November 15, 2011
Listen to a conversation with Young Adult book author, Delia Ray. Her most recent book, “Here Lies Linc”, a Junior Library Guild Selection, describes what happens when young Lincoln Crenshaw Jr. investigates a curse connected with an ominous statue in a nearby cemetery. A graduate of the Radcliffe Publishing Course, Delia Ray wrote two nonfiction books while working as an editor in Seattle. The New York Public Library selected “Behind the Blue and the Gray: The Soldier’s Life in the Civil War” for inclusion in Books for the Teen Age. “Singing Hands”, Delia’s historical novel about her deaf grandfather, was named Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. Her book “Ghost Girl”, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the Depression, was nominated to the final master lists for Children’s Choice awards in six states.
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November 7, 2011
Philosopher Robert Sessions, author of “Becoming Real: Authenticity in an Age of Distractions”, believes that our modern culture makes it very difficult for us to develop a coherent identity. His book, filled with quotes and examples from ancient wisdom to modern politics, uses personal stories and philosophical musings to discuss the way everyday distractions keep us from being ourselves. Robert is Professor of Philosophy & Humanities at Kirkwood Community College.
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November 2, 2011
We have a very special Writers’ Voices interview with author and activist, Frances Moore Lappé. “Diet For A Small Planet”, her first book, sold millions of copies and has received praise from around the world. She has since authored 17 other books, including her newest “EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want”. She is the co-founder of Small Planet Institute and Food First. Gourmet Magazine named her one of 25 people (including Thomas Jefferson, Upton Sinclair, and Julia Child), who have changed the way America eats. Frances is passing through Iowa on her current book tour.
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October 21, 2011
Cheryl Fusco Johnson welcomes children’s author Dori Butler and her publicist Michelle Bayuk. Dori is the author of many children’s books and stories. Her book “The Buddy Files: Case of the Lost Boy” won the 2011 Edgar Award. Dori has been “ghostwriter” for ten Sweet Valley Twins and Boxcar Children books.
With 20 years experience in children’s publishing, Michelle F. Bayuk has been Director of Marketing at Albert Whitman & Company since February of 2009. Previously Michelle was Marketing Director for the Children’s Book Council. She’s worked at many publishing houses, including Millbrook Press and Scholastic.
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October 13, 2011
Seventh-generation Iowan, Zachary Michael Jack has written the book, “Native Soulmate: A Season in Search of a Love Homegrown”. It tells of his attempts to love fresh, love local. Travelling across the state of Iowa, giving lectures and signing books, Zachary tests his theory that the girl of his dreams may be closer than he imagines.
Zachary Jack has authored “What Cheer: A Love Story”, been a sports editor and has edited many anthologies, including “Letters to a Young Iowan”, “Iowa: The Definitive Collection”, “Uncle Henry Wallace: Letters to Farm Families”, and many more. He currently lives in rural Iowa.
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October 5, 2011
Diane Wilson, fourth-generation shrimper who made a living along the Texas Gulf Coast, was driven to activism when she discovered her area was number one in the nation for toxic waste disposal. Through determination and hard work, Diane convinced local plastic manufacturers to sign a zero-discharge agreement. She has become a strong and vocal determined activist who has taken on a number of other environmental and human rights causes. In 2002, she helped co-found, Code Pink, a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement. Diane has written several books. “An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, And the Fight for Seadrift, Texas”(published in 2006) tells her story in her own words. She was also the subject of the 2008 documentary film, “Texas Gold”.
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September 26, 2011
Tune in for an exciting interview, as our guest is an expert in “disrupting the ordinary” and tries to help others do the same. Kristen Moeller, author, speaker, personal coach, and radio show host, has recently written the book “Waiting for Jack: Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie”. After struggling with addictions to drugs, alcohol, and food, Kristen realized her transference of addiction to the self-help world. Through personal anecdotes, including the fateful first encounter with Jack Canfield(the man behind Chicken Soup for the Soul) that changed the course of her life, Kristen explores the ways we wait for life and look outside ourselves for answers.
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September 17, 2011
2011 saw two children’s books released by Iowa author Wendy Henrichs. “I Am Tama, Lucky Cat” (Peachtree) retells the 17th-century Japanese legend behind the beckoning cat figurines commonly displayed in Japanese shops and restaurants, with pictures by award-winning illustrator Yoshiko Jaeggi. “When Anju Loved Being an Elephant” (Sleeping Bear Press), illustrated by accomplished artist John Butler, reveals how a lonely elephant no longer young enough to work in a circus or reside in a zoo finds friendship at last. Always an animal lover, Wendy lives in Iowa City with her husband, two sons, two cats, one dog, and whatever stray wildlife manages to slip into their 88-year-old home.
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September 9, 2011
This Writers’ Voices features an interview with local Fairfield author, Andrew Edlin. Andrew Edlin was born in Brighton, U.K. and currently lives in Fairfield, Iowa. Andrew has written the fantasy novel “Inaccessible: Dragon Retreat”, which was self-published and is being released through e-book applications.
Taking place in 1961, when the few solitary dragons are threatened as their invisibility begins to fail, the Protectors, allies of the dragons, led by 15-year old Griff Owen and his family, go up against the forces that are working to destroy the dragons and their Protectors.
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September 5, 2011
Monte Schulz, son of famed Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz, is our guest. Monte is the author of several books, including his upcoming novel, “The Big Town”, the third book in Schulz’s trilogy of books delving into the American psyche during the Jazz Age. The book follows the story of a failed businessman, whose future prosperity hinges on a secret proposition from a millionaire industrialist, and his relationship with a poor orphan girl chasing love. Taking place in the summer before the stock market crash of 1929, his novel vividly recreates the Jazz Age, complete with speakeasies, sanitariums, and glittering Gatsby-like parties.
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