Writers on Writing

Amor Towles, author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Rules of Civility, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his novels, short stories, and the art, craft, and business of writing.  Download audio.  (Broadcast date: Nov. 25, 2020) Musical intro, outro, and interludes by Travis Barrett. You can find him on Spotify and Soundcloud.

Nicole Krauss may be best known for her novels, which include Man Walks into a Room, History of Love, Forest Dark, and Great House. But several of her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, the Atlantic, and elsewhere. For the first time, she's published a collection of her stories and joins Marrie Stone to talk about them. To Be a Man explores issues of gender in its many forms—parenthood, childhood, romantic partnerships, and friendships. The men in her stories are fathers, sons, soldiers, artists, and lovers with human fallibility and the desire for redemption. Krauss talks about how motherhood changed her perspective on gender issues, how films and other art forms inform her work, the reasons she's reluctant to teach writing, and so much more. Download audio.   (Broadcast date: December 2, 2020) (Record date: October 14, 2020)

In 2014, Phil Klay shocked the literary world with his National Book Award winning visceral short story collection, Redeployment,a multi-dimensional account of the Iraq war based on his four years of service there.   Six years later he’s returned with his debut novel, Missionaries, a sensitive and meticulously researched exploration of America’s involvement in foreign wars (notably Columbia, Afghanistan, and Iraq). Following four main characters—two Americans and two Columbians—the novel details the price of war from every angle and every point of view.   Klay joins Marrie Stone to talk about the book. He shares his research process, his organizational tools, and how he came to understand each of his characters.  War buffs, literary fiction enthusiasts, and aspiring and established writers alike should find something useful and inspiring in Klay’s conversation.  Download audio.   (Record date: October 26, 2020) (Broadcast date: November 18, 2020)

Merrill Markoe, author of the graphic memoir, We Saw Scenery, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about the art, craft, and business of writing. They laugh a lot, too.  Download audio.  Musical intro, outro, and interludes by Travis Barrett. Find more of his music on Spotify. (Broadcast date: Nov. 11, 2020)

Trained young as a poet, Sharon Harrigan came later in life to the novel and the memoir. Her debut novel, Half, emerged from an award-winning short story. Sharon joins Marrie Stone to talk about the novel, as well as her circuitous writing path, getting an MFA later in life, and finding the confidence to play with an unconventional point of view. She shares a wealth of writing advice she's received along the way, the advantages of publishing with a university press, and how she discovered the novel's through-line after she finished writing it. She also talks about how studying movies and television series can teach plot and structure, and so much more. Download audio.   (Record date: October 20, 2020)

Novelist and writer of domestic thrillers, Shari La Pena, author of The End of Her, discusses her latest novel with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett.  Download audio.  This show is a straight-to-podcast interview.  Musical intro and outro by Travis Barrett. Find him on Spotify.

Nick Flynn, author of This is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his new memoir, and the art, craft, and business of writing.  Download audio.  (Broadcast date: October 14, 2020) Musical intro and outro by Travis Barrett. Find him on Spotify.

Rumaan Alam’slatest novel, Leave the World Behind, became a finalist for the National Book Award before it was even released. Exploring themes of race, class, climate change, gender politics, geopolitical turmoil, and more—all under the sunny guise of a summer vacation on Long Island—Alam’s novel begins as one kind of story and soon turns into another.   Alam joins Marrie Stone to talk about the book, his unconventional path to becoming a novelist, and about writing the white American experience as an Indian man. He shares how Twitter helped him write the novel, how an editor’s insights made him rethink the novel’s point of view, and the many books that helped him along the way (including Stephen King’s Pet Sematary). There’s mounds of wonderful advice for writers, and fantastic backstory for avid readers.  Download audio.    (Broadcast date: November 4, 2020) (Record date: October 30, 2020)  

Novelist Jess Walter has never left his hometown—the Spokane Valley in eastern Washington—where his grandfather (also Jess Walter) landed in the 1930s as a train-hopping, itinerant worker. Inspired by the places around him, an old 1911 postcard, generational stories passed down, and the sense of history repeating, Walter has spun a sweeping saga whose themes of class, wealth, corruption, and public protests—all set more than a century ago—still ring true today.   Walter joins Marrie Stone to discuss The Cold Millions. He talks about how disparate ideas cling together like falling snowflakes and, by the time they land, create multidimensional stories. He talks about the moment when research becomes so ingrained that he’s able to make the leap into fiction without remembering what’s real and what’s invented. He talks about the shape of stories, how this novel looks like a river in his mind, with moments of rapid movement and other quiet periods of stillness. For historical fiction readers, Walter fans, and writers interested in craft, there’s something for everyone in Walter’s conversation. Download audio.   (Broadcast date: October 21, 2020) (Record date: September 8, 2020)

Memoirist Jody Forrester, author of Guns Under the Bed and novelist Lucie Britsch, author of Sad Janet join Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to discuss the art, craft, and business of writing.   Download audio.   (Broadcast date: September 30, 2020)