Category Archives: Podcast

Get all the weekly shows in the Writer’s Voice podcast

Douglas Rushkoff, SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST & Tyson Yunkaporta, SAND TALK

We talk with digital philosopher Douglas Rushkoff about his book, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires. It’s about the Mindset of the richest and most powerful moguls on the planet and the destruction it’s leaving in its wake.

Then, Survival of the Richest praises the work of Indigenous philosopher Tyson Yunkaporta. We air our 2020 interview with Yunkaporta about his book. Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Kirk Wallace Johnson, THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAGON & Diane Wilson, AN UNREASONABLE WOMAN

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with Kirk Wallace Johnson about his book, The Fisherman And The Dragon: Fear, Greed, And A Fight For Justice On The Gulf Coast. It’s a gripping account of a small town set on fire by hatred, xenophobia, and ecological disaster—and the woman who fought to save it.

Then, our 2005 interview with that very woman. We re-air our interview with Diane Wilson about her book, An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Laura Kaplan, JANE & Helen Shiller, DARING TO STRUGGLE, DARING TO WIN

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with Laura Kaplan about her book, Jane: The women of the Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service. It’s about how a group of ordinary women worked together to create the women-centered, women-empowering organization called “Jane” that operated in Chicago from 1969 to 1973.

But first, another Chicago story about organizing for justice. We talk with former Chicago Alderwoman and community activist Helen Shiller about her memoir, Daring To Struggle, Daring to Win: Five Decades of Resistance in Chicago’s Uptown Community.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast app! It really helps others find our show.

And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Philip Schultz, COMFORTS OF THE ABYSS & Carey Gillam on Paraquat and Parkinson’s

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Vulnerability. Could it be a writer’s greatest strength?

We talk with poet Philip Schultz about his memoir/how-to book, Comforts Of The Abyss: The Art of Persona Writing.

Then, we talk about paraquat and Parkinson’s disease. Newly revealed documents show that the maker of a common herbicide knew decades ago about the link. We catch up with former Writer’s Voice guest Carey Gillam about her blockbuster scoop on the chemical company Syngenta.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Emi Nietfield, ACCEPTANCE & Anthony Horowitz, MAGPIE MURDERS

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with Emi Nietfield about her powerful memoir, Acceptance. It chronicles her struggles as a teenager and young adult to rise above the poverty and abuse she suffered as a child, despite a child protection system that was anything but protective of children.

Then, PBS’s show Mystery has just begun a new series, Magpie Murders. We re-air our 2017 conversation with Magpie Murders author Anthony Horowitz. He adapted the book for the TV series.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Antonio Padilla, FANTASTIC NUMBERS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM & Poet Richard Wilbur (Encore)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with Antonio Padilla about his book, FANTASTIC NUMBERS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM: A Cosmic Quest From Zero To Infinity.

Then, from science to poetry: we replay our 2009 interview with the late US Poet Laureate, Richard Wilbur.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Steve Hendricks, THE OLDEST CURE IN THE WORLD & Millie Kerr, WILDER

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with Steve Hendricks about his book The Oldest Cure in the World: Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting.

Then, we talk with wildlife conservation journalist and photographer Millie Kerr about her new book, Wilder: How Rewilding is Transforming Conservation and Changing the World.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Rate us on your favorite podcast app! It really helps others find our show.

And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Marianne Williamson, A POLITICS OF LOVE & Rabbi Michael Lerner, REVOLUTIONARY LOVE

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Is a politics of love essential to our survival?

We talk with activist, spiritual leader and former presidential candidate, Marianne Williamson about her book, A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution.

Then, we replay an extended excerpt from our 2020 interview with Rabbi Michael Lerner, about his book, Revolutionary Love.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Abdulrazak Gurnah, AFTERLIVES & R.F. Kuang, BABEL

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

This week, we talk about two novels about colonialism, both from the point of view of the colonized.

First, we are honored to talk with the 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah about his novel Afterlives, just published in the United States by Penguin Random House.

Then R.F. Kuang tells us about her fantasy/slash/alternate history novel, Babel, Or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translator’s Revolution.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Octavio Solis, RETABLOS & Freya Sampson, THE LOST TICKET

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we air our 2019 interview with playwright and author Octavio Solis. We spoke with him about growing up the son of Mexican migrants in El Paso Texas. His book of stories based on that history is Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border. Octavio Solis.

Then, a new novel from British novelist Freya Sampson, The Lost Ticket. It’s one of those heart-warming but page-turning reads that makes you feel really good.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Bill McKibben, THE FLAG, THE CROSS and the STATION WAGON & Sarah Thankam Mathews, ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with Bill McKibben about his terrific new book, The Flag, The Cross And The Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What The Hell Happened.

Then, a brilliant coming-of-age novel that treats the personal as political and vice versa. We talk with Sarah Thankam Mathews about All This Could Be Different.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her novel, Take My Hand. It’s based on a famous case accusing the federal government of forced sterilization of poor and minority women inspires a novel about reproductive justice.

Then we air an excerpt from our 2021 interview with HonorÁ©e Fanonne Jeffers about her novel The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast app! It really helps others find our show.

And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The “Mississippi Appendectomy.” That’s what the great civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer called the practice of involuntary sterilization forced on poor, mostly Black and Brown, women for decades in the 20th century — a practice Hamer herself was a victim of.

Dolen Perkins Valdez’ novel Take My Hand takes up this history in the story of a young nurse who fights for justice for two young girls who have been sterilized in Mississippi in 1971.

Out from Penguin Random House in April of this year, the book has garnered widespread praise. Ms Magazine called it “A searing and ultimately hopeful novel about (in)justice and the importance of learning from history.”

In addition to Take My Hand, Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of previous novels, Wench and Balm.

HonorÁ©e Fanonne Jeffers
In 2021 Writer’s Voice spoke with HonorÁ©e Fanonne Jeffers about her award-winning novel, The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois. Listen to the full interview here.

We play an extended excerpt from that interview.

Podcast

Keri Blakinger, CORRECTIONS IN INK & Eve Karlin, TRACK 61

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We talk with journalist Keri Blakinger about her powerful prison memoir, Corrections In Ink.

Then, Eve Karlin tells us about her historical novel Track 61. It’s about the invasion by a group of German saboteurs during World War II, who came ashore in Amagansett, Long Island.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Writer’s Voice: Mohsin Hamid, THE LAST WHITE MAN & Omar El Akkad, WHAT STRANGE PARADISE

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Mohsin Hamid tells us about his fable of race and humanity, where white people suddenly turn brown. It’s called The Last White Man.

Then Omar El Akkad talks about his novel What Strange Paradise. It’s about what happens when a Syrian refugee, a young boy, washes up on a Greek island.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast app! It really helps others find our show.

And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Bruce Holsinger, THE DISPLACEMENTS & Elizabeth Cripps, WHAT CLIMATE JUSTICE MEANS AND WHY WE SHOULD CARE

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Bruce Holsinger tells us about his novel, The Displacements. It’s about what happens to a family when the first Category Six hurricane hits the wealthy enclave of Coral Gables, Florida.

Then, we talk with moral philosopher Elizabeth Cripps about her book, What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care.

Bruce Holsinger
There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide in a world beset by the Climate Catastrophe—not even if you’re rich. The leveling impact of climate change is at the heart of Bruce Holsinger’s novel The Displacements.

It’s a page-turning dive into what happens to people when climate driven disasters take everything from them. And how they cope in an America where disaster response is ever more stretched to the breaking point.

Bruce Holsinger is the author of the bestselling novel The Gifted School, as well as two historical novels set in the Middle Ages, among other books. He teaches English at the University of Virginia.

Read an excerpt from The Displacements

Elizabeth Cripps
At the very heart of the climate crisis is the question: what is our responsibility to our fellow humans, future generations and all the other living beings we share the planet with?

Elizabeth Cripps examines the moral dimensions of the climate crisis in her book What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care.

Cripps is a moral and political philosopher and writer, specializing in climate justice and parental duties. She teaches at the University of Edinburgh and is Associate Director of CRITIQUE: Centre for Ethics and Critical Thought.