Charlotte Readers Podcast Charlotte Readers Podcast

In this episode 392, we focus on writing non-fiction and memoir. Our featured guest with extensive experience in this field is Frye Gaillard, an award-winning author who has written more than thirty books, ranging across the genres of history, memoir, journalism, and historical stories for young readers. In addition to discussing the mechanics of this kind of writing, Frye shares his work, “Live As If… A Teacher’s Love Story,” a remembrance of his late wife, Dr. Nancy Gaillard, who died of leukemia in 2018.



A version of this recording was released on our exclusive Patreon channel. We thank our Patrons for making it possible for us to release this updated version on the regular podcast.



Also listen to the Author’s Earlier Podcast Episode:



You can listen here: https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/frye-gaillard-explores-social-and-political-movements-of-the-1960s-in-a-hard-rain/



In this August 3, 2021 episode with Frye Gaillard, we discussed a “A Hard Rain: America in the 1960’s, Our Decade of Hope, Possibility, and Innocence Lost,” a reconstruction and remembrance of the transcendent era of the 1960’s.



Author bio:



Frye Gaillard, a native of Mobile, Alabama, began his career as a writer and journalist after coming of age during the turbulent events of the 1960s, when he witnessed the Birmingham arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and acted as student host for Sen. Robert Kennedy at Vanderbilt University. In the years since then, he has written more than thirty books, ranging across the genres of history, memoir, journalism, and historical stories for young readers.



His award winning titles include A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s; Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America; Watermelon Wine: The Spirit of Country Music; The Dream Long Deferred: The Landmark Struggle for Desegregation in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Go South to Freedom, a novel for middle grade readers.



Hard Rain: America in the 1960s was an NPR Great Read of 2018 & winner of F. Scott Fitzgerald Museum Literary Prize and the Alabama Authors Award.



His most recent titles include The Southernization of America: A Story of Democracy in the Balance, coauthored with Pulitzer Prize winner Cynthia Tucker; and Live As If… A Teacher’s Love Story, a remembrance of his late wife, Dr. Nancy Gaillard, who died of leukemia in 2018.



Author Website: https://fryegaillardauthor.com



Show discussion highlights:



• How to do non-fiction well

• Plumbing the possibilities of the literal truth

• Frye’s mechanics of writing non-fiction

• Using point of view in non-fiction

• Combining memoir with biography

• Writing about his late wife in “Live As If: A Teacher’s Love Story”

• A reading from “Live As If: A Teacher’s Love Story”

• How to outline a long work of non-fiction



Death by Podcasting



Support the show by ordering Death by Podcasting, a mystery novella by Sarah Archer and Landis Wade, because podcasting can be a dangerous business.



Learn More and order your copy: https://books2read.com/u/mKVrvy



The Write Quotes Series:



Support the show by purchasing one of more of the eight books in The Write Quote series, a collection of writing quote books compiled from 500+ interviews with bestselling, award-winning, and hard-working authors.



Learn more about our series of quote books and download Book 1 for free at https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/writequotes/



Newsletter:

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In this episode 391, we feature writer, filmmaker, and activist, Curtis Chin, to talk about his new memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.” It garnered a great deal of positive attention from popular media outlets nationwide, including being named as a 2023 top memoir by Time Magazine, the Washington Post, W. Magazine, Goodreads, and the San Francisco Chronicle.



Show discussion highlights:



● Growing up in Detroit

● The importance of mealtime and what it symbolizes

● How growing up in a Chinese restaurant continues to impact Curtis’ life today

● Starting the Asian American Writers’ Workshop

● Feedback Curtis has received from the LGBTQ community and people of color

● What it means to “code-switch”

● Showing our imperfections in memoir – none of us are perfect

● Being in survival mode as a child

● Bravery - do brave people know that they are brave?

● What’s next for Curtis, being on a global book tour

● Food writing



Brief author bio:



A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in sixteen countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press, and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" was published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023. His essay in Bon Appetit was just selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023 and he just produced an episode of America's Test Kitchen's podcast, Proof.



Learn more about the author and their books HERE.

https://www.curtisfromdetroit.com/



Death by Podcasting



Support the show by ordering Death by Podcasting, a mystery novella by Sarah Archer and Landis Wade, because podcasting can be a dangerous business.



Learn More and order your copy: https://books2read.com/u/mKVrvy



The Write Quotes Series:



Support the show by purchasing one of more of the eight books in The Write Quote series, a collection of writing quote books compiled from 500+ interviews with bestselling, award-winning, and hard-working authors.



Learn more about our series of quote books and download Book 1 for free at https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/writequotes/



Newsletter:

Subscribe to our newsletter for free HERE:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/79263/78112905026864634/share

In this episode 390, we focus on how to develop a writing practice and tips for making it stick. Our featured guest with extensive experience on this topic is award-winning author Kim Wright, who has worked as a novelist, journalist, teacher, and speaker. She also is known as The Story Doctor, who deeply believes that everyone has an artist within and that living a creative life is its own reward.



A version of this recording was released on our exclusive Patreon channel. We thank our Patrons for making it possible for us to release this updated version on the regular podcast.



Also listen to the Author’s Earlier Podcast Episode:

You can listen here:

https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/kim-wright-takes-readers-to-the-carolina-coast-in-the-longest-day-of-the-year-where-four-women-discover-the-truth-about-their-lives/



In this earlier episode that released on January 1, 2021, we feature “The Longest Day of the Year,” set in a single day on the Carolina coast, with a wonderful cast of characters.



“The Longest Day of the Year” explores the longing and regrets of four very different women whose lives converge around their love for this one particular beach. Sounds sweet? Don’t be fooled. The twist ending will drive you back to the book for a second reading. Love, after all, is full of surprises.



Author bio:



Over the past thirty years, Kim Wright has worked as a novelist, journalist, teacher, and speaker. She offers both individual coaching for blocked creatives and interactive workshops for groups. Kim deeply believes that everyone has an artist within and that living a creative life is its own reward - helping us be more focused and productive at work, giving meaning to the rituals of our daily lives and, most importantly, creating joy.



Kim's own creative work has been granted a range of honors, the most recent being the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction, which she won for her novel Last Ride to Graceland. Carolina born and raised, her interests include competitive ballroom dancing, rescue dogs, travel, and playing with her two granddaughters.



Author website: http://www.kimwright.org



Show discussion highlights:



• Why developing a writing practice is so important

• A daily writing practice is like brushing your teeth everyday

• How two books a year is not a blistering pace

• Writing stories out of sequence

• Getting inspired as you write

• Finding pockets of time as a binge writer

• Stop writing in the middle of a scene

• Experimenting with where and when you write

• Once you learn what works for you, plan for it

• Find your writing tribe and engage in the writing community

• Getting feedback from other writers

• Surround yourself with hard-working writers

• Don’t put the idea of creativity on a pedestal



Death by Podcasting



Support the show by ordering Death by Podcasting, a mystery novella by Sarah Archer and Landis Wade, because podcasting can be a dangerous business.



Learn More and order your copy: https://books2read.com/u/mKVrvy



The Write Quotes Series:



Support the show by purchasing one of more of the eight books in The Write Quote series, a collection of writing quote books compiled from 500+ interviews with bestselling, award-winning, and hard-working authors.



Learn more about our series of quote books and download Book 1 for free at https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/writequotes/



Newsletter:

Subscribe to our newsletter for free HERE:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/79263/78112905026864634/share

In this episode 389, we welcome critically acclaimed Southern fiction writer, Gerry Wilson, and talk with her about her new historical fiction novel, That Pinson Girl. While it’s a story that takes place in Mississippi during World War I, there are plenty of aspects of the plot that are relevant to today’s world. Clifford Garstang, author of Oliver’s Travels and The Shaman of Turtle Valley says, “devastating and beautifully written, Gerry Wilson’s That Pinson Girl is at once a heart-rending tragedy and a testament to the indomitable human spirit.”



Show discussion highlights:



● Being a 7th generation Mississippian – what has changed over the years and what has stayed the same

● How storytelling makes difficult issues more digestible and creates conversation around meaningful topics

● Developing the novel’s strong female protagonist, Leona Pinson

● Parallels between the life experiences of this cast of characters and our current generation

● How love can break boundaries

● The concept of survival and human resilience

● What message Gerry wanted to convey about the human spirit through this story

● Writing a debut novel at 80 years of age

● Writing advice for those who are interested in craft



Brief author bio:



A seventh-generation Mississippian and a child of the hill country she writes about in That Pinson Girl, Gerry Wilson came of age during the turbulent civil rights era. Her story collection, Cross-currents and Other Stories, was nominated for the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Fiction Award. Gerry is a recipient of a Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Arts Fellowship. Her stories have appeared in numerous journals. That Pinson Girl is her first novel.



Learn more about the author and their books HERE.

https://gerrygwilson.com/



Death by Podcasting



Support the show by ordering Death by Podcasting, a mystery novella by Sarah Archer and Landis Wade, because podcasting can be a dangerous business.



Learn More and order your copy: https://books2read.com/u/mKVrvy



The Write Quotes Series:



Support the show by purchasing one of more of the eight books in The Write Quote series, a collection of writing quote books compiled from 500+ interviews with bestselling, award-winning, and hard-working authors.



Learn more about our series of quote books and download Book 1 for free at https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/writequotes/



Newsletter:

Subscribe to our newsletter for free HERE:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/79263/78112905026864634/share

In this episode 388, we feature Brooke Shaffner and her debut novel Country of Under, which won the 1729 Book Prize, was a runner-up for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, and was shortlisted for Dzanc Books’ Prize for Fiction

and Black Lawrence Press’s Big Moose Prize. Author Helen Benedict says this is "a novel about the pain and wonder of being between identities. Between male and female. Citizen and immigrant. Fulfilled and empty. Outsider and insider. A novel of our time, told with deep compassion and striking beauty."



Show discussion highlights:



● How Brooke combined personal experience and research to write about topics including drag culture, immigration activism, urban exploring, and monastic life

● The cultural and countercultural context of the book’s setting in the 1990s and 2000s, and how fashion and music were inspirations

● The literal and metaphorical borders that infuse the book thematically

● Writing characters with grace and compassion to allow them to live in gray areas

● Her in-progress memoir and the relationship between fiction and creative nonfiction

● Approaching the marathon that is a writing career with equanimity



Brief author bio:



Country of Under is Brooke Shaffner’s debut novel. Her work has appeared in The Hudson Review, Marie Claire, BOMB, Litmosphere, Lost and Found: Stories from New York, and The Lit Pub. She’s received grants from the Arts & Science Council, United States Artists, and the Saltonstall Foundation and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, the Ucross Foundation, the Saltonstall Foundation, the Edward Albee Foundation, the Jentel Foundation, the I-Park Foundation, and VCCA. Brooke is at work on a memoir, an excerpt of which won the 2023 Lit/South Award. She grew up part Garza, part Shaffner in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and co-founded Freedom Tunnel Press with her partner Niteesh Elias to publish artivist books that straddle borders. She teaches and edits through her company Between the Lines and is on the faculty of the North Carolina Writers' Network and Charlotte Lit.



Learn more about the author and her book HERE.

https://sites.google.com/view/brookeshaffner/



Death by Podcasting



Support the show by ordering Death by Podcasting, a mystery novella by Sarah Archer and Landis Wade, because podcasting can be a dangerous business.



Learn More and order your copy: https://books2read.com/u/mKVrvy



The Write Quotes Series:



Support the show by purchasing one of more of the eight books in The Write Quote series, a collection of writing quote books compiled from 500+ interviews with bestselling, award-winning, and hard-working authors.



Learn more about our series of quote books and download Book 1 for free at https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/writequotes/



Newsletter:

Subscribe to our newsletter for free HERE:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/79263/78112905026864634/share

In this episode 387, we feature Dana Trent and her memoir, Between Two Trailers, a powerful story about a girl who escapes her childhood as a preschool drug dealer in rural Indiana, to become a graduate of Duke Divinity School. Publishers Weekly calls the memoir a “blend of grit and hope.” Other reviews invoke the phrases: “luscious prose,” “ludicrously good plot,” “unflinching truth,” “full of resilience and redemption,” and “a memoir in the vein of great literary coming-of-age narratives.” The book is a fast, surprising, shocking, and inspiring read.



Show discussion highlights:



• Dana Trent: Now and Then

The setting: Dana, Indiana

• The reason for and timing of the memoir

• The preschool drug dealer

• How she survived her childhood

• Finding one’s way home

• How her experience guides her work today

• A reading from the book

• The meaning of the title

• Memoir writing advice



Author bio:



J. Dana Trent is a speaker, professor, award-winning spirituality author, and minister. A graduate of Duke Divinity School, she teaches world religions and critical thinking at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has a podcast about this story at https://www.jdanatrent.com/podcast



Learn more about the author and their books HERE.

https://www.jdanatrent.com



Death by Podcasting



Support the show by ordering Death by Podcasting, a mystery novella by Sarah Archer and Landis Wade, because podcasting can be a dangerous business.



Learn More and order your copy: https://books2read.com/u/mKVrvy



The Write Quotes Series:



Support the show by purchasing one of more of the eight books in The Write Quote series, a collection of writing quote books compiled from 500+ interviews with bestselling, award-winning, and hard-working authors.



Learn more about our series of quote books and download Book 1 for free at https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/writequotes/



Newsletter:

Subscribe to our newsletter for free HERE:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/79263/78112905026864634/share