A writing podcast for writers and curious readers, featuring interviews with authors, poets, agents and editors. Twice chosen as one of Writer’s Digest Magazine’s 101 Best Website for Writers. Vermont-grown.
Episodes
Saturday Jun 30, 2018
Saturday Jun 30, 2018
A special feature this week, related to the archive interview I aired on Monday with Robert and Martha Manning: click here to watch a slideshow with audio of my recent walk with friends along part of The Camino de Santiago (The Way of Saint James).You’ll hear music by the Spanish group El Niño del Parking. They are from Andalucia, which isn’t the same region as where the Camino ends, which is Galicia, but I needed to find music I had the right to use.
You’ll hear some moments I shared with the friends I walked with, Carol and Fiona. And you’ll hear many sounds from the natural world, and conversations heard along the trail. I’ve also included a few brief first-hand accounts from pilgrims I met along the way. Finally, toward the end, you’ll hear what sounds like bagpipes. And you’ll be right! As we approached the cathedral at the end, we encountered a bagpipe player, although the bagpipes from the region are actually called The "Gaita Gallega" and they are slightly different from the celtic instrument. At the very end, you’ll hear some music from the service in the Cathedral itself.
So, I hope you enjoy this somewhat unusual broadcast! Enjoy the camino. Or, as the pilgrims say to one another along the route, “Buen Camino.”
Wednesday Jan 31, 2018
Wednesday Jan 31, 2018
Author Rick Smolan, whose new book is The Good Fight: America's Ongoing Struggle for Justice (Against All Odds), co-authored by Jennifer Erwitt.
This week’s Write the Book Prompt is inspired by the interview you heard today. Many thanks to Rick Smolan for providing some photographs from The Good Fight for me to post on the podcast site. (See below.) Have a look at these pictures, and then write whatever you might be moved to express. You can have a closer look by right-clicking (or control-clicking) on each image to open it in a new tab.
Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please listen next week for another prompt or suggestion.
Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro
Photo Credit: Steve Schapiro 1920: KY Governor Morrow signs 19th Amendment
Photo Credit: Jessica Rinaldi Photo Credit: Nuccio Dinuzzo
Photo Credit: Doug Mills Photo Credit: Johnathan Bachman
Tuesday Aug 15, 2017
Tuesday Aug 15, 2017
Middlebury College Art Professor and Photographer John Huddleston, author of Killing Ground: Photographs of the Civil War and the Changing American Landscape (2003, Johns Hopkins University Press) and Healing Ground: Walking the Farms of Vermont (2012, Center for American Places).
This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to find out what used to be in a place that you frequent. Who lived in your house when it was first built? Do you know anything about that person or couple or family? Did another business used to exist in your favorite restaurant or coffee shop? Did an important event happen on land that you’re familiar with? Think about the history of place, and let that history inspire you as you write.
Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please listen next week for another prompt or suggestion.
Tuesday Apr 26, 2016
Tuesday Apr 26, 2016
Vermont Author Neil Shepard, whose new poetry collection is Vermont Exit Ramps II, with photographs by Anthony Reczek (Green Writers Press / Sundog).
Good luck with this prompt, and please listen next week for another.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several former South Burlington High School students).
Monday Mar 03, 2014
Monday Mar 03, 2014
Archive Interview from 2010 with Poet and Story Writer Nance Van Winckel, author of the poetry collection No Starling, published by University of Washington Press.
Saturday Oct 20, 2012
Saturday Oct 20, 2012
Interview with Middlebury College Art Professor and Photographer John Huddleston, author of Killing Ground: Photographs of the Civil War and the Changing American Landscape (2003, Johns Hopkins University Press) and Healing Ground: Walking the Farms of Vermont (2012, Center for American Places). Today's Write The Book Prompt is actually a series of photographs included by my guest, John Huddleston, in his books Killing Ground and Healing Ground. Here you'll find photos that we specifically discuss in the interview, as well as a few others that you might likewise find inspirational. I hope these images speak to you and encourage your writing process. And, as ever, please tune in next week for another prompt. Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several former South Burlington High School students, now alums).
1 - 3 July 1863
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The Union Dead
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51,112 American Casualties
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
In the early afternoon of the first day, the Confederates forced the Federals to retreat from this position just north of the college.
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70,000 American Casualties
Petersburg, Virginia
Bombproof Quarters of Fort Sedgwick, a Key Position on the Eastern Union Siege Line
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15 June 1864 - 2 April 1865
Petersburg, Virginia
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27 June 1862
Gaines' Mill, Virginia
Federal dead from Gaines' Mill were photographed in 1865 after their shallow graves had been exposed.
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15, 587 Casualties
Gaines' Mill, Virginia
Center of the Battle Lines, Site of Several Unsuccessful Confederate Charges
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6 - 7 April 1862
Shiloh, Tennessee
The guns of the USS Lexington (background) shelled the Confederates throughout the evening and night of 6 April.
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23,746 Casualties
Shiloh, Tennessee
Bloody Pond. Here the wounded from both sides dragged themselves to drink and to die.
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19 May - 4 July 1863
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Bombproof Quarters on the Union Line at the Shirley House
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37,293 American Casualties
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Iraq-bound National Guardsmen at the Shirley House, July 1990
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Cows in a Stall.
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Manure Pond.
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Pods/Grass/Snow.
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Ice Columns Sculpture.
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Car Tracks on the Snow.
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Tuesday Aug 30, 2011
Tuesday Aug 30, 2011
Originally from Vermont, Award-Winning Author and Journalist Christian Parenti, whose latest book is Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. This week's Write the Book Prompt was inspired by my interview with Christian Parenti. Write a nonfiction article or essay - or even just a paragraph - on a subject about which you're passionate. This subject might be climate change, women's rights, the work of a nonprofit whose mission you admire, your local school budget, an examination of various diets and their effects on health... whatever matters to you. Try to include in the piece adequate historical perspective to help readers understand the background, an explanation of any confluence of events that might have relevance to your subject, and - as Christian Parenti said - always be sure to keep in mind the larger issues or core ideas behind the details of your story. Don't forget to read and do your research, if you hope to put this out into the world. Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.
Tuesday Mar 15, 2011
Tuesday Mar 15, 2011
Donald and Lillian Stokes, authors of The Stokes Field Guide to The Birds of North America. This week's Write The Book Prompt is inspired by the interview you heard today with Donald and Lillian Stokes. Settle yourself in a comfortable spot where you can spot birds. Either go outside, if it's a lovely day, or sit in a window where you can see birds coming and going. Choose a bird and write as full a description of it as you possibly can. Here's an example from the Stokes' Guide. The Rock Sandpiper is a medium-sized, fairly rotund, short-legged sandpiper with a strongly tapered fine pointed bill that droops slightly at tip. After you record as much detail about the bird's shape, coloring and movements as you can, take that description and use it to fill out details about a character in your work. Mr. Piper was a rotund man of medium height whose short legs made him walk with an amusing little hop. He had a strong nose that drooped at the tip, as if pointing out that he had no chin at all. Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another. Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students).