Anthony Chin-Quee, author of “I Can’t Save You"

Brian O'Hare on his debut story collection, "Surrender": A former U.S. Marine Corps officer and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Brian O'Hare's debut story collection Surrender brings war to life. These 17 interconnected stories explore manhood through the lens of fatherhood, football culture, the military, war, and more. Brian joins Marrie Stone to talk about the art, craft, and business of fiction. He shares how training as an actor influenced his writing, the "architects and gardeners" in fiction, the importance of writing contests and creating a niche for yourself, how to market your work and so much more. For more information on "Writers on Writing" and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

67 min listen

Melissa Chadburn, author of “A Tiny Upward Shove”: Melissa Chadburn’s debut novel, A Tiny Upward Shove, is part serial killer thriller, part magical realism folklore, part love story, part coming of age story, and fully riveting. Its narrator is an aswang—otherwise known as a Philippine shapeshifter, a ghoul, a spinstress, a vampire, a soul-sucker with a proboscis. Over a decade in the making, Chadburn’s novel contains beautifully unique prose and haunting imagery. She joins Marrie to talk about it. Along the way, they talk about how Chadburn struggled with structure, and how real-life serial killer William Pickton provided it. They talk about the different shapes novels can take, including Jane Allison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode and Ursula Le Guin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. They talk about the power of lists in fiction, how to engage in the writerly art of witnessing, and Lynda Barry’s What It Is. They discuss writing sex and violence, including the best advice Chadburn rece by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

62 min listen

Kelly Link on her latest collection, “White Cat, Black Dog”: Kelly Link is the author of four previous story collections including Get in Trouble, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (a link to her interview with Marrie about that book can be found here). Her short stories have been widely published in literary magazines including The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow and has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She’s also the co-founder of Small Beer Press and co-edits the occasional zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. Kelly joins Marrie to talk about her latest collection, White Cat, Black Dog, out later this month and published by Random House. They talk about the role of fairy tales, Scottish ballads, and 17th century French lore in her work. Kelly walks through the evolution of several stories, the ways some of them surprised her, and how her illustrator was able to communicate somet by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

59 min listen

Novelists Erica Ferencik & Aaron Phillip Clark: Erica Ferencik, author of Girl in Ice, and Aaron Phillip Clark, author of Blue like Me, join me at Sisters in Crime Orange County to talk about their new novels as well as the art, craft, and business of writing. If you’d like to watch the panel we did on Zoom, visit YouTube. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website. (Recorded in November 2022) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettCo-Host: Marrie StoneMusic and sound design: Travis Barrett by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

62 min listen

Legal Thriller Novelist Scott Turow, author of “Suspect”: Scott Turow, author of Suspect, talks with Marrie Stone about his new novel, creating enduring characters, writing from the first person POV of a young, bisexual female, creating compelling settings, and so much more. Scott will appear at the Miami Book Fair on Saturday, November 19 in conversation with Craig Johnson and Brad Meltzer. The Miami Book Fair is the nation's largest gathering of writers and readers of all ages. It takes place Sunday, November 13 through Sunday, November 20. Please visit www.miamibookfair.com. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page (www.patreon.com/writersonwriting). To listen to past interviews, visit our website (www.writers-on-writing.com). (Recorded in November 2022) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Co-Host: Marrie Stone Music and sound design: Travis Barrett by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

54 min listen

Sarah Manguso, author of “Very Cold People”: Sarah Manguso is an essayist, memoirist, and now a novelist. She’s written eight books, including 300 Arguments and Ongoingness (links to interviews regarding those books can be found in our archives). Very Cold People is her debut novel. It’s an Amazon Editors’ Pick, a National Indie Bestseller, A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and was named a best book of the year by numerous publications. Manguso joins Marrie Stone to talk about her decision to write a novel. She discusses setting a book in her childhood town and creating a sense of place and atmosphere. She talks about writing violence as background instead of foreground, as well as writing about shame, class, mothering, and writing about large concepts in intimate and specific ways. Manguso comes to the podcast from the Miami Book Fair. For more information, visit their website here. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon pa by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

59 min listen

Celeste Ng, Our Missing Hearts: Novelist Celeste Ng, author of Our Missing Hearts and Barbara DeMarco-Barrett discuss her latest novel (NYT review, 10/2/22). They talk about world building, developing characters, reading for writers, and much more.  Celeste Ng is the author of three novels, Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere, and Our Missing Hearts. Celeste grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She graduated from Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan).  Her fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, and many other publications, and she is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors. Download audio.   (Recorded on 9/23/2022)  Music and sound design by Travis Barrett  We are now on Patreon! by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

20 min listen

Literary Agent Lori Galvin on finding the right agent: Literary agent Lori Galvin of Aevitas Creative Management represents both adult fiction (especially women's fiction and crime fiction) and non-fiction (memoir, food writing, and cookbooks). A few of her clients include Hannah Kirshner's Water, Wood, and Wild Things (Viking '21), Cambria Brockman's Tell Me Everything (Ballantine '19), and Wanda M. Morris's All Her Little Secrets (Morrow '21). Some projects have been optioned by A24 and Netflix. Galvin joins Marrie to talk about changes in the publishing industry, what she looks for in effective query letters, the importance of the first five pages, the dos and don'ts of finding an agent, what you can do to improve your chances of finding a good match with an agent, and so much more.  If you find this or other interviews useful, consider supporting the show on Patreon.    Download audio.   (Recorded on September 21, 2022) Music and sound design by Travis by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

20 min listen

Paul Bradley Carr, 1414 Degrees: Paul Bradley Carr, author of the new novel 1414 Degrees, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his new novel, writing in multiple POVs, the crossover from nonfiction to fiction, opening a bookstore, and so much more. by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

50 min listen

Azar Nafisi, author of Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times: When Reading Lolita in Tehran was published 20 years ago, Azar Nafisi had only lived in the United States for six years. Since then, she has watched the subtle and not-so-subtle signs of totalitarianism take root in America. Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times is Nafisi’s latest book. It’s an epistolary piece written to her father about the writers who Nafisi believe inform what our country, and world, are facing. From Plato to Baldwin, Atwood to Coates, Nafisi draws parallels between the treatment of women in Iran and the treatment of African Americans in the U.S. Since its release last March, the book has grown only more relevant with the Dobbs decision, the attack on Rushdie, the rising protests in her home country of Iran. Nafisi joins Marrie Stone to talk about her decision to write this book. She discusses why governments are so threatened by writers, by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

62 min listen

Liska Jacobs, author of The Pink Hotel: Novelist Liska Jacobs, author of The Pink Hotel (FSG), talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about influences, first drafts, bloglines, synopses, and the art, craft, and business of writing.Liska Jacobs is also author of Catalina and The Worst Kind of Worst. She holds an MFA from the University of California, Riverside. Her essays and fiction have appears in The Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Hub, the Millions, and The Hairpin, among other publications. The Pink Hotel is her third novel. Download audio.  (Recorded on September 27, 2022) Music and sound design by Travis Barrett Visit our Patreon page to become a supporter here. There are perks! Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.barbarademarcobarrett.com Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

20 min listen

George Saunders on his latest collection, "Liberation Day": George Saunders joins Marrie to talk about his latest collection of stories (and first collection since Tenth of December in 2013). The nine stories in Liberation Day contain his signature humor and compassion, broken characters and strange landscapes. Time Magazine calls Saunders "the best short-story writer in English." He spends the hour sharing a bit of his process.In addition to breaking down several of these stories and sharing their backstory and inspiration, Saunders talks about using the whole page, including elegant line and word spacing techniques, to render syntax and dialect for his characters. He discusses how his engineering background helps him as a writer, how to trust your intuition, and so much more. If you find this or other interviews useful, consider supporting the show on Patreon.   Download audio. (Recorded on October 3, 2022) Music and sound design by Travis Barrett Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: w by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

20 min listen

Dani Shapiro, author of “Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life”: In 2013, novelist and memoirist Dani Shapiro published her craft/memoir Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life. This year, the book celebrates its 10th anniversary with a re-release and new forward. Dani joined Marrie Stone in 2013 to talk about it (their interview can be found here), and joins her again to revisit it. They talk about that intervening decade and what’s happened in Dani’s life and career since the book’s first publication. Dani discusses what aspects of Still Writing are truer today than before, how her thinking has evolved around issues such as dealing with distractions, self-sabotage, writerly authority, memoirs versus novels, and much more. (In the interview, she recommends an essay by Alexander Chee that can be found here.) Dani uses her own experiences across her many novels and memoirs to shed light on the writing process, its many hardships, and great gratifi by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

65 min listen

Kenan Orhan, author of the collection “I Am My Country”: Kenan Orhan’s fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, The Paris Review, The Common, Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Best American Short Stories. His story collection, I Am My Country and Other Stories, is published by Random House. Kenan teaches literature and creative writing at the Kansas City Art Institute and lives in Kansas. He joins Marrie Stone to talk about the collection, his relationship with Turkey, how his approach to the short story form has changed over times, how his stories exemplify and depart from the Joy Williams’ rules of short stories, and much more. Kenan also talks about finding his agent and his path to publication. A reminder that April is the one-year anniversary of our Patreon page, and 2023 is the 25th anniversary of the show. We're winding down the month, but still offering some additional perks and incentives through the end of April. by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

61 min listen

Danya Kukafka, author of NOTES ON AN EXECUTION: Danya Kukafka is the author of the nationally bestselling novels Notes on an Execution and Girl in Snow. Her books have been reviewed favorably in outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and have been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide. Notes on an Execution recently won the Edgar Award for Best Novel, and is currently in development as a feature film. Danya works as a literary agent with Trellis Literary Management. Danya joined Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about using a time lock, keeping a process journal, point of view, how being an agent affects her own writing, genres and categories, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website. (Recorded on May 26, 2023) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Co-Host: Marrie Stone Music and sound design: Travis Barrett by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

41 min listen

Jordan Harper, author of EVERYBODY KNOWS: Jordan Harper, the Edgar-Award winning author of She Rides Shotgun and Love and Other Wounds, has been an ad man, a rock critic, and a writer and producer for television. He was born and raised in Missouri and now lives in Los Angeles. His new novel is Everybody Knows. On the show we talked about his path to crime fiction, the Los Angeles setting, beginning and ending, and renting a room at the famed Chateau Marmont to write the first chapter. This interview was done on Zoom on Sunday, Feb 26, 2023 for Sisters in Crime Orange County. If you’d prefer watching, Barbara’s YouTube channel (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett) or Sisters in Crime Orange County. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit the show’s Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website. (Recorded on February 26, 2023, for Sisters in Crime Orange County.) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettCo-Host: Marrie StoneMusic and sound design: Travis Ba by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

54 min listen

Literary agent Jennie Dunham: Jennie Dunham has been a literary agent in New York, New York since May 1992. In August 2000 she founded Dunham Literary, Inc. She represents literary fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. Her clients have had both critical and commercial success. Books she has represented have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller lists and her clients have won numerous awards including: New York Times Best Illustrated Book, The Schneider Family Award, Boston Globe Horn Book Honor, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist. She has been a member of AALA (American Association of Literary Agents, formerly AAR) since 1993. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Anthropology and .has a master's degree in Social Work from New York University (although now she only practices with characters on the page).For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

38 min listen

Dennis Palumbo, author of Writing from the Inside Out & the Daniel Rinaldi mystery series: Formerly a Hollywood screenwriter (My Favorite Year, Welcome Back, Kotter), Dennis Palumbo is a licensed psychotherapist whose work with creative people has been featured on CNN, NPR, and in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He’s also the author of the popular nonfiction book, Writing From The Inside Out. His mystery fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Strand, and is collected in From Crime to Crime. His series of award-winning mystery thrillers (the latest of which is Panic Attack) feature Daniel Rinaldi, a psychologist and trauma expert who consults with the Pittsburgh Police. Recently, Dennis served as consulting producer on the Hulu TV series The Patient. Dennis joins Barbara Demarco-Barrett to talk about the why writers procrastinate, self-worth, the habit of endlessly revising, finding time to write, the writers strike, and writers’ worries. For more info by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

60 min listen

Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, editor of “Our Red Book”: Menstruation is a strangely taboo topic in our culture. Back in the 1970s and 80s, teenagers read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and Our Bodies, Ourselves under their covers with a flashlight. Girls were largely left to figure things out for themselves or confide in each other in their quest to discover what was normal. After hearing a harrowing coming-of-age story from her great aunt, Rachel Kauder Nalebuff started gathering stories about menstruation in her family that had never been told. What began as an oral history project quickly snowballed. Our Red Book (Simon & Schuster, 2022) takes us through stories of first periods, last periods, missing periods, and everything about bleeding that people wish they had been told. Rachel joins Marrie Stone to talk about publishing her first anthology (My Little Red Book, 2009) when she was a college freshman and how a high school English teacher gave her the confidence of her convictions by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

57 min listen

Memoirist Kim Foster, author of The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City: Kim Foster is the author of the memoir The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City. Kim is a James Beard Award-winning food writer who writes about people at the intersection of food and mental illness, family separation, poverty, addiction, trauma, and incarceration. You can read her work on her weekly newsletter on Substack and find her on Instagram. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband, David, their four kids, and many animals. Kim joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to discuss hybrid publishing, surprises in writing her memoir, when she knew this would be a book, writing about food that isn’t pretty, learning to never write anyone off, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website. We’re also excited to announce the opening of our new bookstore on bookshop.org. We’ve s by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

61 min listen

Maggie Ginsberg, author of Still True: Maggie Ginsberg, author of the new novel Still True, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about her debut novel, writing in multiple POVs, the crossover from nonfiction to fiction, and so much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website. (Recorded in November 2022) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettCo-Host: Marrie StoneMusic and sound design: Travis Barrett by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

61 min listen

Lisa Cupolo, author of Have Mercy on Us: The youngest of six children, Lisa Cupolo grew up in the Honeymoon Capital of the World: Niagara Falls, Canada. At thirteen, she was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and spent much of her teens and twenties battling illness. She has spoken about how this trial was actually one of the blessings of her life, because it led her to writing. She learned to escape, creating stories when reality got difficult, and she imagined herself living the lives of her characters, and in the real world, she became an observer. Always a spiritual seeker, Lisa has a BA in philosophy from The University of Western Ontario. In her second year, her single mother put a second mortgage on their suburban home so Lisa could study in Nice, France. That changed everything. She spent the next decade in Europe and her health improved dramatically. She completed a graduate degree in Portrait Photography from The London Institute in England and worked a stint as by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

50 min listen

Rerun…Melissa Bank, author of The Wonder Spot by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

45 min listen

Jude Atwood, author of MAYBE THERE ARE WITCHES: Jude Atwood is the author of the new novel, Maybe There Are Witches. Jude grew up on a farm in small-town Illinois. After graduating from Bradley University and Chapman University, he became a community college professor in Orange County, California. His first novel, Maybe There Are Witches, published by Regal House, won the Kraken Prize for Middle Grade Fiction. Jude joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about creating a fictional town, how plotting allows you to write chapters out of order, beginning with character, writing side characters, submitting to publishers, book banning and more. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our Patreon page. To listen to past interviews, visit our website. An eternal thanks to our patrons. Your support enables us to do what we do. We appreciate every one of you. Thank you. (Recorded on June 16, 2023) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettCo-Host: Marrie StoneMusic and s by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

63 min listen

Idra Novey, author of TAKE WHAT YOU NEED: Idra Novey’s new novel is Take What You Need, published by Viking. She is also the author of Those Who Knew, a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Her first novel Ways to Disappear, received the 2017 Sami Rohr Prize, the 2016 Brooklyn Eagles Prize, and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize for First Fiction. Her poetry collections include Exit, Civilian, The Next Country, and Clarice: The Visitor, a collaboration with the artist Erica Baum. Her fiction and poetry have been translated into a dozen languages and she’s written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, and The Paris Review. She is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Poets & Writers Magazine, the PEN Translation Fund, and the Poetry Foundation. Her works as a translator include Clarice Lispector’s novel The Passion According to G.H. She teaches fiction at Princeton University. On the show Barbara talked with Idra about by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

45 min listen

V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of “Brotherless Night”: Writers use language with intention. So when V.V. (Sugi) Ganeshananthan’s Brotherless Night uses the word “terrorist” six times on the first page of a novel about the Sri Lankan civil war, and incorporates the second person, the reader understands they’re as much active participant as passive observer in the book. Sugi joins Marrie Stone to talk about the novel’s origin and why she initially didn’t have the “chops” to write it. She talks about her own relationship with Sri Lanka and the research that went into rendering this period of history to life. Writers may find interest in Sugi’s decision to write in the first (and second) person; the power of writing in the subjunctive; how to describe a foreign time and place (with its particular dishes and unfamiliar names) without being overly explanatory; how Sugi deals with difficult writing challenges the same way she deals with going to the dentist; finding trusted readers; and more. Su by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

59 min listen

Anthony Chin-Quee, author of “I Can’t Save You": Anthony Chin-Quee is a board certified Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon) with degrees from Harvard University and Emory University School of Medicine. He has done multiple performances for The Moth, where he’s won their local Story Slam, placed as a runner-up in the Detroit Grand Slam, and performed on their NYC mainstage. He was a medical consultant for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and a member of the writing staff of FOX’s The Resident for two seasons, distilling complex medical and social issues into palatable and understandable mainstream storylines. His memoir, I Can’t Save You: A Memoir— a candid account of the ways in which medical residency training shattered the mind of an empathetic, well-intentioned doctor, and the arduous task of piecing it back together again through painful and overdue self-discovery—was released by Riverhead Books on April 4th, 2023 to critical acclaim. He has published opinions in Forbes and been i by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

57 min listen

Cathleen Schine, author of “Künstlers in Paradise” by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

62 min listen

Book Coach Jennie Nash, author of “Blueprint for a Book” by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

70 min listen

Ed Humes, author of The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder: Ed Humes is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of more than a dozen nonfiction books, including Mississippi Mud, Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation and Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair With Trash, and Burned: A Story of Murder and the Crime that Wasn’t. Ed received his Pulitzer for his newspaper coverage of the military, and a PEN Award for nonfiction for No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court. He has taught writing, journalism, and literary nonfiction at graduate and undergraduate levels, and has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Sierra Magazine, and Los Angeles Magazine. Ed joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about his new book, The Forever Witness: How DNA and Geneology solved a cold case double murder. For more information on Writers on Writing and additional writing tips, visit our P by Writers on Writing: A Weekly Podcast for Writers, Readers, & Book Lovers

52 min listen

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Anthony Chin-Quee, author of “I Can’t Save You"

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