From debut authors to Pulitzer Prize winners, Writers on Writing tackles a little of everything — novels, short stories, memoir, poetry, and more, as well as interviews with agents and publishers.

Unlike other shows dedicated to discussing books, we focus on the art, craft, and business of writing. Writers appreciate the opportunity to talk about the artistic elements of their job — the thousands of decisions that must be made to produce a manuscript. There’s no aspect of craft, creativity, and publishing we don’t explore.

We’ve hosted well over 1,500 authors on the show including Elizabeth Strout, S.A. Cosby, Ann Patchett, Amor Towles, and George Saunders. Expert advice from some of the industry’s top writers allows us to offer a show that’s been called “your own personal MFA program” (with no financial strain).

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone

Music and sound editing by Travis Barrett

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EPISODES

(2001 - present)

Nicole Nelson 8/4/14 Nicole Nelson 8/4/14

Jennifer duBois and Kate Zambreno

Nicole Nelson talks with Jennifer duBois, author of Cartwheel about the challenges of writing (and discussing) a novel that drew its initial inspiration from a real event, in this case, the Amanda Knox trial and the strong and diverse opinions that people held about the verdict. DuBois also talks about learning to relax into a scene, and writing plays to sharpen her dialogue skills. Kate Zambreno, author of Green Girl and Heroines, talks about her experience re-releasing Green Girl -- how the re-release came to pass and what it was like to have the option to revise a work that was published years earlier. She talks about developing the shopgirl protagonist Ruth, who tries to sell the scent "Desire" to people, and achieving urgency in her prose by writing toward confrontation.

[The show begins abruptly due to the loss of the very beginning (but the interviews are complete).]

Download audio. (Broadcast date: July 30, 2014)