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

Jonathan Koomey, COLD CASH, COOL CLIMATE & Philip Warburg, HARVEST THE WIND

Jon Koomey

 

 

Philip Warburg

Jonathan Koomey talks about COLD CASH, COOL CLIMATE: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs. It’s about how we could ignite a new era of entrepreneurship with good, domestic jobs for a cleaner, cooler planet. And Philip Warburg naysays the skeptics in his book HARVEST THE WIND: America’s Journey to Jobs, Energy Independence, and Climate Stability. Continue reading

Podcast

Philip Warburg, HARVEST THE WIND

Here is the rest of our interview with Philip Warburg about his book, HARVEST THE WIND. He talks about the raging controversies over wind power’s environmental record, showing that reports of bird deaths are wildly overblown, far less than the toll of climate change and the common house cat, and going down sharply because of new turbine technology. He also tackles the challenge from China, and tells us what public policy is needed to keep our wind power industry vital and growing.

Podcast

Sadie Jones, THE UNINVITED GUESTS & Sabina Murray, TALES OF THE NEW WORLD

Sadie Jones
Sabina Murray

Sadie Jones talks about her supernatural Edwardian comedy, THE UNINVITED GUESTS. And Sabina Murray discusses her collection of historical short stories about explorers, exploiters and adventurers, TALES OF THE NEW WORLD. Continue reading

Podcast

William deBuys, A GREAT ARIDNESS & Dave Gardner, GROWTHBUSTERS

William deBuys
Dave Gardner

William deBuys talks about climate change and the future of the American Southwest. His book is A GREAT ARIDNESS. And filmmaker Dave Gardner talks about his movie GROWTHBUSTERS. It’s about our addiction to growth and why that is hurting our prosperity.

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Podcast

Robin Karr-Morse, SCARED SICK & Dan Morhaim, A BETTER END

Robin Karr-Morse

Robin Karr-Morse talks about her book SCARED SICK. It’s about how chronic fear in childhood is at the root of many adult diseases. And Dan Morhaim tells us how to take better control of the end of our lives. His book is THE BETTER END: Surviving (and Dying) on Your Own Terms in Today’s Modern Medical World. Continue reading

Podcast

Rebecca MacKinnon, CONSENT OF THE NETWORKED & Ross Perlin, INTERN NATION.

Rebecca MacKinnon
Ross Perlin

Rebecca MacKinnon talks about CONSENT OF THE NETWORKED: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom and we air an encore interview with Ross Perlin about INTERN NATION. It’s just been updated and released in paperback. Continue reading

Podcast

Will Potter, GREEN IS THE NEW RED & David Gessner, MY GREEN MANIFESTO

Will Potter discusses GREEN IS THE NEW RED: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege. It’s about the war our government is waging against the environmental movement. Then, nature writer David Gessner talks about his canoe trip down the Charles River and how it inspired his latest book, MY GREEN MANIFESTO.  Continue reading

Podcast

Ilie Wacs and Deborah Strobin, AN UNCOMMON JOURNEY & Eyal Press, BEAUTIFUL SOULS

Ilie Wacs and Deborah Strobin talk about their memoir, AN UNCOMMON JOURNEY: From Vienna to Shanghai to America, A Brother and Sister Escape to Freedom During World War II.

Eyal Press
Eyal Press

And Eyal Press discusses his exploration into the motives of those who put a higher good above their own personal safety. His book is BEAUTIFUL SOULS: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked this week in the U.S.

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Podcast

John Elder Robison, BE DIFFERENT & Tony Sorgi, The New Earth Archive

John Elder Robison
Tony Sorgi

John Elder Robison talks about BE DIFFERENT: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian with Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families & Teachers, Tony Sorgi discusses The New Earth Archive, and Paul Hawken talks about BLESSED UNREST, a book on The New Earth Archive list. Continue reading

Podcast

Tyler Graham, THE HAPPINESS DIET & Julie Guthman, WEIGHING IN

Tyler Graham talks about the book he co-authored, THE HAPPINESS DIET: A Nutritional Prescription for a Sharp Brain, Balanced Mood, and Lean, Energized Body. And geographer Julie Guthman discusses her award-winning book WEIGHING IN: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism. Then, two poems for Spring by Susie Patlove. Continue reading

Podcast

The Art of Songwriting: Cowboy Junkies & Winterpills

Philip Price-Flora Reed
Michael Timmins

Philip Price and Flora Reed of Winterpills talk about songwriting and their new album, ALL MY LOVELY GONERS. Also Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies talks about the band’s new album, THE WILDERNESS. And Writers Voice Associate Producer Drew Adamek reviews J.G. Ballard’s KINGDOM COME and THE CYCLIST CONSPIRACY by Svestlav Basara. Continue reading

Blog

Dystopians and Iconoclasts: J.G. Ballard’s Kingdom Come and Svetislav Basara’s The Cyclist Conspiracy

by Drew Adamek

Drew Adamek

The future is bleak for the human spirit. Conspiracies abound. The systems we’ve built to save us from savagery and solipsism have led us to ruin and collective dementia. Insanity rampages; mankind’s only escape is a descent into further madness. Reality is an inescapable nightmare of boredom, madness and oppression. Such are the dystopian and esoteric worlds of J.G. Ballard’s Kingdom Come and Svetislav Basara’s The Cyclist Conspiracy, both international works of speculative fiction published this month for the first time in the United States. Continue reading

Podcast

Amy Seidl, FINDING HIGHER GROUND & Matthew Stein, WHEN DISASTER STRIKES

Amy Seidl
Matthew Stein

Ecologist Amy Seidl talks about FINDING HIGHER GROUND: Adaptation in a Warming World. And survival expert Matthew Stein talks about WHEN DISASTER STRIKES: A Comprehensive Guide for Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival.  Continue reading

Podcast

The Irish in America: Cynthia Neale, NORAH & Kevin O’Hara, A Lucky Irish Lad

Cynthia Neale
Kevin O'Hara

Novelist Cynthia Neale talks about NORAH: The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 19th-Century New York. And Kevin O’Hara talks about his new memoir, A LUCKY IRISH LAD. It’s about growing up as an Irish immigrant in Massachusetts.

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Podcast

Elmer Luke, MARCH WAS MADE OF YARN; Stephen Pierson & Rich Benjamin, CANTEEN; Marvin Kitman on Rupert Murdoch

Elmer Luke talks about MARCH WAS MADE OF YARN: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown; Marvin Kitman on Rupert Murdoch (encore); and publisher Stephen Pierson & contributor Rich Benjamin talk about the literary magazine Canteen. Continue reading