Tag Archives: memoir

Podcast

St. Pat’s Day Special: Rue Matthiessen, CASTLES AND RUINS & Claire Coughlan, WHERE THEY LIE

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 St. Patrick’s Day about his personal history of modern Ireland, We Don’t Know Ourselves.


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 X/Twitter @WritersVoice.

Key Words: Rue Matthiessen, memoir, author interview, Claire Coughlan, Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day, , memoir, podcast, book podcast, author interview, Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon, mystery fiction, crime fiction, Peter Matthiessen

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Podcast

Amitav Ghosh, SMOKE AND ASHES & Manjula Martin, THE LAST FIRE SEASON

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 Ear.


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 X/Twitter @WritersVoice.

Key Words: Amitav Ghosh, history, opium trade, author interview, Manjula Martin, climate change, global warming, fire season, memoir, podcast, book podcast, author interview, Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon

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Podcast

Two Memoirs of Trauma: Martha Hodes, MY HIJACKING & Adam Bessie, GOING REMOTE

We talk with historian Martha Hodes about her memoir My Hijacking: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering. In 1970, she survived six days as a hostage on a hijacked plane when she was twelve years old.

Then, teacher Adam Bessie tells us about his take on how the pandemic has driven us apart—and what it will take to bring us together. His graphic pandemic memoir is Going Remote: A Teacher’s Journey. It’s illustrated by Peter Glanting.

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 @WritersVoice.

Read transcripts and subscribe at the Writer’s Voice Substack

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Key Words: hijacking, memoir, Covid 19, community college, Martha Hodes, Adam Bessie, writers voice, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, book excerpt
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Podcast

Ava Chin, MOTT STREET & Tanis Rideout, THE SEA BETWEEN TWO SHORES

Ava Chin tells us about her stunning family memoir/history of the Chinese Exclusion Act in America, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming.

Then we talk with Tanis Rideout about her new novel The Sea Between Two Shores. It’s about two families, one Canadian and one from an island in Vanuatu, who must deal with the legacy of colonialism in the South Pacific and the responsibilities they have to each other.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Tags: fiction, nonfiction, memoir, Chinese Exclusion Act, Vanuatu, Ava Chin, Tanis Rideout, writer’s voice, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, book excerpt, history

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Podcast

How To Save The Planet, Collectively & Individually: Stephen Markley, DELUGE, plus Peter Kalmus & Darr Reilly

How can we make the change we need to save our future?

I spent a lot of time studying how we as collective agents of history have helped foment enormous change and also how we have failed at it. That was another important element, to look at the revolutions that did not work. Because unlike basically every one of those revolutions, this is something we can’t miss on. We’re not going to get a do-over on this. It’s now or never.  — Stephen Markley

We talk with Stephen Markley about his acclaimed new novel about the climate crisis, The Deluge. It lays out the different paths that may be taken to changing the political will to tackle climate, the unintended consequences they lead to, and the twists and turns of political, ecological and individual fates that intertwine and react with each other.

Then we talk about what we can do in our own lives to protect our planet from climate disaster. We air excerpts from our interviews with Peter Kalmus (Being The Change) and Darr Reilly of Carbon C.R.E.W.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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How To Reckon With Patriarchy: V, RECKONING & Black History Month: DaMaris Hill, A BOUND WOMAN IS A DANGEROUS THING

We talk with V, formerly known as Eve Ensler about her collection of essays and poems, Reckoning.

Then in honor of Black History Month, we listen back to my 2019 interview with DaMaris Hill about her narrative in verse, A Bound Woman Is A Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration Of African-American Women From Harriet Tubman To Sandra Bland.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice.

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I sometimes wonder, is it harder to go through violence or to witness violence? Is it harder to see those that you love go through a terrible experience or to actually go through it yourself? I think sometimes they’re equally painful, but I think I’ve also had this incredible privilege and honor to travel this world and to sit with women across this planet who told me their stories, shared their deepest secrets with me, opened their hearts to me, so I could be part of the listening part of the receiving of those stories. And you know, at times it’s been very, very hard. But I also feel I’ve also been privy to those women transforming that pain into so much beauty, so much wisdom, gardens and healings and organizations and struggle that has grown into this massive global movement.
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Podcast

Elsa Sjunneson, BEING SEEN & Kathryn Nicolai, NOTHING MUCH HAPPENS

We talk with Elsa Sjunneson about life as a deaf-blind person and the rights every disabled person should have. Her book is Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism.

Later in the show we talk with podcaster and author Kathryn Nicolai about her book of stories for better sleep, Nothing Much Happens: Cozy & Calmng Stories to Soothe Your Mind & Help You Sleep. It’s based on her wildly successful podcast of the same name.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice. Find Francesca at mastodon.social/@FRheannon

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Kirk Wallace Johnson, THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAGON & Diane Wilson, AN UNREASONABLE WOMAN

We talk with Kirk Wallace Johnson about his book, The Fisherman And The Dragon: Fear, Greed, And A Fight For Justice On The Gulf Coast. It’s a gripping account of a small town set on fire by hatred, xenophobia, and ecological disaster—and the woman who fought to save it.

Then, our 2005 interview with that very woman. We re-air our interview with Diane Wilson about her book, An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Emi Nietfield, ACCEPTANCE & Anthony Horowitz, MAGPIE MURDERS

We talk with Emi Nietfield about her powerful memoir, Acceptance. It chronicles her struggles as a teenager and young adult to rise above the poverty and abuse she suffered as a child, despite a child protection system that was anything but protective of children.

Then, PBS’s show Mystery has just begun a new series, Magpie Murders. We re-air our 2017 conversation with Magpie Murders author Anthony Horowitz. He adapted the book for the TV series.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Bill McKibben, THE FLAG, THE CROSS and the STATION WAGON & Sarah Thankam Mathews, ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT

We talk with Bill McKibben about his terrific new book, The Flag, The Cross And The Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What The Hell Happened.

Then, a brilliant coming-of-age novel that treats the personal as political and vice versa. We talk with Sarah Thankam Mathews about All This Could Be Different.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Keri Blakinger, CORRECTIONS IN INK & Eve Karlin, TRACK 61

We talk with journalist Keri Blakinger about her powerful prison memoir, Corrections In Ink.

Then, Eve Karlin tells us about her historical novel Track 61. It’s about the invasion by a group of German saboteurs during World War II, who came ashore in Amagansett, Long Island.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Mary Pipher, A LIFE IN LIGHT & Anita Barrows, THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS

We talk to Mary Pipher about her new memoir, A Life In Light: Meditations On Impermanence.

And poet, therapist and translator Anita Barrows talks with us about her stunning debut novel, The Language of Birds.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

James Bridle, WAYS OF BEING & Sy Montgomery, THE HAWK’S WAY

Artist, technologist, and philosopher James Bridle tells us about his book, Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for A Planetary Intelligence.

Then we talk with Sy Montgomery (Soul of the Octopus) about her new book, a memoir of falconry, The Hawk’s Way.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Mark Vonnegut, THE HEART OF CARING & Oliver Milman on Biden’s Carbon Bomb

We talk with Mark Vonnegut about his memoir, THE HEART OF CARING: A Life In Pediatrics.

Then, environmental reporter Oliver Milman tells us about the shocking carbon bomb that President Biden is detonating with his record-breaking sales of oil and gas leases. Milman co-wrote a recent piece in the Guardian, “Us Fracking Boom Could Tip World To Edge Of Climate Disaster.”

And we hear a poem by Mary Oliver, “At The River Clarion.”

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

William deBuys, TRAIL TO KANJIROBA & James Rebanks, PASTORAL SONG

This week, two beautifully written memoirs that stir hope as we all confront the losses of our ecosystems in crisis.

First, we talk with William deBuys about The Trail To Kanjiroba: Rediscovering Earth in an Age of Loss. It’s about a medical expedition he went on to Upper Dolpo, a remote, ethnically Tibetan region of northwestern Nepal, and the pilgrimage it became.

Then, a moving memoir about ancient farming—and bringing it back. We talk with James Rebanks about his award-winning book, Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.
Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

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