Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Writers Voice host Francesca Rheannon recorded Jon Anderson reading Richard Wilbur‘s “Hand Dance” at a poetry event to support the children of Gaza in March, 2010. The poem is unpublished and, until this reading, had never been read publicly.
Listen to the full show when Jon Anderson reads his poem “Chimeras”.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
[amazon-product align=”right”]0471679275[/amazon-product]David Bollier spoke with Francesca Rheannon and co-host Daisy Mathias in 2005 about his book BRAND NAME BULLIES: The Quest To Own And Control Culture.
Bollier talks about how copyright law is out of control, how it got that way, and what that means.
And listen to Francesca interview David Bollier about his latest book, VIRAL SPIRAL. It’s about how the Internet is building a new digital republic.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Host Francesca Rheannon talks with David Bollier about his latest book, VIRAL SPIRAL. It’s about how the Internet is building a new digital republic. And Cory Doctorow tells us about his science fiction novel, MAKERS. It imagines the birth pangs of a new remix culture. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Host Francesca Rheannon talks with author and climate activist Bill McKibben about his new book, EAARTH. It’s about adapting to a planet already transformed by global warming. Then James Hoggan exposes the lies of the climate denial industry — and who’s behind them. And we air a clip from an archived interview with George Monbiot, author of HEAT.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Poet Diane Gilliam Fisher talks about her book, KETTLE BOTTOM. It’s about the Mine Wars of the 1920’s and the people who fought them. And we talk with Ted Nace about the movement to stop new coal plants from being built. His book is CLIMATE HOPE: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal.
The Massey Energy Company mine disaster in West Virginia is but the latest in a long and bitter history of the exploitation of the people and the land of Appalachia’s coal country. The other side of that story is how the miners fought back to win better wages and working conditions by organizing the UMWU.
[amazon-product align=”right”]0966045971[/amazon-product]
Looking at the Upper Big Branch mine, one fact stands out for those who know enough about how important that union history is. The mine was non-union. Far more coal mine fatalities happen in non-union mines than those where the workers are unionized.
Poet Diane Gilliam Fisher’s 2004 book KETTLE BOTTOM uses verse to tell the story of the West Virginia Mine Wars of 1920—21. That’s when the United Mine Workers union went up against the coal operators and their hired thugs. Many people died — mostly miners — and President Harding sent in troops to quell the rebellion. The southern coal fields didn’t win union recognition until 1933.
KETTLE BOTTOM won the 2004 Perigia Press Award, and was listed in the 2005 top ten list for poetry by the American Booksellers Association. In addition to KETTLE BOTTOM, Fisher is also the author of ONE OF EVERYTHING and RECIPE FOR BLACKBERRY CAKE. Writers Voice spoke to her in 2004.
Read Diane Gilliam Fisher’s poem Explosion at Winco No. 9.
Coal is most carbon intense fuel, according to climate scientist James Hansen. With climate chaos happening at a faster pace than even the most pessimistic scientists predicted, many are saying we should just leave the coal in the hole.
[amazon-product align=”left”]0615314384[/amazon-product]
Ted Nace is one of them. His new book, CLIMATE HOPE: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal, tells the remarkable story of the movement to stop the building of any new coal power plants in the US. In just 2 years, between 2007 and 2009, it managed to stop plans nearly a hundred coal plants from being built, out of 151 proposed. The loosely organized grass roots movement brought a burgeoning coal boom largely to a halt.
Ted Nace is the founder of CoalSwarm, a web based wiki that currently has over 2,000 articles and has become an online hub for the anti coal movement.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
This is an archived show this week, originally aired on May 21, 2009. Gail Hornstein talks about AGNES’ JACKET: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness. Read the original post here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Patient advocate and author Patrick Malone talks about his book, The Life You Save: Nine Steps to Finding the Best Medical Care-and Avoiding the Worst. It’s about how to keep from being a victim of medical errors. We’ll also talk with novelist Lionel Shriver about her new novel, SO MUCH FOR THAT. It’s about health insurance gone very wrong. And Martin Espada, Richard Wilbur and other poets read at a benefit for the children of Gaza. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Journalist Ann Jones talks about Afghani women, the war in Afghanistan, and whether life is any better for its people since the US invaded their country. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Thomas Rice tells us about FAR FROM THE LAND: AN IRISH MEMOIR. He left his beautiful but hardscrabble family farm to emigrate to America in 1959. Also, we hear excerpts from a 2008 interview with Alphie McCourt about his memoir, A LONG STONE’S THROW. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
In the spring of last year, Christian McEwen interviewed the poet, Marianne Boruch when she came to Smith College for its poetry reading series. Boruch is the author of seven volumes of poetry, as well as two volumes of prose. She was born in Chicago, grew up in a Polish Catholic family, and was already writing poems by the time she was in high school. Her work is strongly influenced by her Catholic childhood, as well as by her love of nature, and her interest in dreams. “I think we get into a dream state when we are writing,” she says. “We drop down under the surface and connect with that other realm.”
[amazon-product align=”left”]0932440959[/amazon-product]
“I’d like to say I’m of the begging bowl theory of poetry. You put out your begging bowl and see what drops into it. I really don’t want to know where the poem is going. And of course revision is a great thing. You get a draft and start tinkering and find out where it really wants to go.”
Boruch currently teaches in Purdue University’s MFA program, and through the non-residential program for writers at Warren Wilson College. Her most recent book is [amazon-product text=”GRACE, FALLEN FROM” type=”text”]0819569534[/amazon-product].
This interview is part of a series of interviews of poets Christian McEwen is doing, called Sparks from the Anvil. Writers Voice is hosting several of the interviews. Sparks from the Anvil features poets who appear at Smith College’s poetry reading series.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Marijuana policy activist Mason Tvert talks with host Francesca Rheannon about the book he co-wrote, MARIJUANA IS SAFER: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? It says marijuana should be treated legally no different than alcohol. And Peter Vickery tells us about his historical thriller, MADISON HOPPER AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN BLOOD BROTHERHOOD. It’s the first in a mystery series about the struggle for civil rights in the early years of the 20th century. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Mark Lamster reads an excerpt from MASTER OF SHADOWS: The Secret Diplomatic Career of Peter Paul Rubens.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Mark Lamster talks with host Francesca Rheannon about the great Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens’ career as an unofficial diplomat for the Spanish Crown. And mystery writer S.J. Parris tells us about Renaissance scientist Giordano Bruno’s visit to Oxford in 1583. She spins a murder mystery around the visit and around Bruno’s mission as a spy for the English Crown. Continue reading
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
This is the full interview with educator and therapist Kim John Payne about Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids.
You can find the whole show here.
On Amazon.com: [amazon-product text=”Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids ” type=”text”]0345507975[/amazon-product]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Celebrated elementary school teacher Rafe Esquith talks about his book, Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up World. And we talk with educator and therapist Kim John Payne about Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids. Continue reading