This week’s episode features a candid conversation with Washington Post reporter Soraya McDonald. In this interview, you’ll recognize right away the wit that shades much of her prose. Soraya is a graduate of Howard University and began covering the high school sports desk as a
I decided to interview Chelsey Clammer because I was super impressed with her dedication to writing and publishing. I’ve joked that she’s a submission machine, but this woman is no heartless robot. Spirituality is at the center of her writing practice and in this interview,
In this week’s episode, I talk to author and journalist Kenny Porpora about his debut memoir The Autumn Balloon. The show also features: An interview with Emily Griffin, Kenny’s editor at Grand Central Publishing Writers on Writing Radio Show My New School MFA classmate Erin
Since I’ve started podcasting, I’m listening to more podcasts. Earlier this week, I recommended my new fav show produced by writers Sherman Alexie and Jess Walter. Yesterday morning, I downloaded a few other shows, in search of more audio literary gems, and I found one that
As the universe would have it, I discovered the six-month old podcast, “A Tiny Sense of Accomplishment,” hosted by Sherman Alexie and Jess Walter. Like their Car Talk counterparts (the popular NPR radio show featuring two brothers who humorously answer questions about cars and life),
A couple years ago, I started saving quotes by writers – kind of like Rachel Toor refers to in her article on The Chronicle of Higher Education. I wasn’t writing nowhere near as consistently as I am now (and by “nowhere near” I mean that
In this week’s journey Behind the Prose, I interview teacher and writer Joan Dempsey. Before discussing the way she crafts character actions (she’s got a technique that will certainly show you how committed she is to authenticity in her work), we talk about how she’s
Think you got what it takes to write a novel? How about a novel that gets picked up by one of the hottest directors around (Ava DuVernay) on one of the most influential television networks – Oprah Winfrey’s OWN TV? Well, if you can commit
BY KEYSHA WHITAKER “Writing is hard. For most writers, the financial rewards are few. I know the best I can hope for—and I hope for this daily—is a nice email from a stranger letting me know that something I wrote helped. Or moved them. Or
BY SARAH GERARD “Show, don’t tell,” might as well be hanging above the doorway of every writing classroom. I can’t say I always agree with it—every rule must be broken occasionally—but it held true in the editing of “BFF,” my forthcoming chapbook to be published by Guillotine
So in case you’ve been living under a literary rock, Sarah Gerard’s debut novel Binary Star is a cosmic force in its own right. According to Wolf Literary Services, Gerard’s made EIGHT best lists for 2015. Count ’em: ONE: GQ‘s Six Best Books of January TWO: Buzzfeed’s
On Sunday, Feb. 15, I spoke with Dr. Andrew Bomback about his two essays “I Know That Elmo is Not a Child Molester” and “Errands” which ran in Full Grown People and the Journal of the American Medical Association, respectively. Associate Senior Editor of JAMA,
Slow and steady wins the race. That’s the impression I got after my interview with writer Aimee Baker who discussed her nonfiction essay “This Monstrous Heart” which ran in New Delta Review last December. Aimee admitted that she doesn’t have time to put words on
On Sunday, Feb. 1, I interviewed writer Soo Na Pak on episode three: Location, Voice, and Tone in Creative Nonfiction. She shared how she allows rejection to fuel her writing process and inspired me with her – to borrow one of her eloquent words – “liberatory” approach
It is with great Behind the Prose pride,that I share the awesome news about Natalie Baszile’s first novel. Queen Sugar is moving to Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network under the helm of Selma director Ava DuVernay. I am proud, but I’m not surprised. Days before the news broke,