AuthorViews Video Podcast

AuthorViews turned around the camera on filmmaker David S. White at the 2005 New Orleans Bookfair. Like the other people in our "Katrina Tapes" collection, David had just returned to the city and has that Post-Traumatic look most of us carried that day. Imagine being a budding filmmaker, working for years and finally getting a film accepted for viewing at a major film festival, then having all that wash away in front of your eyes. It's unbelievable the amount of trauma Katrina wrought -- even for those whose possessions were not drowned under eight feet of toxic saltwater. Today, David S. White stands at the brink of a dream fulfilled. On Thursday, August 31, 2006 -- weather permitting -- his latest film, Sex Between Us, will debut at the Howlin' Wolf club in New Orleans. Again, weather permitting, his short film, The Date, will premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival in October.

We're very pleased introduce you to the delightful Verita Thompson, author of the memoir Bogie & Me, who shares her recollections about life with film star Humphrey Bogart. Thompson was Bogie's hairdresser and lover for more than a decade. She is joined here by screenwriter Dean M. Shapiro, who is working on a screenplay based on the book. This video was filmed in New Orleans, where Ms. Thompson and Mr. Shapiro reside. In this 2-minute video, Ms. Thompson tells how she and Bogart destroyed an antique bed at a 4-star hotel -- along with other surprising anecdotes about one of the greatest actors in the history of moving pictures.

Joshua Clark is becoming a great collector of Louisiana lore. Editor and publisher of the seminal anthology, French Quarter Fiction, Josh returns to AuthorViews this week to preview his forthcoming collection, Louisiana in Words. On my first trip back to New Orleans after Katrina, the city was under mandatory evacuation orders and largely deserted except for National Guard troops and relief workers. Rolling down Bourbon Street on my way out of town, who should I see but Josh Clark, tape recorder in hand, gathering as much first-hand testimony as his batteries would permit. Louisiana in Words is not a transcript of those observations -- a treasure trove that chronicler Clark will no doubt publish some day. Rather, the book contains extremely short contributions from people in all walks of life -- well-known writers to unknown farmers -- from all over the Great State of Louisiana. In this 2-minute video, filmed in the Bywater District of New Orleans, the mellifluous Mr. Clark reveals the origins of Louisiana in Words, and gives a sneak preview of its contents.

Robert Smallwood looks like any local you'd see strolling through New Orleans' French Quarter on a hot summer day, sporting a guayabera shirt and Panama hat. But the French Quarter sights that Smallwood recounts in The Five People You Meet in Hell are anything but typical. The book is a chronological account of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath and his personal experiences during that time. On the other hand, many of the books’ stories are the kind that take place “only in New Orleans.” In this 2-minute video clip, filmed in New Orleans in June 2006, Smallwood tell us about swapping a “disembodied” finger for a six-pack of beer.

Just in case anyone's confused about Ken Foster's canine love, he sports a T-shirt that reads, "I Love My Pit Bull," and shares his camera time with his own pet pit bull, Sula. Sula's mutual affection for her owner is evident, as she eagerly licks his face. That symbiosis is one of the major tenets of Foster's most recent book, The Dogs Who Found Me. The non-fiction work is about 17 stray dogs that Foster has rescued throughout his life and, as he puts it, "how they helped me." Foster's dogs comforted him through 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and other traumatic events. In this 2-minute video, he explains how his dogs helped him realize he had a near-fatal heart condition.

Pat Feeney points out that although the Cuban Missile Crisis has been covered extensively in books, none of those written words have ever really told the tale of the American military wives and children. Her first book, An Indefinite Period, is a nonfiction account of her experience on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base as one of those military wives. In this 2-minute video, captured at the 2006 Virginia Festival of the Book, Feeney gives us a glimpse at the evacuation procedure she and her children endured during the Crisis. Watch the video to see how words from John F. Kennedy during that evacuation still move her, more than 40 years later, and inspired the title of her book.

This video of the flamboyant Ms. Heller was filmed over a year ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Both Heller and AuthorViews have moved around so much in the interim it was hard to get approval to release the video. Today, we can finally share this 2-minute gem with you. If You Hear the Message Three Times, LISTEN is a collection of anecdotes from Heller's life. They're "my stories, told with my sense of humor," she says. In the video, Heller relates the story of a cave dive in Hawaii where she went searching for the meaning of life. All of a sudden, the author -- who is also a singer -- belts out the song that came to her during her dive. What song did she hear? Watch and find out!

We resume our video release program today with a wonderful clip of poet and short story writer Lee Meitzen Grue. We captured Grue in the courtyard of the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in New Orleans where she was attending the 2006 Tennessee Williams Literary Festival. Edited to a brisk two minutes, this video finds Grue discussing the art of editing and the value of brevity. We hope you'll enjoy it. Lee Meitzen Grue -- Welcome Back to AuthorViews!

A couple months ago, we debuted Frank S. Joseph's video wherein he talks about his new historical fiction novel, To Love Mercy. Set in Chicago in the late 1940s, the book is about two boys -- one Black and the other Jewish -- who search the city together for a missing talisman. The novel explores racial issues in Chicago during that era. We are very pleased to be able to offer an excerpt from To Love Mercy. Entitled "Bronzeville," it covers the history of this Black Metropolis from the Great Migration to the era of segregation.

It's no surprise that Reginald Johns is a school teacher, with his gentle demeanor, perpetual smile, and message about spreading love throughout the world. He joins us at the 2006 Virginia Festival of the Book to discuss his gorgeous, illustrated gift book, Love is Life's Lesson. In this 2-minute video, Johns describes the art contained in the book, created by his friend, Mike Ridgeway. The hardcover book is filled with Ridgeway's colorful illustrations, which are done using calligraphy, collage, and other media. He also explains the various inspirations for this book, including some words of wisdom from his father.

We continue our "Katrina Tapes" series with this clip of David Koen, an attorney who works for New Orleans Legal Assistance. Koen works on the Predatory Lending Project, "which helps people get out of the burden of exorbitantly priced loans." He has concerns that his work will increase due to Hurricane Katrina. Many of his clients are from the poorer areas of the city, such as the Lower Ninth Ward. In this 2-minute video, filmed at the New Orleans Bookfair, Koen explains the ways he thinks predatory lenders will target his clients and others like them.

In this clip, Bob O'Connor sports a patriotic tie, emblazoned with the U.S. flag design. Fittingly, the novel that he discusses with us at the 2006 Virginia Festival of the Book is about a significant event in United States history. Perfect Steel Trap: Harpers Ferry 1859 is the product of O'Connor's research into the infamous arsenal raid in 1859 and the subsequent capture, trial, and hanging of John Brown. The novel is written in the fictional voices of Brown's son, Owen, and Osborne Anderson, who both helped with the raid. Although the book is historical fiction, the content is nearly 100% factually accurate. In this 2-minute video, O'Connor shares some of the interesting factoids he uncovered during his extensive research, such as the association between John Brown and Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Carla Danziger looks like someone that would have inspired her own Hidden Falls heroine: chic fashion, an appearance that suggests Scandinavian descent, and a worldly air. Danziger joins us at the 2006 Virginia Festival of the Book to talk about Hidden Falls, a murder mystery that takes place in Norway. In this 2-minute clip, she explains how her novel is more than just your run-of-the-mill whodunit.

We continue our series of videos from the 2006 Virginia Festival of the Book with Pat MacEnulty. In this 2-minute clip, MacEnulty, a North Carolina resident, describes her newest novel's plotline, which takes place in Charlotte. With her dark hair and dress, looking a bit mysterious herself, she describes the book as "noir mystery." Time to Say Goodbye is MacEnulty's third published novel, but her first stab at crime fiction.

Most of her life, N.M. Kelby has been a journalist. As a reporter, she has been shot at, spit at, and nearly drowned. "So, these days," she says, "I opt for joy." On her website, Kelby says, "To write a novel is a joyous act. You show the reader what is possible in the world. You give hope. And humor. And understanding." In this 2-minute video clip from the Virginia Festival of the Book, you can definitely see Kelby's joyous and cheerful side. She playfully describes the comedic tale of her latest book, Whale Season, wherein a 70-year-old Buddhist meets a serial killer and is determined to find the good within him.