Writer&#039;s Voice

Ben Passmore on Black Resistance & David Baron on the Martian Craze

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

In our first segment, comic artist Ben Passmore takes us on a time-bending, darkly funny journey through more than a century of Black resistance in his graphic history Black Arms to Hold You Up. It’s a story of struggle, rebellion, and what liberation really means when the fight never ends.

“We’re in a life-or-death struggle, and I think we need to accept that.” — Ben Passmore

Then, science journalist David Baron joins us to talk about The Martians — the true story of how turn-of-the-(last)-century America fell in love with the idea of life on Mars. From telescopes to tabloid headlines, Baron shows how our dreams of other worlds reveal who we really are.

“It was a time of great unrest… and so the idea that maybe Earth was clearly turning out not to be a very perfect place — and that maybe there was a better civilization on the planet next door — really captured the public’s imagination.” — David Baron

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Key Words: Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon, Ben Passmore, David Baron, Black Arms to Hold You Up, The Martians, graphic novels, civil rights, alien craze, Black resistance, Mars, Percival Lowell, H.G. Wells, podcast author interview,

You Might Also Like: Tamara Payne on Les Payne’s THE DEAD ARE ARISING, Aaron Robertson, THE BLACK UTOPIANS.

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Cory Doctorow on Big Tech’s “Enshittification” & Bill McKibben on Solar Hope for the Planet

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

This episode of Writer’s Voice features two leading voices confronting the defining challenges of the 21st century — corporate monopolization and climate breakdown.

Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification, reveals the hidden mechanics behind the digital decay of our online platforms — how they move from serving users to exploiting them, and what systemic reforms, from antitrust enforcement to tech worker unions, can reverse the trend.
Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes The Sun, shares an unexpectedly hopeful vision for the climate movement, documenting how plummeting solar and wind costs are reshaping economies worldwide and creating a moral turning point for civilization itself.

Together, these conversations show that both the digital and planetary crises share a root cause — the concentration of power — and that the path forward lies in collective action, technological democratization, and the reclaiming of our common future.

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Key Words: Cory Doctorow, enshittification, Big Tech, Amazon, Google, Facebook, antitrust, AI bubble, Electronic Frontier Foundation, EFA, digital rights, surveillance capitalism, Bill McKibben, Here Comes The Sun, climate change, renewable energy, solar power, wind energy, batteries, climate justice, energy transition, balcony solar, climate hope

You Might Also Like: Bill McKibben, OIL AND HONEY, Cory Doctorow, PICKS AND SHOVELS

Edward Wong on China’s Imperial Past and Present: AT THE EDGE OF EMPIRE

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we talk with Edward Wong, diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times and former Beijing bureau chief, about his new book At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China.

Part memoir, part history, and part frontline reporting, the book traces Wong’s journey to uncover his father’s hidden past in Mao’s China, his family’s divided loyalties between Communist and American ideals, and what those personal histories reveal about China’s trajectory under Xi Jinping.

“I realized that much of my father’s experiences living in China under Mao sort of set the stage for the rule of the Communist Party later in the years I was witnessing it.” — Edward Wong

From the trauma of revolution and famine to the nationalism driving China’s global ambitions today, Wong shows us the direct line between Mao’s authoritarian rule and the tightening grip of Xi’s regime.

And he asks a question that resonates far beyond China: what does this story tell us about the dangers of authoritarianism in our own time?

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Key Words: Edward Wong interview, At the Edge of Empire, Mao Zedong, Xi Jinping, Chinese authoritarianism, Uyghurs, Tibet, state capitalism, Chinese history, climate policy China, modern China politics, Chinese empire, Writer’s Voice podcast

You Might Also Like: Michael Klare on the Pentagon, China and Climate, Tessa Hulls, FEEDING GHOSTS

Lives on the Margin: Evanthia Bromiley’s CROWN and Judy Karofsky’s DISELDERLY CONDUCT

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we hear from two authors illuminating the human cost of broken systems — one through fiction, the other through investigative memoir.

In the first half of the show, we speak with Evanthia Bromiley about her haunting and lyrical debut novel Crown. It follows three days in the life of a single mother and her nine-year-old twins as they face eviction in the scorching landscape of the American Southwest — a meditation on poverty, love, and resilience in a society that too often looks away.

“Everything here finds a way to grow through what is broken.” — Evanthia Bromiley

Then, in the second half, we turn from fiction to fact with Judy Karofsky , whose book DisElderly Conduct: The Flawed Business of Assisted Living and Hospice exposes how an unregulated eldercare industry is failing our most vulnerable — the elderly and their families. She shares her own story of trying to find adequate care for her own mother as the latter entered her final years.

“Civilizations are judged by how we take care of the elderly. And right now, we are not doing a good job.” — Judy Karofsky

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Key Words: Evanthia Bromiley Crown, Judy Karovsky Diselderly Conduct, Writer’s Voice podcast, Francesca Rheannon interviews, fiction about poverty, homelessness in literature, assisted living crisis, hospice industry corruption, eldercare reform, private equity in healthcare

You Might Also Like: Fighting Ageism, Caring For Elders

Ross Halperin on BEAR WITNESS: Fighting Gang Violence & Restoring Justice in A Violent Land

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Today, a gripping story of courage, faith, and friendship in one of the most dangerous countries on Earth. Ross Halperin joins us to talk about his extraordinary book Bear Witness: The Pursuit of Justice in a Violent Land. It’s the true story of two men — an American missionary and a Honduran teacher — who took on the gangs, corruption, and impunity that plague Honduras, one of the most violent nations in the world. Together, they built a radical experiment in justice that dared to succeed where governments failed.

“They didn’t want to be hypocrites. They didn’t want to be like these other gringos that come down here and live behind gates and have drivers and security guards. They wanted to live with and like the people they wanted to help.” — Ross Halperin

Then, we air a clip from our 2023 interview with Jeff Sharlet about his book The Undertow, which examines the spread of rightwing ideology among the masses and the new fascist movement it’s spurred.

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Key Words: Ross Halperin, Bear Witness, Kurt Ver Beek, Carlos Hernández, Association for a More Just Society, ASJ, Honduras violence, gang violence, U.S. drug policy, narco-trafficking, Jeff Sharlet, Christian nationalism, rightwing extremism

You Might Also Like: Talking the Trumpocene with Jeff Sharlet, Lauren Markham, The Far Away Brothers

Reality Winner on I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY: The Intercept’s Betrayal, Trump’s Double Standard, and the Egregious Espionage Act

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Today, a remarkable conversation with Reality Winner, the NSA whistleblower who leaked proof of Russian interference in the 2016 election and paid for it with the harshest sentence ever imposed under the Espionage Act.

Reality Winner’s new memoir, I Am Not Your Enemy, tells the story of what led her to leak the document, the fallout from her arrest, and what her arrest tells us about our military-industrial complex — and our eroding democracy.

“Depending on where you are on the totem pole will determine how you fare once charged with a crime — or if you’re even charged with a crime in the first place.”

She speaks about how her punishment compared with the leniency shown to elites like Donald Trump and David Petraeus, and why the Espionage Act is uniquely unjust. Plus — an explosive revelation about why Winner believes The Intercept deliberately exposed her as their source.

“Everything that happened to me following the sending of the document to The Intercept was by design.”

We spend the hour with Reality Winner in a deeply revealing conversation you don’t want to miss.

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Key Words: Reality Winner, I Am Not Your Enemy, NSA whistleblower, The Intercept, Espionage Act, Russian election interference, whistleblower prosecution, Donald Trump classified documents, national security leaks, government secrecy

You Might Also Like: Daniel Ellsberg, THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE, James Risen, PAY ANY PRICE

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SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE & BURNED BY BILLIONAIRES: Michael Mann and Chuck Collins on Defending Truth and Democracy

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Today, we look at two urgent threats to our world: the assault on science and the concentration of wealth.

First, climate scientist Michael E. Mann talks about the book he co-authored with infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Hotez, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World. It’s a guide to defending truth, evidence, and reason against disinformation and attacks on science.

“If we lose our ability to have shared facts, we lose our ability to have democracy.” — Michael Mann

Then, author and inequality scholar Chuck Collins joins us to discuss his book Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet. He reveals how a handful of billionaires manipulate markets, politics, and culture — and what we can do to fight back.

“Extreme wealth is destabilizing our democracy.” — Chuck Collins

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Key Words: Michael Mann, Peter Hotez, Science Under Siege, disinformation, threats to democracy, attacks on science, climate denial, vaccine denial, Chuck Collins, Burned by Billionaires, wealth inequality, billionaire class, oligarchy, democracy under threat, economic justice, concentrated wealth

You Might Also Like: Michael Mann, THE NEW CLIMATE WAR, Chuck Collins, ALTAR TO AN ERUPTING SUN

HOW TO SAVE THE AMAZON & ARCTIC PASSAGES: Andrew Fishman on Dom Phillips’ Legacy & Kieran Mulvaney on Climate and Power in the Far North

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

This week on Writer’s Voice, two stories from the planet’s frontlines: the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic ice. Two urgent stories from Earth’s frontlines — and why they matter for us all.

Journalist Andrew Fishman joins us to talk about completing the last book by Dom Phillips, How To Save The Amazon: A Journalist’s Deadly Quest for Answers. Phillips was murdered in 2022 for reporting on the destruction of the rainforest — and this book is his legacy.

“Dom’s idea was to answer the question: what do we need to do to save the Amazon?” — Andrew Fishman

Then we head north with writer Kieran Mulvaney. His book Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World uncovers how centuries of ambition and today’s climate crisis are colliding in the Arctic.

“[The Arctic] is both a frontline of climate change and a frontline of geopolitics.” — Kieran Mulvaney

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Key Words: Andrew Fishman, Dom Phillips, How To Save The Amazon, Amazon rainforest, deforestation, Indigenous rights, environmental journalism, climate change, Kieran Mulvaney, Arctic Passages, Arctic exploration, climate crisis, polar regions, environmental justice.

You might also like: Rowan Jacobsen, WILD CHOCOLATE, Sherri Goodman, THREAT MULTIPLIER

HOLY GROUND & A YEAR OF COMPASSION: Catherine Coleman Flowers and Colleen Patrick-Goudreau on Justice, Hope, and Living Kindly

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

This episode of Writer’s Voice explores two inspiring approaches to building a more just and compassionate world. It’s part of September’s WV programming in honor of Climate Week. Two nationwide mobilizations are happening for Climate Week: Make Billionaires Pay and Sun Day.

First, environmental activist Catherine Coleman Flowers tells us about her new memoir Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, And Finding Hope. She shares her journey from Lowndes County, Alabama to the national stage, her deep roots in faith and family, and her fight for sanitation justice, climate action, and dignity for all.

“In the darkest of times, hope is still possible. Indeed, it is essential.” — Catherine Coleman Flowers

Then, vegan advocate Colleen Patrick-Goudreau joins us to talk about her book A Year of Compassion: 52 Weeks of Living Zero-Waste, Plant-Based, and Cruelty-Free. She offers practical steps to live with compassion for animals, people, and the planet—showing that small changes add up to big impacts.

“We don’t get to choose whether we can make a difference or not. We get to choose only if the difference we make is negative or positive.” — Colleen Patrick Goudreau

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Key Words: Catherine Coleman Flowers Holy Ground, environmental justice, sanitation justice, climate change activism, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau A Year of Compassion, plant-based living, vegan lifestyle tips, zero waste, plastic reduction, food waste composting,

You might also like: Naomi Klein: Climate Changes Everything, Melanie Joy, WHY WE LOVE DOGS, EAT PIGS, AND WEAR COWS

Dickens the Enchanter & Plato and the Tyrant: Peter Conrad and James Romm on Imagination, Power, and Authoritarianism

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we explore the lives and legacies of two giants—Charles Dickens and Plato—through the eyes of authors who reveal new dimensions of their work.

Cultural historian Peter Conrad tells us about his biography, Dickens the Enchanter: Dickens didn’t just depict Victorian society—he conjured an entire imaginative universe he called “Planet Dick.” Conrad examines Dickens as an enchanter, social critic, and visionary.

“What he was creating was not some sort of mirror or model of a world that already existed as other 19th century novelists were doing…He was creating an autonomous world, a world of his own, almost a science fiction world.” — Peter Conrad

Then, historian James Romm joins us to talk about Plato and the Tyrant. He shows how Plato’s philosophy wasn’t just abstract theory—it was shaped by his fraught entanglement with tyrants in ancient Syracuse. Romm uncovers how those experiences influenced The Republic and still echo in our contemporary struggles with democracy and authoritarianism.

“My students at Bard saw the dark side of the Republic, its authoritarianism, its interest in censorship, thought control, regulation of private life on a scale that I’ve compared in my book to that of modern North Korea.” — James Romm

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Key Words:

Peter Conrad Dickens the Enchanter, Charles Dickens biography, Dickens Planet Dick, James Romm Plato and the Tyrant, Plato Republic, philosopher king, Syracuse Dionysius, democracy vs autocracy, Writer’s Voice Francesca Rheannon

You might also like: James Romm, THE SACRED BAND, James Romm, DYING EVERY DAY

Breaking Barriers in the Wild: Bridget Crocker on RIVER’S DAUGHTER & Cassidy Randall on THIRTY BELOW

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

This episode of Writer’s Voice brings you two powerful stories of women adventurers who forged their paths in male-dominated outdoor sports.

Bridget Crocker’s memoir River’s Daughter is a story of trauma and healing, rooted in her lifelong connection to rivers. From childhood brushes with death to breaking into the male-dominated world of river guiding, Crocker explores recovering from childhood trauma, sexism in adventure culture, and the lessons rivers teach.

“I realized that it was the river who had told me to swim and had saved our lives.” — Bridget Crocker

Cassidy Randall’s Thirty Below recounts the groundbreaking 1970 first all-women’s ascent of Denali. Against life-threatening conditions and entrenched sexism, six women mountaineers made history—and challenged ideas about who belongs in extreme adventure. We revisit our March 2025 conversation with an excerpt from the interview.

“Not an easy mountain to climb.” — Cassidy Randall

Together, these stories highlight resilience, courage, and the fight to carve out space for women in arenas long dominated by men.

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You can support our show and the others you listen to by contributing through Lenny.fm. Your support helps us bring you more of the episodes, like this one, that you look forward to. Thanks for being a vital part of our community!

Key Words: Bridget Crocker River’s Daughter, women river guides, sexism in adventure sports, Cassidy Randall Thirty Below, women mountaineers, 1970 Denali all-women ascent, breaking barriers women adventurers, Writer’s Voice Francesca Rheannon

You might also like: Cassidy Randall (full interview), Elizabeth Flock, THE FURIES

Covid Wars & How to Submit: Ronald Gruner on Pandemic Lessons + Dennis Sweeney on Getting Published

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, two authors offer vital insights—one about surviving a global pandemic, and the other about surviving the publishing process.

Ronald Gruner discusses Covid Wars, his in-depth exploration of how the pandemic reshaped politics, public health, and society. He reflects on the successes and failures of the U.S. response, the role of science and misinformation, and the lasting implications for democracy.

“Other countries did better because they trusted their governments and their governments trusted them.” — Ronald Gruner

Dennis Sweeney talks about How to Submit, a practical handbook for writers trying to get their work published in literary magazines and small presses. Drawing on his own experience as a poet and editor, Sweeney breaks down the submissions process, rejection, community-building, and sustaining motivation as a writer.

“Rejections are not failures. They’re steps in the process.” — Dennis Sweeney

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Key Words:

Covid Wars Ronald Gruner, COVID-19 lessons, pandemic politics, misinformation and science, pandemic preparation, U.S. pandemic response, How to Submit Dennis Sweeney, getting published, literary magazine submissions, small press publishing,

You Might Also Like: Eric Klinenberg, 2020: The Year Everything Changed, CRISIS AVERTED: Caitlin Rivers on the Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers on MISBEHAVING AT THE CROSSROADS & Catherine Coleman Flowers on Environmental Justice

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

Award-winning author Honorée Fanonne Jeffers joins Writer’s Voice to talk about her bold and beautiful nonfiction debut, Misbehaving at the Crossroads—a matrilineal memoir braided with African American history, intersectional feminism, and unflinching truth-telling.

“The crossroads represents… a place where trouble meets possibility or hope.” — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Plus, a sneak preview of our upcoming conversation with Catherine Coleman Flowers, environmental justice champion and author of Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice and Finding Hope.

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Key Words: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Misbehaving at the Crossroads book, intersectionality, Black women’s memoir, Writer’s Voice podcast, Francesca Rheannon author interview, Catherine Coleman Flowers Holy Ground, environmental justice activism

You Might Also Like: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DuBOIS, Corban Addison WASTELANDS

David Bollier on Why The Commons Could Save Us

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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

This week on Writer’s Voice, we speak with David Bollier about the newly updated edition of his influential book Think Like a Commoner: A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons. Bollier argues that commons are neither relics of the past nor utopian fantasies—they are living, adaptive systems that help people meet needs through cooperation rather than competition.

“A commons is a living collective social organism for getting stuff done.” — David Bollier

We discuss why the commons movement is growing worldwide, how it provides a survival strategy amid climate breakdown and political turmoil, and the practical ways communities are creating commons today—from urban housing and childcare networks to open-source software and local currencies. Bollier also shares how thinking like a commoner challenges deeply held assumptions about property, law, and power—and why storytelling and culture are key to this transformation.

Then we re-air a short clip from our March interview with Omar El Akkad, author of One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. It’s an urgent and unflinching critique of the failures of mainstream liberalism — especially as seen from the genocide Israel is inflicting on Gaza.

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Key Words: David Bollier, Think Like a Commoner, commons movement, mutual aid networks, urban commons, degrowth, cooperative economies, Schumacher Center, cosmo-local production, community resilience, climate and commons, Gaza war and U.S. complicity, Gaza genocide, One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

You Might Also Like: Full Interview with Omar El Akkad, more WV interviews with David Bollier