Past Forward

Natasha Nelson is a single mother of two beloved children, living in the desert wilds of the Southwest. She grew up on Whidbey Island in Washington, a small Island in the Puget Sound most people have never even heard of. The ocean has always been a treasured part of her life, every adventure on its shores scattered throughout her memory like bits of sea glass winking from the beach. It is the one place she feels most at home, where she is free to be both wild and peaceful at once.

Winter & George: A Path Across the Sea
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Growing up in Minnesota, Steve A. Erickson enjoyed playing baseball and drawing. When I realized that not being able to hit a curveball would probably keep me out of the major leagues, I followed my creative inclination and enrolled at Drake University. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, I worked more than forty years in the advertising industry, first as an art director and then as a creative director.

Recently retired, I now live near my three sons in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with my dog Alex. As a boy, I was always intrigued by what might really be happening behind a closed refrigerator door. So, I decided to combine my creative talents and youthful curiosity by writing and illustrating “A Very Chilling Mystery” for my six grandchildren. I hope this book will inspire young readers to open the door to the possibilities of their own imagination.

A Very Chilling Mystery
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Leah Thomas is an eco-communicator, aka an environmentalist with a love for writing + creativity, based in Ventura, CA. She’s passionate about advocating for and exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism. You could say she’s tryna make the world a little more equal for everyone and a little nicer to our home planet.

She is the founder of eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlleah and The Intersectional Environmentalist Platform, which is a resource + media hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice + inclusivity within environmental education + movements.

Her articles on this topic have appeared in Vogue, Elle, The Good Trade, and Youth to the People and she has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, Domino, GOOP and numerous podcasts. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Chapman University and worked for the National Park Service and Patagonia headquarters before pursuing environmentalism full time. Learn more about Leah and her mission in this BuzzFeed video.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Environmental Justice is a series of informed, sustained, and enriching dialogues looking at how environmental toxicity and risk disproportionately impact populations based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and social standing. Environmental Justice brings awareness to these disparities, fighting to ensure that every voice is heard, every challenge is addressed, and every community has a seat at the table for a greener future.

Guest: Leah Thomas
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Public Podcasting in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Jackson (Kanahashi) Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Book Prize in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES & OTHER EXPERIMENTS (Noemi Press, 2021), AMNESIA OF JUNE BUGS (7.13 Books, 2022), DREAM POP ORIGAMI (Unsolicited Press, 2022), the digital novella, DUKKHA, MY LOVE, & the newsletter, MIXTAPE. Born & raised in Traverse City, Michigan until the age of fourteen, he spent his adult life in SoCal, the Pacific Northwest, & the Midwest with stints in Argentina & Burkina Faso. Jackson has a BA in comp lit from Oberlin College, a MFA from the University of Notre Dame where he was the Fiction Fellow & the Sparks Prize winner, a MA in English, & a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from USC where he worked with Aimee Bender, Viet Thanh Nguyen, & TC Boyle. His stories & essays have appeared in the New York Times, Tin House, Ploughshares, Columbia Journal, Guernica, Longreads, Antioch Review, TriQuarterly, Fiction, Witness, Boston Review, Kenyon Review, Vol.1 Brooklyn, ZYZZYVA, Joyland, Santa Monica Review, Juked, Quarterly West, The Daily Dot, Pleiades, the 2012-2013 Anthology of APIA Literature, Arts & Letters, Fiction International, Hobart, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, & 3 am Magazine, among others. Jackson is the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bowling Green State University. He lives in LA with his wife and two stylish little dogs.

Dream Pop Origami
Unsolicited Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Kathy Weyer is an author, artist, and animal lover. She was awarded first prize by the Palm Springs Writers Guild for both the fiction and memoir contests, and she has been published in several magazines. Kathy is on the board of directors for the Friends of the Palm Springs Library and the Palm Springs Writers Guild. Kathy lives in Palm Springs with her husband of 40 years and their rescued pets. She is the author of Stitches and its sequels, Canvas and Pages of the Heritage Art Park series. Through her fiction, Kathy shines a light on women’s issues, the foster/child welfare system, domestic violence, grief, and bereavement.

Pages
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Warren W. Van Overbeke attended Cardinal Stritch University, the American Military University, and Michigan State University, attaining degrees in Business, International Relations, and Equine Management. He is a United States Air Force Veteran, and wounded warrior from the war in Afghanistan. Warren lives in Benona Township, Michigan.

Tholocco’s Wake
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

At age 9, Rick Rosenberg moved from the big city to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, aka the "Secret City." It was around then he had his first experience with the literary world, publishing a short story in Grit Magazine. He attended the University of Tennessee/Knoxville where he earned a Bachelors in Communications. Since then, he's lived in multiple cities and has won accolades for both copywriting and screenwriting. He has one child adopted from Vietnam, and he currently lives in Maplewood, NJ. Jewbilly is his first novel.

Jewbilly
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Lance Hillsinger was a child protective services (cps) social worker for thirty-four years. The first five years were with Los Angeles County; the rest were with San Luis Obispo County. Hillsinger had held various assignments in cps. His longest and the most enjoyable assignment was that of a "court worker." As a court worker, Hillsinger personally filed over 600 petitions with the juvenile court, participated in hundreds of court-ordered mediations, and testified in court on numerous occasions.

Build a Better Bridge: Social Policy for The 21st Century
Westwood Books Publishing, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Dustin Grinnell is a writer based in Boston. His creative nonfiction and fiction combine medicine and the humanities and have appeared in many popular and literary publications, including Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, New Scientist, Tendon Magazine, VICE, and Salon. He’s the author of The Genius Dilemma, Without Limits, and The Empathy Academy. He’s written about the therapeutic power of books for The Boston Globe, Writer’s Digest, and Hektoen International. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Solstice MFA Program, an MS in physiology from Penn State, and a BA in psychobiology from Wheaton College (MA).

The Empathy Academy 
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Brett Shapiro is an American writer and the best-selling author of L’Intruso – a memoir published in Italy (Feltrinelli) that was later produced into an award-winning film and theatrical production. He is also the author of two children’s books, one of which was the recipient of Austria’s prestigious National Book Award. Several of his short stories have been performed in theatres throughout Italy, where he lived for 25 years, and his essays and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers in Italy and the United States. While in Italy, he made many guest appearances on Italian television, including as commentator for 60 Minutes, and was a regular guest lecturer at the University of Siena. Brett is a veteran writer for the United Nations and currently lives by the beach in Florida.

Those Around Him
Independently Published, 2019

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.