Best Jen Leonard | Writer Podcasts (2025)

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Joan Silber, author of MERCY 58:57

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1d ago58:57

58:57

Joan Silber is the author of ten books of fiction, as well as The Art of Time in Fiction which looks at how fiction is shaped and determined by time, with examples from world writers. She’s been on the show three times in the past to talk about Fools, which was longlisted for the National Book Award and finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; Secrets …

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REPLAY: fiction writer Melissa Bank 50:00

7d ago50:00

50:00

Melissa Bank, who passed away in 2022, was a fabulous writer and an incredible person. We met a few times in person, out here in Southern California when we were both speakers at the Literary Guild, and in NYC when I traveled there for conferences. She came on the show a couple of times, for Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing and The Wonder Spot. …

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Gish Jen, author of BAD, BAD GIRL 57:41

15d ago57:41

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Gish Jen describes her childhood as “a master class in perseverance.” The daughters of withholding mothers learn to reject rejection, she writes. And that’s proven great training for a writer. Jen’s 10th book — Bad, Bad Girl — is part novel, part memoir, part autofiction. When her mother passed in 2020, Jen began keeping a journal, and writing note…

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REPLAY: Literary agent MATTHEW CARNICELLI 58:58

22d ago58:58

58:58

Matthew Carnicelli is the president of Carnicelli Literary Management, located in New York City and the Hudson Valley. He represents bestselling and award-winning authors publishing books in the areas of history, current events, sports, business, memoir, biography, health, literary fiction, and graphic novels. Since becoming an agent in 2004, he ha…

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Janelle Brown, author of WHAT KIND OF PARADISE 54:27

30d ago54:27

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Janelle Brown is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels I’ll Be You, Pretty Things, Watch Me Disappear, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, and This Is Where We Live. Pretty Things—named a Best Book of 2020 by Amazon—is currently being adapted for television. Before becoming a novelist, Janelle worked as a senior writer at Salon, and be…

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Replay: ELMORE LEONARD, legendary writer 28:00

1M ago28:00

28:00

Today we’re going to replay a show from 2007. Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is joined by Elmore Leonard, an American novelist, short story author and screenwriter many of you are familiar with. He was, according to British journalist Anthony Lane, "hailed as one of the best crime writers in the land." Mostly working in the genres of westerns and crime, m…

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Bruce Holsinger, author of CULPABILITY 55:39

1M ago55:39

55:39

Bruce Holsinger’s Culpability was Oprah’s big pick this summer. No surprise. It’s a novel that gives book clubs a lot of contemporary ethical issues to talk about. From self-driving cars to drones to chatbots, technology isn’t just changing our daily lives, it’s changing our laws, our relationships, our sense of self. And it’s reshaping the way we …

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Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, author of POOL FISHING 1:04:00

2M ago1:04:00

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Today, the microphone turns on Writers on Writing founder and host Barbara DeMarco-Barrett. She joins Marrie Stone to talk about her latest story collection, Pool Fishing. Barbara’s venture into noir fiction began with the short story, “Crazy for You,” originally published in Akashic Book’s, Orange County Noir, later included in USA Noir: Best of t…

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Patrick Ryan, author of BUCKEYE 1:03:49

2M ago1:03:49

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One Story Magazine Editor Patrick Ryan cut his teeth on the short story form. Author of the critically acclaimed collections The Dream Life of Astronauts and Send Me, Ryan has spent a career editing masters like Joy Williams, Colum McCann, Alice Munro and Ann Beattie. For forty years, he’s tried his hand at novels, but nothing stuck. Until now. Rya…

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Paul Bradley Carr, author of THE CONFESSIONS 1:07:23

2M ago1:07:23

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Paul Bradley Carr is the author of the new novel, The Confessions. He has written three memoirs about his adventures in and around Silicon Valley. He was the Silicon Valley columnist for The Guardian, senior editor at TechCrunch, and cofounder of PandoDaily. His writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, and National Geographic…

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Michelle Huneven, author of BUG HOLLOW 59:25

2M ago59:25

59:25

Michelle Huneven is the author of six novels including Round Rock, Jamesland, Off Course, Blame, Search and — most recently — Bug Hollow. Bug Hollow is a story about the Samuelsons, who lose their 18-year-old son in an accident. The book ripples out from there in a kaleidoscopic way, following the parents, siblings, girlfriend and others into the d…

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Crissy Van Meter, author of CREATURES 53:16

3M ago53:16

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Crissy Van Meter’s novel, Creatures (Algonquin Books, 2020), was a Belletrist Book pick, an NPR Book of the Year, a finalist for the WILLA Literary Award, and longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her writing appears in Vice, Guernica, Buzzfeed, and Catapult. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School and teaches creativ…

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Richard Curtis, literary agent & digital pioneer 52:40

3M ago52:40

52:40

Literary agent Richard Curtis was a pioneer in the e-book industry. Having worked in publishing for nearly 50 years, he understands nuances, trends, and the long arc of what makes authors and publishers successful. He adapted his agenting model to accommodate the consolidations of the publishing houses and what those changes meant for agents and wr…

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Stefanie Leder, author of LOVE, COFFEE, AND REVOLUTION 53:28

3M ago53:28

53:28

Stefanie Leder is a TV showrunner and writer whose credits include the MTV teen dramedy Faking It, TBS comedy Men at Work, Netflix’s Boo, Bitch, and the long-running ABC Family comedy Melissa & Joey. She is also a guest lecturer on television writing at the Low Residency MFA at UCR. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she spent a year abroad in Costa…

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Ed Park, author of AN ORAL HISTORY OF ATLANTIS 59:29

3M ago59:29

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Ed Park is the author of the novels Same Bed Different Dreams (2023), a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Personal Days (2008), a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Bookforum, McSweeney…

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Jill Ciment, author of THE BODY IN QUESTION 58:00

3M ago58:00

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Jill Ciment, author of The Body in Question, was born in Montreal, Canada. She is the author of Small Claims, a collection of short stories, novels, and novellas; The Law of Falling Bodies, Teeth of the Dog, The Tattoo Artist, Heroic Measures, and Act of God, and the memoirs, Half a Life and Consent. She has been the recipient of numerous grants an…

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Amy Bloom, author of I’LL BE RIGHT HERE 1:00:16

4M ago1:00:16

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The New Yorker has said that Amy Bloom “gets more meaning into individual sentences than most authors manage in whole books.” She is the author of five novels: White Houses, Lucky Us, Away, Love Invents Us and – most recently – I’ll Be Right Here. She’s also authored three collections of short stories: Where the God Of Love Hangs Out, Come to Me (f…

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Richard Bausch, author of THE FATE OF OTHERS 1:00:02

4M ago1:00:02

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An acknowledged master of the short story form, Richard Bausch's work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Gentleman's Quarterly, Harper's, The Missouri Review, The New Yorker, Narrative, New Letters, Playboy, Ploughshares, and The Southern Review, and his stories have been widely anthologized, including The Best American Short Stories, O…

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Chris Whitaker, author of ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK 1:02:40

4M ago1:02:40

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Chris Whitaker is the author of four novels including Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, We Begin at the End and All the Colors of the Dark (now out in paperback). The New York Times bestseller has sold more than one million copies. But more extraordinary is Chris’s story of becoming a professional writer and how these bestsellers get written. He joi…

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Caroline Fraser, author of MURDERLAND 56:00

4M ago56:00

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Born in Seattle, Caroline Fraser holds a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Harvard. Formerly on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, she is the author of three previous nonfiction books, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science…

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Wally Lamb, author of THE RIVER IS WAITING 1:01:55

5M ago1:01:55

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Wally Lamb is the author of six New York Times bestselling novels: I’ll Take You There, We Are Water, Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much Is True, and She’s Come Undone. He also edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself and I’ll Fly Away, two volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institutio…

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Gillian McAllister, author of FAMOUS LAST WORDS 43:46

5M ago43:46

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Gillian McAllister graduated with an English degree before working as a lawyer. She lives in Birmingham, England, where she now writes full-time. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time and the Sunday Times bestsellers Everything But the Truth, Anything You Do Say (titled The Choice in the US), No Further Questions…

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Jess Walter, author of SO FAR GONE 1:00:41

5M ago1:00:41

1:00:41

We don’t have many guests return to the show six times. Jess Walter is now one of them. Barbara DeMarco-Barrett has interviewed him three times — for his novels Beautiful Ruins and The Financial Lives of the Poets, as well as his story collection We Live in Water. He’s been on with Marrie Stone for The Cold Millions and the story collection The Ang…

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Darrow Farr, author of THE BOMBSHELL 54:10

5M ago54:10

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Darrow Farr is a Salvadoran-American writer who was a Stegner Fellow in Fiction at Stanford University from 2017-2019 and received an MFA in Creative Writing from The Michener Center at the University of Texas. She was born and raised outside of Philadelphia, where she now lives with her husband and son. The Bombshell is her debut novel. Darrow joi…

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Richard Russo, author of LIFE AND ART: ESSAYS 1:02:11

6M ago1:02:11

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Richard Russo is the author of ten novels, most recently Somebody’s Fool, Chances Are, Everybody’s Fool and That Old Cape Magic; two collections of stories; one previous essay collection about writing — The Destiny Thief: Essays on Writing, Writers and Life; and the memoir Elsewhere. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which, l…

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Charlotte Wood, author of STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL 54:36

6M ago54:36

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Charlotte Wood is the author of seven novels and three books of non-fiction. Her novel Stone Yard Devotional was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. It was described by the UK Guardian as ‘a quiet novel of immense power’ and has been praised by authors Anne Enright, Tim Winton, Karen Joy Fowler, Hannah Kent and Paula Hawkins among others. Her pr…

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Vauhini Vara, author of SEARCHES: SELFHOOD IN THE DIGITAL AGE 55:24

6M ago55:24

55:24

Vauhini Vara grew up alongside internet startup companies. She was in middle school when AOL sent those first floppy disks to our homes, inviting us to dial up to the World Wide Web. A graduate of Stanford and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she became a tech writer for The Wall Street Journal and a business reporter for The Atlantic, The New Yorker an…

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Jennifer Haigh, author of RABBIT MOON 52:30

6M ago52:30

52:30

Jennifer Haigh’s first novel, Mrs. Kimble, won the PEN Hemingway Award for debut fiction. Mercy Street, was named a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker and won the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Her short stories have been published widely, in the Atlantic, Granta, The Best American Short Stories, and many other places. Published in…

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Andrew Porter, author of THE IMAGINED LIFE 55:14

7M ago55:14

55:14

Andrew Porter is the author of two story collections, The Disappeared and The Theory of Light and Matter. He’s also the author of the novel In Between Days. His latest, out this month, is The Imagined Life and it treads on some familiar territory as the others. Andrew joins Marrie Stone to talk about it. His work has been compared to Richard Yates …

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Tova Mirvis, author of WE WOULD NEVER 1:03:50

7M ago1:03:50

1:03:50

Tova Mirvis is the author of the memoir The Book of Separation as well as three novels, Visible City, The Outside World and The Ladies Auxiliary, a national bestseller. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe Magazine and Real Simple, and her fiction has been broadcast on NPR. She lives in Newton, MA wi…

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Brian Selznick, author and illustrator of RUN AWAY WITH ME 1:09:34

7M ago1:09:34

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In 2007, with his Caldecott-winning masterpiece The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick invented a new way of storytelling. The book became the basis for the 2011 Oscar-winning movie Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese. Brian is the author and illustrator of many other books for children, including Wonderstruck (also a movie), The Marvels, Kalei…

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Colum McCann, author of TWIST 1:01:24

7M ago1:01:24

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Colum McCann first came on the podcast in 2010 to talk about his National Book Award winning novel, Let the Great World Spin. He most recently returned in 2020 with his New York Times bestseller Apeirogon. He’s back this month with a stunning new novel, Twist. He joins Marrie Stone to talk about the book and his inspiration. They also discuss the n…

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Scott Turow, author of PRESUMED GUILTY 1:00:26

8M ago1:00:26

1:00:26

Scott Turow is a writer and former practicing lawyer and the author of 13 bestselling works of fiction, including Presumed Innocent. Scott has also published two nonfiction books, including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and have b…

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Charlotte McConaghy, author of WILD DARK SHORE 49:32

8M ago49:32

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Charlotte McConaghy is an Australian author living in Sydney with her partner and two children. She has a Masters Degree in Screenwriting from the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and a number of published SFF works in Australia. Her novel Migrations was her first foray into adult literary fiction, published in North America by Flatiron…

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Eowyn Ivey, author of BLACK WOODS, BLUE SKY 1:00:45

8M ago1:00:45

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Eowyn Ivey was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2013 for her debut novel, The Snow Child. Her latest, Black Woods, Blue Sky, offers a dark fairytale, a love story of a different kind, and depicts a mother-daughter relationship like none we’ve read before. Ivey joins Marrie Stone to talk about the backstories behind the novel. They a…

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Adam Ross, author of PLAYWORLD 1:01:46

8M ago1:01:46

1:01:46

Adam Ross is the author of Mr. Peanut, selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Economist. He’s been a fellow in fiction at the American Academy in Berlin and a Hodder Fellow for Fiction at Princeton University. He is editor of The Sewanee Review. Born and raised in New York City, he now lives in …

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Laila Lalami, author of THE DREAM HOTEL 58:43

8M ago58:43

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Laila Lalami’s fifth novel, The Dream Hotel, is a dystopian story for our time. Set in Los Angeles in the near-distant future, the novel follows Sara –– a museum archivist and mother — who just landed at LAX from London and is retained by the Risk Assessment Administration for a crime they believe she might commit based on data and algorithms the g…

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Tana French, author of THE HUNTER 59:44

9M ago59:44

59:44

Tana French is the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous books, including The Searcher, The Likeness, and The Witch Elm. Her novels have sold over three million copies and won numerous awards, including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award …

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Eric Puchner, author of DREAM STATE 59:11

9M ago59:11

59:11

Eric Puchner is the author of two story collections — Music Through the Floor and Last Day on Earth. His first novel, Model Home, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction. His latest novel, Dream State, publishes February 18. He joins Marrie Stone to talk about it. They discuss controlling time in a novel, since the book takes place ove…

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Literary Agent Renee Fountain 1:05:00

9M ago1:05:00

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Renee Fountain is president of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Lit Mgmt. She’s been in the publishing industry for more than 30 years. She’s worked at Harcourt and Simon & Schuster with some of the best writers and illustrators in publishing, has managed iconic classics like Raggedy Ann and Nancy Drew, and brokered film and television options. Renee also…

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Danielle Prescod, author of THE RULES OF FORTUNE 55:28

9M ago55:28

55:28

Danielle Prescod is a 15-year veteran of the beauty and fashion industry. She is also the author of the memoir Token Black Girl, which was one of the buzziest books of 2022, and cited as a must read by People, USA Today, Town and Country, Ebony, The LA Times, and landed her on NBC’s Today Show and elsewhere. Her debut novel is The Rules of Fortune.…

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Kim Dower, author of WHAT SHE WANTS (poetry) 1:06:31

10M ago1:06:31

1:06:31

Kim (Freilich) Dower (City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood from October 2016 – October 2018) has published six highly acclaimed collections of poetry all from Red Hen Press. Her newest What She Wants is called, “witty, sultry and thoughtful,” by the Washington Post. The bestselling, I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom, an Eric Hoffer Book Award Fi…

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Bradford Morrow, author of THE FORGER’S REQUIEM 1:02:34

10M ago1:02:34

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Bradford Morrow is the author of 10 novels, as well as short stories, children’s books, essays, anthologies, and illustrated books. He is also the founder and editor of the literary journal Conjunctions, which has been in publication since 1981. Professor Morrow has taught literature at Bard College for 35 years. His latest is The Forger’s Requiem.…

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Rebecca Renner, author of GATOR COUNTRY 1:15:14

10M ago1:15:14

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Rebecca Renner is a journalist and fiction writer from Daytona Beach, Florida. She’s a seventh-generation Floridian, and is committed to making life in her state better for everyone through writing about politics, social issues, and the environment. She has a Master’s of Fine Arts in creative writing from Stetson University, the oldest university i…

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Marrie Stone’s BEST OF 2024 1:09:06

10M ago1:09:06

1:09:06

One of the questions I often get this time of year is who were my favorite interviews and what were my favorite books? This year, the question prompted me to begin digging through my 25+ hours of recordings to find the gems from 2024. I decided to edit some of them together and share them here. Of course, this is just a small sampling and doesn’t i…

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Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet 54:23

11M ago54:23

54:23

I have a Christmas and Hanukah gift for you: my show with Stephen Dunn. This is one of my favorite shows and he was one of my favorite poets. He published something like 21 collections of poetry. The show you’re about to hear from 2001, the first time he was a guest on the show. Writers on Writing was on the radio then. Podcasting wouldn’t be along…

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Karl Marlantes, author of COLD VICTORY 52:38

11M ago52:38

52:38

Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. He is the bestselling author of Deep River, Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War, and What It is Like to Go to War. His latest, Cold Victory, is out in paperback by Grov…

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Caroline Leavitt, author of DAYS OF WONDER 53:38

11M ago53:38

53:38

Caroline Leavitt, the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen novels, most recently Days of Wonder, A finalist for the Midatlantic Fiction Prize and longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize. Caroline is also the co-founder of A Mighty Blaze and a book critic for People Magazine. Find out more at www.carolineleavitt.com Caroline joi…

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Suzanne Redfearn, author of TWO GOOD MEN 56:35

11M ago56:35

56:35

Suzanne Redfearn didn’t discover her talent for fiction until her 30s. A trained commercial and residential architect, she’d also worked as a copywriter, marketing manager, graphic designer, and other odd jobs. Today, Suzanne is the #1 Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of seven novels: Two Good Men, Where Butterflies Wander, Moment In Time, H…

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Susan Minot, author of DON’T BE A STRANGER 1:06:50

11M ago1:06:50

1:06:50

Susan Minot is an award-winning novelist, short-story writer, poet, playwright, and screenwriter. She also paints watercolors and makes collages. She was born in Boston and grew up in Manchester-by-the-sea, Massachusetts, with six siblings who are all artists. Her first novel was Monkeys, published in 1986. She wrote the screenplay for Bernardo Ber…