PWN's Debut Review

Our last guest of Season Two, Julia Whelan, is a writer, narrator, and actor. Her debut novel, My Oxford Year, released in 2018 and is also available as an audiobook beautifully narrated by Julia herself. Her second novel, Thank You for Listening, offers a comedic and compelling behind-the-scenes look into the world of audiobooks. Thank You for Listening is expected to release on August 2, 2022.

Today we chat with Julia about her childhood start as a storyteller, her development as a novelist, and how her training as an actor led to her career as an audiobook narrator. Julia also shares her insider knowledge of the entertainment industry.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

We’re back this week with Laura Zlatos for Episode 7 of Season 2. Laura is a playwright and librettist. She’s written many plays and has won many awards for her work. She’s a graduate of both NYU Tisch and Columbia University.

Today, Laura talks to us about her start as a writer, inspired by her journalist father and several influential instructors. We get to experience a table read with professional actors of an opening scene from her play, The Blue Whale, and Laura tells us about how she interweaves research into her creative work. She also likes to incorporate contemporary culture and vernacular into her plays and musicals.

Thank you to actors Lacy Allen (Sydney), Madeline Mahoney (Emily), Dana Brooke (Lori), and Teddy Canez (Keith) for their performances.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

This week we talk to Brandon Dudley, a fiction writer, high school teacher, and former journalist. Brandon’s chapbook, Hazards of Nature, won the 2020 Maine Chapbook Series chosen by National Book Award Winner Sigrid Nunez. Brandon also just published an essay, “Finding Magic in the Mundane,” in maine. magazine.

Today, we talk to Brandon about his writer’s path and craft. We discuss how he uses empathy and shifting perspectives for deeper character development. We also talk about how to create authentic dialogue with humor and precision.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

For Episode 5, we’re doing a two-part series with PEN America. For Part 2, we speak to Sterling Cunio and Caits Meissner. Caits is the director of the Prison and Justice Writing Program and editor of their new craft handbook called “The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting a Writer's Life in Prison.” Sterling Cunio is another of the handbook’s many outstanding contributors.

Sterling Cunio is an essayist, poet, and playwright. Today, Sterling reads to us from his essay entitled, “On Writing and Staging a Play in Prison.” He also discusses his future as a writer and activist now that he’s been released.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

For Episode 5, we’re doing a two-part series with PEN America. For Part 1, we speak to Sarah Shourd and Robert Pollock. 

Robert is the manager of the Prison and Justice Writing Program. The program just published a new craft handbook called The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting a Writer's Life in Prison. Sarah Shourd is one of the handbook’s talented contributors.

Sarah Shourd is not only an essayist, but also a journalist and playwright. Sarah reads to us from her essay about writing a play based on her experience in solitary confinement in Iran. She talks to us about the trajectory of her work, and how she balances art and activism in her life.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

Today’s guest, Lizzie Finn, is a screenwriter, instructor, and the director of Project Write Now’s Screen Academy. Her screenplay, Relative Distance, co-written with Sandra Longo, has won numerous accolades, including Best Feature Script in both the Paris Film Awards and the London Movie Awards.

Lizzie speaks to us about how to write a screenplay, how to find a creative partner, and how to get involved in PWN’s Screen Academy. We also do an in-house table read of a scene from Lizzie’s award-winning screenplay.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

For episode three, we interview Jeremy Holt, author of the comic book series Made in Korea. Jeremy is a Brooklyn-based, nonbinary author whose other recent work includes Virtually Yours, Before Houdini, and Skip to the End. Jeremy draws inspiration from history, music, film, and great literature.

Today, we talk to Jeremy about the conception, creation, and production of the comic book. Much like films, comic books require a collaborative artistic process. Jeremy shares the foundations of their writing craft as well as their exciting plans for future projects.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

This week’s guest, Flower Conroy, is an LGBTQ+ writer, NEA and MacDowell Fellow, and former Key West Poet Laureate. Her most recent full-length collection, A Sentimental Hairpin, is available from Tulson Books. Her next collection, Greenest Grass (or You Can't Keep Killing Yourself & Not Expect to Die) just won the 2021 Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, New England Review, Prairie Schooner, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere.

In this episode, we discuss Flower’s first poems; her love of play in language; her sense of home, family, and place; and her creative collaborations. Flower shares with us how she finds energy, joy, and surprise in her work.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

For the first episode of Season Two, we chat with Elizabeth Engelman, author of The Way of the Saints, which was awarded the 2019 Nilsen Prize and published in 2021. The Way of the Saints is Elizabeth’s debut book–it’s a collection of linked short stories that reads very much like a multigenerational novel. Elizabeth has also published essays in The New York Times and Endeavor Magazine.

Today, we talk to Elizabeth about turning poems into short stories, raising a profoundly deaf child, dealing with literary rejection, and following an intuitive, holistic writing process. Elizabeth generously shares both her insights and her debut work with us.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.

In Part 2 of our BONUS episode, “Joy in Conversation,” we continue our interview with co-hosts Ray & Courtney, delving into what inspires them as artists. We also get a sneak peek into what to expect in Season Two, coming in March.

PWN's Debut Review is hosted by Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio. Learn more at projectwritenow.org.