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

Eve Ensler: Insecure At Last

Vagina Monologues creator Eve Ensler talks with host Francesca Rheannon about her new book, INSECURE AT LAST: Losing It In Our Security Obsessed World. In it Ensler asks whether our obsession with security is making us more fearful than ever. Part One of this week’s podcast.

Podcast

Studs Terkel and more

[amazon-product align=”right”]1595581189[/amazon-product]

Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel

In Part Two of this week’s podcast, we play an interview we first aired last year with the great “Eclectic Disc Jockey”, Studs Terkel. He joined us for a music-filled interview about his last book, AND THEY ALL SANG, which has just been re-issued in paperback. We also hear two poets from Northampton, Massachusetts read from their work: Carol Edelstein (THE DIASPPEARING LETTERS), and Gail Thomas (NO SIMPLE WILDERNESS).

The interview with Studs Terkel is the second half of the show. In the first half of the show we interview author and poet Richard Michelson and poet Maxine Kumin.

Podcast

Richard Michelson & Maxine Kumin

Maxine Kumin
Maxine Kumin
Richard Michelson
Richard Michelson

In Part One of this week’s show, we talk with author and poet Richard Michelson about growing up Jewish in an African-American neighborhood in New York and his books for children coming out of that experience. We talk about two of them: [amazon-product text=”HAPPY FEET” type=”text”]B001DZ41JC[/amazon-product] and [amazon-product text=”TOO YOUNG FOR YIDDISH” type=”text”]0881061182[/amazon-product].

We also talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Maxine Kumin in this excerpt from a previously aired interview about her latest collection of poems, [amazon-product text=”JACK, AND OTHER NEW POEMS” type=”text”]039332852X[/amazon-product].

And we air an excerpt from a 2005 interview with Studs Terkel on part two of this show.

Podcast

Rob Walch, TRICKS OF THE PODCASTING MASTERS

Writer’s Voice broadcast on WMUA 91.1 FM on December 15, 2006. Podcast pioneer Rob Walch tells us the TRICKS OF THE PODCASTING MASTERS.
Everybody’s heard about podcasting, but few really know what it is—or how they can use it for fun or to promote their business or career. Podcast pioneer Rob Walch (founder of Podcast411) tells us how to do it well. (Interview audio only.)

Podcast

Peter Bowerman, THE WELL-FED SELF PUBLISHER

Peter Bowerman
Peter Bowerman

Peter Bowerman talks with us live about [amazon-product text=”The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living” type=”text”]0967059860[/amazon-product].

The bottom line holds ever more draconian sway over the publishing industry, and that makes it ever harder for writers to get published. But the Internet is opening a new way: self-publishing. Bowerman talks about how the Web fosters niche-marketing and buzz over a long period — and how that can turn authors into “well-fed self-publishers”.

Blog

Writer’s Voice Host Wins Prestigious Journalism Award

In November 2006, Writer’s Voice producer and host Francesca Rheannon was one this year’s two winners of the prestigious Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Award for Excellence in Reporting on Drug and Alcohol Issues in the broadcast journalism category (the other winner was Frontline’s report, The Meth Epidemic). Rheannon won the award for the five part news series she reported for public radio station 88.5 WFCR, “Voices of HIV.” Continue reading

Podcast

Call for Independent Exit Polling

Steve Freeman
Steve Freeman

Writer’s Voice guest Steve Freeman ([amazon-product text=”WAS THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION STOLEN?” type=”text”]1583226877[/amazon-product]) and co-author Steve Bleifuss have just published an excellent op ed in the South Florida Sun-Sentinal about how independent exit polling is a critical means of safeguarding the integrity of the vote.

Podcast

Writer’s Voice: October 6, 2006

Francine Prose
Francine Prose
Spencer Overton
Spencer Overton

We talk with Spencer Overton about his book, [amazon-product text=”STEALING DEMOCRACY: The New Politics of Voter Suppression” type=”text”]0393330931[/amazon-product]. And Francine Prose talks about [amazon-product text=”READING LIKE A WRITER: A Guide for People Who Love Books and For Those Who Want to Write Them” type=”text”]0060777052[/amazon-product]. Continue reading