Writers on Writing

Literary agent Laurie Fox spent the entire hour on the show talking about what she looks for in potential clients, query letters, and more. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: Nov. 5, 2014)

New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer joins Marrie Stone to talk about her latest young adult novel, Belzhar, her attraction to young adult fiction, Sylvia Plath, and what makes a compelling character.  Thrity Umrigar joins in the second half to discuss her latest novel,  The Story Hour, and how the power of narrative has the ability to alter our world view.   Download audio. (Broadcast date: October 15, 2014)

Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Quiet Dell, and Matthew Thomas, author of We Are Not Ourselves, join Marrie Stone to talk about inspiration, craft, endurance, and their revision process. Download audio. (Broadcast date: August 27, 2014)

T. Jefferson Parker, author of the new mainstream literary novel, Full Measure, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his book, writing, the books he re-reads and much more. Jeff will be the featured author, in conversation with Barbara, at the Pen on Fire Speaker Series in Corona del Mar, CA, on Tuesday night, Oct. 14. If you'd like to attend, click here for more information. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Oct. 8, 2014

Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This (Random House, 2014) joins Barbara for an hour of literary talk about his new novel, how it began, revising, and much more. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: Aug. 20, 2014)

I love that Andy Ross is the former owner of Cody's Books in Berkeley, and that I went there when I first moved to San Francisco after college. When The Satanic Verses came out, someone threw a pipe bomb through the window (it didn't explode), and the staff voted unanimously to continue to sell the controversial novel (was there ever a more controversial novel??). "That was my proudest moment in bookselling," Andy says on his website, andyrossagency.com. He's was on the show, for the entire hour, Andy talks about what his agency takes on, publishing, Amazon, and more. He was great fun to talk to, and I hope to do it again. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: August 6, 2014)

Romance novelist Jane Porter (with too many novels to mention) and Andrea Portes, author of Bury This, talk about the art and craft--and business--of writing fiction. Download audio. (Broadcast date: March 26, 2014)

Jill Amadio, author of Digging Too Deep, and Sheila Lowe, handwriting analyst and author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis and What She Saw, talk about their novels and nonfiction, writing suspense, and the mystery and suspense genre. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Weds., March 16, 2014)

Marrie Stone chats with Alice LaPlante, author of Circle of Wives, about the power of the unreliable narrator, knowing when to abandon projects that don't work, where story inspirations come from, and much more.  In the second half, novelist Zachary Lazar talks about his latest novel, I Pity the Poor Immigrant, writing about foreign places and times, and the power of juxtaposing unlikely people and things to create compelling stories, and more.  Download audio. (Broadcast date: May 21, 2014)

Literary agent Colleen Mohyde, with the Doe Coover Agency in Boston, and novelist Ivy Pachoda, author of Visitation Street join Barbara DeMarco-Barrett for a conversation about books, publishing, and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: May 14, 2014)

Marrie Stone chats with short story writer, Jim Gavin, about his debut collection Middlemen.  In the second half hour, Nicole Nelson talks with Jennifer Gilmore, author of The Mothers. Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 2, 2014)

Marrie Stone chats with award-winner author Francine Prose about her latest novel, Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 and stand-up comic and writer A. L. Kennedy, author of the short story collection All the Rage. Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 30, 2014)

Lydia Denworth, journalist and author of I Can Hear You Whisper: An Intimate Journey through the Science of Sound and Language, and screenwriter Deena Goldstone, author of the short story collection, Tell Me One Thing, talk with guest host Nicole Nelson. Download audio We are in our semi-anual fund drive until May 2, 2014, and possibly through May 4, depending on how it goes. Every donation helps; please consider contributing: (949) 824-5824, (949) UCI-KUCI or www.kuci.org/donations (please indicate Writers on Writing is what you listen to on KUCI).  Thank you so much for your support. (Broadcast date: April 23, 2014)

Marrie Stone interviews NYT best-selling author Wally Lamb about his latest novel, We Are Water and short story writer and novelist T.C. Boyle, author of San Miguel and his most recent compilation of short stories, Stories II. Download audio. (Broadcast date: December 4, 2014)

Akhil Sharma, author of Family Life, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about the 12-plus years and 7,000 pages he took to write the novel. He also talks about why, when the book is highly autobiographical, he chose to write the story as a novel and not a memoir. Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 9, 2014) Note: This podcast starts a few minutes into the interview. Akhil is with us for the entire hour with no musical break at half.