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

Rilla Askew, KIND OF KIN & Rebecca Coleman, HEAVEN SHOULD FALL

Rebecca Coleman

Rilla Askew talks about her new novel, KIND OF KIN. It’s about anti-immigrant hatred, its reign of terror and how it’s tearing families apart. And Rebecca Coleman once again plumbs the outer limits of what ordinary people are capable of doing in her new novel, HEAVEN SHOULD FALL. Continue reading

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Rilla Askew, KIND OF KIN Excerpt

Sunday, February 17, 2008, 12:30 PM

Sweet Kirkendall’s house, Cedar, Oklahoma

“Your grandpa is a felon,“ Aunt Sweet said. “A felon and a Christian. He says he’s a felon because he’s a Christian. Now, what kind of baloney is that?” She jerked the bib strings tight around Mr. Bledsoe’s neck. The old man coughed. “Sorry, Dad.” Aunt Sweet loosened the ties, snatched a baby food jar off the table. She pointed the spoon in her left hand at me like I might be fixing to argue. “Tell him I’ll be up there tomorrow. You tell him I said he’s got a serious amount of explaining to do.” She scooped up a dab of prunes. “Open your mouth, Dad. Carl Albert, hurry up.”

My cousin kept licking the Cheese Whiz out the sides of his sandwich like we had all the time in the world, which we didn’t. Visiting hours start at one, the preacher said, and it was already twelve thirty. I heard a car motor outside and I ran to the front room to look, but it was only old Claudie Ott herding her Chrysler home from church. I squinted across the railroad tracks and the highway toward First Baptist at the far end of the street, but I couldn’t see Brother Oren’s car coming.

“Dustin Lee! Get back in here and wash your hands!”

I did like she said. My aunt’s kind of high-strung at all times but for sure I didn’t want to cross her right then because Uncle Terry got called in to work the night before and he hadn’t got home yet. Aunt Sweet wanted to go with us to see Grandpa but she can’t leave Mr. Bledsoe by himself on account of one time he rolled his wheelchair out the door and straight across the highway to the E-Z Mart and everybody’s afraid he’ll get hit by a BP truck or something. I thought to ask her how come she didn’t make Carl Albert stay home so she could go, but I was afraid she might take the notion for me to be the one to babysit the old man instead. He’s all right but I can’t stand to watch him eat, and anyhow I wasn’t about to take a chance on missing out on seeing my grandpa. When I came back in the kitchen, Aunt Sweet was still trying to get Mr. Bledsoe to open his mouth.

“Aw hell,” she said, and jammed the spoon back in the prunes. I don’t know where she got the name Sweet. It don’t exactly fit her. Anyhow, her real name is Georgia. She reached up over the sink and got down a different jar. “Look here, Dad. Peach cobbler, your favorite.” Mr. Bledsoe isn’t her real dad—my grandpa is. Mr. Bledsoe belongs to Uncle Terry, and he’s not even his dad either. He’s his step-grandfather. “Carl Albert,” Aunt Sweet said, “if you don’t hurry up with that mess I’m going to take it away from you.”

My cousin licked faster. I don’t know how come he can’t eat a sandwich like a normal person but he can’t. I popped him in the back of the head on my way to the sink. He swiped at me and missed, but he didn’t say nothing. He didn’t want to get any more of his mom’s attention. He gave me the look, though, like Don’t worry, Dustbucket, I’ll get you back. We been fighting more since Grandpa and Brother Jesus wound up in jail. That’s Brother Jesus Garcia, from over around Heavener. They locked him up with Grandpa but they took all the other Mexicans someplace else. Aunt Sweet don’t like us calling him Brother Jesus. She says it’s a sacrilege to call somebody after Our Lord and Savior. She don’t even like to hear us call him Brother Hey-soos, and that’s his real name. Carl Albert says Grandpa’s going to get sent to the state pen and there won’t be no place for me to live except in town with them and if he’s got to share his bedroom with a dweeb he’s going to make the dweeb pay. He says they aim to throw the book at Grandpa for transporting illegals and our only hope now is the Supreme Court of America on appeal, and that could take years. I said having Mexicans in your barn don’t mean you’re transporting them—this was in the bedroom that first night when we were getting ready for bed—and Carl Albert said, Use your brain, Dustface, they had to get there some way. I punched him then, and he jumped me and got me down with my arm twisted till I hollered, Okay, okay, I give! But really I didn’t. I aimed to get him back. That pop on the head at the table was just a reminder.

In the kitchen I dried my hands on the dishtowel and told Aunt Sweet I was going to go watch for the preacher. “Holler when he gets here,” she said, pressing the spoon against Mr. Bledsoe’s shut mouth. “Come on, Dad,” she said. “Open up.” I hurried to the front room and squinted along Main Street past the closed video store and the boarded-up bank building with its caved in roof from the straight-line winds last April until I seen Brother Oren’s car backing out of his driveway. I yelled toward the kitchen, “He’s here!”

When the preacher’s rattly old Toyota pulled in, Aunt Sweet was waiting with me on the porch in her pink rodeo boots and her bluest jeans, which goes to show how much she still thought she’d be going to the jail with us when she got dressed that morning. She was shivering because she didn’t have on a jacket. I had on my black hoodie with the hood pulled up, not because I was cold. I just like my hood up. Carl Albert came racing out the front door in just a T-shirt and still zipping his britches. He squeezed past the preacher coming up the steps and ran out to the car so he could grab the shotgun seat. I tried to lag back, but Aunt Sweet told me to go on. She had her arms crossed and her mouth set, so I did like she said. I took the long way around, though, by Mr. Bledsoe’s ramp. Carl Albert leaned up for me to flip the seat forward, and when I climbed past him he knuckled me a good one, but I didn’t do nothing, just settled into the backseat. I was still biding my time.

[From KIND OF KIN by Rilla Askew Copyright © 2013 by Rilla Askew. Reprinted courtesy of ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.]

 

Podcast

Ten Best Shows of 2012

Junot Diaz

WV looks back at 2012 and celebrates some of our favorite episodes with clips from our interviews with Junot Diaz (This is How You Lose Her), Ursula K. LeGuin (The Unreal And The Real), Louise Erdrich (The Round House), Margot Livesy (The Flight of Gemma Hardy), John Michael Greer (Apocalypse Not), Eyal Press (Beautiful Souls), and Walter Mosely (The Gift of Fire). Also on the list of the Ten Best of 2012 are Barbara Kingsolver (Flight Behavior), Steve Volk (Fringe-ology) and Eric Laursen (The People’s Pension). Continue reading

Podcast

Episode Two: Sojourner Truth, Her Story & Meaning

Jacqueline Sheehan
Nell Irvin Painter

In the second episode in The River Runs Through Us, WV examines the life of Sojourner Truth and what she means to us. We talk with Jacqueline Sheehan about her novel about Sojourner Truth, THE COMET’S TALE; with historian Nell Irvin Painter, author of SOJOURNER TRUTH, A Life, A Symbol; and with Rachel Kuhn and Priscilla Kane Hellweg of the Enchanted Circle Theater about their musical play, SOJOURNER’S TRUTH: I Will Shake Every Place I Go To.

Our thanks to Mass Humanities for their support for this series.

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Podcast

Deborah Kesten, Make Weight Loss Last; Story: “The Food Philosophe”; & Jerelle Kraus, All the Art That’s Fit to Print.

Deborah Kesten
Jerelle Kraus

Nutritionist Deborah Kesten shares the results of her research into losing weight and keeping it off. Her book is MAKE WEIGHT LOSS LAST. Then, Francesca’s story about a master chef’s philosophy about food. And Drew reviews ALL THE ART THAT’S FIT TO PRINT (And Some That Wasn’t): Inside The New York Times Op-Ed Page and talks with the author, Jerelle Kraus. Continue reading

Podcast

Paolo Bacigalupe (encore), Susan Rockefeller, MISSION OF MERMAIDS & Jason Chin, ISLAND

Susan Rockefeller
Jason Chin

Filmmaker Susan Rockefeller discusses her film, MISSION OF MERMAIDS: A Love Letter To The Ocean. Also, children’s book author, Jason Chin, talks about his acclaimed new book, ISLAND: A Story of the Galapagos. But first, WV encores our 2011 interview with Paolo Bacigalupe about SHIPBREAKER, his dystopian sci fi novel that takes place in a world altered by climate change.

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Podcast

Barbara Kingsolver, FLIGHT BEHAVIOR & James Howard Kunstler TOO MUCH MAGIC

James Howard Kunstler
Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver talks about her new novel, FLIGHT BEHAVIOR. It’s about what happens when a rural community in Tennessee is confronted with a bizarre phenomenon — caused by global warming. And futurist James Howard Kunstler says we’d better dispense with our penchant for magical thinking. His book is  TOO MUCH MAGIC: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation. Continue reading

Podcast

Simon Kuper, AJAX, THE DUTCH, THE WAR & Mark Hertsgaard, HOT: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth (encore)

 

Simon Kuper

 

Mark Hertsgaard

Simon Kuper talks about AJAX, THE DUTCH, THE WAR. It’s about resistance and collaboration through the lens of soccer in the Netherlands. And Hurricane Sandy moves us to air a portion of our 2011 interview with Mark Hertsgaard about his book, HOT: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth. It’s about adapting to climate change. (Note: this episode of WV originally aired on stations the week of November 7, 2012.) Continue reading

Podcast

Ursula K. Le Guin, THE UNREAL AND THE REAL & Archer Mayor, PARADISE CITY

Ursula K. Le Guin
Archer Mayor

Science fiction master Ursula K. Le Guin talks about her two-volume short story retrospective, just out from Small Beer Press: THE UNREAL AND THE REAL. And murder mystery writer Archer Mayor talks about writing police procedurals and his latest in the Joe Gunther series, PARADISE CITY. Continue reading

Podcast

Louise Erdrich, THE ROUND HOUSE & Richard Wolff, OCCUPY THE ECONOMY.

Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich talks about her powerful new novel, THE ROUND HOUSE. It is a finalist for the 2012 national book award for fiction. And economist Richard Wolff discusses his new book, OCCUPY THE ECONOMY. It’s about the crisis of capitalism and what to do about it.

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Podcast

Eric Laursen, THE PEOPLE’S PENSION & Greg Palast, BILLIONAIRES AND BALLOT BANDITS.

Eric Laursen
Greg Palast

Eric Laursen talks about the war on social security. His book is THE PEOPLE’S PENSION. [AK Press, 2012] And Greg Palast counts up nine ways Republicans are suppressing the vote — and why it matters. His book is BILLIONAIRES AND BALLOT BANDITS.

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James Steele, THE BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM: Unabridged Interview

Much has been made of the declining American middle class in this election cycle. Each presidential candidate is vowing to bring back the middle class. But how did we get to the point in which the middle class needs rescuing? Who’s to blame for the collapse of the middle class and what can be done about?

Investigative reporters Donald Bartlett and James Steele have written a disturbing and heartbreaking answer to these questions. Their new book, THE BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM [Public Affairs, 2012], chronicles how, “for more than thirty years, government and big business have conspired to roll back the American Dream.” Using clear and indisputable data, Bartlett and Steele craft a narrative of how the economic elite have co-opted the legislative process, manipulated the tax code and used outsourcing and globalization to destroy the American dream for millions of Americans.

James B. Steele and Donald L. Barlett are one of the most widely acclaimed investigative reporting teams in American journalism. They are the only reporting team ever to have received two Pulitzer Prizes for newspaper reporting and two National Magazine Awards for magazine work. This is their eighth book together.

Drew Adamek spoke to James Steele about the decline of the American middle class, who is responsible for it and what, if any, choice voters have in the next election.

Podcast

Michael Grunwald, THE NEW NEW DEAL & James Steele, THE BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM.

Michael Grunwald
James B. Steele

Journalist Michael Grunwald discusses his book, THE NEW NEW DEAL: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era. It’s about the big, but little-known, impact of the Obama stimulus. And investigative reporter James Steele talks about the latest book he co-authored with Donald Bartlett, THE BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM: What Went Wrong.  Continue reading

Podcast

Writers Voice Special Series: The River Runs Through Us – Episode One

Susan Stinson
Kerry Buckley

Writers Voice inaugurates a special, six-part series exploring the literature, spirit and meaning of the Connecticut River: The River Runs Through Us.

In Episode One, historian Kerry Buckley talks about the history and impact of the Connecticut River in New England. Also, author Susan Stinson talks about her forthcoming historical novel SPIDER IN A TREE. Based in Northampton, Massachusetts, it’s about the life of 18th century Calvinist theologian Jonathan Edwards.

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