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Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers

277 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago - ★★★★★ - 372 ratings

Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is currently in its fourth year. We are a weekly podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner, former Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and founder of 100 Word Story, each theme-focused episode of Write-minded features an interview with a writer, author, or publishing industry professional. This year we’re featuring a Book Trend at the end of each episode to keep listeners in the loop about what they need to know about the book industry. Brooke and Grant bring to this weekly podcast their shared spirit of community, collaboration, and a deeply held belief that everyone is a writer, and everyone’s story matters.

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Episodes

Moral Ambiguity in Fiction, featuring Quentin Lee

April 18, 2022 11:00 - 27 minutes

In this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke probe at questions of moral ambiguity with guest Quentin Lee, whose new book, The Secret Diary of Edward Ng, is a sexual coming of age story set in the 1990s. Centering queerness and the Asian and Asian American experience, this work of short fiction is a meditation on otherness, and raises lots of good conversation about auto-fiction, what and how we explore with our fiction, and why staying true to the stories you want to tell is always better than w...

All About Book Festivals, featuring Cherilyn Parsons

April 11, 2022 11:00 - 32 minutes

This week’s show is a love letter to book festivals—and a conversation about why they matter, how authors can pitch themselves and get involved in local festivals, and what the considerations entail for those people who are behind the scenes organizing such festivals. This week’s guest, Cherilyn Parsons, is the founder and executive director of the Bay Area Book Festival based in Berkeley, California, and she’s interviewed by Brooke while Grant is away, who’s been a longtime board member and ...

Setting Stories Free, featuring Caits Meissner and T Kira Madden

April 04, 2022 11:00 - 47 minutes

This week’s episode features the editor and a contributor to the new anthology, The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting A Writer’s Life in Prison. This book is at the heart of today’s interview as we explore the power of writing—and how it can set us free, literally and metaphorically. Editor Caits Meissner shares with us PEN America’s mission and vision, and why there’s a Prison and Justice Writing program there in the first place, while T Kira Mahealani Madden shares about how her life has b...

Probing the Line Between Insanity and Art, featuring Lee Kravetz

March 28, 2022 11:00 - 41 minutes

The idea that creativity and "madness" are connected has been around since humanity’s earliest days. As such, this notion of "suffering artists" often gets idealized, even romanticized. Psychotherapist and author Lee Kravetz shares his take on the correlation between mental illness and creativity in this week’s episode, in the context of his new book, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P., that explores the life of Sylvia Plath. Listen in to hear about the inspiration behind the novel, how he tho...

Tough-Love Marketing, featuring M.J. Rose

March 21, 2022 11:00 - 42 minutes

No author or aspiring author will want to miss this week’s episode with marketing guru M.J. Rose, who doles out some tough love about the realities of publicity and marketing. Though she calls herself the Voice of Doom, her message is surprisingly inspiring and reassuring, because the realities of this industry are twofold: it’s hard to sell books, and writing books is one of the most rewarding experiences there is. Rose is a wealth of information and advice, so you’ll want to bookmark this o...

How We Think about Anger on the Page, featuring Lilly Dancyger

March 14, 2022 11:00 - 37 minutes

Rarely are writers encouraged to be angry on the page, and this is especially true for women writers of personal narratives. In this week’s episode, we’re exploring anger’s purpose in writing with guest Lilly Dancyger, who gives permission to lean into anger, and whose memoir, Negative Space, has, by Lilly’s own estimation, an angry central protagonist (her younger self) and an angry narrator (her older self). An important conversation for anyone who’s been told they’re too angry, or not to b...

Can Writing Be Taught? featuring Lisa Stringfellow

March 07, 2022 12:00 - 36 minutes

In this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke tackle the question of whether writing can be taught—and why this is even a question that’s up for debate in the first place. Guest Lisa Stringfellow has a lot of great insights about the intersection of writing and teaching, what she’s learned about writing through her teaching, and the rewards of writing to an audience in the form of her students. We cover why reading is the most important portal we have to becoming better writers, the value of mento...

How We Think and Write about Intimate Experiences, featuring Melissa Febos

February 28, 2022 12:00 - 44 minutes

This week’s episode champions personal narrative, which is one of guest Melissa Febos’s primary goals in her new book, Body Work. We talk about why memoir needs badasses this week, and if ever there was one, it’s Melissa. An enlightening conversation that touches upon diary-writing, confession, secret-keeping, tell-alls, the essay, and memoir craft, any writer who thinks about writing (all of you!) should take in this interview—and be fortified by it. Check out the video we share in the Book...

The Art of Writing Forgiveness, featuring Ashley C. Ford

February 21, 2022 12:00 - 41 minutes

This week’s powerful episode features Ashley C. Ford, sharing about writing influences, forgiveness, and how superheroes influence her writing, among other topics. Ford has written one of the most powerful memoir scenes we’ve read in a long while, and she speaks to the process and evolution of that story and what she learned in the telling of it. Lots of inspiration in this interview, and we want to let you know that you can be with Ashley for The Heart of Memoir, April 5-May 10, where she’ll...

Writing to Make the World a Better Place, featuring Parker J. Palmer

February 14, 2022 12:00 - 47 minutes

In celebration of Valentine’s Day week, this week’s podcast honors heart-centeredness, and writing from the heart and with openness, and the inherent and implicit ways that makes the world a better place. Join Brooke and Grant to bask in the wisdom of Parker J. Palmer’s words on everything from welcoming the stranger, to what he loves about speaking, to the legacy of his friend and colleague, the great bell hooks. Please also check out Parker Palmer’s March 20 webinar, which is pay what you c...

The Drama of Friendships, featuring Jean Chen Ho

February 07, 2022 12:00 - 40 minutes

Friendship is often the backdrop of story, but rarely is it centered. In this week’s episode Grant and Brooke name some of their favorite books where friendship is centerstage, as is the case with guest Jean Chen Ho’s new novel, Fiona and Jane. Friendship, like love affairs, offer such rich territory to explore interpersonal dynamics, how friends show up (and don’t) in our lives over time, and how we invariably feel mixed emotions toward our friends. An important episode for considering the r...

Research Is Not Just for Facts, featuring Margaret Verble

January 31, 2022 12:00 - 36 minutes

In this week’s episode we’re exploring the idea of experiential research, of soul research, of the kind of writing that involves the body, the heart, and the soul as much as the mind. Guest Margaret Verble shares with us how writing fiction is a way for her to keep the dead alive, to have conversations with those who have passed on. Her easy connection to the past and her family line is inviting in that she suggests what you “know” doesn’t necessarily involve research—and it’s all a continuum...

Out in the Open about Erotica, featuring Rachel Kramer Bussel

January 24, 2022 12:00 - 38 minutes

Sex sells—and sex writing shows up in countless genres beyond just erotica. So while we’re focusing on erotica this week with guest Rachel Kramer Bussel, who’s edited more than 70 erotica anthologies, we’re also talking about sex writing more generally—the history of erotic literature, why erotica collections tend to be anthologies rather than single-author books, and some tips to think about if and when you come to the page to write your own sex scenes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Risk It Like You Mean It, featuring Angela Engel

January 17, 2022 12:00 - 43 minutes

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Borrowing from Mythic Structures, with Michelle Ruiz Keil

January 10, 2022 11:00 - 34 minutes

This week’s episode starts by addressing some of the burnout lots of us are feeling with yet another phase of the pandemic among other crises. And yet, because Write-Minded is committed to bringing you doses of inspiration each week, this week we’re talking with Michelle Ruiz Keil about changing up your routine, borrowing (in this case from mythic structures), and even rethinking or reworking your existing content with fresh ideas. Also, we’re wishing for our listeners all the REs: revitaliza...

The Gift of Multitudes of Perspectives, featuring Farah Ali

January 03, 2022 12:00 - 34 minutes

This week’s episode with Farah Ali dives into perspectives, and how short stories open up so many portals for writers and readers alike—and yet, short story writers will always be pressured to write a novel next. Ali is one of those writers who knew she wanted to be a writer since she was very young—and though she was encouraged, she also faced the obstacle of where her stories are set, in Pakistan, and people’s assumptions about her culture. Lucky for readers, her new collection, People Want...

Ringing in the New Year with Book-to-Film Recs!

December 27, 2021 12:00 - 12 minutes

Happy New Year to all—and get ready for some film recommendations from Brooke and Grant this week. Why? Because after putting out a call for favorite memoirs-turned-movies, 100 responses flowed in, offering up some exciting options for kicking back this holiday season with your Netflix subscription and a mug of hot chocolate. Today’s book trend references the Netflix Book Club, and you can find the URL mentioned here: https://www.julesbuono.com/netflix-book-club. Thank you and goodbye, 2021!...

Conviction—When You Know Your Story Resonates, featuring Alka Joshi

December 13, 2021 16:32 - 39 minutes

This week we’re talking about conviction—and why it’s something writers generally start their writing journeys with, but which tends to get a bit eroded along the path to publication. This week’s guest, Alka Joshi, reinvented herself after sixty with her debut novel, The Henna Artist—a book that started with plenty of conviction, and also needed passion and perseverance on Alka’s part to get to the finish line. And what an extraordinary result. This fun and upbeat interview is inspiring and h...

Fear and Desire, featuring Erica Jong

December 06, 2021 12:00 - 29 minutes

This week’s guest, Erica Jong, burst onto the cultural and literary scene in 1973 with her debut novel, Fear of Flying. In the nearly five decades since, her work has circled the themes of fear and desire—subjects that anchor this week’s show. What a treat to hear from one of our foremost feminist legends about what drove her to the page in the early ’70s, about the legacy of her own body of work, and how important it is for women to write their desires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Migration as an Essential Shared Story, featuring Shanthi Sekaran

November 29, 2021 12:00 - 33 minutes

This week we ask you to consider the places in your own life where you’ve experienced migrations—whether you’re an immigrant or your family has been in the same place for generations. We all experience migrations throughout our lives, in the form of life events, identities, and movements across time and place—and this week’s guest, Shanthi Sekaran, has much to say on this all-important topic and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Challenging Your Perspective on the Journey to Getting Published, featuring Bella Mahaya Carter

November 22, 2021 12:00 - 33 minutes

This week’s episode is for anyone seeking that elusive thing called peace of mind when it comes to the writing, publishing, or promotion part of getting a book out into the world. Inspirational and straight-talking, guest Bella Mahaya Carter shares how she learned to let go of what she thought she wanted from traditional publishing to spread her wings as an author who’s writing and publishing on her own terms, and with peace of mind. A perfect episode to conclude the final days of NaNoWriMo, ...

Why Retelling Stories Is Always an Act of Creation, featuring Kwame Mbalia

November 15, 2021 12:00 - 35 minutes

Retelling stories—family tales, myths, fairytales, and stories of all sorts—is always an act of creation because of what you, the author, bring to the telling. In this week’s fun interview, guest Kwame Mbalia speaks to inspiration, living with your characters, who he’s inspired by, and why he’s doing NaNoWriMo for the fifth year in a row. Don’t miss it—and we’re cheering you along if you’re writing every day this November. You got this! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...

Owning Your Authority as an Author, featuring J. Allen Cross

November 08, 2021 12:00 - 34 minutes

This week’s witchy, crafty, spell-binding episode gets into authors’ authority to write the books they write, the responsibilities authors must content with when writing about a group they’re a part of, and especially about groups they’re not a part of. And because today’s guest, J. Allen Cross, is a practicing witch, there’s an extra dose of magic, along with a dash of folklore and sprinkle of the occult—a perfect recipe for a fun and inspiring episode of Write-minded. Learn more about your ...

Allowing Anger to Fuel Your Writing, featuring Namina Forna

November 01, 2021 11:00 - 28 minutes

Happy National Novel Writing Month, listeners! We’re eager to start writing with you this week—and we’re bringing you some food for thought about what fuels your writing and your creativity. Guest Namina Forna has been fueled sometimes by anger and injustice. Meanwhile, her light-heartedness and love of fantasy and the magical creates a dynamic counterbalance to the themes that drive her to the page. She ends the episode with such great advice for all of you writers out there doing NaNoWriM...

Get Ready for NaNoWriMo, featuring Chris Baty

October 25, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes

National Novel Writing Month starts next week, so it’s time to get your minds and hearts ready to throw down tons of words next month—and we know you’ve got this. We’re bringing back Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, the very best person to get you inspired to do this thing. Don’t doubt for one minute that the world needs your story. And there’s no better way to get a lot of writing done while having a lot of fun than participating in NaNoWriMo. We’ll be doing it, too, so we’re with you, and ...

The Art of Subtext, featuring EJ Koh

October 18, 2021 11:00 - 44 minutes

Subtext is the art of the implicit, and this week’s guest, E.J. Koh, has written a gorgeous memoir, The Magical Language of Others, in which the subtext nearly drips from the page—to gorgeous and astounding results. This week’s show, therefore, explores what subtext is, how to use it, how to watch out for it, and how to practice it. We want all of you writers out there to make your readers hungry for your stories, and this is one way you can entice, delight, and tantalize. Learn more about yo...

The Difficult Balance of Writing and Self-Care, featuring Charlie Jane Anders

October 11, 2021 11:00 - 32 minutes

How can we practice self-care, stay open and vulnerable, and have enough discernment to know how much to keep pushing ourselves creatively when we feel depleted? This episode is a show for our times, as we tackle with guest Charlie Jane Anders all the ways that global and personal crises challenge our creative and writing lives. We recommend you check out Charlie Jane’s talk on YouTube, Never Say You Can’t Survive, which inspired the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ItTO9DDhCI. Learn mo...

The Staying Power of the Mother-Daughter Story, featuring Laura Davis

October 04, 2021 11:00 - 40 minutes

This week we’re talking about the mother-daughter story, which is equally powerfully conveyed in both fiction and memoir. This week’s guest, Laura Davis, has a gripping new memoir about her relationship with her mother, structured as a countdown to her mother’s death. Laura explores in the book and on the show topics including estrangement and caregiving someone who’s betrayed you. We also talk about writing about other people, and Laura shares a bit about her past, having co-authored the bes...

Books That Help Start Conversations with Kids, featuring Anastasia Higginbotham

September 27, 2021 14:42 - 38 minutes

In honor of Banned Books Week, this week’s show dives into books that help start conversations with kids, even and especially when they’re touching upon tough topics. Anastasia’s Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness struck a chord last year as parents looked for books to help kids understand our national racial reckoning, and her entire series, Ordinary Terrible Things, is a conversation-starter for kids and parents alike about topics that are hard, sometimes taboo, and always important. Learn...

Using Storytelling to Inform and Educate, featuring Kaitlyn Greenidge

September 20, 2021 11:00 - 34 minutes

This week’s episode features Kaitlyn Greenidge being interviewed by Brooke as part of the San Diego Writers Festival. Her recent novel, Libertie, is a tour de force and examination of Reconstruction-era America through the story of Libertie, born black and free during a time when America’s attempts to right the wrongs of slavery were being met with great promise and great resistance. How storytelling informs and educates shines through in this conversation, and we thank the San Diego Writers ...

Craft Is Never Neutral, featuring Matthew Salesses

September 13, 2021 11:00 - 34 minutes

An episode for our times, today’s show features Matthew Salesses in conversation with Grant and Brooke about his newest book, Craft in the Real World. Listen in as he unpacks the inherent biases of how the dominant culture teaches and writes and thinks about craft. Matthew’s book addresses how and why craft inextricable from identity and lived experience—bringing some explosive new energy to our thinking about craft that’s both empowering and long overdue. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

Confronting Shame, featuring Firoozeh Dumas

September 06, 2021 11:00 - 38 minutes

It’s a brand-new season and Year 4 of Write-minded, and we’re diving headfirst into shame, a feeling that often attacks on the sly, and that seems to show up even in the most innocuous of places. Guest Firoozeh Dumas talks us through shame as a writer, through the lens of culture, and through the lens of humor, too. Plus, we touch upon her story of being an Iranian immigrant writer, and what’s changed—and hasn’t—in the publishing industry since Firoozeh published Funny in Farsi in the early 2...

Best of YA, featuring Laurie Halse Anderson and Marie Lu

August 30, 2021 11:00 - 31 minutes

It’s our final A+ August episode—and we’re ending the summer with YA superstars Laurie Halse Anderson and Marie Lu, who treated us earlier this year with deep insights about the genre, and about mining your memories and your stories regardless of genre. They speak about inspirations and starts and what moved them along in their journeys. Which is a perfect segue to our new season—Year 4—which starts next week. Happy end of summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best of Sex Writing, featuring Deesha Philyaw and Kim Addonizio

August 23, 2021 11:00 - 32 minutes

As summer slips away, what better interviews to revisit than two that feature writing about sex in all its myriad forms—desire, confession, and as thinking pieces that speak to who we are, what we crave, and also how we’re controlled and boxed in and limited. Two of our favorites from this past year, Deesha Philyaw and Kim Addonizio, give writers a lot to think about on the subject of sex writing, and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best of Memoir, featuring Mary Karr and Elizabeth Gilbert

August 16, 2021 11:00 - 31 minutes

Our next A+ August mash-up features two of Brooke’s absolute favorites—Mary Karr and Elizabeth Gilbert. Mary’s episode, In Defense of Memoir, is a deep dive into memoir writing, while Liz’s, Following the Thread of Your Inspiration. Both guests have been so influential to this genre, and this wide-ranging conversation will leave any aspiring writer motivated to get writing—and don’t forget to go back and listen to the full interviews in our archives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

Best of Debut Fiction, featuring Mateo Askaripour and Sameer Pandya

August 09, 2021 11:00 - 28 minutes

This best of features two guests whose debut novels focus in on racial issues in the workplace with Askaripour’s novel, Black Buck, set in the sales industry and Pandya’s Members Only homing in on academia. Both guests speak to their inspirations, drawing from life experience, and the nuance and complexities (and also the importance) of tackling racial issues in fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best of Fantasy, featuring Hugh Howey and Victoria “V.E.” Schwab

August 02, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes

In this first of our A+ August mash-up we’re revisiting interviews with two of the most popular fantasy authors we know—Hugh Howey and Victoria “V.E.” Schwab. There’s so much good stuff here to inspire any kind of author. We talk about process, confidence, why we write, and then yes, there’s some magic talk in here, too, since fantasy allows you to rewrite the rules and build your own worlds . . . something a lot of us might be doing this summer as we think about escaping into other realities...

The Joy and Angst of a Newly Released Book, featuring Grant Faulkner

July 26, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes

In the final show of Year 3 of Write-minded, Brooke interviews Grant about his newest book, a collection of stories called All the Comfort Sins Can Provide. In the interviewee chair, Grant shares the highs and the lows of publishing a new book—the fear and the angst and the joys and the expectations. Having doled out excellent advice over these past three years, Grant realizes during this week’s show that it’s not so easy to follow all our great advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

To Plot or Not? featuring Jean Hanff Korelitz

July 19, 2021 11:00 - 36 minutes

This week’s show is a great episode for any writer who’s ever thought about plotting—how much they love it or hate it, whether they’re even doing it, and why plotting matters anyway. Our guest is Jean Hanff Korelitz, who’s most recent book, The Plot, has one of the best plots ever—and even she says sometimes you have to forget about the plot. We touch upon literary vs. commercial fiction, whether Jean agrees with Stephen King’s advice about plotting, and what some of her favorite books are th...

Writing the Body and Sex in Memoir, featuring Gina Frangello

July 12, 2021 11:00 - 46 minutes

This week’s episode is an intense, powerful, and frank interview with author Gina Frangello as part of WomenLit, a Bay Area program dedicated to elevating women’s voices. Gina’s latest book, Blow Your House Down, is a tour de force and a memoir that’s had everyone talking—because she really goes there: into her shame, into her fear, into abuse, into sex and body, and into what it’s like to live a double life since the book is about having a clandestine affair for three-plus years. This is a b...

Permission To Write and Getting It Right, featuring Rebecca Makkai

July 05, 2021 11:00 - 38 minutes

Creative empathy is no longer enough of a foundation when it comes to what kinds of characters and situations novelists can or should write, and yet permission to write is the foundation of this week’s how featuring Rebecca Makkai. In this wide-reaching conversation Brooke and Grant talk with Rebecca about the value of research, the challenges all writers face in prioritizing their writing, and getting it right when it’s so easy to get it wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

Unearthing Unknown Stories, featuring Stacey Lee

June 28, 2021 10:00 - 30 minutes

All around us, there are stories waiting to be unearthed, storylines there for the taking. Grant and Brooke discuss this and more—plotting v. pantsing; researching; understanding your readers—in this week’s episode. Importantly, this week’s show with guest Stacey Lee is about why we write, how it’s our birthright, and how we can push through some of the guilt and/or apathy some writers have felt over this past year-plus about whether or how much their writing might matter, especially in the f...

Ready, Set, Memoir, featuring Lindsey Grant

June 21, 2021 11:00 - 31 minutes

In this week’s episode we celebrate Lindsey Grant’s new book, Ready, Set, Memoir, a new book out in collaboration with NaNoWriMo, and which features many Write-minded past guests. This week’s show is full of memoir tips, and also supports aspiring memoirists to stay the course in their process—because we know it’s challenging. Ready, Set, Memoir is a book—and an episode—that touches upon the highs and lows of memoir writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedy as Tragedy Plus Time, featuring Annabelle Gurwitch

June 14, 2021 11:00 - 34 minutes

Oh, the challenge to be funny on the page. This week’s episode includes actual tips from guest Annabelle Gurwitch for how to do just that, as well as warnings from Brooke and Grant, like why to avoid comparing yourself to other comedic writers. They also discuss why the short form lends itself to humor writing, and share some of the funniest writers they love—all while getting a little punchy. The episode was recorded late in the day—so blame it on that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

“Whodunnits” and Other Genre Fiction We Love, featuring Tracy Clark

June 07, 2021 11:00 - 36 minutes

Whether you love genre fiction already, or wonder why you never pick it up, this episode is an informative and eye-opening delve into crime fiction (and other genre fiction generally). We talk about the “genre wars” (what is that?) and also hear from Tracy about her amazingly disciplined approach to getting the job done. Tracy talks about her process, her mentors, and how she learned to write crime, and she leaves listeners with some inspiring words of encouragement for their own writing. Lea...

How to Have More Conscious Conversations, featuring Fred Dust

May 31, 2021 13:40 - 31 minutes - 16 MB

This week, Grant and Brooke talk about conversations, and how and why designing conversations and having conscious conversations can be game-changing for you in your life as an author, and your life in general. Guest Fred Dust, author of Making Conversation, shares anecdotes from his own publishing journey, and engages Brooke and Grant with some role play to support listeners to think about moments when you might face an opportunity to change a conversation's direction, or just generally desi...

Never Be Afraid To Start Over, featuring Nicole Glover

May 24, 2021 10:00 - 28 minutes - 14.8 MB

If you can’t imagine throwing what you write away, or god forbid, starting over, this episode lends insight into how that’s an important consideration at times—and how to be discerning about your work. Guest Nicole Glover offers some amazing tips for writers, generally, and also shares her process of cannibalizing her own work, which every writer should be doing, since you never know when something you wrote that had to go in the dump file might find a perfect place in some future story. A fu...

Creating Strong Female Characters, featuring Sue Monk Kidd

May 17, 2021 10:00 - 35 minutes - 18 MB

Tune in to listen to Sue Monk Kidd on writing—how she sees it and treats it both as prayer and as the hard work it invariably is. We touch upon Sue’s strong female characters, and her circles of women who show up in all her books. This is a wide-ranging conversation about wisdom and what we pay attention to, about writing fiction and memoir, and about how parts of Sue herself showed up in her latest protagonist, Anna, without Sue even realizing just how revealing she’d been.

How Displacement Drives Our Writing, featuring Carol Edgarian

May 10, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 16.2 MB

This week’s episode, beyond tackling the subject of displacement, touches upon the San Francisco Bay Area’s legacy—since that features so largely in guest Carol Edgarian’s new novel, Vera.

Writing About Place, featuring Hala Alyan

May 03, 2021 10:00 - 28 minutes - 14.8 MB

Whether you’re writing about where you’re from, or a place you know well, or a place you’ve researched in order to portray it in all its nuance on the page, place itself is often a character in fiction and creative writing. This week’s episode with Hala Alyan might inspire you to add more details of place to your work, or consider the role place has in your experience and understanding of the world. Place invites readers to journey to places they may know and love—or not. We hope you’re inspi...

Guests

Cory Doctorow
2 Episodes
Elizabeth Acevedo
1 Episode
Eve Ensler
1 Episode
James Scott Bell
1 Episode
Jane Smiley
1 Episode
Lisa See
1 Episode
Michelle Tea
1 Episode
M.J. Rose
1 Episode
Pico Iyer
1 Episode