Inside the Writer's Head

In this podcast episode, 2025 WiR Mary Kay Carson interviews Kathy Sebastian, Children's Librarian at the Miami Township Library, Jill Keller, Youth Librarian at the Covedale Library (formerly West End), and Clair Schroeder, Branch Supervisor - Youth Services at the Groesbeck Library. Mary Kay and the librarians discuss the Library's Summer Reading program and what kids are currently reading.

In this podcast episode, 2025 WiR Mary Kay Carson interviews two regional children's book authors: Jennifer Sommer and Kerrie Hollihan. Originally from Lexington, KY, Sommer currently lives in Dayton, OH. Hear Sommer read from Her Eyes Were on the Stars, her debut award-winning picture book. Sommer received degrees in Political Science as well as Interior Design and Architectural Technology before earning her Masters in Library Science. After two decades working as a children's librarian, she returned to university to earn an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults. Hollihan is the award-winning author of nine nonfiction books for kids and teens. Her latest chapter book, Avery's Pumpkin, saw her take a turn into fiction—but it's an idea she has had in mind for over 30 years. Hear from both authors as they read from their books and discuss the world of hybrid publishing with Carson.

In this podcast episode, 2025 WiR Mary Kay Carson interviews Christine Wilson, Executive Director of Women Writing for (a) Change.Christine Wilson attended the University of Cincinnati for English, with a minor in Women's Studies and Poetry. She was awarded the English Department award for poetry collection. She's held manager and director roles, both in businesses and nonprofit organizations and has worked as an independent editor, always working to bring out the best in people and writing. Christine has facilitated and led retreats around the world for justice, writing, and youth including poetry craft classes at Women Writing for (a) Change.

In this podcast episode, 2024 WiR TaraShea Nesbit interviews Pepper Stetler, author of the upcoming “A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother's Reckoning with the IQ Test."Pepper Stetler is Professor of Art History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She writes extensively on issues facing people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, The Progressive, the Ploughshares blog and Gulf Coast. She lives in Oxford with her husband and their daughter, Louisa. You can find her online at pepperstetler.com.

In this podcast episode, 2024 WiR TaraShea Nesbit interviews children's book author, artist, shop owner, and disability advocate Amy Webb. They discuss Amy's books, her work in disability advocacy, her experience co-writing with her daughter, the impact of her sticker shop, and more. This podcast was recorded at the Downtown Main Library MakerSpace using the recording booth that anyone with a library card can reserve to create podcasts, record music, and more.Amy's first children's book, When Charley Met Emma, teaches children about disability, friendship, and inclusion. The sequel, Awesomely Emma, recounts the children's field trip to the art museum. When Emma learns that there's no accessible front entrance, she and her classmates work together to make a change. Amy's third book, Emma's Awesome Summer Camp Adventure, co-written with her daughter Grace, was published this year. It tells the story of Emma's experience at an inclusive and accessible summer camp, highlighting the challenges all kids face and showcasing what an accessible summer camp space looks like. Amy founded The Sticker Shop, and more about Amy can be found on her website This Little Miggy.

In this episode of Inside the Writer's Head, TaraShea Nesbit talks with poet Yalie Saweda Kamara about her new book, Besaydoo, a book that Ross Gay describes as "a prayer for us all" and the New York Times Book Review highlighted the collection as "evoking ecstatic attention and generosity." In addition to sharing her insights about writing poems, Yalie offers listeners a writing exercise to try, one which inspired her terrific poem, "Mother's Rules," and talks about her polyvocal community writing project she is doing in Cincinnati as part of the 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.This podcast was recorded at the Downtown Main Library MakerSpace using the recording booth that anyone with a library card can reserve to create podcasts, record music, and more.Yalie Saweda Kamara is a Sierra Leonean-American writer, educator, and researcher from Oakland, California in the Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate. This fall, she joined the English Department of Xavier University as an assistant professor. She is also the editor of the anthology What You Need to Know About Me: Young Writers on Their Experience of Immigration and the author of A Brief Biography of My Name and When The Living Sing.Yalie Saweda Kamara earned a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and English Literature at the University of Cincinnati, an MFA in Creative Writing from Indiana University, Bloomington, and an MA in French Culture and Civilization from Middlebury College.In between her studies, she worked in the field of social justice, specializing in educational access and arts facilitation. She has lived in France, Brazil, and the US and has a particularly soft spot, she says, for Oakland, Washington DC, Paris, and the Midwest. And this year, she was awarded the 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.

In the final episode of this season of "Inside the Writer's Head" Manuel Iris interviews renowned British poet and writer Fiona Sampson. They discuss Sampson's musical background informs her writing, how poetry challenges us to read in a different way, the secret coherence that often arises in poems, and more.Fiona Sampson is a leading British poet and writer. Published in thirty-eight languages, she has published twenty-nine books. National honors include an MBE for services to literature, the Newdigate and Cholmondeley prizes, numerous awards from the Arts Councils of England and of Wales, Society of Authors, Poetry Book Society and Arts and Humanities Research Council, and Book of the Year selections. She has been a finalist for the T.S. Eliot and Forward Prizes multiple times. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, of the British Trust for Literary Romanticism, of the English Association, and formerly of the Royal Society of Arts. Alongside international poetry prizes in the US, Bosnia, India, and North Macedonia, she recently received the 2019 Naim Frashëri Laureateship, the 2020 European Lyric Atlas Prize, and, for Come Down, Wales Poetry Book of the Year 2021.

Manuel Iris talks with poet and academic Rossy Evelin Lima-Padilla. In this episode, Rossy shares how she crossed the border as an undocumented minor. Her struggle with the English language, and how her love for writing, literature, and community, gave her the strength to become a poet and professor in the United States. Rossy Evelin Lima-Padilla is a United States-based Mexican writer, scholar, translator and activist. She has published her work in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies in Europe, North America and South America. Lima was recognized by the 2014 International Latino Book Awards for her work on Ecos de barro (2013). In 2015, she was recognized in Venice for her poem, Citlalicue with an International poetry award (Premio Internazionale di Poesia Altino). She was awarded the Orgullo Fronterizo Mexicano award given by the Institute for Mexicans Abroad in 2016. In 2017, she was awarded first place in the Concorso Internazionale di Poesia La Finestra Eterea in Milan in 2017. Poet Laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, wrote that Migrare, mutare (2017) is "A magnificent set of poems, in a most appropriate time."

In this episode, Manuel Iris speaks with Latin American cultural studies professor and Director of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at City College of the City University of New York, Carlos Aguasaco. Hear about his arrival to the US and how poetry and literature have been part of his immigrant story. This is a conversation on identity, belonging, and creative writing. Carlos Aguasaco has edited twelve literary anthologies and authored several poetry collections, including The New York City Subway Poems / Poemas del metro de Nueva York, recipient of the 2021 Juan Felipe Herrera Award for the best bilingual book of poetry granted by the International Latino Book Awards. The Academy of American Poets awarded him the 2021 Ambroggio Prize, the only national award for an author whose first language is Spanish for his book Cardinal in My Window with a Mask on Its Beak translated by Jennifer Rathbun. Aguasaco is the founder and Editor in Chief of Artepoética Press in NYC. He also coordinates the Americas Poetry Festival and the Americas Film Festival of New York. Since 2021 Aguasaco has been a columnist for Newsweek En Español.

Manuel Iris sits down with two internally recognized poets, Tanya Ko-Hong and Tara Skurtu in the latest episode of “Inside the Writer's Head.” In this episode, Manuel, Tanya, and Tara dive deep into how they define poetry, exploring topics like belonging, otherness, creativity, and the limits of language.Tara Skurtu is the author of "The Amoeba Game” and the upcoming poetry collection "Faith Farm.” She is a two-time U.S. Fulbright grantee and recipient of the Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship, the Marcia Keach Poetry Prize and two Academy of American Poets prizes. She is the founder of International Poetry Circle, and the national steering committee member of Writers for Democratic Action. Dara is based in Brooklyn, where she is a writing coach for clients worldwide.Tanya Ko-Hong is an internationally published poet, translator, and playwright who champions bilingual poetry and poets. She is the author of five books including “The War Still Within” published in 2019. She holds an MFA degree from Antioch University in Los Angeles. Tanya's work has been published in several journals and anthologies and won the DritËro Agolli Award at the International KorÇare Poetry Festival, several other awards, and she has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In 2015, her segmented poem “Comfort Woman” received an honorable mention from the Women's National Book Association and adapted into a play by Tabula RaSa NYC Theater and Performance Lab. Recently, she hosted a multilingual reading and workshop at the Fifth Third Street, New York Poetry Library.

Poet Jennifer Hambrick joins Manuel Iris on a new episode of "Inside the Writer's Head" ahead of the arrival of the largest and oldest gathering of haiku poets outside Japan to Cincinnati. The biennial conference Haiku North America is organized in part by Hambrick. Listen in as they discuss the lyrical power of haiku, Hambrick's musical lens of poetry, and information about Haiku North America. A poet hailed for her “brilliant” imagery, “masterful” craftsmanship, and “uniquely musical voice,” Jennifer Hambrick is a six-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of the collections "In the High Weeds," winner of the 2020 Stevens Award; Joyride (Red Moon Press), winner of the Marianne Bluger Book Award; and Unscathed (NightBallet Press). Winner of the 2020 Sheila-Na-Gig Poetry Prize, the 2018 Haibun Award Competition of the Haiku Society of America, and the 2021 Martin Lucas Haiku Award, Hambrick has also received awards from Tokyo's NHK World TV, Haiku Poets of Northern California, the Ohio Poetry Association, and many others.

Is identity a cage or freedom? How do authors write for enlightenment and hope in the midst of despair? Is it possible to be a black artist today without being an activist? What is love's power in poetry?In my inaugural episode of this season of “Inside the Writer's Head,” I chose to interview two brilliant guests to have a conversation about Black history and love. Listen in to my conversation with MoPoetry Phillips and Yalie Saweda Kamara.

In this episode of “Inside the Writer's Head,” Pauletta Hansel interviews three Cincinnati residents who have founded projects with community storytelling at their core, and tells a little about her own project as well.

In this episode of https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZbGCz99xF3lIFdh2Ze3pU (“Inside the Writer's Head,”) Pauletta Hansel, CHPL's Writer-in-Residence, interviews poets Rimel Kamran and Michael Thompson who are impacting society through their art.

 The writer Zora Neal Hurston said, “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” In this episode of “https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZbGCz99xF3lIFdh2Ze3pU (Inside the Writer's Head),” The Library Foundation's 2022 Writer-in-Residence Pauletta Hansel talks with three Cincinnati authors who have produced remarkable books in three very different genres, each using research as a key ingredient. Listen in as these “curious” authors read from their books and talk about their process. 

In this episode of “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, CHPL's Writer-in-Residence speaks with fellow poet laureate emeritus, Manuel Iris and the prolific and award-winning poet Sara Moore Wagner on demystifying the mysterious process of developing a poetry manuscript, a collection of turning individual poems larger than the sum of its parts.

Kari Gunter-Seymour, Ohio's third poet laureate, is a woman with a mission: “to lift up all voices to spread the gospel of poetry far and wide.” Now in her second term, she is launching her newest project, I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing, an anthology of poetry from and about Ohio's Appalachian communities. A grant from the American Academy of Poets and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will provide a copy of the anthology to libraries throughout Ohio, including the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library.

Cincinnati is bursting with writers' communities of various types, both old and new. From the venerable Literary Club, founded in 1849, to Hit the Mic, founded in 2019, writers find inspiration and connection by coming together around the written—and spoken—word. In this episode of our “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Writer-in-Residence Pauletta Hansel speaks with representatives of four such literary groups: Joanne Greenway, Greater Cincinnati Writers League President Richard Hague, Literary Club of Cincinnati President MoPoetry Phillips, Hit the Mic Cincy Founder Lisa Cors Rocklin, Women Writing for (a) Change Executive Director Join us for a wide-ranging conversation about finding the balance between solitude and support, growing Cincinnati's literary community, and more! https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence (https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence)

On this bonus episode of the “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Dani McClain interviews the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library's 2022 Writer-in-Residence Pauletta Hansel. Pauletta is a poet, memoirist, teacher, editor, and the author of nine poetry collections including her newest book, Heartbreak Tree, coming in 2022. She served as the first poet laureate of Cincinnati from April 2016 through March 2018. She received her M.F.A. from Queens University of Charlotte and an M.Ed. from Xavier University. https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence/ (https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence/)

On this episode of the “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Writer-in-Residence Dani McClain interviews poet and professor Felicia Zamora. Join in a wide-ranging conversation ranging from the experiences of having a career in writing to exploring poetry as activism. Dani and Felicia discuss art as a catalyst for change and share their creative writing process. https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence (https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence)

On this episode of the “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Writer-in-Residence Dani McClain interviews poet, teacher, and artist Murray. Dive into the language arts as Dani and Murray share their experiences with performance poetry and how literary concepts can be taught through movement and music. Connect with the world of poetry beyond “Dead, White Poets” as Dani and Murray talk about poetry's power to reach moments of honesty and authenticity. https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence/ (https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence/)  

On this episode of the “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Writer-in-Residence Dani McClain reflects on her process with a recent writing project. She wrote an introductory essay for a new edition of Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience & Institution. In April, WW Norton reissued Adrienne Rich's classic feminist text. Dani shares how she approached this assignment and insights to support writers of nonfiction. https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence/ (https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence/)  

In this episode of "Inside the Writer's Head" Writer-in-Residence Dani McClain interviews author Sheila Williams. Sheila Williams is the author of Dancing on the Edge of the Roof, On the Right Side of a Dream, The Shade of My Own Tree and Girls Most Likely. She is a contributor to an anthology entitled A Letter For My Mother, compiled and edited by writer Nina Foxx. Sheila is a reformed corporate borg (she drank the Kool-Aid but it made her sick), loves to read, listen to music (most kinds), travel, and eat popcorn, preferably served dripping with butter. She lives in northern Kentucky.

In this episode of our “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Dani McClain reflects on her time as Writer-in-Residence in a tumultuous year, and announces that her residency has been extended through 2021!

In this episode of our “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Dani McClain speaks with Streetvibes editor Gabriela Godinez Feregrino.  Gabriela graduated from Ohio University in May of 2018 with a communications degree in media. In school, she studied media production with an emphasis on social change, and also finished a minor in English. She worked at the Ohio University LGBT Center where she found her love for working with and for the community around her.  Her previous employment taught her how to speak on panels, teach advocacy, and grass roots organizing. She knows the importance of advocacy and hopes to spend her life working in this sort of field. She has always been a writer and she was incredibly excited when she found out that we were hiring a new editor—she jumped at the opportunity. She feels it's a privilege to work for this paper as well as an incredible responsibility. She hopes to showcase as many voices from the community as she possibly can.

For the latest episode of “Inside the Writer's Head,” Writer-in-Residence Dani McClain interviews Gavin DeVore Leonard. He's the Executive Director of https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fohvoice.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7CKelly.Sheehy%40cincinnatilibrary.org%7Cfe4b1abf6acc4cd4fbe608d8743ceb6d%7C77eb15114aea452097fa4d1d27ae29ac%7C0%7C0%7C637387152282564577%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=jdH3SRaeRykdW0M5%2B2QEjKmOo%2FKjvz5pIXCWVl8u9f0%3D&reserved=0 (Ohio Voice), Ohio's 501(c)(3) civic engagement table, a job title that he breaks down for us early in our conversation. They discuss the 2020 election, voting, and more.

In this episode of our “Inside the Writer's Head” podcast, Dani McClain speaks with bookstore owner Gregory Kornbluh. They discuss his vision and goal for opening a book store, adapting to COVID-19, and more. A product of Sands Montessori and Walnut Hills High School, Kornbluh got his start in bookselling while doing graduate work in American Studies at UMass Boston. He went on to spend a decade in the Sales & Marketing Department of Harvard University Press, a leading publisher of nonfiction in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, where he worked closely with authors, booksellers, librarians, and media members to help new books and ideas find their audience. After thirteen years on the East Coast, he returned home in November 2018 and opened Downbound's doors late the following year.

In this episode of our “Inside the Writer’s Head” podcast, Dani McClain speaks with bookstore owner Gregory Kornbluh. They discuss his vision and goal for opening a book store, adapting to COVID-19, and more. A product of Sands Montessori and Walnut Hills High School, Kornbluh got his start in bookselling while doing graduate work in American Studies at UMass Boston. He went on to spend a decade in the Sales & Marketing Department of Harvard University Press, a leading publisher of nonfiction in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, where he worked closely with authors, booksellers, librarians, and media members to help new books and ideas find their audience. After thirteen years on the East Coast, he returned home in November 2018 and opened Downbound's doors late the following year.

In this episode of our “Inside the Writer’s Head” podcast, Dani McClain speaks with comedian Luna Malbroux. They discuss one of Malbroux's recent performances that speaks to sex, power, desire, and also about this moment of national uprisings and police violence against Black bodies, and so much more. Named one of KQED's Women to Watch, Luna Malbroux is a comic, writer, and creator of the award-winning play, "How to Be A White Man". Winner of the Comedy Hackday Grand Prize at SF Sketchfest, Luna has made international headlines as the creator of EquiTable, an app that satirically solves the wage gap by creating 'reparations, one meal at a time.' A regular contributor to national publications, Luna has been featured on Fusion TV, AJ+ and Refinery 29. Tastefully crude, Luna is also the host and creator of the live and recording ongoing comedy talk-show, Live Sex. Originally from Louisiana, Luna has dazzled audiences all across the United States with her Southern charm mixed with her bold humor a feature at festivals and clubs alike.

In this episode of our “Inside the Writer’s Head” podcast, Dani McClain speaks with local journalist Nick Swartsell. Nick Swartsell has been staff writer and news editor at CityBeat Cincinnati for six years. He is currently furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but continues to contribute to CityBeat on a regular, pro-bono basis until he can resume full time paid work. Originally from Hamilton, Ohio, Nick completed an undergraduate degree in English and Political Science at Miami's Hamilton, Middletown and Oxford campuses. Shortly after he graduated, he began freelancing for various publications, including a community press covering township government in nearby Fairfield Township. He completed two years of the Americorps Public Ally program in Cincinnati before pursuing a masters degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. While in Texas, he interned for The Texas Observer and The Texas Tribune, writing stories about everything from a heated political battle over an indigenous cultural site in the Texas hill country to cancer cases around a nuclear waste facility near the New Mexico border. He completed his masters thesis on media coverage in neighborhoods undergoing economic and demographic change and subsequently spent a year covering Congress and federal agencies for The Dallas Morning News in its Washington, DC bureau before returning to Cincinnati for a job at CityBeat. Nick's primary areas of coverage include law enforcement and the justice system, housing, systemic and individual issues around poverty, development and urban land use, transportation and breaking news, including coverage of protests, the 2016 RNC in Cleveland, the 2018 Fountain Square mass shooting and the COVID-19 crisis. Nick currently lives in an 11-person intentional community in Mount Auburn.

In this episode of our “Inside the Writer’s Head” podcast, Dani McClain speaks with acclaimed artist and advocate Tim’m T. West. They discuss self-care in quarantine, moving back to Cincinnati, West's poetic memoirs, and more. Tim’m T. West is an educator, poet, youth advocate, and hip-hop artist who has spent decades traveling the nation, speaking about issues at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and social justice. A graduate of Duke University (BA), The New School for Social Research (MA) and Stanford University (MA), he is the author of several books and hip-hop projects and is widely anthologized. He has also appeared in multiple documentaries at the intersection of hip hop and black masculinity. Prior to joining Teach For America in 2014, Tim’m served as inaugural faculty at Oakland School for the Arts, impacted educational outcomes as an English teacher and basketball coach at Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy, and more recently as Director of Youth Services at Chicago’s Center on Halsted. A Board member of the LGBT Institute located at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Tim’m was named one of 31 icons during LGBT History Month in October of 2015. Tim’m currently leads Teach For America’s national LGBTQ+ Community Initiative, advancing safer and braver classrooms for LGBTQ educators and students in grades preK-12.

In this episode of “Inside the Writer’s Head” Dani McClain chats with her friend and colleague, author Daisy Hernández. They discuss memoir writing and the nature of memory, language, the differences between creative writing and journalism, the Midwest, and more. Daisy Hernández is the author of the award-winning memoir A Cup of Water Under My Bed and co-editor of Colonize This: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism. The former editor of Color Lines magazine, she has reported for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Slate, and has written for NPR’s All Things Considered and Code Switch. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Aster(ix), Bellingham Review, Brevity, Dogwood, Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, Jute, and Rumpus, among other journals. A contributing editor for the Buddhist magazine Tricycle, Hernández is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at Miami University in Ohio and is currently teaching at Vanderbilt as the visiting writer in nonfiction for the Spring 2020 semester.

In this episode, McClain and Jan-Michele Lemon-Kearney, who gave McClain her first journalism job in 1997, discuss journalism, the history of the Black press, publishing, objectivity, the upcoming 2020 election, and more. Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney is the president of Sesh Communications, publisher of award-winning The Cincinnati Herald, The Northern Kentucky Herald, The Dayton Defender, seshPRIME magazine, and more. She is also the co-host of WLWT Channel 5’s “Let’s Talk, Cincy” weekly public affairs program and a realtor and attorney in private practice. Before joining Sesh, Ms. Lemon Kearney practiced law with the firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister before branching out into a solo law career. She was born in Cincinnati and attended Rockdale elementary school and Walnut Hills High School. She graduated cume laude from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. While there, she attended an exchange program at an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and was selected first class marshal of her law school class and gave the commencement speech at graduation. Ms. Lemon Kearney is married to former state senator Eric H. Kearney, Esq. who now is the president of the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce and they are blessed with two children.

Welcome to season 5 of Inside the Writer’s Head with our 2020 Writer-in-Residence, Dani McClain! In her inaugural episode, McClain sits down with local author Kathy Y. Wilson, who was the Library’s first Writer-in-Residence in 2014 and a friend and mentor of McClain. Together they discuss everything from writing, health, the marginalization of the voices of Black women and girls, art, and more. Wilson is an acclaimed writer, performer, educator, and art collector, largely known for her provocative column “Your Negro Tour Guide”. Her column was published for eight years from 2000-2005 and again from 2013-2016 in Cincinnati’s alt-weekly City Beat. “Your Negro Tour Guide” was later adapted as a book and a one-woman play. In addition to her multiple creative iterations of “Your Negro Tour Guide”, Wilson has received national exposure through her NPR commentaries on All Things Considered and has been a contributing writer for the monthly Cincinnati Magazine, developing longer-form content about challenging Cincinnati issues and local profiles. She’s also taught writing as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati. Wilson has won accolades for her writings from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, the Cleveland Press Club, and the Associated Press Society of Ohio. Twice, a fellow for the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland, she was also a finalist for a National Magazine Award for her profile on Cincinnati-based conservative talk radio host Bill Cunningham. In September of 2014 the Library Foundation named Kathy Y. Wilson its inaugural Writer-in-Residence. In May of 2016, Wilson received the Rosa F. and Samuel B. Sax Fund Prize awarded by secret committee giving recognition to her many contributions to Cincinnati’s cultural life and civic discourse.

In this episode of Inside the Writer's Head, Jessica Strawser introduces us to her successor here at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, 2020 Writer-in-Residence Dani McClain. Known for her in-depth reporting on race and reproductive health, Dani McClain is a contributing writer at The Nation and a fellow with Type Media Center (formerly the Nation Institute). Her writing has appeared in Time, Slate, Talking Points Memo, Colorlines, EBONY.com, The Rumpus, and other prestigious outlets. Her work has received a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, as well as recognition by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, and elsewhere. A former staff reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, McClain has worked as a strategist with organizations including Color of Change and Drug Policy Alliance. Her book, We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood, was published April 2019 by Bold Type Books. In this episode, they discuss McClain's path to finding her voice as a writer, making it heard, coming back to her Cincinnati hometown as a mother, and what she has in store for the Library community in the year ahead.

Comedian Gabe Kea's unbridled enthusiasm for entertaining audiences is what truly sets him apart. With a personality as big as his 6'5" frame, Gabe melds well-crafted, storytelling-based jokes with his comedic physicality to create an unforgettable show. Gabe started performing in St. Louis after spending most of his youth living in both the United States and Canada. He eventually relocated to southwestern Ohio, where he won the "Funniest Person in Cincinnati" contest. He has made several appearances on the nationally syndicated Bob & Tom Show, has opened for Joel McHale at Gilda's Laugh Fest, and is a regular here in town at Go Bananas Comedy, The Funny Bone, and elsewhere. He has also been featured in various comedy Festivals; Limestone in Bloomington IN, Laughing Skull in Atlanta GA, the Flyover in St. Louis MO, and of course Cincy Brew Ha-Ha. In this episode of Inside the Writer's Head, Gabe joins Writer-in-Residence Jessica Strawser to delve into what writers and comedians can learn from one another, how humor can enhance any type of storytelling, and how to get your message across in an entertaining way.

A few weeks ago, our Writer-in-Residence Jessica Strawser had the honor of joining the world’s #1 bestselling author James Patterson onstage, in front of a packed audience of readers of all ages, at the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts. No ticket? No problem! We’re pleased to bring you the live theater recording of their conversation as this month’s very special episode of Inside the Writer’s Head! Listen as they discuss Patterson’s three newest releases—the adult thriller Killer Instinct (coauthored with Howard Roughan), the middle-grade adventure novel Max Einstein: Rebels With a Cause (coauthored with Chris Grabenstein), and the picture book Bigger Words for Little Geniuses (coauthored with his wife, Susan Patterson)—what it was like collaborating with President Bill Clinton, what’s up next from him (Hint: Alex Cross fans with young readers on your gift list should be very excited!) and much more.

In this episode of “Inside the Writer’s Head,” our Writer-in-Residence Jessica Strawser chats with D.M. Pulley about her experiences behind the scenes in Amazon Publishing, the historical real-life inspiration behind her suspenseful new release, and more.  D.M. Pulley lives just outside of Cleveland with her family. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a professional engineer, rehabbing historic structures and conducting forensic investigations of building failures. It was a structural survey of a vacant building in Cleveland that inspired her debut novel, The Dead Key, which was the grand-prize winner of the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The book, a dark, haunting thriller, went on to be published by Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint and to date has a staggering 10,000+ reviews on the site (with a 4+ star average). She has since published three other stand-alone novels in a similar vein: The Buried Book, The Unclaimed Victim, and No One’s Home (debuting on September 1). Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @DMPulleyAuthor and on Instagram @d.m.pulley.

Kristen Lepionka is the author of the Roxane Weary mystery series, hailed as rebooting and expanding the hardboiled genre thanks to its "private eye with little concern for her own safety (or the gender of her shifting sexual partners)" (True Crime Addict's James Renner). Her debut, "The Last Place You Look," won the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. novel and was also nominated for Anthony and Macavity Awards. Her follow-up, "What You Want to See," hit shelves last summer, and this July brings the latest installment: "The Stories You Tell" (all from Minotaur Books). Kristen's writing has been selected for Shotgun Honey, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Grift, and Black Elephant. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her partner and two cats. Visit kristenlepionka.com.

David Bell (davidbellnovels.com) is the USA Today-bestselling author of eight suspense novels from Berkley/Penguin, including 'Somebody's Daughter', 'Bring Her Home', 'Since She Went Away', 'Somebody I Used to Know', 'The Forgotten Girl', 'Never Come Back', 'The Hiding Place', and 'Cemetary Girl'. His new psychological thriller, 'Layover', is due out July 2, and you can see him discuss the novel in person at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on Monday, July 8. He is an associate professor of English at Western Kentucky University where he directs the MFA program in creative writing. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he spends his free time rooting for the Reds and Bengals, and confusing fellow fans by being named David Bell while rooting for the Reds and Bengals. He lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with his wife, writer Molly McCaffrey. In this episode of “Inside the Writer’s Head,” our writer-in-residence host Jessica Strawser chats with David about the page-turning premise of Layover—which begins with a memorable encounter in an airport—what makes a good thriller, the perks of being married to a fellow writer, and much more.

Award winning author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love stories that let her explore issues faced by women around the world while still indulging her faith in a happily ever after. Her books—including "A Bollywood Affair", "The Bollywood Bride", "A Distant Heart", and "A Change of Heart"—have been on NPR, Washington Post, Library Journal, and Kirkus Best Books of the year lists, but Sonali is most smug about Shelf Awareness calling her “Not only one of the best but also one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” Her latest novel, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors—a multicultural, gender-swapped reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice—released from William Morrow on May 7, 2019. Sonali lives in Chicagoland with her very patient and often amused husband, two teens who demand both patience and humor, and the world’s most perfect dog. Find more at sonalidev.com.

Meg Leder is a Cincinnati native who now lives in Brooklyn, New York, working as an Executive Editor at Penguin Books, where she oversees many of their lead nonfiction titles. She is also a talented author of both nonfiction and young adult fiction. Her debut YA novel, "The Museum of Heartbreak", takes a heartfelt look at the artifacts our relationships leave behind. Her most recent novel, "Letting Go of Gravity", is a moving coming-of-age story set here in Cincinnati—now available in hardcover and forthcoming in a new paperback edition this July. She is also the coauthor of several nonfiction books for teens and adults. In this candid conversation, she offers insight into how editors think, what gives writing its spark, and what it meant to her to bring her hometown to life for a new generation of readers.

In this episode of Inside the Writer's Head, Jessica speaks with non-fiction author Laurie Halse Anderson about her new book "Shout," the impact of sexual assault, and the power of telling stories about it. Content Warning: This article podcast deals with topics pertaining to sexual violence that may be sensitive for some.

Our new Writer-in-Residence is local author Jessica Strawser and her first guest on the Inside the Writer's Head podcast is Jess Montgomery Montgomery is the author of THE WIDOWS (Minotaur Books), a new historical mystery set in the 1920s, in which two women work together to solve a tragic murder and save their community. On the podcast, they discuss writing, storytelling, and writing history specifically. Loosely inspired by the true story of Ohio's first female sheriff in 1925, Montgomery's novel is set in Southeast Ohio's Appalachian foothills and depicts coal mining, Prohibition, workers' rights, women's rights, and other issues that still resonate today. Early chapters of the novel earned Jess an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Award and the John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. She is already at work on the second book in the series, The Hollows, forthcoming in 2020. Listen in for some great insight!

In the final episode of Season 3 of Inside the Writer's Head with Writer-in-Residence Emma Carlson Berne, we hear from our 2019 Writer-in-Residence Jessica Strawser. Strawser is editor-at-large for Writer's Digest and an author of several novels set in nearby towns, including "Almost Missed You" and "Not That I Could Tell." In this episode, Emma and Jessica discuss how to stay committed as a writer even when you have a full-time job and a family. They also answer questions from participants in Emma's last writer's workshop and talk about Jessica's plans as the new Writer-In-Residence. Tune in!

On this episode of Inside the Writer's Head, our Writer-in-Residence Emma Carlson Berne speaks with Michael Bourret. Bourret is a partner of Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret - a well-known literary agency that represents authors from a myriad of genres. In this podcast, they discuss how to get a literary agent, and what it's like working with an agent to get a book published. Bourret also gives some tips on writing a query letter, namely not to stress too much about it. This is the last episode of Season 3 of Inside the Writer's Head with Emma Carlson Berne! And it's a good one. Tune in!

On this episode of Inside the Writer's Head, Writer-in-Residence Emma Carlson Berne talks with the former editor for Writer's Digest Books, Chuck Sambachino. Sambachino is a full-time freelancer, instructor, and humor writer and if you need any advice about getting a literary agent then he's your guy. In this episode, you'll get tips on how to get a literary agent and why it is so important you have one. Sambachino also discusses social media's role in publishing today, what agents actually do for you, and what they can't do for you. If you've ever thought about publishing a book, this is the writer whose head you definitely want to get inside.

On this episode of Inside the Writer's Head, Writer-in-Residence Emma Carlson Berne talks with children's book author Aubre Andrus. Andrus has authored more than 25 nonfiction books for kids, including "101 Small Ways to Change the World." She is the former Lifestyle Editor for American Girl magazine, and they discuss how she transitioned to writing full time. Andrus talks about what it's like working alone as a freelance writer, and the stress that comes along with finding your own work - but also the freedom and reward. Listen in for some great career writing insight!

This month, Writer-in-Residence Emma Carlson Berne speaks with Brandon Miller. Brandon is an author of books on history for young people. Her books cover subjects like Women of Colonial America, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. Miller's stories have been honored by the International Reading Association, National Council for Social Studies, and more. During the interview, Millers gives insight on the importance (and fun) of research for historical nonfiction writing, and writing from different historical perspectives. She shares what it is like working with an editor to get a book published and what her daily life as a writer is like. Anyone looking for insight in to writing as a professional career, give this interview a listen!

In this very special episode of Inside the Writer's Head, the Library's Writer-in-Residence speaks with Cincinnati's poet laureate Mauel Iris. Iris promotes poetry appreciation in our community, and encourages the reading and writing of poetry for all ages. The award-winning poet talks about his origins as a poet, and how music has influenced his lyrical poetry. He tells the story of how his grandfather introduced him to the dictionary, kindling lifetime love affair with words. "Every poem is a love poem, we write because we love something," Iris says. Iris reads an original poem from his latest book, "Translating Silence," in both Spanish and English. They also discuss the publishing process, and how different writing poetry is from publishing it. This episode with a local leader and artist is full of insight on writing and the power of words - don't miss out!

In the latest episode of Inside the Writer's Head, Writer-in-Residence Emma Carlson Berne talks with Michelle Bisson. Bisson is the Senior Acquisitions Manager at Capstone, a large publisher of educational books for kids. They discuss her long, unexpected journey to publishing and Bisson shares some uplifting advice for anyone who might feel like their career is headed in a wayward direction: "Everything that I've ever done sort of happened by mistake..." but it lead her to exactly where she wanted to be. You'll learn about what it's like to be an editor, and see evolution of a story from manuscript to print. Get a glimpse in to the relationship between author and editor and why humility is so important in the publishing world. Anyone interested in writing or working in publishing will learn a lot from this podcast!