Episodes
We talk with Victor Lodato about his terrific new novel, Honey. It’s about an octogenarian who is trying to come to terms with her life — her childhood growing up in a Mafia family in New Jersey and her adulthood trying to escape it. Then, we talk with Kimberly Belle about her new thriller, The Paris Widow. The novel takes a look at the illicit trade in blood antiquities. Connect with Us: Follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on the latest episodes and news. Find us on...
Published 06/08/24
Are child protection service (CPS) agencies doing more harm than good? Join us for an in-depth conversation with sociologist Kelly Fong about her book, Investigating Families: Motherhood in the Shadow of Child Protective Services. We explore the inner workings of Child Protection Services (CPS), the impact on families, and the need for systemic change. Plus, we replay a segment from our 2022 interview with Emi Nietfield, author of the memoir Acceptance, about overcoming...
Published 05/31/24
We talk with Abrahm Lustgarten about his book, On The Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America. It’s about how climate chaos means a humanity on the move. Then, we catch up with journalist and author Ross Barkan about his recent article in New York Magazine, “The Most Endangered Democrat in America: Jamaal Bowman might lose his job over Israel.” Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Find us on Facebook at...
Published 05/24/24
Was 2020 the year Americans finally lost faith in their government? We talk with Eric Klinenberg about his acclaimed new book, 2020: One City, Seven People, And The Year Everything Changed. The book follows seven New Yorkers as they try to cope with the pandemic. Among them, a transit worker, a bar owner, a retired lawyer who organizes a mutual aid network and a Black Lives Matter protester. Their stories and those of the others illustrate how our leaders and institutions failed us —...
Published 05/17/24
Larry Tye tells us about his new book, The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America. It’s a fresh look at three titans of the Jazz Age. Then, we re-air our 2020 interview with Larry Tye about his biography of Senator Joe McCarthy, Demagogue. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on...
Published 05/10/24
A bestselling novelist took a job at a big box store, was shocked by what she found, and decided to write a novel about it. We talk with Adelle Waldman about her new novel, Help Wanted. It’s about what happens when a group of workers at a big box store scheme to get their overbearing manager promoted out of their department. Along the way, it reveals what work life is really like for millions of low wage workers in today’s economy. Then, we remember novelist Paul Auster, who...
Published 05/03/24
We talk with Greg Wrenn about his book Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis. It’s about healing the maladaptive imprinting of childhood trauma with Nature — and psychedelics. Then, a climate journalist tries a new tack to craft a narrative about the climate emergency. We talk with Elizabeth Kolbert about her illustrated alphabet book, H Is For Hope: Climate Change From A To Z. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since...
Published 04/27/24
In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we feature two stories about war and secrets. First, we talk with Howard Mansfield about his book, I Will Tell No War Stories: What Our Fathers Left Unsaid About World War II. The book uncovers the truth about the terrible toll that war took on American airmen like Mansfield’s father—revealing the real story behind the much touted “glory.” Then we talk with journalist Sasha Vasilyuk about her terrific debut novel, Your Presence Is Mandatory...
Published 04/18/24
We talk with Brad Gooch about his acclaimed new biography of Keith Haring, RADIANT: The Life and Line of Keith Haring. Then we listen back to a clip of Gooch talking with us in 2017 about his biography, Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter...
Published 04/12/24
A grandmother’s traumatic history reverberates through three generations… We talk with Tessa Hulls about her powerful graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts. It tells the story of three generations of women — her Chinese grandmother, Sun Yi; her mother, Rose; and herself —and how, in the process of writing and drawing their stories, she was able to heal the trauma that haunted them. Then, we remember the great primatologist Frans de Waal, who passed away March 14. We re-air our 2022...
Published 04/05/24
Is identity politics keeping us divided? And how can activists build solidarity with others while fighting for their own rights? We talk with activist, educator and organizer Michael Zweig about his book, Class, Race and Gender: Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism. Then in honor of Spring, Host Francesca Rheannon reads her story, The Sheep’s Blessing. It’s about an encounter in the backcountry of Provence that illuminated the sacred bond between a flock of sheep, a dog...
Published 03/29/24
This week we talk about two novels that explore connections: between men and women, people and nature, the young and the old. National Book Award finalist Bonnie Jo Campbell tells us about her wonderful new novel, The Waters and translator and novelist Jennifer Croft discusses her acclaimed new novel, The Extinction of Irina Rey. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon,...
Published 03/22/24
We talk with Rue Matthiessen, daughter of the famed writer Peter Mathiessen about her family memoir, Castles And Ruins: Unraveling, Family Mysteries, And Literary Legacy In The Irish Countryside. Then, Claire Coughlan tells us about her twisty-turny whodunit, Where They Lie. It’s a murder mystery set in 1968 Dublin, where the detective isn’t a policeman, but a young female news reporter on the make. And finally we air a short clip from our conversation with Fintan O’Toole last...
Published 03/14/24
We talk with Amitav Ghosh about his masterful history of the opium trade, Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories. Then, Manjula Martin tells us about her personal and “pyro-natural” history of California wildfires — the ones she lived through in 2020 and the ones Indigenous people lived with before white settlers moved in and took their land. Her book is The Last Fire Season. And finally, we read a poem from Mosab Abu Toha’s book Things You May Find Hidden In My...
Published 03/08/24
We talk with Charles Derber about the book he co-wrote with Suren Moodliar, Dying For Capitalism, How Big Money Fuels Extinction And What We Can Do About It. Then we talk with Andy Lee Roth about Project Censored’s yearbook, State of the Free Press 2024: The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2022–23. And finally, we read a poem from Mosab Abu Toha’s book Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres,...
Published 02/29/24
We talk with Les Leopold of the Labor Institute about his groundbreaking study of the political cost of mass layoffs. His book is Wall Street’s War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It. Then we re-air a clip from our 2013 interview with Les Leopold about his book, How To Make A Million Dollars An Hour: Why Hedge Funds Get Away with Siphoning Off America’s Wealth. And finally, we read some poems from Mosab Abu Toha’s book...
Published 02/22/24
The Rundown We talk with Michael Wolraich about his book, The Bishop And The Butterfly: Murder, Politics, And The End Of The Jazz Age. Then, we re-air part of our conversation with Paul Kix about You Have To Be Prepared To Die Before You Can Begin To Live: Ten Weeks In Birmingham That Changed America.  And we read a poem by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, who was abducted by the IDF and brutally beaten before a global outcry resulted in his release. Writers Voice— in...
Published 02/16/24
We talk with Elizabeth Flock about her book, The Furies. It follows three remarkable women — in the US, in India and in Syria — who took justice into their own hands to defend themselves, other women and their communities against abuse. Then, environmental journalist Stephen Robert Miller tells us about his book, Over The Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, And The Delusion Of Controlling Nature. He dives into the deep end of disaster mitigation gone wrong. From Arizona’s drought...
Published 02/08/24
Mind & Liberation: Unveiling Frantz Fanon’s Revolutionary Psychiatry and Post-Colonial Vision. Also, a Cherokee murder mystery. We talk with Adam Shatz about his acclaimed biography, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon. Then, a Cherokee murder mystery based on two very real crises affecting Indigenous communities: missing and murdered women and environmental racism. We talk with Cherokee author Vanessa Lillie about her suspense novel, Blood...
Published 02/01/24
We talk with world-renowned climate scientist Michael Mann about climate, past, present and future. His book is Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis. The world is largely past climate denialism (except for the Republican Party and its fascist leader Donald Trump.) But what has replaced it is climate doomism — the notion that it’s just too late to do anything about climate disruption, so we might as well continue with business as...
Published 01/25/24
We talk with authors Douglas Preston and Emma Donoghue about a collaborative novel whose characters — and their stories — are each written by a different, major literary voice: Fourteen Days: An Unauthorized Gathering. Then, we remember Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday by airing some of our conversation with Jonathan Eig, about his biography, King: A Life. Listen to the whole interview here. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since...
Published 01/18/24
We talk with Cory Doctorow about his new novel The Lost Cause, “a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency.” It imagines an America where another better world is possible, while confronting the evils of today. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter. Love Writer’s...
Published 01/11/24
We explore the people of North Sentinel Island, who are thought to be the last un-contacted tribe on Earth. Our guest is historian, essayist, and author Adam Goodheart and his book is The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth. Read The Interview Transcript Then, we talk with author, gardener and radio host Jennifer Jewell about her book, What We Sow: On The Personal, Ecological And Cultural Significance Of Seeds. Read The Interview...
Published 01/04/24
Turtles are jaw-droppingly amazing. Some can run faster than a 10-year-old; some can climb trees; others have shells that glow in the dark. We talk with The Soul of An Octopus author Sy Montgomery and illustrator Matthew Patterson about this and more amazing things about turtles. Their acclaimed book is Of Time And Turtles: Mending the World, Shell By Shattered Shell. We also share our list of Ten Best Shows of 2023 Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all...
Published 12/29/23
Antisemitism and conspiracy theories. Also, how to protect wildlife by protecting people. First, we talk with Mike Rothschild about his book: Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories. It’s about the persistence of rightwing antisemitism and its link to conspiracy theories. Then, scientist Adam Hart tells us about how people become prey for wild animals and why conservation to preserve wildlife needs to take human needs into account to...
Published 12/22/23