B&N Meet the Writers Audio Interviews

In our interview, the author of the Barbecue Bible cookbook series explains that his guides are a "love song to global grilling," and that he was inspired to explore how this cooking technique has been perfected around the world by three simple words: "follow the fire."

In our interview, the author of Sammy's Hill and Sammy's House reveals that she decided to be a writer when she was just seven years old. "As soon as I realized the stories my parents read to me when I was little were written by actual people, I wanted to be a part of that," she explains.

In our interview the author of Drop Dead Beautiful reveals that she began raising eyebrows (and heart rates) with her writing at an early age. "When I was a little kid, I was always writing stories -- making up stories at school, selling them to my school friends -- you know, dirty limericks, stuff like that," she laughs.

In our interview, the author of Quiet Strength talks about how the process of writing his memoir helped him to appreciate his experiences. "I just feel like I've had a blessed life," he reflects.

In our interview, the author of Evidence of Things Unseen and The Shadow Catcher recalls how observing the work of her favorite painters inspired her writing. "I thought -- Lord! How can I do that with words? How can I make something 'pop' in that way?"

In our interview, the author of Presidential Courage explains, "The idea is that presidential courage is a time when a president jeopardizes his popularity, or his presidency, or maybe even his life for something that changes American history for the better."

In our interview, the author of Divisadero discusses his writing process. "I think that all books, like film, are made up of scenes," he explains. "Then you have to kind of meld them together in some way that builds the characters as you go along."

In our interview, the author of Dog Days recalls how the feedback from his early years helped him to develop as a writer. "I would say that dealing with rejection, along with determination, is probably the most important thing a writer can do," he reflects.

In our interview, the author of The Feminine Mistake asserts it's time to realize that combining work and family is possibly the best choice for most women, and that the age-old argument that they can't "have it all" isn't necessarily true. "Economic dependency is an extremely dangerous gamble -- and it's one that many women lose."

In our interview, the author of The Kite Runner and his sophomore effort A Thousand Splendid Suns talks about the pressure writers can feel when it comes to writing that next book.

In our interview, Kurson discusses his latest work, Crashing Through, a stunning true story of one man’s heroic odyssey from blindness into sight.

In our interview, the author of The Yiddish Policeman's Handbook says there are three things required for success as a novelist: talent, luck and discipline.

In our interview, the author of Undead and Uneasy discusses the importance of humor in her work. "I can't not write funny," she laughs. "It's a facet of my gross immaturity!"

In our interview, Phillips talks about being a defender of her genre. "I don't think that the Romance genre comes under the cloud that it used to, because too many people read it now," she observes. "The only people who really make fun of Romance now are the people who don't read it!"

In our interview, the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist reflects that "the war on terror is primarily going to be fought inside each of us… what's likely to kill us at the end of the day is much more likely to be an automobile accident or cholesterol -- not a guy with a beard."