Life Lines The Books Podcast

Wendy Chin-Tanner, poet, novelist and sociologist writes on the topics of race, identity, and culture. She has authored three books, including one finalist for the Oregon book award. Wendy is a founding editor at Kin Poetry Journal, poetry editor at The Nervous Breakdown, and co-founder at A Wave Blue World. Her poems appear in The Mays Anthology of Oxford and Cambridge, among many other publications. For show notes and more log onto brooklynwritersproject.com

A discussion on ageism with Ashton Applewhite, activist and the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism.  Ashton has been recognized by the New York Times, the New Yorker, National Public Radio, and the American Society on Aging as an expert on ageism. She blogs at This Chair Rocks, has written for Harper’s, the Guardian, and the New York Times, and is the voice of Yo, Is This Ageist? Ashton speaks widely, at venues that have ranged from universities and community centers to the TED mainstage and the United Nations. For show notes and more log onto brooklynwritersproject.com

Sergio Troncoso is the author of The Last Tortilla and Other Stories, Crossing Borders: Personal Essays, The Nature of Truth and From This Wicked Patch of Dust. He co-edited Our Lost Border: Essays on Life Amid the Narco-Violence. Among the numerous awards he has won are the Premio Aztlan Literary Prize, Southwest Book Award, Bronze Award for Essays from ForeWord Reviews, International Latino Book Award, and Bronze Award for Multicultural Fiction from ForeWord Reviews. For many years, he has taught at the Yale Writers’ Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut and the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow, New York. For show notes and more log onto brooklynwritersproject.com

Ronna Wineberg, senior fiction editor of the Bellevue Literary Review and a founding editor of the journal is the author of Nine Facts That Can Change Your Life, a collection of stories. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including American Way, Confrontation, Colorado Review, Michigan Quarterly Review. Ronna has been awarded a fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a scholarship in fiction from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and residencies to the Ragdale Foundation and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. For show notes and more log onto brooklynwritersproject.com

Helen Benedict, a professor at Columbia University, is the author of seven novels, including Wolf Season (2017) and Sand Queen (2011) named a “Best Contemporary War Novel” by Publishers Weekly and reviewed by The Boston Globe as “The Things They Carried for women.’” Her nonfiction book, The Lonely Soldier (2009) inspired a class action suit against the Pentagon on behalf of those sexually assaulted in the military, and the 2012 Oscar-nominated documentary, The Invisible War. She is a widely published essayist and reporter. For show notes and more log onto brooklynwritersproject.com

We finish up Season 2 with Hallie Gordon, author of Accidental Residency. We talked about the creative process, indie publishing and the challenges and benefits of being a writer with dyslexia. For show notes and more visit the website www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

In this episode with Laura June, author of the memoir titled 'Now My Heart Is Full' we covered the writing life, motherhood and the challenges and rewards of mining personal life experiences and writing about them. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

In this episode, we had the privilege to interview author Stephen O'Connor about his debut novel, Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings. We talked about the challenges of writing, his writing career and the themes that underlie all of his work. For show notes and more visit: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

This episode was recorded in beautiful Miami where we had a chance to talk with Ana Benitez & Ron Karasz, the founders of Storyrocket. If you've written a manuscript you think is perfect for TV, Film or series programming, tune in. Storyrocket is the latest literary ambassador featured on our podcast. For show notes, links and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Most children are healthy but every year approximately 4 million American children receive a wrong diagnosis for a delayed diagnosis. Too many of them are harmed because of it. One boy suffered for years with a growing list of bizarre symptoms including pain and memory loss before the truth in his case was uncovered. That child was the son of writer Helene M. Epstein who is writing a book about her son’s medical mystery tour. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

A quarter-finalist in Amazon’s 2013 breakthrough novel competition, Shapiro published her short story “Pieces of Light” in Gemini Magazine and her short story “The Convenience Store” in Story Shack. She is currently completing a novella (tentatively named) “Between The Keys” about a pianist whose hand is maimed in a car accident. In this episode, she explains her process (“no outlines”); how to enter your work in competitions (“there are so many”); how to set career goals (regularly) and why “National Novel Writing Month” can help you (“Nanowrimo,” a writing competition, brought commercial success to books like “Water For Elephants”). For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

New York City’s only worker-owned print shop, Radix Media, is nestled in a small and easily-overlooked space on Bergen Street in Brooklyn. Step inside the unassuming front door and you’re transported back in time to an era when books were crafted by hand. Nick Hurd, one of the owners, is the grandson of Clement Hurd, the artist who created the timeless illustrations of the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon. In April 2018, Radix published its first book, an anthology of 33 contributions entitled Aftermath. A second anthology, to be called Futures, is planned. For show notes and more log onto BrooklynWritersProject.com

Award-winning writers of best-selling books come from all over the country into New York City public schools bringing picture books, chapter books and young adult books of all kinds. It’s been going on for the past three years, ever since Michele Weisman created Meet the Writers, Inc., a non-profit and tax-exempt corporation with the mission to promote literacy. One of the original program goals was for every student who meets an author to go home with a signed book. Today, Meet The Writers is very close to doing exactly that. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Brooklyn poet Stella Padnos works “on the fine line between courage and crazy.” A therapist in New York City, she creates intimate, funny and fearless poetry from the dark places we all have and hide. Her first book, In My Absence, a collection of poems on love, ambivalent parenting, and at-times failing relationships, received five stars from Goodreads. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Ken Auletta, media critic for The New Yorker Magazine and author of 12 books, including the bestseller Googled among many New York Times bestsellers, talks about growing up in Brooklyn, sexual harassment in the workplace, and being deeply troubled by the current trends in publishing. “No other reporter has covered the new communications revolution as thoroughly” as Auletta, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. His new book, Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else), is a behind-the-scenes examination of the changes buffeting the global advertising industry … and what this shift means for the survival of the media as we know it. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Writer Patty Bryant has written several romance novels published under different pen names. In this far-ranging conversation on passion, love and Frida Kahlo Barbie Dolls, she talks about the formula for writing romance novels and defends the virtues of the romance genre, which is the biggest selling fiction market. While she is fully aware of its limitations, she appreciates its ability to brighten the dreariness of everyday life. Not only can it provide a bit of happiness, it can teach us about distant cultures while giving a voice to women whose lives were previously underrepresented in historical literature.

Very few of us know or talk about the 9/11 attack that occurred twenty-five years before 9/11/01. Kathleen Murray Moran cannot forget it! Her husband Brian, a member of the New York City Bomb Squad, was killed by an explosive device left in a Grand Central Station locker by terrorists. Life Detonated is the story of how that bomb ripped through Kathleen's life. As Kathleen tried to make sense of her husband’s death, she became involved with one of the terrorists, brought a lawsuit against the NYPD and wrote this book. For show notes and more log onto www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

In this episode, writer Max Lebo explains how to pitch your work to an agent, the value of workshopping a manuscript on its way to publication, and why an aspiring author should develop the habit of reading and writing as a daily practice. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

As a top-earning fund manager on Wall Street who practiced martial arts in his leisure time, Greg Lewin was always in high-stress situations. Then one day he slammed into a tree while skiing and injured his heart so badly his doctors said he’d have to stop doing the things he loved. He chose not to take their advice. Instead, he began a philosophical inquiry that eventually led him from suffering deep depression into becoming a happy person, for the first time in his life. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Amy Lyons is a writer and painter whose chosen work is to portray life in Brooklyn — not as it is now, but as it once was. “I’m obsessed with time travel,” she says. Her art is dedicated to “creating a time capsule.” For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

John Leland, New York Times reporter and author of three books, set out to interview elderly people, the fastest-growing segment of the population. He thought old age would be about loss and giving up the things you loved -- but he uncovered an unexpected reality and perspective. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Kristin Rath wrote a book that is “a support system.” It helps people decide whether to move, when to end a relationship, how to survive a career change and more. Rath says she wrote “the book I wished I’d had” when she was going through some of her own major life turning points. For show notes and more visit www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Anxiety disorder is getting more common and starting at younger ages. Jim Westcott writes stories that help kids with anxiety disorder. We caught up with him at BookCon 2018. For show notes and more visit our website www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

Anthony Wedgeworth graduated high school without learning how to read because his dyslexic brain jumbled everything on the page. Today, he writes popular fantasy books for thousands of loyal readers. “Altered Creatures” is such a popular series that fans wearing costumes to look like his characters swarm him at comic conventions bearing hand-made gifts for him and wearing tattoos of the fantasy world he created. We met up with him at BookCon 2018 at Javits. For show notes and more visit our website www.BrooklynWritersProject.com

MacDonald is a novelist, prize-winning short story writer, creative writing professor and truly genuine. In this episode, she explains the writing secrets that took her 50 years to learn. How to write a great short story. What it takes to find a publisher. When it’s better to self-publish. And what will keep you writing when you don’t want to write. For Show Notes visit our website: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

Maysonave’s work includes the Amazon best-seller 'Casual Power' and a children’s book. Her latest novel, 'The Girl Who Could Read Hearts' has won 14 awards including the London Book Festival and the Beverly Hills Book Awards. Sherry has been interviewed by more than 200 TV, radio and print publications in America and Europe. For Show Notes visit our website: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

We caught up with author D.A. Field at Javits Center on the first day of BookCon 2018 and asked him about his book “Blood Memory Society.” When animals reproduce, he explained, their offspring carry their ancestors’ physical traits. Some animal babies (mice, elephants, insects) are born with their ancestors’ memories too. What if humans were born with this kind of knowledge? This is the question he examines in his book Blood Memory Society. For Show Notes visit our website: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

It took Domenica Ruta three years to write the story of her unconventional coming of age in which she chronicled a misfit ’90s childhood, the painful act of breaking away from her drug-addicted mother, and the struggle to overcome her own demons in the process. Her memoir, With Or Without You, is a powerful, inspiring story about loving and leaving. For show notes and more go to www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

M.M. De Voe is an anthologized, award-winning writer whose short fiction has been published in nearly every genre. De Voe has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes in fiction, as well as, more than a dozen other literary prizes. She is a Columbia MFA Writing Fellow and a St. Petersburg (Russia) Summer Literary Seminar Fellow. More than 300 authors have given readings over the last ten years at Pen Parentis, the organization she founded to support writers who are also parents. For episode show notes visit our website: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

Geoffrey Cobb’s most recent book “The Rise and Fall of the Sugar King” tells the story of Brooklyn’s industrial magnate (robber baron), Henry Havemeyer, one of the richest and most powerful men in America. It is a tale of greed, crime, wealth, power and corruption, but it is also the story of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Based on fifteen years of historical research, it recounts the lives of a half dozen Williamsburg residents from 1844 to 1909. For show notes and more go to www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

Roger Canaff writes fiction as a medium for exposing the truth: that one in three girls and one in six boys have been sexually abused, and that justice requires telling their stories. Canaff himself is a survivor of child sexual abuse. He became a Special Victims Prosecutor and has devoted his career to the eradication of violence against women and children. He says of his writing: "I'm not only telling stories, I'm also providing a conduit to the truth." For show notes and more go to: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

Jen Doll is known for the smart writing she has been publishing for years in The Atlantic, Elle, Esquire, Glamour, GQ, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Vice, The Hairpin, The Village Voice and The Week. In this episode, we talk about her books, which explore the path to adulthood, the search for love, and the meaning of marriage. Doll answers our questions about the reasons why people get married, the reasons why authors write books, the specific way she personally created her manuscripts and how she successfully found an agent and publishers despite interference from one very annoying parrot. For show notes and more go to: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

In this episode, author James S. Kunen describes the personal characteristics that make a writer, the purpose of writing, and the technique for crafting good books. His observations are enlightening and entertaining. About working in the corporate headquarters of Time Warner, he says: “ I wouldn’t piss on Time Warner if the building were on fire. That crackling sound you hear is my bridges burning.” For show notes and more go to www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast

In this episode, we talk about the art of memoir with Patricia Horvath, a prize-winning author, literary magazine editor, and a college professor who teaches creative writing. She tells her students: “Find the thing that makes you unique. What is the story only you can tell? Everyone’s got a story!” For show notes and more go to: www.BrooklynWritersProject.com/podcast