The National Writers Series Podcast

On August 25th, 2022, two of Michigan’s greatest environmental authors—Dave Dempsey and Jerry Dennis—joined us on the NWS stage to talk about protecting the Great Lakes, the threats our water supply are facing, the dangers of climate change to our natural surroundings, and other topics covered in their books Great Lakes for Sale, Up North in Michigan and The Living Great Lakes.

In Great Lakes for Sale, updated in 2021 by author Dave Dempsey, we see how our Great Lakes are in danger of being privately exploited on a large scale by those with priorities other than stewardship. The Great Lakes are once again a target for the drought-ridden West, which is facing climate change, massive fires, and shrinking water supplies. And in a potentially far bigger threat, Wall Street is creating markets that could lead to the trading of freshwaters as a commodity like corn or oil. Great Lakes for Sale is an important part of the effort to remind people why the commercialization of Great Lakes water is a dangerous—and constant—threat.

Similarly, Jerry Dennis’s new book of essays, Up North in Michigan, looks at northern Michigan in a state of change. Over the past half-century, Michigan’s landscape has been bulldozed, subdivided, and built upon. Climate change warms the water of the Great Lakes at an alarming rate—Lake Superior is now the fastest-warming large body of fresh water on the planet—creating increasingly frequent and severe storm events, altering aquatic and shoreline ecosystems, and contributing to further invasions by non-native plants and animals.

What can we do about the threats facing the Great Lakes? How can we protect the waters that surround our Pleasant Peninsula? And how can we ensure the security of our drinking water and aquatic industries for generations to come? Listen now to learn more.

Albert Woodfox, our final NWS guest author of 2020, sadly passed away recently. We wanted to make sure his story was available in as many formats as we could, so if you didn't join us live or if you haven't watched our YouTube video, take a listen to today's podcast. 

Albert wrote a memoir called “Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement" about his time behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. For a total of 44 years and 10 months, he was confined to a single, six-by-nine-foot prison cell—the longest of any inmate in United States history. After being released, he wrote this book, which was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and one of Barack Obama's favorite books of 2020. 

As Albert's wife told us recently: "His greatest wish was to help lift up the youth coming up in generations behind him; to make them aware of our world’s true history, but equally to give them hope;  to teach them if they stand together miracles can happen." We hope you enjoy this conversation with Albert Woodfox and guest host Jerome Vaughn of WDET.

One of the most popular videos on our YouTube channel over the past year is our conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony Doerr, guest hosted by his good friend Lysley Tenorio. The two held a great discussion about Anthony's new book "Cloud Cuckoo Land," released in September 2021.

With the paperback release coming our way this September, we thought we'd go ahead and make their conversation available in audio form so you can relive the moments of learning how Anthony juggles all his multiple characters and timelines and plotlines, the role of libraries and librarians in his life, and why he wants everyone to visit Sardinia. 

Do you remember where you were almost exactly a decade ago? If you were in the audience for our evening with #1 NYT Bestselling author Janet Evanovich, you do now! She joined the NWS in July 2012 for a conversation about her then-latest book Wicked Business with NWS co-founder Doug Stanton.

In this conversation, they discuss the second in the Lizzy and Diesel supernatural mystery series, how she sold her first novel, who she'd like to kick off the Forbes "100 Most Powerful Celebrities" list (she was #79 that year) and her thoughts on topics on everything ranging writer's block all the way to Fifty Shades of Grey.

This winter, we were joined by Michael Schur—the creator of TV's "The Good Place" and the co-creator of "Parks and Recreation" among other projects—to discuss his first book about philosophy and ethics: How to Be Perfect.

Did we learn how to be perfect? Well, we learned how to be less imperfect, at the very least. Guest host Ed Helms (The Office, Rutherford Falls) led us through a conversation that also discovered what Schur's own answer to The Trolley Problem would be. 

Today is the first day of summer, so we thought we'd bring you one of the summer-y-est NWS events we've ever hosted! Author Emily Henry joined the National Writers Series for a virtual conversation with guest host Brittany Cavallaro in June of 2021 to talk about her newest NYT bestseller, "People We Meet On Vacation." 

In this conversation, Brittany and Emily talk about how their shared travels inspired parts of "Vacation," about how success in publishing affects your life and your perception of yourself, and about the moments during writing a book where Emily feels like she's completely lost control of the manuscript (and how she gets it back)!

In May 2022, retired cold-case investigator and true-crime icon Paul Holes joined the National Writers Series for a conversation about his new memoir "Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases." He was joined on stage at the City Opera House by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paige St. John. 

In this conversation, Paige and Paul talk about how Paul used a breakthrough in DNA technology to help find and capture the Golden State Killer, one of America's most notorious serial predators. They discuss issues of genetic privacy and who owns your genetic info once you send it to a DNA/genealogy company, and the effects that his career had on his psyche and on his private life.

Critically acclaimed author George Saunders joined the National Writers Series for a conversation about his book "A Swim in a Pond in the Rain" with fellow short-story author and NWS Creative Writing Lab instructor Kevin Fitton.   

Saunders is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of ten books, including "Lincoln in the Bardo," which won the Man Booker Prize; and "Tenth of December," a finalist for the National Book Award. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.

In this conversation, we discussed how a writer can define success (creative and otherwise), about whether writing is a teachable skill, what George's writing process is like and much more!

As part of the Winter/Spring 2022 Season, bestselling author Brad Meltzer joined the National Writers Series in early April (which explains the mention of snow at the beginning of the episode!). 

In this conversation, Brad and guest host John Searles talk about Brad's career throughout the years, what he uses to motivate himself to write every day, the research that goes into his books, the many people he's met throughout his career, and about his famed characters Zig and Nola at the center of his newest book: "The Lightning Rod."

We also learn about his time working with former American presidents, how he found the American flag that flew over Ground Zero following 9/11, and the reason he puts a reference to Michigan in every one of his books. 

Since April is National Autism Awareness Month, we thought we'd look back on our 2013 conversation with bestselling author,  autism advocate, and professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University Temple Grandin. 

Grandin joined the National Writers Series for a conversation about her then-newest book, The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum. The book discusses remarkable new discoveries and introduces readers to innovative theories of what causes, how we diagnose, and how to best treat autism. 

Listen in as guest host Laura Hohnhold, executive editor at Byliner, talks with one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Heroic and Influential People in the World.”