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

DaMaris Hill, A BOUND WOMAN IS A DANGEROUS THING & Stephen Nash, GRAND CANYON FOR SALE

We talk with DaMaris Hill about her narrative in verse, A Bound Woman Is A Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration Of African-American Women From Harriet Tubman To Sandra Bland (Bloomsbury, 2019).

Then, at a time that our public lands and ocean territories are being auctioned off for exploitation by the oil and gas industries, Stephen Nash examines the case of the Grand Canyon. His book is Grand Canyon For Sale: Public Lands versus Private Interests in the Era of Climate Change. Continue reading

Podcast

Bill Henderson, ALL MY DOGS & David Lindorff on Pentagon Fraud

The Pushcart Prize is one of the most venerable institutions in American publishing. It’s been going strong on a shoestring since 1976. We talk with Pushcart Press’ founder and editor Bill Henderson about the prize and his memoir All My Dogs.

Then, Trump just proposed a massive increase to an already bloated military budget, while proposing huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and funding for the environment. How did the Pentagon budget get so bloated? We talk with David Lindorff about the massive Pentagon accounting fraud he exposed that’s part of the reason military spending just keeps going up. Lindorf was just awarded the

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres. On the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes!

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Podcast

Nora Krug, BELONGING & Roz Chast, GOING INTO TOWN

We talk with Nora Krug about her memoir exploring her family’s history during Nazi Germany, Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home.

Then, when her daughter got into college in Manhattan, celebrated New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast wanted to give her a guide to getting around in the city. We talk with Chast about the graphic book that came out of that guide. It’s called Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres. On the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes!

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Podcast

Etaf Rum, A WOMAN IS NO MAN

We talk with Etaf Rum about her acclaimed debut novel, A Woman is No Man.

It explores the position of women within traditional Arab culture, not just in the country of origin, but also here in America. Etaf Rum drew on her own experience as a Palestinian-American in writing her novel. Continue reading

Podcast

Fred Block, CAPITALISM: The Future of An Illusion & Les Leopold, “Beware the Moderate Democrat”

We talk with Fred Block about his book Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion. Then, Les Leopold discusses his article on Common Dreams, “Beware the Moderate Democrat.” Continue reading

Podcast

Writers Voice: Briallen Hopper, HARD TO LOVE

It’s Valentine’s Day, but instead of the usual romantic fare, we take an unconventional look at relationships.

We talk with Briallen Hopper about her wonderful collection of essays about all kinds of love, Hard to Love: Essays and Confessions.  Continue reading

Podcast

Paul Kaplan, LILIAN WALD & Susan Bohan, TWENTY YEARS OF LIFE

Paul Kaplan talks about his biography, Lillian Wald: America’s Social and Healthcare Reformer. Wald was one of the most influential but least known people of the early 20th century. She founded the Visiting Nurse Service, but realized that to really tackle poverty, the conditions immigrants and their kids lived in needed to change. In treating the whole person, Wald changed the whole notion of social service for the poor.

Then, health and science journalist Susan Bohan talks about her book, Twenty Years of Life: Why the Poor Die Earlier and How to Challenge Inequity. It’s about how your zip code determines your health.

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Podcast

Howard Mansfield, THE HABIT OF TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN & more

We spend the hour with Howard Mansfield, first talking about his new book, THE HABIT OF TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN (Bauhan Press 2018). It’s about how American society treats property rights — and who pays the price. Then, we replay our 2013 interview with him about his book DWELLING IN POSSIBILITY: Searching for the Soul of Shelter. Continue reading

Podcast

Delia Owens, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, Barbara Kingsolver & More

Delia Owens talks about her breakout novel, Where The Crawdads Sing. It explores isolation, connection and the healing power of Nature through the story of a young woman who lives as a hermit in a salt marsh.

Then, another novel, this time about Nature gone awry. We re-play our 2012 interview with Barbara Kingsolver about her book, Flight Behavior.

And finally, Francesca shares her story about a man who hunted healing plants in the wild regions of southern France. It’s from her memoir, Province of the Heart. Continue reading

Book Excerpt

“The Cure Hunter” from Province of the Heart

by Francesca Rheannon

In 2001, one week after the 9/11 attacks, I arrived in the rugged, sparsely populated region of southern France’s Haute Provence for a long-planned stay. I had come to write about my father’s role in one small corner of a decades-old war, World War II, but found myself paralyzed by 9/11 and the U.S. response. In this frightening new reality, the book seemed irrelevant. But, as I tried to come to grips with this world torn apart, an entirely different book emerged, one I came to call “Province of the Heart.”

I settled in a tiny village of no more than one hundred souls, in the shadow of the mountain where the great ProvenÁ§al writer Jean Giono had once created a community of visionaries dedicated to the land and its people.

Over the eight months I lived there, that land and its people stitched my world back up again, through the deep succor of the relationship between humans and the natural world that embraced them. Yet my neighbors were no innocents living out of time; instead, they clung more fiercely to the beauty they had for knowing how much it was threatened.

The following is one story from Province of the Heart, “The Cure Hunter.” Continue reading

Podcast

David Treuer, THE HEARTBEAT OF WOUNDED KNEE

Native American writer and critic David Treuer talks about his latest book, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present. It’s a sweeping history of the resilience of Native America in the face of oppression and injustice. (Riverhead Books, January 2019.)

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Podcast

Jules Feiffer, THE GHOST SCRIPT, Art Spiegelman, BREAKDOWNS & Amos Oz Remembered

We talk with the great cartoonist Jules Feiffer about the third graphic novel in his noir trilogy about the Hollywood blacklist of the 1940s and 50s, The Ghost Script. Then we replay part of our 2008 interview with comic artist Art Spiegelman. Finally, we remember the late Israeli writer Amos Oz and his last book, Dear Zealots. Continue reading

Podcast

Writers Voice: Mary Pipher, WOMEN ROWING NORTH & Looking Back At 2018

We talk with psychologist and celebrated author Mary Pipher about her new book, Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age.

Then we take a look back at some of the critical issues covered by the authors we interviewed in 2018. We play clips from seven great conversations with authors Ashley Dawson, Lauren Markham, George Yancy, Anand Giridharadas, Nathan Schneider, Vandana Shiva, and Sy Montgomery.

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Podcast

Writers Voice: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, FRIDAY BLACK & Mark Russell Gelade, NAVIGATING BY STARS

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah talks about his award-winning story collection Friday Black. Then, we talk about the art of the really really short story with Mark Russell Gelade. His short-short story collection is Navigating by Stars. Continue reading

Podcast

Ken Krimstein, THE THREE ESCAPES OF HANNAH ARENDT & Kate Evans, RED ROSA

We talk with Ken Krimstein about Hannah Arendt — her life, her work, and her importance for our time. His book is The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt (Bloomsbury).

Then we listen back to my 2015 interview about another brilliant German Jewish woman of the 20th century, revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg.  We talk with Kate Evans about her graphic biography Red Rosa (Verso). Continue reading