All posts by Francesca Rheannon

About Francesca Rheannon

Francesca Rheannon is an award-winning independent radio producer. In addition to hosting Writer's Voice, she's a freelance reporter for National Public Radio and its affiliates. Recipient of the prestigious Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Award for reporting on substance abuse issues for her news series, VOICES OF HIV, produced for 88.5 WFCR public radio in western Massachusetts. She is also finishing a book on Provence (PROVINCE OF THE HEART) and working on a memoir of her father, THE ARGONAUTS.

Podcast

Rebecca Sacks, CITY OF A THOUSAND GATES & Susan Abulhawa, The Blue Between Sky and Water

We talk with Rebecca Sacks about her powerful debut novel, City of a Thousand Gates. It’s about the intersecting stories of the peoples of Israel and Palestine, and how oppression twists and informs the humanity of perpetrators and victims.

Then, we replay our 2016 interview with Palestinian-American novelist Susan Abulhawa about her second novel, The Blue Between Sky and Water.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

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Podcast

Michael Mann, THE NEW CLIMATE WAR & John Nichols on Covid9 relief

We talk with world renowned climate scientist Michael Mann about his book, The New Climate War. It’s about all the ways the fossil fuel industry and its allies seek to discredit, divide, and deflect the movement to save the climate from making our planet uninhabitable.

Later, we check in with Nation magazine political correspondent John Nichols about his recent post about the fight over the COVID19 relief plan.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Paul Pitcoff, COLD WAR SECRETS & Laura Levitt, THE OBJECTS THAT REMAIN

We talk with Paul Pitcoff about his memoir, Cold War Secrets. It’s about growing up in leftwing circles in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s with a father who had a hidden past.

Then, a woman is raped and finds a path toward healing by examining the objects associated with her trauma. We talk with Laura Levitt about her memoir, The Objects That Remain.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!
Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Guido Girgenti, WINNING THE GREEN NEW DEAL & Ian Shive, REFUGE

What’s the prospect for a Green New Deal in the Biden administration? We talk with Guido Girgenti about the book he co-edited with the Sunrise Movement’s Varshini Prakash, Winning The Green New Deal.

Then, we talk with wildlife photographer Ian Shive about his stunning book of photos and essays about America’s wildlife refuges. It’s called Refuge: America’s Wildest Places.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio with Francesca Rheannon or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Hugh Raffles, THE BOOK OF UNCONFORMITIES & More

We spend the hour talking with Hugh Raffles about his new book, The Book Of Unconformities: Speculations On Lost Time. It’s part natural history, part memoir, part meditation on the relationships between people and rocks throughout time.

Then, at the end, a short story about the Cure Hunter from Francesca’s book Province of the Heart.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Meghan Herron, DECODING YOUR CAT & Amy Sutherland, RESCUING PENNY JANE

We talk with veterinary behaviorist Meghan Herron, editor of Decoding your cat: The Ultimate Experts Explain Common Cat Behaviors And Reveal How To Prevent Or Change Unwanted Ones. It’s out from the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.

Then, let’s not forget the puppies! We re-air our 2017 interview with dog rescuer and rehabilitator Amy Sutherland about dogs in shelters, getting them adopted and keeping them out of shelters to begin with. Her book is Rescuing Penny Jane: One Shelter Volunteer, Countless Dogs, and the Quest to Find Them All Homes.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Michael Lerner, REVOLUTIONARY LOVE & A 2020 Look-back on Building Solidarity

This week on Writer’s Voice, we talk with Rabbi Michael Lerner about his book Revolutionary Love: A Political Manifesto to Heal and Transform the World.

Then we look deeper into how to build solidarity in our divided nation. We air excerpts from some other conversations about that issue that aired this year on Writers Voice.

We talk with Tim Wise about Dispatches from the Race War, Jane Kleeb about Harvest The Vote; Dr. Abdul El Sayed about Healing Politics and Tyson Yunkaporta about Sand Talk. How Indigenous Thinking Can Save The World.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Tamara Payne on Les Payne’s THE DEAD ARE ARISING

We spend the hour talking with Tamara Payne about her late father Les Payne’s acclaimed biography of Malcolm X, The Dead Are Arising. It just won the National Book Award.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Victoria Bond, ZORA AND ME & Irene Butter, SHORES BEYOND SHORES

We talk with Victoria Bond, co-author of Zora and Me, a terrific middle grades trilogy of novels about Zora Neale Hurston, about the last in the series, Zora and Me: The Summoner.

Then, we talk with ninety year-old Irene Butter about her spellbinding memoir of living through the Nazi Holocaust, Shores Beyond Shores.

Finally, we recommend a novel by Ellen Cooney as a gift for the Holidays or for reading any time.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Tim Wise, DISPATCHES FROM THE RACE WAR & Mehrdad Azemun

We talk with social justice advocate and author Tim Wise about his new book Dispatches From The Race War.

Then we talk with Mehrdad Azemun of People’s Action about a “weapon of mass connection” the organization is using to bridge the political divide.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Web Extras

Could A “Weapon of Mass Connection” win Georgia for the Dems?

Mehrdad Azemun on Deep Canvassing
Is America hopelessly divided between those who voted for Donald Trump and those who voted for Joe Biden? Or can a “weapon of mass connection” be used to bridge the divide?

Mehrdad Azemun

That’s a bet being made by a national economic and racial justice organization called People’s Action. It’s a coalition of grassroots groups operating in 30 different states on issues like climate justice, student debt, mass incarceration, health care, and housing—and on mobilizing voters to turn out for those issues.

The “weapon of mass connection” People’s Action uses (maybe a better word is “tool”) is something called “deep canvassing“.

Francesca spoke with Mehrdad Azemun, national political strategist with People’s Action, about deep canvassing and more for this episode of our online series, What You Need To Know.

Podcast

Jess Walter, THE COLD MILLIONS & Lara Vapnek, REBEL GIRL

We talk with Jess Walter about his novel The Cold Millions. It’s about the first Gilded Age with striking parallels to the Gilded Age 2.0 we’re living in right now.

Then, we revisit our 2015 interview with Lara Vapnek about her biography of one of the historical characters who appears in Walter’s novel: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. It’s called Rebel Girl.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Bryan Washington, MEMORIAL & Nicole Krauss, TO BE A MAN

We talk with novelist Nicole Krauss about her acclaimed first collection of stories, To Be A Man.

But first, we talk with short story writer Bryan Washington about his first novel: Memorial. He calls it a “gay slacker dramedy” but it’s really much more than that.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Elisa Gabbert, THE UNREALITY OF MEMORY

We spend the hour talking with Elisa Gabbert about her terrific collection of essays, THE UNREALITY OF MEMORY. It’s a contemplation of life in the pre-apocalypse, with profound and prophetic essays on the Internet age’s media-saturated disaster coverage and our addiction to viewing and discussing the world’s ills.

Then we end with the poem “Memory” by poet Lucille Clifton and remember her work.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Les Leopold, DEFIANT GERMAN—DEFIANT JEW & Anthony Horowitz, MOONFLOWER MURDERS

We talk with Les Leopold about his Uncle Walter’s remarkable diary of life as Jew in Nazi Germany, Defiant German—Defiant Jew: A Holocaust Memoir from Inside the Third Reich. Les Leopold had the diary translated and has added much context and commentary to the book.

Then, we talk with acclaimed crime novelist Anthony Horowitz about his newest murder mystery confection, Moonflower Murders. It’s the second in the Susan Ryeland series, following Magpie Murders.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast platform! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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