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Bill welcomes bestselling memoirist and self-help writer Martha Beck to the show. My scheduled guest couldn't make it, so I thought I'd rerun one of my favorites! Martha Beck, PhD, is a Harvard-trained sociologist, world-renowned coach and New York Times bestselling author. She has published nine non-fiction books, one novel, and more than 200 magazine articles.
Bill welcomes author Donna D Conrad back to the show. Donna Conrad is an award-winning author, journalist, activist, and teacher. Her core values revolve around individual empowerment, a sustaining ideal running through the books she writes. Her writing interests include articles for fine-art periodicals, memoir/narrative non-fiction, as well as historical, flash, and paranormal fiction. Her first published book, House of the Moon: Surviving the Sixties, is a memoir that explores life in the tumultuous decade that changed the world. Her upcoming four-book historical fiction series, “The Magdalene Chronicles” has been acquired by Cold Creek Press. Book One, The Last Magdalene, will be released April 9, 2024.
Bill welcomes poet, memoirist, and novelist Joseph Di Prisco to the show. Joseph is the acclaimed author of two bestselling memoirs (Subway to California and The Pope of Brooklyn), six novels (Confessions of Brother Eli, Sun City, All for Now, The Alzhammer, Sibella & Sibella, and The Good Family Fitzgerald), and three books of poetry (Wit’s End, Poems in Which, and Sightlines from the Cheap Seats). He is also the co-author of two bestselling books on childhood and adolescence (Field Guide to the American Teenager and Right from Wrong). He is Series Editor of Simpsonistas: Tales from New Literary Project, the annual anthology. His book reviews, essays, and poems have appeared in numerous journals and periodicals, and his poetry has been awarded prizes from Poetry Northwest, Bear Star Press, and Bread Loaf. His new book, My Last Resume: New and Collected Poems showcases an exquisite body of poetry spanning more than five decades.
Bill welcomes award-winning author Bonnie Jo Campbell to the show. Bonnie is the author of The Waters, a novel, which was the Today Show’s January selection for their “Read with Jenna” Book Club. The Waters was also featured in Oprah Daily’s list of “Best Books of 2024.” Her novel also received starred reviews in Booklist and Foreword, as well as raves from Ron Charles at The Washington Post, from Jane Smiley in the Los Angeles Times, and from The Christian Science Monitor staff. Roxane Gay’s newsletter The Audacity featured The Waters as an anticipated book. Campbell’s other novels include Once Upon a River, a National Bestseller which was adapted into a full-length feature film released to international claim in 2020, and Q Road. Her critically acclaimed short fiction collections include American Salvage, which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Women and Other Animals, winner of the AWP Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction; and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters. She was a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow whose other honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Eudora Welty Prize, and the Mark Twain Award.
Bill welcomes author Carla Panceira back to the show. Carla's collection of short stories, Bewildered, received the 2013 Grace Paley Short Fiction Award from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and was published by the University of Massachusetts Press. Her short stories have appeared in the New England Review, the Clackamas Review, Slice, and other magazines. Her short story, “The Kind of People Who Look at Art” was chosen by Junot Diaz as a distinguished story in Best American Short Stories 2017. She was the James E. Kilgore scholar in Nonfiction at Bread Loaf Writers Conference and is the recipient of an Individual Artist Grant in Creative Nonfiction from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her newest book, Barnflower: A Rhode Island Farm Memoir, was released in 2023 by Loom Press. She has also published two collections of poetry: Cider Press Award Winner, One of the Cimalores and Bordighera Press Poetry Award Winning, No Day, No Dusk, No Love. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines including Poetry, Painted Bride Quarterly, and the Los Angeles Review.
Bill welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Harding to the show. Paul is the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Tinkers, and Enon. He is director of the MFA in Creative Writing & Literature at Stony Brook University, and lives on Long Island, New York. His latest novel is The Other Eden.
Bill welcomes bestselling historical novelist Kristin Hannah back to the show. Kristin is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Her last book, The Four Winds was the biggest selling hardcover fiction title of 2021. Her previous novels, The Four Winds, The Great Alone, The Nightingale and Firefly Lane were all named Goodreads Best Historical Fiction and her international blockbuster, The Nightingale, won the coveted People’s Choice award for best fiction and was a selection of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club in 2023 and named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week. In 2018, The Great Alone became an instant New York Times #1 bestseller as did The Four Winds when it was published in February of 2021 as well as becoming #1 on the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie bookstores’ bestseller lists. It was selected as a book club pick by the both Today Show and the Book Of the Month club, which named it the best book of 2021. Firefly Lane, her beloved novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix series around the world, in the week it came out.
Bill welcomes author and translator Gary Gach back to the show. Gary Gach has ten books to his name. He’s author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buddhism, Pause Breathe Smile, and Writers.net; editor of What Book!? – Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop (American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation); and translator with Brother Anthony of Taizé of three books of poetry by Ko Un. His work has appeared in over 150 journals and a dozen anthologies, including The Atlantic, Coyote’s Journal, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Hambone, In These Times, Konch, The Nation, The New Yorker, Technicians of the Sacred, Yoga Journal, and Zyzzyva. A student of Vietnamese Zenmaster Thich Nhat Hanh, he’s been hosting Zen Mindfulness Fellowship weekly in San Francisco for 15 years. His most recent co-authored book is Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. You can find him at: GaryGach.com
Bill welcomes novelist and memoirist Caroline Miller to the show. Caroline is a former elected member of the county commission of Multnomah County, Oregon, and a published author. Since leaving the political arena, she has been a prolific writer. She has published three novels: Trompe l'Oeil in, Gothic Spring, and Heart Land. Her short stories have been published in Children's Digest,Grit and Tales of the Talisman, and her short stories, Under the Bridge and Beneath the Moon, were dramatized for radio in Oregon and Washington. Her two-act play, "Woman on the Scarlet Beast," was performed by the Post5 Theatre company in Portland, Oregon. Getting Lost to Find Home is her first memoir.
Bill welcomes literary romance writer Elizabeth Conte back to the show! Elizabeth is a women’s fiction writer bringing what she loves about 19th century literature to the 21st century reader. She writes poetry, short stories, and novels, with her award-winning debut novel, Finding Jane, released in Spring 2022, and Chosen Mistress Fall 2023. Other published work includes anthologies, The Truths That Can’t be Told, The Truth That Can’t Be Told 2, Love Is In The Air, Let’s Begin Again, Summer Fireflies, and I Have A Dream. Her writing is featured in The Pangolin Review, Sad Girls, Platos Cave, Lost Coast Review, Lake Forest Writers Roundtable, and PennWriters.
Bill welcomes bestselling suspense novelist Nick Petrie to the show. Nick Petrie is the author of eight novels in the Peter Ash series, most recently The Runaway. His debut, The Drifter, won both the ITW Thriller award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel, and was a finalist for the Edgar and the Hammett Awards. A husband and father, he lives in the Milwaukee area. His ninth novel,The Price You Pay, will be published in February, 2024!
Bill welcomes debut novelist Mojgan Ghazirad to the show. A native of Iran, Mojgan Ghazirad is a medical doctor and currently works as an assistant professor of pediatrics at The George Washington University. She holds an MFA in creative writing and has published three collections of short stories in Farsi. Her essays have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Idaho Review, Longreads, The Common, Bombay Review, and Assignment. The House on Sun Street is her first novel.
Bill welcomes novelist, poet, writing coach and entrepreneur Lynne Golodner to the show. Lynne writes emotional novels with compelling Jewish characters who are determined to fill their lives with passion, purpose, and love. Her first novel, Woman of Valor, joins a body of work that includes two poetry collections and six nonfiction books, including Hide and Seek: Jewish Women and Hair Covering and The Flavors of Faith: Holy Breads. Lynne is a writing coach, marketing entrepreneur and host of the Make Meaning Podcast, and her creative nonfiction has been published around the world.
Bill welcomes novelist Susan Zurenda back to the show. Susan Beckham Zurenda taught English for 33 years on the college level and at the high school level to AP students. Her debut novel, Bells for Eli (Mercer University Press, March 2020; paperback edition March 2021), was a Gold Medal (first place) winner for Best First Book—Fiction in the 2021 IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards), a Foreword Indie Book Award finalist, a Winter 2020 Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, a 2020 Notable Indie on Shelf Unbound, a 2020 finalist for American Book Fest Best Book Awards, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for 2021. Susan has won numerous awards for her short fiction, including winning the South Carolina Fiction Prize twice. Her second novel, The Girl From the Red Rose Motel, was published in September 2023, by Mercer University Press.
Bill welcomes essayist, coach, and teacher Estelle Erasmus to the show. Estelle is a professor of writing at New York University, the host of the Freelance Writing Direct podcast, and former “All About the Pitch” columnist for Writer’s Digest. She has written about a variety of subjects (health, beauty, fitness, publishing, business, travel) for numerous publications. Her articles for the New York Times and Washington Post have gone globally viral (with more than 500 comments on her NYT piece, “How to Bullyproof Your Child”). She has appeared on Good Morning America and has had her articles discussed on The View. She has also taught, coached, and mentored many writers who have gone on to be widely published. She is an American Society of Journalists and Authors award winner and was a cast member in the inaugural New York City production of the Listen to Your Mother storytelling show. Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published, is her first book.
Bill welcomes debut novelist Teresa H. Janssen to the show. Teresa's essays, poetry, and short fiction have appeared in a variety of journals, including Zyzzyva, Catamaran, Chautauqua, and in the anthologies Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis (She Writes Press, 2022) and Offerings: A Spiritual Poetry Anthology (Tiferet, 2022). Her novel The Ways of Water (2023) was inspired by her grandmother’s early life. A career educator, she holds a degree in history from Gonzaga University and an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Washington. She lives with her husband on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula where she tends a small orchard and writes about family, the power of place, and social and spiritual topics. Find her online at www.teresahjanssen.com
Bill welcomes debut novelist Elaine Roth to the show. Elaine is a New Jersey based author who writes about young widowhood, grief, and dating as a solo parent. Her work has appeared on HuffPost, Refinery29, Modern Loss, and Scary Mommy. Her story was also featured on People.com and in the New York Times. She has two kids and an adorably neurotic rescue dog who keep her busy when she's not writing or teaching Pilates. The Midnight Garden is her debut novel.
Bill welcomes celebrated novelist Jonathan Evison back to the show. Jonathan is the author of the novels Small World; All About Lulu; West of Here; The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving; This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!; Lawn Boy; Legends of the North Cascades, and most recently, Again and Again. He lives with his wife and family in Washington State.
Bill welcomes bestselling novelist Tess Gerritsen back to the show. Tess has written thirty books that have been published in forty countries and sold more than 40 million copies. Many of her novels have been top 3 bestsellers in the U.S. and #1 bestsellers abroad. Critics around the world have praised her thrillers as “pulse-pounding fun” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “scary and brilliant” (Toronto Globe and Mail), and “polished, riveting prose” (Chicago Tribune), with Publisher Weekly naming her the “medical suspense queen.” Gerritsen made her New York Times bestseller debut with her first medical thriller, Harvest, in 1996 and went on to write many more bestselling books. Her series of police procedurals featuring Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the TNT hit television series Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. In 2021, she co-authored (with Gary Braver) Choose Me, an Amazon Charts bestselling stand-alone thriller. Her new espionage series featuring a mature group of retired spies who call themselves the Martini Club, launches with THE SPY COAST October 31st, 2023!
Bill welcomes memoirist Jessica Hendry Nelson to the show. Jessica is the author of Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief, which was selected as the winner of the AWP Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Her memoir If Only You People Could Follow Directions(2014), which was selected as a best debut book by the Indies Introduce New Voices program, the Indies Next List by the American Booksellers' Association, named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Review, received starred reviews in Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, and reviewed nationally in print and on NPR—including twice in (O) Oprah Magazine. It was also a finalist for the Vermont Book Award. She is also co-author of the textbook and anthology Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writers’ Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2021) along with the writer Sean Prentiss. Her work has been published in numerous literary magazines, including The Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Tin House, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Rumpus.
Bill welcomes historical novelist Christine Wells to the show. Christine writes historical fiction featuring strong, fascinating women. From early childhood, she drank in her father’s tales about the true stories behind popular nursery rhymes and she has been a keen student of history ever since. She began her first novel while working as a corporate lawyer, and has gone on to write about periods ranging from Georgian England to post World War II France. Christine is passionate about helping other writers learn the craft and business of writing fiction and enjoys mentoring and teaching workshops whenever her schedule permits. She loves dogs, holidays at the beach and hunting for antiques, and lives with her family in Brisbane, Australia. Her most recent novel is The Royal Windsor Secret.
Bill welcomes co-authors Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel to the show. Chris Bachelder is the author of four novels, including The Throwback Special, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Terry Southern Prize for Humor. Jennifer Habel is the author of the poetry collections Good Reason and The Book of Jane, which won the Iowa Poetry Prize. Dayswork is the first novel they have co-authored.
Bill welcomes author Robert McKean to the show. Populating ROBERT MCKEAN’S novels and stories are some five hundred characters, steelworkers and bankers, doctors and jewelers, teachers and librarians, lawyers and yardage clerks, salesmen and ballet instructors—all residents of Ganaego, a small mill town in Western Pennsylvania. McKean’s short story collection I'll Be Here for You: Diary of a Town was awarded first-prize in the Tartts First Fiction competition (Livingston Press). His novel The Catalog of Crooked Thoughts was awarded first-prize in the Methodist University Longleaf Press Novel Contest. The novel was also named a Finalist for the 2018 Eric Hoffer Award. Mending What is Broken, his latest novel, is just out from Livingston Press. Recipient of a Massachusetts Artist’s Grant for his fiction, McKean has had six stories nominated for Pushcart Prizes and one story for Best of the Net. He has published extensively in journals such as The Kenyon Review, The Chicago Review, and Armchair/Shotgun.
Bill welcomes novelist Jane L. Rosen to the show. Jane is an author, screenwriter, and former Huffington Post contributor. She often takes inspiration from real-life stories and interviews to craft her novels. Her first novel, Nine Women, One Dress was translated into ten languages. Her second novel, Eliza Starts a Rumor, has been optioned by NBC. A Shoe Story and On Fire Island are out now! She lives in New York City and Fire Island with her husband and three daughters.
Bill welcomes novelist Jennifer Banash to the show. Jennifer Banash is a former professor of English and creative writing, and author of the novels Silent Alarm, a finalist for the American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults; White Lines; Simply Irresistible; In Too Deep and The Elite. Jennifer is also the former cofounder and editor of Impetus Press, a small, independent publishing house that championed works of literary fiction with a pop edge. A native New Yorker, her first apartment was an illegal sublet located next door to the Hells Angels' former headquarters on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Jennifer's latest novel, The Rise and Fall of Ava Arcana, was an Amazon First Read garnering over 2K reviews.
Bill welcomes novelist Holly James back to the show. Holly James holds a PhD in psychology and has worked in both academia and the tech industry. She loves telling stories with big hearts and a touch of magic. She currently lives in Southern California with her husband and dog. Her latest novel is Deja Glitch.
Bill welcomes debut memoirist Donna Marie Hayes to the show. New York City resident and performer Donna Marie Hayes can be found on a stage or in front of a camera, and is a SAG-AFTRA actress and cabaret singer. Her corporate life includes serving as a senior human resources professional in the financial services industry. As an ICF-certified coach, she owns a coaching practice dedicated to helping women shed victimhood for empowerment. These Broken Roads: Scammed and Vindicated: One Woman’s Story is Donna’s first book.
Bill welcomes renowned American novelist and short story writer T. C. Boyle to the show. T. C. Boyle is a novelist and regular contributor to The New Yorker. He has published eighteen novels, including World’s End and The Tortilla Curtain, and twelve collections of short stories. A Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Southern California. His latest novel is Blue Skies.
Bill welcomes debut author, MD, and activist Tanmeet Sethi to the show. Tanmeet Sethi, MD is a board-certified Integrative Family Physician, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington, author of Joy Is My Justice: Reclaim Yours Now (Hachette, 5/2/23), activist and TEDx speaker who has dedicated her career to care for the most marginalized patients in Seattle’s refugee, uninsured and homeless populations as well as global communities traumatized by manmade and natural disasters as Senior Faculty for the Center for Mind Body Medicine. She has been Core Faculty in residency medical education for the last two decades focusing on inpatient and outpatient family medicine, integrative medicine, and anti-racism in medicine. She is a primary clinical researcher at the University of Washington on psilocybin. She is certified in Functional Medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine and fellowship trained in Integrative Medicine from the University of Arizona. She currently sees patients for Integrative and Psychedelic Medicine consultations.
Bill welcomes debut novelist and memoirist Jarret Keene to the show. Jarret earned his PhD in creative writing at Florida State University. A beloved and highly sought after professor, Dr. Keene is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he teaches American literature and the graphic novel. He has written a travel guide, a rock-band biography, poetry collections and edited short-fiction anthologies including Las Vegas Noir and Dead Neon: Tales of Near-Future Las Vegas. Hammer of the Dogs published by University of Nevada Press (September 12, 2023) is his first novel.
