into a dream state when we are writing,” she says. “We drop down under the surface and connect with that other realm.”
[amazon-product align=”left”]0932440959[/amazon-product]
“I’d like to say I’m of the begging bowl theory of poetry. You put out your begging bowl and see what drops into it. I really don’t want to know where the poem is going. And of course revision is a great thing. You get a draft and start tinkering and find out where it really wants to go.”
Boruch currently teaches in Purdue University’s MFA program, and through the non-residential program for writers at Warren Wilson College. Her most recent book is [amazon-product text=”GRACE, FALLEN FROM” type=”text”]0819569534[/amazon-product].
This interview is part of a series of interviews of poets Christian McEwen is doing, called Sparks from the Anvil. Writers Voice is hosting several of the interviews. Sparks from the Anvil features poets who appear at Smith College’s poetry reading series.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Marijuana policy activist Mason Tvert talks with host Francesca Rheannon about the book he co-wrote, MARIJUANA IS SAFER: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? It says marijuana should be treated legally no different than alcohol. And Peter Vickery tells us about his historical thriller, MADISON HOPPER AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN BLOOD BROTHERHOOD. It’s the first in a mystery series about the struggle for civil rights in the early years of the 20th century. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Mark Lamster reads an excerpt from MASTER OF SHADOWS: The Secret Diplomatic Career of Peter Paul Rubens.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Mark Lamster talks with host Francesca Rheannon about the great Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens’ career as an unofficial diplomat for the Spanish Crown. And mystery writer S.J. Parris tells us about Renaissance scientist Giordano Bruno’s visit to Oxford in 1583. She spins a murder mystery around the visit and around Bruno’s mission as a spy for the English Crown. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
This is the full interview with educator and therapist Kim John Payne about Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids.
You can find the whole show here.
On Amazon.com: [amazon-product text=”Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids ” type=”text”]0345507975[/amazon-product]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Celebrated elementary school teacher Rafe Esquith talks about his book, Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up World. And we talk with educator and therapist Kim John Payne about Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Raj Patel talks about his best-seller, THE VALUE OF NOTHING. It’s about reshaping market society and redefining democracy. Mount Holyoke College film prof Samba Gadjigo tells us about his community-based learning project, Africa Through African Eyes. And we hear a clip from next week’s show: Kim John Payne on SIMPLICITY PARENTING. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Dom Sagolla talks about how Twitter’s role during the antigovernment demonstrations in Iran started him thinking about how to protect one’s identity on Twitter.
You can listen to the full interview with Dom Sagolla.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Chris Brogan talks about personal communication on the Web.
Listen to the full interview with Chris Brogan.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Twitter founder Dom Sagolla talks about his style guide to Twitter, 140 CHARACTERS. And social media expert Chris Brogan tells us about his book, TRUST AGENTS. It’s about how to use the Web to build your influence, improve your reputation and create trust. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Climate scientist Dr. James Hansen talks about STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN. It’s about climate catastrophe and how we must — and can — prevent it. Richard Wilbur reads “Advice To A Prophet”. And we pay homage to Robert Parker and Howard Zinn, who both died in late January, 2010. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
The great “people’s historian” Howard Zinn died January 27, 2010 at the age of 87. His book, A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, presented an alternative view to the one most are taught in school: instead of focusing on presidents and tycoons, it told the story of people’s movements, including those of workers, civil rights and antiwar activists, women and gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Zinn spoke to Writers Voice host Francesca Rheannon in 2005 about his companion volume to A PEOPLE’S HISTORY, [amazon-product text=”VOICES OF A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES” type=”text”]1583229167[/amazon-product]. It’s a collection of writings from the great protagonists of social justice: Frederick Douglass, George Jackson, Chief Joseph, Martin Luther King Jr., Sacco and Vanzetti, and Malcolm X, among many others. Zinn talks about hi perspective on history, war and peace, and the two sides of the American story — idealism and exploitation.
Go to Howard Zinn page on Amazon.com
In this video Zinn discusses his experiences fighting during World War II and his being asked to bomb a small town in France.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Mystery novelist Robert Parker died January 20, 2010 at his desk at home, writing. It was a fitting end for this most prolific of writers — more than sixty books emerged from his pen. Although he wrote in several genres, including westerns and young-adult novels, Parker was best known for his mystery novels, especially those featuring Spenser, the hardboiled detective with a sensitive heart.
Writers Voice guest host Jodi Schneider talked to Robert Parker in 2005 about his Spenser novel, [amazon-product text=”SCHOOL DAYS” type=”text”]0425211347[/amazon-product], his life and his writing. She found out he wrote ten pages a day with no revisions, working for about six hours. He made it up as he went, with little or no planning in advance. And he never read any of his books after publication. Listen to this free-wheeling, funny interview.
Go to the Robert Parker Amazon.com page