Novelist Caroline Leavitt and memoirist Molly Brodak talk with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Caroline Leavitt, author of Cruel Beautiful World, and Molly Brodak, author of Bandit talk with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about their books, and the art and business of writing.

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(Broadcast date: 11/23/2016)

Shawn Shiflett and Jim Fusilli

In the first half, Shawn Shiflett, author of Hey, Liberal! talks to co-host Nicole Nelson about the challenges of humanizing evil characters, writing realistic dialogue, and how being a natural mimic helps him create authentic-sounding voices.

In the second half, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett talks to Jim Fusilli, editor of, and contributor to Crime Plus Music about how being a music critic influenced him as a fiction writer, how he finds short stories more challenging to craft than novels, and why noir seems to work better in short fiction and movies as opposed to longer formats.

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(Broadcast date: November 9, 2016)

Clarence Major and Kelly Luce on Writers on Writing

In this post-election show, Clarence Major (novelist, poet, painter, short story writer and essayist) joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest story collection, Chicago Heat and Other Stories.   What's been on his mind?  How do we love?  How do we connect?  Where do we find hope?  He shares this and more.

In the second half, Kelly Luce talks about her debut novel, Pull Me Under.  She discusses her time in Japan, and how a phenomena unique to Japanese youth influenced her novel.  Kelly also discusses working with psychologically difficult characters, what a move to present tense did for the book, and how she became a serious writer after leaving her MFA program.

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(Broadcast date: November 16, 2016)

Gina Frangello and Francine Prose

Gina Frangello, author of Every Kind of Wanting, joins Marrie Stone to talk about writing through difficult life circumstances, how literature can save us, the inspiration for her characters, and more.

In the second half, Francine Prose shares her novel Mister Monkey.  Everything is fodder for her writing.  She talks about embracing various points of view, how books have a life of their own, life coincidences, and how she tackled the "monkey problem."

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(Broadcast date: November 2, 2016)

Dennis Palumbo chats with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about the challenges that plague writers

Author, former screenwriter, and Los Angeles therapist to creatives, Dennis Palumbo, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about writers block, writing fiction, writing for the large and small screen, and much more.

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(Broadcast date: Oct. 26, 2016)