Writers on Writing

Elizabeth Strout returns with Olive, Again, a newly released collection that picks up where Olive Kitteridge left off. Elizabeth joins Marrie Stone to talk about how Olive reasserted herself, how the world has changed around her, and how Elizabeth managed to leave a porous space around Olive (and her other characters) so readers might insert their own experiences into the narrative. In the second half, Lise Funderburg shares her anthology, Apple, Tree: Writers on their Parents. She talks bout the relationship middle-aged adults have with their parent's legacies, how she chose this special crop of authors, and gives a mini-class on the essay form and what makes an essay work. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: October 16, 2019)

Poet Grant Hier, professor at Laguna College of Art and Design, and author of Similitude, The Difference Between, and co-author with John Brantingham of California Continuum, joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett for what turned out to be a masters' class in writing poetry. You don't have to be a poet or have any interest in writing poetry, to get something out of this show. And no matter what you write, reading poetry will only make you a better writer. Download audio (Broadcast date: Oct. 9, 2019)