Andre Dubus III joins Marrie Stone for the full hour to talk about his latest novel, Gone So Long. He discusses how to make the empathetic leap into characters vastly different from him, and living in the discomfort of a character who might repulse him. He gives insight into his process for writing effective sex scenes. He talks craft, process, ...…

Liana Finck, author of the graphic memoir, Passing for Human, and novelist Deborah Reed, author of The Days When Birds Come Back, join Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about their new books and the art, craft, and business of writing. Download audio. (Broadcast date: October 10, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Christina Dalcher, author of Vox, talks with Marrie about dystopian fiction, linguistics, the importance of language, and her love of flash fiction. She also discusses beat sheets, rough outlines, how flash fiction helps novel writing, and more. In the second half, Donna Hilbert discusses her latest poetry collection, Gravity. She talks about t ...…

Tod Goldberg, author of Gangsterland and Gangster Nation, and NYC literary agent Jennie Dunham talk with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about novels, agents, publishing, and so much more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Sept. 26, 2018) Tod will be featured at the Pen on Fire Speaker Series and Salon on Oct. 16, 2018, at the Lido Bookstore in Newport ...…

Novelist and essayist Jo Ann Beard talks with Marrie Stone about her past works, The Boys of My Youth and In Zanesville. Over the course of the hour, she shares a wealth of wisdom and honest insights about her process and craft, her feelings about her work and her artistry, the importance of the work versus the importance of publication, and mu ...…

Leslie Schwartz, author of the memoir The Lost Chapters talks with Barbara on the show about her time in jail, treatment of prisoners, and how this experience became a book, and how reading books kept her going during these 90 days. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Sept. 12, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Alexia Arthurs joins Marrie Stone to share her short story collection debut, How to Love a Jamaican. She discusses beginnings and endings. She talks about writing from place and setting. And she talks about the unexpected surprises of a short story and what they reveal to the writer. Download audio. (Broadcast date: September 5, 2018)…

Novelist and memoirist Sandra Gail Lambert joins Marrie Stone to talk about her memoir in essays, A Certain Loneliness. She discusses how writing from the body avoids sentimentality, and how she can both protect her own privacy while exposing herself on the page. Sandra also discusses how one essay, when broken apart, became the backbone struct ...…

Glen David Gold, author of I Will Be Complete (Knopf), is Barbara's guest for the entire hour. The show is a master class in writing memoir. If you're writing memoir, you won't want to miss this one. Download audio. (Broadcast date: August 29, 2018) Avoid missing a show. Visit iTunes and subscribe, free of charge, to the Writers on Writing podc ...…

Nancy Rommelmann, author of To the Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder (Little A) talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about the book, from idea to publication, where stories originate, how covering dark topics affects her as a writer and a mother, and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Aug. 22, 2019)…

Short story writer Gabriel Houck shares his debut collection, You or a Loved One. Gabe talks with Marrie about beginnings, endings and first sentences. He shares insights on how revealing ourselves through fiction, as opposed to essays, is often easier. He deconstructs a few of his stories from initial kernel of an idea, throughout the revision ...…

Novelist and short story writer Victoria Patterson joins Marrie Stone for the full hour to talk about her latest collection, The Secret Habit of Sorrow.Victoria talks about her love/hate relationship with Orange County, addiction, and the geographical terrain of her fiction. She also provides practical advice on the craft and living in the worl ...…

White House stenographer Beck Dorey-Stein joins Marrie Stone to talk about her memoir, In the Corner of the Oval. She talks about her time in the Obama White House and the lessons President Obama imparted about writing, storytelling, and the power of words. She shares her wisdom for being vulnerable on the page, her commitment to copious notes, ...…

Memoirists Melissa Stephenson, author of Driven, and Elizabeth Rosner, author of Survivor Cafe, talk with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about the art, craft, and business of writing their books. Download audio. (Broadcast date: July 25, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett talks with Patt Morrison, author of Don't Stop the Presses! and Amy Wallen, author of the memoir, When We Were Ghouls. Download audio. (Broadcast date: July 18, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Editor and Bloomsbury Press publisher Peter Ginna, author of What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Editing, talks about what goes into the acquisition of a title, what editors look for, the changes in publishing, and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: July 4, 2018)By penonfire@earthlink.net (Barbara DeMarco-Barrett).

Novelist and essayist Alexander Chee joins Marrie Stone for the hour to talk about his latest collection of essays, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He discusses the important distinction between writing for therapy versus writing for publication. He discusses the pitfalls of readers' interest in what is "true" and autobiographical about ...…

Marrie Stone chats with the very funny Abbi Waxman, author of Other People's Houses. They talk about the differences between British and American humor and values, and the ways in which problems in other people's marriages can affect our own. Abbi shares how her prior career in copywriting and advertising helps her fiction, and how life experie ...…

Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers, joins Marrie Stone for the full hour to talk about her pull towards the AIDS epidemic in 1980s Chicago. She talks about the unexpected origins of the novel, her massive amount of research, and the ways empathy can only take a writer so far. She shares techniques for getting inside a character's ski ...…

Sue Halpern, author of Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, joins Marrie Stone to talk about the healing power of libraries and the unlikely friendships made there. They chat about the importance of telling the story only you can tell, allowing the story to tell the writer what it needs, and working with different voices inside a single novel. ...…

Christina Lynch, author of The Italian Party and memoirist Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, spend this penultimate day of May talking about their work with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett on Writers on Writing, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Download audio. (Broadcast date: May 30, 2018)…

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).