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

Helena Norberg Hodge, The Economics of Happiness & Janisse Ray, Track Back

Helena Norberg-Hodge
Janisse Ray

Helena Norberg-Hodge talks about the new film she co-directed and co-wrote, The Economics of Happiness; environmental writer Janisse Ray talks about her article in the current issue of Orion Magazine, Track Back – A Love Letter to Riding the Rails; and WV airs a clip from an archived interview with climatologist Jim Hansen. He’s just come out with a new draft paper about rising sea levels.

Continue reading

Podcast

Gail Hornstein & Millicent Monks: Overcoming the Stigma of Mental Illness

Gail Hornstein
Gail Hornstein
Millicent Monks

Psychologist Gail Hornstein talks about her book, AGNES’ JACKET: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness in this extended excerpt from our 2009 interview. And Millicent Monks talks about her memoir, SONGS OF THREE ISLANDS: A Story of Mental Illness in an Iconic American Family. It’s about how she coped with a mother and a daughter who are mentally ill. Monks is the great-grandniece of Andrew Carnegie.

Continue reading

Podcast

Jane Brox, BRILLIANT & Jill Bolte Taylor, MY STROKE OF INSIGHT

Jane Brox

Jane Brox talks about her book, BRILLIANT: The Evolution of Artificial Light. And in view of the shooting in Arizona that injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, WV airs a 2008 interview with neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor about MY STROKE OF INSIGHT, her memoir of recovering from a stroke. It affected the left side of her brain–the same side injured in Rep. Giffords.

Continue reading

Podcast

WV Best Ten Shows of 2010

David Grann
Isabel Allende

We hear clips from seven of the top ten shows of 2010, including journalists David Grann, Hampton Sides, and Eric Pooley; novelists Isabel Allende and Sadie Jones; poet Philip Schultz and short story writer Marisa Silver. Also, links to the full interviews with the remaining three picks.

Continue reading

Podcast

Martin Keogh: HOPE BENEATH OUR FEET

Martin Keogh

Martin Keogh tells us about the anthology he edited, HOPE BENEATH OUR FEET: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World. It’s about how to live our lives in the face of environmental catastrophe. We’ll also play excerpts from interviews we did with some of the people who contributed to his book: Bill McKibben, Frances Moore LappÁ©, and Paul Hawken.

Continue reading

Podcast

Stephanie Syman: Yoga in America & Alexander Cockburn, Tim Karr on WikiLeaks

Stephanie Syman
Alexander Cockburn

Stephanie Syman talks about THE SUBTLE BODY: The Story of Yoga In America. And columnist Alexander Cockburn and Tim Karr of Free Press discuss what the WikiLeaks controversy means for freedom of the press and the internet.

Continue reading

Podcast

Writing Music: Roger Ames & The Yiddish Revival: Aaron Lansky

Roger Ames and Animal Companion
Aaron Lansky

Composer Roger Ames talks about writing music for voice and about his latest projects, including “Laudate Dominum” and a musical adaptation of How Green Was My Valley. Also Aaron Lansky of the Yiddish Book Center talks about his memoir, OUTWITTING HISTORY in a 2006 encore interview.

Continue reading

Podcast

Conquering Cyber Overload: William Powers & Joanne Cantor

William Powers
Joanne Cantor

William Powers talks about bringing balance into our digital lives. His book is HAMLET’S BLACKBERRY. And Joanne Cantor talks about how to declutter the digital domain in her book, CONQUER CYBER OVERLOAD.

Continue reading

Podcast

Marvin Kitman on Murdoch & Peter Lehner on the BP Gulf Disaster

Marvin Kitman
Peter Lehner

Marvin Kitman talks about his article in November’s Harper’s magazine, Murdoch Triumphant. Peter Lehner tells us about the BP Gulf Oil disaster — what allowed it to happen, and what to do about it now. His book is IN DEEP WATER. And we get tips on eating during the holidays from food psychologist Brian Wansink.

Continue reading

Podcast

New Fiction from Scott Spencer & Dori Ostermiller

Scott Spencer
Dori Ostermiller

Two new works of fiction explore the chiaroscuro of the human heart and the dappled shadow it casts on those we love. We talk with best-selling author Scott Spencer about MAN IN THE WOODS and with Dori Ostermiller about her quasi-autobiographical debut novel, OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY WORLD.

Continue reading

Podcast

Encore Episode: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi & Honor Moore

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Honor Moore

This week we feature an encore episode with Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about her story collection THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK. And poet Honor Moore reads from and tells us about POEMS FROM THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT. Please follow the link to access more information about the episode.

Podcast

David Callahan, David Cay Johnston & Arianna Huffington: Rich liberals, Corporate Politics and Third World America.

David Callahan
Arianna Huffington

David Callahan talks about his book, FORTUNES OF CHANGE: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and The Remaking of America. David Cay Johnston talks about corporate welfare. And Arianna Huffington talks about her new book, THIRD WORLD AMERICA.

By the time this episode airs, the mid term elections will be over. If the pollsters and pundits are right, the Democrats will have lost control of one or both houses of Congress and our legislative branch will have lurched violently to the right.

Continue reading

Podcast

James Howard Kunstler & John Michael Greer: The Long Descent In Fact and Fiction

James Howard Kunstler
John Michael Greer

Futurist James Howard Kunstler talks about THE WITCH OF HEBRON, his latest novel about a postindustrial, post collapse, America. And John Michael Greer spells out how we get to — and get through — the long emergency. His book is THE ECOTECHNIC FUTURE.

Continue reading

Web Extras

John Michael Greer on Druidism and The Ecotechnic Future

Archdruid John Michael Greer

John Michael Greer’s book THE ECOTECHNIC FUTURE is a closely reasoned, completely secular treatment of what he calls the Long Descent as our industrial civilization limps to a close. But his faith as a Druid — he’s an Archdruid and blogs at The Archdruid Report — is what spurred him to examine The Long Decline and how human society can optimally deal with it to create a future technology based on ecological principles and respect for the Earth. In this Web Extra, he explains to Writers Voice host Francesca Rheannon the connections between his faith and his science.

Host Francesca Rheannon interviewed him for Writers Voice. You can hear the rest of the interview here.

Podcast

Calming the Emotions and the Mind: Judith Siegel & Les Fehmi

Judith Siegel

Family therapist Judith Siegel talks about her book STOP OVERREACTING: Effective Strategies For Calming Your Emotions. And Les Fehmi tells us how to use our powers of attention to calm our stress and handle our challenges. His book is OPEN FOCUS BRAIN: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body.

Continue reading