Tag Archives: memoir

Podcast

David Shenk on Genius & Genetics and David Chura on Kids in Lockup

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

David Shenk

Host Francesca Rheannon talks with journalist David Shenk about THE GENIUS IN ALL OF US: Why Everything We’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Are Wrong. It’s about what the science of epigenetics is telling us us about the potential for human achievement. And David Chura talks about his memoir of teaching incarcerated adolescents, I DON’T WISH NOBODY TO HAVE A LIFE LIKE MINE: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup. He says the War on Crime is a war on kids. Continue reading →

Podcast

Hampton Sides On the Trail of An Assassin

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Hampton Sides

Hampton Sides talks about HELLHOUND ON HIS TRAIL: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin. And Steven Church tells us about THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER. It’s a memoir about growing up in the shadow of apocalyptic visions, including the making of THE DAY AFTER in his home town of Lawrence, Kansas.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Memoirs of Suicide

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Nancy_Rappaport
Nancy Rappaport

Nancy Rappaport  talks about her haunting memoir, IN HER WAKE: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother’s Suicide. It’s about her mother’s suicide, how it affected her family, and how she came to terms with her loss. And Joan Wickersham tells us about her memoir of her father’s suicide, THE SUICIDE INDEX, in this 2008 interview she gave Writers Voice. The memoir was a National Book Award finalist. Continue reading →

Podcast

Memoirs of Ireland

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Alphie McCourt
Thomas J Rice
Thomas J Rice

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

Wars of Islamic Succession and Partners in Health in Haiti

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Tracy Kidder
Laurie Hazleton

Journalist Lesley Hazleton talks about AFTER THE PROPHET. It’s about the wars of succession after Mohammed’s death that led to the split between Shia and Sunni. And author Tracy Kidder talks about Haiti, Dr. Paul Farmer, and the organization Farmer founded, Partners in Health. Kidder’s book is MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS, published in 2003. Continue reading →

Podcast

Can only the super rich save us?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

sue barry
Sue Barry
ralph nader
Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader talks about his latest book, ONLY THE SUPERRICH CAN SAVE US! It’s a “utopian fantasy” about a cadre of billionaires under the leadership of Warren Buffet who take on corporate America to save democracy and the planet. And neuroscientist Sue Barry talks about conquering a visual disability and training her brain to see normally. Her memoir is FIXING MY GAZE. Continue reading →

Podcast

Best of 2009

It’s that time of year to reflect on “The List”: The Ten Best Of list, that is. This year was really tough (not unlike the 2008 best of list!), because there were so many show episodes I could have included. I was a bit chagrined that it was so dominated by men — I strive for gender balance in these lists — but so many of the guys wrote books of such heart and human compassion (Tracy Kidder, Abraham Verghese, Nicholsen Baker, Tyler Boudreau) that I just had to include them. Browse through the list and enjoy!

Continue reading →

Podcast

Migraines and Madness: The Upsides and Downsides

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

David Lovelace
David Lovelace
Andrew Levy
Andrew Levy

Andrew Levy talks about [amazon-product text=”A BRAIN WIDER THAN THE SKY: A Migraine Diary” type=”text”]1416572503[/amazon-product]. Weaving his personal story together with reflections on science, art, history and spirituality, he gives us a surprising portrait of this malady. And David Lovelace tells us why he is “proud to be bipolar” despite the troubles the disorder has brought him. His memoir is [amazon-product text=”SCATTERSHOT: My Bipolar Family” type=”text”]0525950788[/amazon-product]. Continue reading →

Podcast

Women Writing Powerfully About Women’s Lives

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Chimamanda Adichie
Chimamanda Adichie
Honor Moore
Honor Moore

Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about her stunning collection of stories [amazon-product text=”THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK” type=”text”]0307271072[/amazon-product]. And poet Honor Moore reads from and tells us about [amazon-product text=”POEMS FROM THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT” type=”text”]1598530429[/amazon-product]. Our guests use fiction (Adichie) and poetry (Moore) to evoke the lives of women with power, honesty and grace. Continue reading →

Podcast

Natalie Goldberg and Ann Armbrecht

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Natalie Goldberg
Natalie Goldberg

We talk with Natalie Goldberg about how to write memoir. Her new book on the topic is Old Friend from Far Away. And anthropologist Ann Armbrecht tells us about her memoir of Nepal, THIN PLACES. Poet, writer and teacher Christian McEwen is guest co-host. Continue reading →

Podcast

St. Patrick’s Day with Alphie McCourt, and more.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Alphie McCourt
Alphie McCourt

For St. Patrick’s Day, host Francesca Rheannon visits Alphie McCourt in his New York apartment to talk about [amazon-product text=”A LONG STONES THROW” type=”text”]0981453554[/amazon-product], his memoir of growing up in Ireland and his emigration to the U.S.  And author consultant Bill Martin and novelist Beverly Swerling, talk about how to find a literary agent. They own and run Agent Research and Evaluation , a Web-based consultancy for writers.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Tyler Boudreau, PACKING INFERNO

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Tyler Boudreau
Tyler Boudreau

Writers Voice spends the hour with former Marine Captain Tyler Boudreau. His brutally honest, brilliantly written memoir is PACKING INFERNO: The Unmaking of a Marine.

Boudreau also educates the public on veterans’ issues and is the founder of Collaborative Revolution. He is planning a 2009 cross country bicycle trip by veterans to “to positively re-invest their strength in America.” Continue reading →

Podcast

Best of 2008

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

It was tough, but we did it: we winnowed down the list of wonderful guests and their books to the Ten Best Books featured on Writer’s Voice in 2008. This week’s show features excerpts from our interviews with four of them. In the fiction category, we talk with Kevin Patterson (CONSUMPTION) and Elizabeth Strout (OLIVE KITTREDGE). For nonfiction,  we hear from Ron Suskind (THE WAY OF THE WORLD) and Terry Tempest Williams (MOSAIC).

Update: We also have our best guests of 2009 list online too.

Continue reading →

Podcast

Joan Wickersham, THE SUICIDE INDEX and Jennet Conant, THE IRREGULARS

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Jennet Conant
Jennet Conant
Joan Wickersham
Joan Wickersham

Host Francesca Rheannon talks with writer Joan Wickersham about her powerful new memoir, [amazon-product text=”THE SUICIDE INDEX: Putting My Father’s Death in Order” type=”text”]0156033801[/amazon-product]. Also, we talk with Jennet Conant about [amazon-product text=”THE IRREGULARS: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington” type=”text”]0743294599[/amazon-product]. Continue reading →