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

DEEP WATER and DAM NATION

We examine water policy: functional and dysfunctional approaches. Journalist Jacques Leslie talks about DEEP WATER: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People and the Environment.

And gray water activists and editors Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and July Oskar Cole tell us how we can conserve water. The book they edited, along with Laura Allen is DAM NATION: Dispatches From The Water Underground.

Podcast

Frances Moore Lappe on GETTING A GRIP and more…

Ever since her ground-breaking book, DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET, Frances Moore LappÁ© has been showing how each of us can change the world for the better. We talk to her about her latest, GETTING A GRIP: Clarity, Creativity & Courage in a World Gone Mad.

Also, we play a clip from a Writer’s Voice field trip: Susie Patlove reading from her new chapbook, QUICKENING.

(Apologies: the audio for this episode is temporarily unavailable.)

Podcast

Les Leopold and Richard Michelson

Richard Michelson
Richard Michelson
Les Leopold
Les Leopold

We talk with Les Leopold about his terrific biography of labor leader and environmentalist Tony Mazzochi: [amazon-product text=”The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi” type=”text”]1933392649[/amazon-product].

We also recently interviewed Les Leopold about his new book, THE LOOTING OF AMERICA. You can listen to his July 2009 interview.

Also, poet and children’s book author Richard Michelson talks about his new book, [amazon-product text=”Tuttles Red Barn.” type=”text”]0399243542[/amazon-product]

Podcast

Dahr Jamail, BEYOND THE GREEN ZONE

Dahr Jamail

Dahr Jamail, BEYOND THE GREEN ZONE: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq.

Dahr Jamail was perhaps the only American journalist to remain unembedded long after other reporters holed up in the Green Zone. In BEYOND THE GREEN ZONE he exposes the impact of the war and US occupation on the lives of ordinary Iraqi civilians.

Podcast

Jewish Book Fair Authors

We talk about to two writers featured at the 2007 Springfield Jewish Book Fair: David M. Gross, author of FAST COMPANY: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Motorcycles in Italy and Alana Newhouse on A LIVING LENS: Photographs of Jewish Life from the Pages of the Forward.

Supported by a grant from the Jewish Arts & Culture Initiative of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

Podcast

Writer’s Voice Listener Web Quiz

QUESTION: Writer’s Voice interviewed Alana Newhouse about A LIVING LENS: Photographs of Jewish Life from the Pages of the Forward. Newhouse mentioned a letter that was given to Edward Jacobsen. Who was the letter from?

The first listener who sends in the correct answer to our email address will be the lucky winner of the inaugural edition of our Listener Web Quiz! Send it along with your address to writersvoice@wmua.org

Podcast

Alan Weisman & Katharine Weber

Alan Weisman talks about his acclaimed book THE WORLD WITHOUT US.

Also, Katharine Weber tells us about her novel, TRIANGLE. Katharine Weber was a featured author at the 2007 Springfield (Massachusetts) Jewish Book Fair.

Thanks to the Harold Grinspoon Foundation for supporting our series of authors featured at the 2007 Jewish Book Fair.

Podcast

Leonard Nimoy’s THE FULL BODY PROJECT

Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy talks to us about his new book, THE FULL BODY PROJECT, as well as photography, acting, and being (and not being) Mr. Spock.

5138eyJrNiL._SL500_AA300_Also, we talk with Leslea Newman and Susan Stinson about body image and the Full Body Project.

Podcast

Dr. Bruce Levine and George Monbiot

Clinical psychologist Bruce E. Levine joins us to talk about his book, SURVIVING AMERICA’S DEPRESSION EPIDEMIC: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy.

Also, a preview of a conversation with George Monbiot we’ll be airing later in the season about his book, HEAT: How to Stop the Planet from Burning.

Blog

The Annual WMUA Fund Drive: Great Books as Premiums!

The WUMA Fund Drive is on from October 27 through November 2. WMUA will be accepting donations and giving away fantastic gifts in appreciation of your support. Help support your favorite independent radio station during WMUA’s annual Fund Drive. To pledge your support during the fund drive please call 413-577-3000.

We’d love Writer’s Voice listeners to call in pledges during the show, but anytime during that week would be great. And here are some great hardcover book premiums we’re offering. To find out more, tune in during the show on Friday, November 2 to pledge.

Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. Dahr Jamail.
Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, And The People Who Fight Back. Amy Goodman,David Goodman (autographed)
Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America’s Warfare State. Norman Solomon
Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security-Obsessed World. Eve Ensler
The Foreign Correspondant. Novel, Alan Furst
Taj Mahal Passion and Genius at the Heart of the Moghul Empire. Diana Preston and Michael Preston.
Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment. Jacques Leslie
Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond. David Gessner.
A Matter Of Opinion; Victor Navasky
Stealing Democracy: The New Politics Of Voter Suppression. Spencer Overton
A Country That Works. Getting America Back on Track. Andy Stern.
Every Book Its Reader. Nicholas Basbanes
Friendly Fire: The Remarkable Story of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Rescued by an Italian Secret Service Agent, and Shot by U.S. F. by Giuliana Sgrena
Before The Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism. Bruce Ackerman
Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time; Michael Downing
Storming the Court: How a Band of Yale Law Students Sued the President–and Won; Brandt Goldstein
Enslaved: True Stories of Modern Day Slavery; Gloria Steinem,Jesse Sage,Liora Kasten
With Liberty and Justice For All: A Life Spent Protecting the Right to Choose; Kate Michelman
Chasing America: A Memoir, Dennis Watlington
Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants and the Struggle for the American Dream. Bruce Watson.