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Child psychiatrist Nancy Rappaport talks about how parents can lessen the impact of divorce and custody decisions on their children.
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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
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Author Isabel Allende talks about her new novel, ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA. It tells the story of a remarkable woman, the slave TÁ©tÁ©, during the Haitian revolution against French rule. And we talk with Dr. Derva Davis about her book THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR ON CANCER. It’s about environmental causes of cancer and industry and government cover-ups of the issue. A presidential panel has just come out with a new report about it. Continue reading
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Sadie Jones talks about her new novel, SMALL WARS. Set in war torn Cyprus in 1956, it tells the story of a young British solider, and the effects of that war on him, his wife and their family. And we hear from Fernanda Eberstadt about her acclaimed new novel RAT. It’s about a girl of extraordinary courage who travels from a hardscrabble region of France to London in search of her father. Continue reading
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Writers Voice host Francesca Rheannon recorded Jon Anderson reading Richard Wilbur‘s “Hand Dance” at a poetry event to support the children of Gaza in March, 2010. The poem is unpublished and, until this reading, had never been read publicly.
Listen to the full show when Jon Anderson reads his poem “Chimeras”.
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[amazon-product align=”right”]0471679275[/amazon-product]David Bollier spoke with Francesca Rheannon and co-host Daisy Mathias in 2005 about his book BRAND NAME BULLIES: The Quest To Own And Control Culture.
Bollier talks about how copyright law is out of control, how it got that way, and what that means.
And listen to Francesca interview David Bollier about his latest book, VIRAL SPIRAL. It’s about how the Internet is building a new digital republic.
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Host Francesca Rheannon talks with David Bollier about his latest book, VIRAL SPIRAL. It’s about how the Internet is building a new digital republic. And Cory Doctorow tells us about his science fiction novel, MAKERS. It imagines the birth pangs of a new remix culture. Continue reading
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Host Francesca Rheannon talks with author and climate activist Bill McKibben about his new book, EAARTH. It’s about adapting to a planet already transformed by global warming. Then James Hoggan exposes the lies of the climate denial industry — and who’s behind them. And we air a clip from an archived interview with George Monbiot, author of HEAT.
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Poet Diane Gilliam Fisher talks about her book, KETTLE BOTTOM. It’s about the Mine Wars of the 1920’s and the people who fought them. And we talk with Ted Nace about the movement to stop new coal plants from being built. His book is CLIMATE HOPE: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal.
The Massey Energy Company mine disaster in West Virginia is but the latest in a long and bitter history of the exploitation of the people and the land of Appalachia’s coal country. The other side of that story is how the miners fought back to win better wages and working conditions by organizing the UMWU.
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Looking at the Upper Big Branch mine, one fact stands out for those who know enough about how important that union history is. The mine was non-union. Far more coal mine fatalities happen in non-union mines than those where the workers are unionized.
Poet Diane Gilliam Fisher’s 2004 book KETTLE BOTTOM uses verse to tell the story of the West Virginia Mine Wars of 1920—21. That’s when the United Mine Workers union went up against the coal operators and their hired thugs. Many people died — mostly miners — and President Harding sent in troops to quell the rebellion. The southern coal fields didn’t win union recognition until 1933.
KETTLE BOTTOM won the 2004 Perigia Press Award, and was listed in the 2005 top ten list for poetry by the American Booksellers Association. In addition to KETTLE BOTTOM, Fisher is also the author of ONE OF EVERYTHING and RECIPE FOR BLACKBERRY CAKE. Writers Voice spoke to her in 2004.
Read Diane Gilliam Fisher’s poem Explosion at Winco No. 9.
Coal is most carbon intense fuel, according to climate scientist James Hansen. With climate chaos happening at a faster pace than even the most pessimistic scientists predicted, many are saying we should just leave the coal in the hole.
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Ted Nace is one of them. His new book, CLIMATE HOPE: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal, tells the remarkable story of the movement to stop the building of any new coal power plants in the US. In just 2 years, between 2007 and 2009, it managed to stop plans nearly a hundred coal plants from being built, out of 151 proposed. The loosely organized grass roots movement brought a burgeoning coal boom largely to a halt.
Ted Nace is the founder of CoalSwarm, a web based wiki that currently has over 2,000 articles and has become an online hub for the anti coal movement.
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This is an archived show this week, originally aired on May 21, 2009. Gail Hornstein talks about AGNES’ JACKET: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness. Read the original post here.
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Patient advocate and author Patrick Malone talks about his book, The Life You Save: Nine Steps to Finding the Best Medical Care-and Avoiding the Worst. It’s about how to keep from being a victim of medical errors. We’ll also talk with novelist Lionel Shriver about her new novel, SO MUCH FOR THAT. It’s about health insurance gone very wrong. And Martin Espada, Richard Wilbur and other poets read at a benefit for the children of Gaza. Continue reading
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Journalist Ann Jones talks about Afghani women, the war in Afghanistan, and whether life is any better for its people since the US invaded their country. Continue reading
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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
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In the spring of last year, Christian McEwen interviewed the poet, Marianne Boruch when she came to Smith College for its poetry reading series. Boruch is the author of seven volumes of poetry, as well as two volumes of prose. She was born in Chicago, grew up in a Polish Catholic family, and was already writing poems by the time she was in high school. Her work is strongly influenced by her Catholic childhood, as well as by her love of nature, and her interest in dreams. “I think we get into a dream state when we are writing,” she says. “We drop down under the surface and connect with that other realm.”
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“I’d like to say I’m of the begging bowl theory of poetry. You put out your begging bowl and see what drops into it. I really don’t want to know where the poem is going. And of course revision is a great thing. You get a draft and start tinkering and find out where it really wants to go.”
Boruch currently teaches in Purdue University’s MFA program, and through the non-residential program for writers at Warren Wilson College. Her most recent book is [amazon-product text=”GRACE, FALLEN FROM” type=”text”]0819569534[/amazon-product].
This interview is part of a series of interviews of poets Christian McEwen is doing, called Sparks from the Anvil. Writers Voice is hosting several of the interviews. Sparks from the Anvil features poets who appear at Smith College’s poetry reading series.
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Marijuana policy activist Mason Tvert talks with host Francesca Rheannon about the book he co-wrote, MARIJUANA IS SAFER: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? It says marijuana should be treated legally no different than alcohol. And Peter Vickery tells us about his historical thriller, MADISON HOPPER AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN BLOOD BROTHERHOOD. It’s the first in a mystery series about the struggle for civil rights in the early years of the 20th century. Continue reading