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

Doug Henwood, MY TURN: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency

Journalist Doug Henwood talks about his new book, My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency. It’s an in-depth examination of Hillary Clinton’s record and its implications for her current run for the Presidency. Henwood questions whether Clinton is as progressive as she claims as she runs against a strong challenge from the left. Continue reading

Podcast

Bernie Sanders Explained Plus Sue Grafton’s X

Bernie Sanders spokesman Jonathan Tasini tells us about his book, The Essential Bernie Sanders. Then, with all the controversy over Sanders’ single payer health care plan, we talk with the economist whose work that plan is based on, Gerald Friedman. Finally, in a lighter vein, we talk with blockbuster mystery writer Sue Grafton about her latest — and reportedly the last — in her Kinsey Milhone series, X.  Continue reading

Podcast

Families In War: Novels by Susan Abulhawa & Jacqueline Sheehan

Two novels reveal the devastating impact of war on families and those families’ resilience in the face of tragedy. First, we talk with Susan Abulhawa about The Blue Between Sky And Water. Then, Jacqueline Sheehan talks about her new novel, The Center Of The World. Continue reading

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Paul Ehrlich on Extinction & Joseph Luzzi on Dante, Grief and Recovery

Biologist Paul Ehrlich discusses the book he co-wrote, The Annihilation of Nature: Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals and Writers Voice airs one of the year’s Ten Best Shows: our interview with Joseph Luzzi about his memoir, In A Dark Wood. Continue reading

Blog

Writer’s Voice Ten Best Of 2015

2015 marks the tenth full year Writer’s Voice has been on the air (the show began in July of 2014.) Each December, as I look back on the interviews our guests have given us, I am struck by the richness and depth of conversation we have been privileged to engage in.

This year, I was hard put to choose the Ten Best, because it left out so many other wonderful episodes. But following is a list of some that came rushing into my memory as notable when I looked over all the terrific shows we did in 2015.

Francesca Rheannon, Host and Producer Continue reading

Podcast

Andrea Wulf, THE INVENTION OF NATURE & Jack Cushman of Inside Climate News

Andrea Wulf talks about her bestselling new book, The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World. It’s listed as one of the ten best books of 2015 by the New York Times. Then, we check in with journalist Jack Cushman of Inside Climate News about the historic climate pact out of Paris and how the just-passed omnibus spending bill will affect carbon emissions.  Continue reading

Podcast

Graphic Biographies: Ted Rall, SNOWDEN & Kate Evans, RED ROSA

We feature the work of two political cartoonists who have come out with graphic biographies: Ted Rall talks about his new graphic bio of Edward Snowden, Snowden. And then British cartoonist Kate Evans talks about her  new graphic biography of the revolutionary leader, Rosa Luxemburg, Red Rosa. Continue reading

Podcast

Elizabeth George, A Banquet Of Consequences & Kenneth Wishnia, Jewish Noir

Acclaimed crime novelist Elizabeth George talks about her latest Inspector Lynley novel, A Banquet of Consequences. And then, just in time for Hanukkah, a new noir collection of short stories — Jewish Noir. edited by mystery writer Kenneth Wishnia. Continue reading

Blog

Memories of Xenophobia: What I Learned About Christians, Jews & Muslims in Provence

by Francesca Rheannon

Part One: The Jews

“McDO, that’s a Jewish business,” my host Michel said contemptuously. I was staying with him and his wife, the lovely Marie-Jo in Apt, an ancient Gallic-Roman city in the south of France. The year was 2002 and I was in Provence to gather research on a book.

The couple had generously opened their home to me, someone they barely knew, and we had quickly become fast friends. Michel was a private chef; his wife was a nurse who was taking leave from her job to care for her elderly invalid mother who lived next door.

Michel had not always been a chef. He was a man of many sides and a checkered past. He didn’t fit easily into any categories. For one, he had spent close to a decade in prison during his youth. The details were never really forthcoming, but it had something to do with underworld gangs in Marseilles. He would have looked the part, too, with his street tough’s body, all barreled and bandy-legged, were it not for his warmth and ebullient nature. Continue reading

Podcast

Saving Lives With Music: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

We talk with M.T. Anderson about his new book Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. It tells the story of how Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony inspired the resistance of the people of Leningrad to one of the most brutal sieges in history, that mounted by Hitler’s Army in World War II.

And with the world climate talks happening in Paris, we consider the intersection between climate change — and terrorism. We air a clip from our 2011 interview with Christian Parenti about his book, Tropic of Chaos.

Continue reading

Podcast

David Gessner on Writing And Fighting For the American West

We talk with environmental writer David Gessner about his new book about two of the greatest writers — and champions — of the Western wilds, All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West. We also re-air a clip from a previous interview with Gessner about his last book, My Green Manifesto.

And finally, we continue our Thanksgiving tradition: Marge Bruchac’s telling of the true story of the holiday. Continue reading

Podcast

Angry White Men & Rape Culture: Michael Kimmel & Kate Harding

Feminist sociologist and gender researcher Michael Kimmel talks about the “aggrieved entitlement” of so many white men in America. His book is Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era. Then, we look at the rise of rape culture in America with Kate Harding. Her book is Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture–and What We Can Do About It. Continue reading

Podcast

LeslÁ©a Newman, I Carry My Mother & Martine Bellen, This Amazing Cage Of Light

LeslÁ©a Newman talks about her latest book of poetry, I Carry My Mother (Headmistress Press, 2015). The elegiac volume is composed of poems chronicling her mother’s last illness and dying, as well as her own grief.

Then, poet Martine Bellen reads from and discusses her new collection, This Amazing Cage of Light: New And Selected Poems (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2015). Inspired by myth, history and everyday life, her evocative poems explore identity and connection.  Continue reading

Podcast

Two Allegories: Michael Golding’s A Poet of the Invisible World & Robin Cook’s Host

Michael Golding talks about A Poet of the Invisible World, his stunning new novel set in 13th century Persia. This fable explores the spiritual path taken by its main character, a Sufi poet with four ears.

Then, Robin Cook tells us about his new medical thriller, Host. It’s about what happens when medical research into the newest class of drugs — biologics — intersects with a greed-driven medical system. Continue reading