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.

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

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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

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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.

Continue reading →

Podcast

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

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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 →

Podcast

Jim Motavalli, HIGH VOLTAGE & James Hoggan, CLIMATE COVER-UP

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Jim Motavalli
James Hoggan

Journalist Jim Motavalli talks about the electric car revolution. His new book is HIGH VOLTAGE: The Fast Track to Plug In the Auto Industry. And WV airs a 2010 interview with James Hoggan of DeSmogBlog about his book, CLIMATE COVER-UP. Continue reading →

Podcast

Esther Kaplan, WITH GOD ON THEIR SIDE & Dr. Tom Plaut, One Minute Asthma

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Esther Kaplan-Credit: David Barreda
Dr. Tom Plaut

Investigative journalist Esther Kaplan talks about her book, With God on Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right (encore show from February 2006) and Dr. Tom Plaut talks about asthma and how to prevent the kind of attack that killed journalist Anthony Shadid. His book is One Minute Asthma. Continue reading →

Podcast

Scott Alarik, REVIVAL & Rebecca Coleman, KINGDOM OF CHILDHOOD

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Scott Alarik
Rebecca Coleman

Novelist Rebecca Coleman talks about her psychological thriller, KINGDOM OF CHILDHOOD. It’s about an affair between a female teacher and a teenage student that goes very, very wrong.

And guest host Michael Pollitt talks with folk musician and critic Scott Alarik about his first work of fiction, REVIVAL. Continue reading →

Podcast

Fiction from Thrity Umrigar & Michael David Lukas & OWS Poetry

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Michael David Lukas
Thrity Umrigar

Michael David Lukas talks about his novel, THE ORACLE OF STAMBOUL. It’s the story of a young girl of astonishing talents who changes the course of the Ottoman Empire. And Thrity Umrigar tells us about her new novel, THE WORLD WE FOUND. Four college friends from Bombay India reconnect decades later when one of them falls gravely ill — and find their lives profoundly changed. Continue reading →

Podcast

Annamarie Pluhar, Sharing Housing & Robin Zasio, The Hoarder in You

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Dr. Robin Zasio
Annamarie Pluhar

Annamarie Pluhar talks about her book, SHARING HOUSING: A Guidebook to Finding and Keeping Good Housemates and psychologist Dr. Robin Zasio talks about her book, THE HOARDER IN YOU: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life. Continue reading →

Podcast

John Michael Greer, APOCALYPSE NOT & Richard Heinberg, THE END OF GROWTH

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Richard Heinberg
John Michael Greer

John Michael Greer says the world will not end in 2012. His book is APOCALYPSE NOT. And Richard Heinberg tells us about the coming downsizing of civilization and what we can do to survive it. His book is THE END OF GROWTH. Continue reading →

Podcast

Top Ten Shows of 2011

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Tahmima Anam
Teju Cole

We hear clips from five of the top ten shows of 2011, including novelists Tahmima Anam, and Teju Cole, journalist James Kaplan, memoirist Susan Rosenberg and marine ecologist Carl Safina. We also tell you about five other show episodes that made the list.

Continue reading →