Jami Attenberg, author of All Grown Up, talks to guest host Nicole Nelson about writing dialogue that she knows won't be used in the novel just so that "the characters get to know each other," the importance of figuring out what you do well as a writer and doing it a lot, so that you start to do it automatically, and her message to aspiring writers: there are no shortcuts. In the second half of the show, Jean Hanff Korelitz, author of The Devil and Webster, talks about how this book came to her fully formed,writing about the theme of women wearing their power with great discomfort, and at great personal cost, and how, in her experience, if you are brave enough to go forward without knowing everything that is going to happen in your book, eventually you will be rewarded with the answer. Download audio. (Broadcast date: March 22, 2017)

Novelists Jami Attenberg and Jean Hanff Korelitz with Nicole Nelson

Go Guru -  all the adventures life has to offer.

Short story author Julie Zuckerman, author of The Book of Jeremiah, joins Marrie Stone to share her novel in stories. Julie talks about drawing inspiration and structure from Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kittridge, how she structured the collection and the stories within, working with a small press (Press 53), and how a simple writing prompt unlocked Jeremiah Gerstler's complex character. In the second half, Annalee Newitz joins to talk about their latest novel, The Future of Another Timeline. They talk about how their science background feeds their fiction, what fiction can accomplish that nonfiction cannot, dealing with the complexities of time travel, and much more. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: January 22, 2020)

Julie Zuckerman and Annalee Newitz on Writers on Writing, KUCI-FM

Poet Michael Miller joins Marrie Stone for an hour of poetry and reflection on New Year's morning. He talks about his retrospective collection, Tea and Subtitles: Selected Poems 1999-2019, many addressing beginnings, endings, and New Year's Day itself. Michael discusses his life-long love of the form, how journalism aids his poetry, assembling the writer's toolbox, and the many poets who he recommends as accessible and necessary reads. Michael will appear at the LA Times Festival of Books on the poetry stage in April. Download audio.   (Broadcast date: January 1, 2020)

Poet Michael Miller on Writers on Writing, KUCI-FM

Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his latest volume, Pagan Virtues. (There are a few audio challenges, but keep listening. It's worth it.) Download audio. (Broadcast date: Dec. 4, 2019)

Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet Stephen Dunn

Louis L'Amour, father of the western and frontier novel, passed in 1988 leaving behind 89 novels, 14 short story collections, and mounds of unfinished manuscripts. His son, Beau L'Amour, continues his legacy by finishing many of his novels and short stories and adding notes, history, and backstory. He shares his latest, Lost Treasures Volume II, as well as his father's writing process, his relationship with Ray Bradbury, and more. Robin Cook, father of the medical thriller genre, joins in the second half to share his latest novel, Genesis. During his time in the navy, and after completing his medical training, Robin came on the writing scene in the 1970s with the novel Coma. Now, 35 novels later, he still thrills readers with his uncanny sense of where medical technology is heading, the radical advances and attendant consequences we're making, and how his longstanding and beloved characters deal with them. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: December 18, 2019)

Beau L'Amour & Robin Cook join Marrie Stone on Writers on Writing, KUCI-FM

Tim O'Brien, National Book Award winning novelist and iconic author of The Things They Carried, joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest—and last—book. Dad's Maybe Book is at once a memoir, a love letter to his young sons, a meditation on war, a writing guide for writers, a history lesson, a literature lesson, and swan song to his fans. (Don't let the title or cover fool you . . . this book packs a meaty punch that extends well beyond fatherhood). Tim shares his enduring struggles with writing, with memory, and with his own father. Download audio. (Broadcast date: December 11, 2019)

Novelists Jami Attenberg and Jean Hanff Korelitz with Nicole Nelson

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