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

American Bloomsbury and the Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences

Kitty Florey
Kitty Florey
Susan Cheever
Susan Cheever

We talk to Susan Cheever about [amazon-product text=”American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work” type=”text”]0743264622[/amazon-product].

Cheever is also the author of [amazon-product text=”My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson–His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous ” type=”text”]0743405919[/amazon-product].

And editor and author Kitty Florey tells us about [amazon-product text=”SISTER BERNADETTE’S BARKING DOG: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences” type=”text”]0156034433[/amazon-product].

Podcast

St. Patrick’s Day/Spring Special

After veteran Kevin O’Hara returned from the war in Vietnam, he felt rootless. So he went to Ireland, his parents’ homeland, in search of his roots. Along the way, he met a bevy of wonderful and wise characters, and made friends with one phenomenal donkey named Missy. He tells about his journey in LAST OF THE DONKEY PILGRIMS.

And, there’s a lot of hatred being directed toward immigrants these days. But our nation’s tables would be far poorer without the cuisines they bring to our shores. Growing the vegetables that go into those dishes together with other immigrants who have made the same journey is often a way to deal with the pain of loss and transition. Patricia Klindienst explores this theme in her book, THE EARTH KNOWS MY NAME: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans.

Query to listeners: can you identify the music that goes with the interview with Kevin O’Hara? We recorded the interview in 2006 and misidentified the band as “Lunasa”. Now, we can’t find the CD we used. If you know what the band and songs are, please email us at “write at writersvoice.net”. We’ll send you a CD of your choice from our archived shows (check out the liast by clcking on shows at the top of the page).

Podcast

Dr. David Elkind and memoirist Patty Dann

Psychologist David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child, talks about THE POWER OF PLAY: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children. Also, Patty Dann talks about THE GOLDFISH WENT ON VACATION: A Memoir of Loss (and Learning to Tell the Truth about It).

Podcast

KABUL IN WINTER; FINE PRINT OF SELF-PUBLISHING

[amazon-product align=”right”]0312426593[/amazon-product]

Ann Jones
Ann Jones

Our guests are Ann Jones, author of KABUL IN WINTER: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan; and Mark Levine tells us about THE FINE PRINT OF SELF-PUBLISHING.

Web Extras

Web Extra: John Dickerson on The White House Press

John Dickerson
John Dickerson

John Dickerson talks about why the White House Press correspondents failed to ask the Bush Administration tough questions about the Iraq War. Dickerson covered the White House for Time magazine. He made news himself when he asked Bush whether he thought he’d made any mistakes during his administration.

You can listen to the full interview here.

Podcast

John Dickerson; Linda Cardillo

Linda Cardillo
Linda Cardillo
John Dickerson
John Dickerson

We talk with Slate Magazine’s chief political correspondent, John Dickerson, about [amazon-product text=”ON HER TRAIL: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News’ First Woman Star” type=”text”]0743287835[/amazon-product]. We also find out about writing romance novels from Linda Cardillo, author of [amazon-product text=”DANCING ON SUNDAY AFTERNOONS” type=”text”]0373654030[/amazon-product].

Web Extra: John Dickerson talks about why the White House Press correspondents failed to ask the Bush Administration tough questions about the Iraq War.

Podcast

Simon Winchester and Dylan Schaffer

Dylan Schaffer
Dylan Schaffer
Simon Winchester
Simon Winchester

Francesca interviews Simon Winchester about [amazon-product text=”A CRACK IN THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: America And The Great California Earthquake Of 1906″ type=”text”]0060572000[/amazon-product]. Also, Dylan Schaffer talks about his funny and poignant memoir, [amazon-product text=”LIFE, DEATH AND BIALYS: A Father/Son Baking Story” type=”text”]1596911921[/amazon-product].

Podcast

Richard Ford and Scott Ritter

Scott Ritter
Scott Ritter
Richard Ford
Richard Ford

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford talks about [amazon-product text=”THE LAY OF THE LAND” type=”text”]0679776672[/amazon-product]. Also, Scott Ritter, on [amazon-product text=”Target Iran: The Truth About the White Houses Plans for Regime Change” type=”text”]1560259361[/amazon-product]. Continue reading

Podcast

Podcast of NEA Chairman Dana Gioia

We talk with National Endowment for the Arts chairman Dana Gioia about poetry, the state of reading in America, and what government can do to promote literature. We also play a selection from POETRY OUT LOUD, a CD produced by the NEA and the Poetry Foundation. On our show for broadcast, we read Jour de l’An, an excerpt from a story about New Years Day in Provence by Writers Voice host, Francesca Rheannon, but are unable to include it in this podcast, since it has copyrighted music embedded, and the musician complained. (Some say rebroadcast on the Web from licensed radio broadcast is legal, but WV prefers to take this portion of the show down). But you can read the whole piece here — and get the story’s delicious Internet Apple Crisp recipe! It was a “hit gastronomique” in Provence.