Writers at Work

Bliss Publications
  • 5.0 (7)
  • BOOKS

WRITERS AT WORK is a podcast about the joys, heartaches, challenges and satisfaction of the creative writing process. Hosted by Jim Fusilli, additional information is available at writersatworkpodcast.com.

  1. 5D AGO

    Graham Nash

    My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is Graham Nash, singer, performer, band leader, photographer, activist, and for our purposes, songwriter. Graham is a two-time member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his role in The Hollies and Crosby, Stills, & Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he's composed pop songs that are known to several generations, "Teach Your Children," "Our House," "Just a Song Before I Go," among them. But Graham has written scores of other songs, also worthy of admiration and affection. There's at least one gem on each of his seven solo albums, including NOW, his latest, his four albums with David Crosby, eight albums with David, Stephen Stills, and sometimes Neil Young, and those written during his half-dozen years with The Hollies. Many of his songs are uniquely his, tender and open-hearted, written in an intimate style as if whispered to a lover or a friend. I want to explore those songs with him today. When Graham left The Hollies in 1968, he said, "I can't take touring anymore. I just wanna sit at home and write songs." Landing in Los Angeles, he did write, though decades of touring ensued. In fact, at age 84, he and his band will resume his tour in support of NOW on July 7, and continue into October. See grahamnash.com for more. Before we proceed, I'll be referencing a lot of songs many of you may have never heard. I checked, and you can find every one of them on YouTube, and I've posted under my name a playlist on Tidal of more than two dozen Graham Nash compositions.

    25 min

  2. MAY 11

    Jane Smiley

    My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is Jane Smiley, whose latest novel is LIDIE: THE FURTHER TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF LIDIE NEWTON. If that title rings a bit of a bell, it's because in 1998, Jane published THE ALL-TRUE TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF LIDIE NEWTON. That novel, set in the 1850s as our country crept toward a civil war, told of Lidie Harkness of Quincy, Illinois, a young, resolute woman who marries an abolitionist and takes up the cause. Surrounded by violence, she goes after her killer in enemy territory, disguising herself as a boy to do so. Now, Lidie returns. The country is moved even closer to civil war and Lidie, a widow and bereft, becomes close to her niece, Annie, an actress. When Annie's career takes off, Lidie, her armed protector, joins her. Thus, more travels, more adventure, and more delight. First published in 1980, Jane has written many novels, 18 I think, several of which are considered among the finest in modern American literature. A THOUSAND ACRES, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992. MOO, a five-part satire set largely in a Midwest agricultural college, a trilogy featuring an Iowa farming family that began with SOME LUCK, and others of note. Among her non-fiction works is CHARLES DICKENS: A LIFE. Jane was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and won the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. She was a longtime professor of English at Iowa State University.

    42 min

  3. APR 23

    Chris Grabenstein

    My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is author Chris Grabenstein. If you don't know Chris, I can assure you that your kids--and their kids--do. With his many series for young readers--Mr. Lemoncello, The Smartest Kid in the Universe, I Funny, Treasure Hunters, some of which were written with James Patterson--Chris has influenced thousands and thousands of young people to become enthusiastic readers. To visit Chris on social media and see photos of how kids respond to his books and characters is to put a smile on your face and have your faith in the future restored. Because of his popularity with young readers, it's easy to forget that Chris broke in as a mystery writer. His debut mystery, TILT-A-WHIRL, Won the Anthony Award in 2006 for Best First Novel. He was writing for kids and adults at the same time until 2013, I think. Chris travels extensively to meet young readers. In May, he'll return to Knoxville, he attended the University of Tennessee, to participate in a children's reading festival. He recently returned from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he witnessed the world premiere of his new stage play, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Reading Rooms.

    45 min

  4. APR 17

    Alex Lin

    On this episode of Writers at Work, I'm joined by Alex Lin, playwright and screenwriter, whose métier per Forbes magazine is the lives of, "complex women in power while also working to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and pop culture." I quote Forbes because its editors recently placed Alex on its 30 Under 30 list, naming her one of America's brightest young talents. Alex's achievements thus far include two plays premiering at major New York theaters in the same season, Lao Wang: A Chinatown King Lear at Primary Stages, and Chinese Republicans at the Roundabout Theater. Alex also wrote for the AMC series The Audacity, which premiered this past Sunday. A graduate of Juilliard, Alex is the winner of a Stavis Award presented by the National Theatre Conference, and two Kennedy Center awards. Her plays have been developed by countless regional theaters and workshops, and she's worked as an actor. As I understand it, she's now at work on a play about the first Cantonese language translator working at Angel Island in San Francisco, the primary immigration station on the West Coast in the early part of the 20th century.

    47 min

  5. MAR 13

    Mark Braude

    With me on this episode of Writers at Work is Mark Braude, author of THE TYPEWRITER AND THE GUILLOTINE: AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST, A GERMAN SERIAL KILLER, AND PARIS ON THE EVE OF WWII. The American journalist is Janet Flanner, best known for her work for The New Yorker. The German serial killer is a wormy, self-deluded, lifelong criminal, and the setting is, as stated, Paris during the build-up to the Second World War. THE TYPEWRITER AND THE GUILLOTINE is the third non-fiction work by Mark Brodie, whose previous KIKI MAN RAY: ART, LOVE, AND RIVALRY IN 1920s PARIS was named a notable book of 2022 by the New York Times, and a New Yorker Best Book of the Year. In 2018, he published THE INVISIBLE EMPEROR: NAPOLEON ON ELBA FROM EXILE TO ESCAPE, and two years earlier, MAKING MONTE CARLO: A HISTORY OF SPECULATION AND SPECTACLE. Mark holds a PhD in History from the University of Southern California, and a Master's in French Studies from New York University. An aside: I just returned from a writer's conference where I think I may have spoken more about THE TYPEWRITER AND THE GUILLOTINE than I did my own novels. I'm eager to find out how this book I admire so came to be.

    1h 3m

  6. FEB 19

    Ron Charles

    I'm pleased to be joined today on Writers at Work by Ron Charles, the book critic best known for his reviews published in the Washington Post, his former employer. If you know Ron's work, it goes without saying that his unceremonious exit from the Post represents another blow to the relevance of books and literature in American mainstream media. On his Substack, Ron discussed his situation with characteristic self-deprecation. "I didn't start off as a journalist," he wrote. "Some might say I didn't end up one either. 30 years ago, I gave up a perfectly respectable job teaching English to write book reviews for the Christian Science Monitor." His aunt's huffy reaction? "'Surely, they're not gonna pay you to do that?' They did." Ron said he had some of the best years of his life at the Monitor, even if he toiled in relative obscurity. After a series of interviews, he was hired as a critic by the Washington Post. In time, he became editor of its Book World section. After two decades and having received a National Book Critics Circle Award and served as a Pulitzer Prize judge, Ron was let go by the Post and Book World was shut down. As the New Yorker's Becca Rothfeld summarized, "No one who has anything to do with books remains employed at the Post." Among US mainstream media, only the New York Times has a section dedicated to book reviews, though my former employer, the Wall Street Journal, regularly publishes book reviews. We can find publications and blogs dedicated to books, but as Becca points out, "They are produced for an audience that already knows or cares about literature. The books section of a newspaper plays an altogether different role. It does not cater to aficionados. It seeks new recruits." It's been reported that at Ernst Lubitsch's funeral in 1947, Billy Wilder said, "No more Lubitsch" and William Wyler replied, "Worse than that, no more Lubitsch films." We can find online book reviews Ron Charles wrote for the Post and his reviews for CBS Sunday Morning on YouTube, but are we at the point of no more new Ron Charles book reviews?

    26 min

  7. FEB 12

    Don Winslow

    My guest on this episode of Writers at Work is Don Winslow. His latest, THE FINAL SCORE, marks his return following his announced retirement in 2022. It's a six-story crime collection Stephen King called, "The best crime fiction I've read in 20 years." Having read them as if I were starving for Don's style of storytelling, I will tell you that the collection will make you very glad he's back. Prior to his retirement to focus on his political activism, Don was at the peak of his popularity in a career that began in 1991 with his Neil Carey PI series. Next came several memorable stand-alones, THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE, SAVAGES, and if I may, a personal favorite, CALIFORNIA FIRE AND LIFE. THE POWER OF THE DOG, which explored America's war on drugs through the experiences of a range of characters, kicked off his Cartel Trilogy. Its third novel, THE BORDER, now considered a classic of its kind, was cited as the best book of 2019 by the Washington Post, National Public Radio, The Guardian, The Irish Times, Book List, and many others. Beginning in 2022, Don published in succession, CITY ON FIRE, CITY OF DREAMS, and CITY OF RUINS, his Organized Crime Trilogy. Several of his works have been made into feature films, including Crime 101, based on Don's novella of the same name. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry. It arrives in theaters on February 13th. Like many readers, I was disheartened when Don announced his retirement, though I was well aware that he was deeply troubled by the actions of the Trump administration. I want to start our conversation with that decision.

    28 min

  8. FEB 5

    Elizabeth Chamblee Birch

    Elizabeth Chamblee Birch joins me today on Writers at Work. She is the author of THE PAIN BROKERS: HOW CON MEN, CALL CENTERS, AND ROGUE DOCTORS FUEL AMERICA'S LAWSUIT FACTORY. It's Elizabeth's first book, but not the first time she's written on legal matters in such a way that can fascinate laymen. Her thoughts on mass tort lawsuits have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and on National Public Radio. She is the Fuller E. Callaway Chair of Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. For the uninitiated, such as myself, a mass tort is a civil action involving numerous plaintiffs against one or a few defendants in a state or federal court. In THE PAIN BROKERS, Elizabeth writes of a scheme by the medical and legal industrial complex that exploits a view that women's bodies are commodities, and their pain not a major concern. She does so by telling us about Geri Plummer, Barb Shepherd, and Sharon Gore, who are among the thousands of women tempted by deceitful telemarketers, who flew to Florida to undergo surgical procedures, setting off a flood of millions of insurance dollars to white-shoe lawyers, doctors, and unscrupulous con artists. What became of Geri, Barb, and Sharon? Elizabeth tells us that and more.

    34 min
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About

WRITERS AT WORK is a podcast about the joys, heartaches, challenges and satisfaction of the creative writing process. Hosted by Jim Fusilli, additional information is available at writersatworkpodcast.com.

Information

  • Creator
    Bliss Publications
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    83
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Writers at Work

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