Novelist and short story master Richard Bausch spends the full hour with Marrie Stone talking about his latest collection, Living in the Weather of the World. He talks about his early influences in writing, his connection to poetry, and his approach to the short story. Along the way, he dissects some of the stories in his collection, from first ...…

Claire Fuller, author of Swimming Lessons, joins Marrie Stone to chat about her novel, her later-in-life journey to writing, her process and advice. She discusses ways writers can survive the first draft, her revision process, and the intimacy of tucking memorabilia away inside books. Mark Sarvas joins in the second half to discuss his novel, M ...…

Novelist Michael Zadoorian, author of The Leisure Seeker talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his novel (recently made into a film with Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland). Download audio. (Original broadcast date: March 31, 2010)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Novelist Lisa See, author of the novel, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett for the entire hour about her book, how it came to be, Pu'er tea, and the Akha culture. They also discuss her mother, the late great writer, Carolyn See. The station is in the midst of their annual fund drive. If you've enjoyed the show ...…

Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin, and Julia Fierro, author of The Gypsy Moth Summer join Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to discuss their novels and the art, craft, and business of writing. Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 11, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his current wondrous novel, as well as the art, craft, and business of writing. Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 25, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Joan Silber, author of Improvement, joins Marrie Stone for the full hour. Improvement recently won the 2018 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction, as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Silber discusses the importance of travel on her work, cultural appropriation in fiction, finding one's voice, humor, the "kaleidoscopic story ...…

Erica Garza, author of the memoir Getting Off: One Woman's Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction, talks with Marrie Stone about her reasons for writing the memoir, the incredible reception it has received since publication, and the obvious need to bring buried issues to light. She discusses how to tackle painful scenes, overcoming shame, where ...…

Memoirist and novelist Jasmin Darznik joins Marrie Stone to talk about her novel, Song of a Captive Bird. She talks about her pull toward Iran, toward silenced women, poetry, and more. She discusses the difficult path she took to find the structure of her novel, research, point of view, and more. In the second half, memoirist Tara Westover join ...…

John Dufresne, author of Flash! Writing the Very Short Story and Susan Henderson, author of The Flicker of Old Dreams talk with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about their new books. Download audio. (Broadcast date: March 28, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Novelist, essayist and psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest Daniel Rinaldi thriller, Head Wounds. He discusses the role of technology in crime fiction, the ways in which crime fiction can reflect society, and the many challenges posed when writing brilliant characters. Dennis also shares his many words of w ...…

Literary critic, writer and poet John Freeman joins Marrie to talk about his collection, Maps. John brings all his insights, wisdom and pitch-perfect ear to the discussion of poetry, and treats the listener with a few readings. In the second half, Jensen Beach talks about his collection, Swallowed by the Cold. These interlocking stories, set in ...…

Novelist Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks, talks to guest host Nicole Nelson about how attention to language can help foster authenticity, how she learned to put more pressure on story threads and "stick with the trouble," and how she developed a style that insists that readers "keep up." Download audio. (Broadcast date: March 07, 2018) p.p1 {m ...…

New York Times bestselling novelist Kristin Hannah joins Marrie Stone for the hour to discuss her latest novel, The Great Alone. Kristin shares her fascination with Alaska and living off the grid. She discusses writing dark characters and dark themes, against the backdrop of an oppressive setting. Kristin talks about writing in the aftermath of ...…

Marrie Stone is joined by Catherine Banner, author of House at the Edge of Night. Catherine discusses the art of structure, how introducing a fairy tale to the beginning of each section grounded the book, inhabiting characters very different from herself, and writing as an outside (from the perspective of both time and place). In the second hal ...…

New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz joins Marrie Stone to talk about his Kindle in Motion book, Ricochet Joe. He also shares mounds of writing advice about finding ideas, the importance of character in a thriller, the role of dialogue, and much more. In the second half, debut novelist Patrick Nathan joins to share his novel, Some Hell ...…

Novelist Peter Heller, author of The Dog Stars, The Painter, and Celine talks with Writers on Writing show host Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about the crossover from a journalism and poetry to fiction, starting with a first sentence, writing in cafes wearing Bose headphones listening to the SimplyRain app, and listening to your characters, and so ve ...…

Marrie Stone talks with novelist Attica Locke, author of Bluebird, Bluebird, about capturing a familiar place from a distance, her decision to break her own rule and write about a cop, inhabiting uncomfortable points of view, and how her book became a much different book in the age of Donal Trump (even though she never changed a word). In the s ...…

Ivy Pochoda, author of Wonder Valley, joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett for the entire hour to talk about her new novel and how it came to be. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Dec. 6, 2017)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Gayle Brandeis, author of The Art of Misdiagnosis, and Jessica Bruder, author of Nomadland, talk with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about the art, craft, and business of writing. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Feb. 7, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Tom Sleigh, essayist and poet, spends the hour with Marrie Stone discussing his works The Land Between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees and House of Fact; House of Ruin: Poems. Tom talks about his work with refugees, crafting a narrative, interviewing subjects, and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: January 10, 2018)…

Journalist and nonfiction author Kathleen Sharp joins Marrie for the entire hour to talk about all things nonfiction. Finding the stories, interviewing the subjects, shaping mounds of information into a cohesive narrative, research processes, and more. Kathleen is an award-winning journalist and an accomplished speaker. Her works include Mr. an ...…

Short story writers Michelle Ross, author of There's So Much They Haven't Told You, and Jess Arndt, author of Large Animals join Marrie to talk about the short story form. They deconstruct their work, talk about inspiration, playing with form, assembling a collection, developing themes, identity and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Novemb ...…

Maud Casey (The Art of Mystery) and Edwidge Danticat (The Art of Death) join Marrie to talk about Graywolf Press's "Art Of" series. They provide insights into craft, process and the techniques they incorporate when writing their own fiction. Maud discusses a number of ways to create a sense of mystery in your characters, imagery, structure and ...…

Journalist and true crime author Caitlin Rother joins Marrie Stone for the entire hour to give a mini-course on writing true crime and narrative nonfiction. She talks about the necessary elements she looks for when choosing a subject, interview techniques, research and investigation tools, organizing her materials, creating a compelling narrati ...…