Talking with Authors

This is the fifty-third episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is journalist, broadcaster, and New York Times Best Selling writer Joan Lunden. We spoke with her via Zoom in October of 2020 about her newest book "Why Did I Come Into This Room?: A Candid Conversation about Aging" by publisher Forefront Books.Joan Lunden was a co-host on Good Morning America for 17 years in the 80s and 90s and is currently a special correspondent at NBC. And among many other things, she’s written eight books as well. In her most recent book, “Why Did I Come Into This Room,” she takes on the subject of aging, specifically in women, and how the seldom discussed issues associated with getting older leaves so many women feeling isolated.However, from minor aches and pains, to major health issues, this new book reflects many of the issues that she’s dealt with...but handled with a sense of humor. We’ll hear more about the book and life experience of journalist, broadcaster, and best selling writer Joan Lunden on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our interviewer this time is Victoria Babu.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Interviewer and producer for this episode - Victoria BabuVideo Editor - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Paul LangdonPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthorsd

This is the fifty-second episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is journalist Connor Towne O'Neill. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his book "Down Along with That Devil's Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy" by publisher Algonquin Books.Writer Connor Towne O’Neill is a Pennsylvania born journalist that has had work in thoroughly northern publications like New York Magazine, and has been a producer on the Southern history based NPR podcast, “White Lies”. He’s a in instructor at Auburn University in Alabama now and researched and penned the book “Down Along with That Devil’s Bones” after more than 5 years of trying to pick apart some of the reasons why monuments to Confederates are still so common, like ones to the slave-owning, Southern General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first head of the Ku Klux Klan. In the book he explores not just the odes to Forrest, but to other racist and problematic figures from Southern history. And he digs into how even those from the North, like himself, that wish they were absolved from the current presence of the memorials, could and should feel otherwise. We’ll explore more details of the book and of the life experience of journalist and writer Connor Towne O’Neill on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Paul Schankman.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Interviewer, producer, and editor for this episode - Paul SchankmanSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fifty-first episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is journalist and sports writer Reid Forgrave. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his book “Love, Zac” by publisher Algonquin Books.Writer Reid Forgrave has spent most of his career covering sports. He’s done long form reporting on the Olympics, basketball, and the NFL, and worked with the New York Times, CBS Sports and other organizations. But in his book, “Love, Zac”, he takes on the real life tragic death of a small town, high school football player that was ultimately found to have died from the effects of CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.Zac Easter took his own life, but left behind enough clues to what he thought was wrong with him so that he would feel like his life had meaning. We’ll find out the impact that Zac’s death had on his family, his home town, the sports community, and our guest as well, writer Reid Forgrave on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Victoria Babu.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Interviewer for this episode - Victoria BabuVideo Editor - Kerry MarksSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Paul LangdonPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fiftieth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and best selling author, Laila Lalami. We spoke with her via Zoom in October of 2020 about her newest book “Conditional Citizens” by publisher Pantheon Books.Laila Lalami is a naturalized US citizen of Arab descent born in Morocco. The professor of linguistics’ pathway to citizenship lasted from 1992 to 2000 and she experienced a wide range of contradictions along the way. She notes in “Conditional Citizens” that she realized while she had to declare herself as ethnically “white” on official paperwork…she didn’t see Arabs existing the same way as other “white” people in the real world.In her memoir that consists of her essays she’s written over the years, she breaks down how “accidents of birth” such as national origin, race, or gender play a large role in shaping the experience of what it means to be “American” to this day. We’ll learn more about this book, other best sellers, and the life of professor and writer Laila Lalami on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our interviewer this time is Anna Crosslin.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Interviewer for this episode - Anna CrosslinVideo Editor - Peter FoggySupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the forty-ninth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.The now celebrated and respected lawyer Jill Wine-Banks was a young prosecutor and only woman on the team during the Nixon impeachment hearings. In “The Watergate Girl”, she tells how she elicited this testimony and exchange from the president’s secretary about the missing audio from the famous taped recordings. from that famous revelation, she moved along as a trailblazer throughout her career in law at the US Army, for the state of Illinois, and the American Bar Association. The memoir of the status quo breaking jurist, writer Jill Wine-Banks is our guest on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.A side note and another reminder for context…this conversation was recorded on November 6, 2020…which was just after the 2020 presidential election. It was also after the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump in December of 2019, but before the events around the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021…and subsequent second impeachment of Trump.Our host and interviewer this time is Kathy Bratkowski.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and video producer of this episode - Kathy BratkowskiVideo Editor - Peter FoggySupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Paul LangonPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to The Jewish Book Festival.You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the forty-eighth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is the Best Selling author Jan Greenberg. We spoke with her in St. Louis in November of 2020 about her newest book “World of Glass: The Art of Dale Chihuly” by publisher Abrams Books. The award winning writer Jan Greenberg has penned books for adults and children about art of all types. From poetry to pottery…ballet to van Gogh, she’s been able to break down interpretations of all of the forms for readers to make the works more accessible to all that encounter them. This time she went into the “World of Glass”, which she wrote with her frequent collaborator Sandra Jordan, and artist Dale Chihuly because of the transformative nature of his work. We’ll hear about her visits to Chihuly’s studio for research on this book, how and why she got started writing about art, how she works with her collaborator and more. Best selling writer Jan Greenberg is our guest on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and video producer of this episode - Angie WeidingerVideo Editor - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Left Bank Books and the St. Louis County Library.You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the forty-fifth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is New York Times Best Selling author Jasper Fforde. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his newest book "The Constant Rabbit" by publisher Viking Books.The British novelist Jasper Fforde writes works of fantasy in what’s been called an “absurdist reality” style. He uses concepts and situations that are grounded in real life, but then he gives himself a “narrative dare” when composing the work, and fuses the two together. The original spark this time produced the book “The Constant Rabbit”. It’s our world, but one with anthropomorphic bunnies that speaks to how humans relate to others…and themselves. We’ll hear about this book, the “Thursday Next” book series and more of the creative life of New York Times Best Seller Jasper Fforde on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and video producer of this episode - Angie WeidingerVideo Editor - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Left Bank Books and the St. Louis County Library.You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the forty-fourth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is the Sunday Times best selling and award winning author Matt Haig. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his newest book “The Midnight Library" by publisher Viking Books.English writer Matt Haig has penned two dozen works…both children’s and adult…fiction and non-fiction in his career as a novelist. He’s worked as a journalist as well. But what he likes to infuse his work with is from a career path he didn’t take. we’ll certainly hear about different philosophies in his book “The Midnight Library”, along with a look into his love of science, libraries, and screen adaptations of his pieces. Award winning author Matt Haig is our guest today on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Carrie Robb.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this episode - Carrie RobbVideo Producer - Christina ChastainVideo Editor - Kerry MarksSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Paul LangdonPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to The Novel Neighbor.You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the forty-third episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is Rachel Howzell Hall. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her newest book "And Now She's Gone" by publisher Macmillan.Rachel Howzell Hall is based in Los Angles and the author of 9 novels and many short stories and essays. She’s written science fiction, mystery, and crime stories featuring the character Lou Norton. But the story in “And Now She’s Gone” is one that really began a long time ago for her. We’ll find out more about the mix of magic, intrigue, and abuse in this latest work. And we’ll her about the literary volunteer efforts and very busy life outside of the page of author Rachel Howzell Hall on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time, Heather Ash.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this episode - Heather AshVideo Editor - Kerry MarksSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the forty-second episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is New York Times Best Selling British crime novelist Ann Cleeves. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her newest book “The Darkest Evening" by publisher Macmillan.Ann Cleeves is the author of more than 30 books, some of which have spawned two TV series with a third on the way. The BBC has the show “Shetland”, and the station ITV has the very popular show “Vera” based off of Cleeves’ character from her novels, Detective Vera Stanhope. Why does the author think “Vera” has caught on so well with audiences?Our host and interviewer this time, Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of the video version of this episode - Angie WeidingerVideo Editor - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Paul LangdonPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the forty-first episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is New York Times Best Selling author Yaa Gyasi. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her second and newest book “Transcendent Kingdom" by publisher Penguin Random House.Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama as a daughter of immigrant parents. She uses that lived experience in her newest work of fiction to broaden the conversation around the way that many stories are told about newcomers to the United States….this time through the tale of the main character, a neuroscientist named “Gifty". We’ll get into detail about the gripping life and times of Gifty and her family from the book and the real life of our guest Yaa Gyasi in our conversation today with this award winning, New York Times Best Seller on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Tayari Jones.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this episode - Tayari JonesVideo Editor - Peter FoggySupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fortieth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is author Elise Hooper. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her third and newest book “Fast Girls" by publisher HarperCollins.Elise Hooper is a writer of historical and biographical fiction. She’s taken on the subjects of women in different periods of history in all of her work…such as the real women of the novel “Little Women”, and early 20th century documentary photographer Dorothea Lange. In “Fast Girls” she focuses on the story behind some of the women on the US Olympic team that competed in the summer games of 1936 in Berlin. we’ll get into detail about three of these athletes and their individual paths to Germany…along with a story about finding the stories when we start our conversation with writer Elise Hooper on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time, Ashley Hasty.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Ashley HastySupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Paul LangdonPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-ninth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is forensic anthropologist, television producer and author Kathy Reichs. We spoke with her via Zoom in June of 2020 about her newest book "A Conspiracy of Bones" by publisher Scribner Books.The 12 seasons of the TV show “Bones” was produced by Kathy Reichs and the title character Temperance Brennan is loosely based on Kathy’s life as a practicing forensic anthropologist. When Kathy started writing the character of Temperance 20 books ago, she was able to bring her experience to the page and make the readers’ experience very authentic. But writing the books changed how she worked in forensics a little bit too.We’ll get into detail about how she details her written work and learn about how she’s remained a prolific writer while working for TV and being an academic. Kathy Reichs is our guest on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time, Paul Shankman.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host, editor, and producer of this episode - Paul ShankmanGraphics - Gregg Kopp & Jayne BallewSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-eighth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is New York Times Best Selling writer, Tom Clavin. We spoke with him via Zoom in June of 2020 about his recent book "Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday and the Vendetta Ride from Hell" by publisher St. Martin's Press.Tom Clavin was a reporter at the New York Times and has written on a variety of topics for prominent magazines like Smithsonian, Golf, and Cosmopolitan. But his series of historical books that focused on the legends from the United States’ westward expansion, helped bring him multiple best sellers. The research and work he did for his final book of the trilogy, “Tombstone”, dispels some of the myths about the OK Corral, but reveals some even more fascinating stories. And the fictionalized print and movie versions of the tales of Doc Holliday and the Earp Brothers almost pale in comparison to what he has discovered. We’ll hear about the more true story of the “Wild West” in today’s conversation with New York Times Best Selling writer Tom Clavin on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time, Paul Shankman.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host, editor, and producer of this episode - Paul ShankmanGraphics - Gregg Kopp & Jayne BallewSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Paul LangdonPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-seventh episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is a screenwriter and Booker Prize winning author, Roddy Doyle. We spoke with him via Zoom in June of 2020 about his newest book “Love: A Novel” by publisher Penguin Random House.Roddy Doyle has placed the setting of many of his 11 novels for adults in and around his home stomping grounds of Dublin.“Love: A Novel” continues in that vein. This tale centers around a pub crawl of two 50-year-old drinking buddies of decades. They find that this on night out they try to talk a bit more deeply than they ever have with hopes of continuing a their kinship on a more mature level. The subject of love comes up and they talk about a woman that they knew long ago in their younger days of carousing. Roddy wrote this conversation with some intentional ambiguity. And from their talk about their past object desire, the book hits on the subject of different kinds of love, including love between childhood friends. We’ll hear more about the winding path the book takes AND about the recent screenplay work of award winning writer Roddy Doyle on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Brenda MaddenVideo Editing - Peter FoggyGraphics - Gregg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-sixth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is award winning writer, Bonnie Tsui. We spoke with her via Zoom in June of 2020 about her recent book “Why We Swim” by publisher Algonquin Books. Bonnie Tsui is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and California Sunday Magazine and has previously written a book about some of the “Chinatowns” that are around the US. In her newest offering, however, she’s focusing on humans and their relationship to the water. She’s the daughter of two swimmers and grew up being a competitive swimmer herself.“Why We Swim” takes a look at the stories of a wide range of people from swimmers of all types around the world and goes into the reasons why they…and other humans…seem to have an innate attachment to the water. We’ll go deeper into the subject of people and their draw to H20 in our conversation with award winning writer Bonnie Tsui on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Here’s our host and interviewer this time, Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Angie WeidingerVideo Editing - Peter FoggyGraphics - Gregg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Audio Editing - Ben SmithPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Surf Simply, St. Louis County Library, and Left Bank BooksYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-fifth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres. We’re excited to be back after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.Our guest this time is Political Journalist Jennifer Steinhauer. We spoke with her via Zoom in June of 2020 about her latest book “The Firsts: The Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress” by publisher Algonquin Books.She has been a journalist with the New York Times for over 30 years. Throughout her career she’s written about everything from the West Coast, to politics, business, food, and health care. Since 2010 her main beat has been the US congress and her new book explores the experiences of the women in the 116th congressional freshman class and how the sudden increase in female members has impacted the house and senate. We’ll explore the hurdles many women have to overcome when running for public office, hear how the current social climate and the pandemic have affected the freshmen class, and learn about the history of women in the congress, as Jennifer Steinhauer joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org. Host and Video Producer – Victoria Babu Supervising Producer – Julie Winkle Video Editor – Greg Kopp Audio Editor – Paul Langdon Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-fourth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres. We’re excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.Our guest this time is Sweden’s “Queen of Crime” Camilla Lackberg. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her latest book “The Golden Cage” by publisher Penguin Random House.Her books have been translated into 40 languages and have sold over 20 million copies around the world. In addition to being one of Europe’s most recognizable crime novelists, she is an entrepreneur, part owner of a jewelry company, co-founder of an investment firm dedicated to helping women start their own businesses, and creator of a popular Swedish soap opera. We’ll hear about her formative years, learn about her inspiration for the characters in her crime novels, and get some insights into how her career and celebrity status has changed her home town as Camilla Lackberg joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org. Host and Video Producer – Angie Weidinger Supervising Producer– Julie Winkle Video Editor – Greg Kopp Audio Editor- Paul Langdon Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-third episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re excited to be back after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.Our guest this time is New York Times Best-Selling author Linda Castillo. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her book “Outsider: A Novel of Suspense” available through Macmillan Publishers.She is the author of over 30 novels, including the immensely popular Kate Burkholder Series. We’ll learn more about Kate Burkholder’s past, as it’s explored in Linda Castillo’s latest novel. We’ll also hear how she got interested in Amish society, why she chose to make that the setting of her most popular series, and how a new character introduced in her latest book has been in development since the first Kate Burkholder novel was released over a decade ago, as Linda Castillo joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org. Host and Video Producer – Kathy Bratkowski Supervising Producer– Julie Winkle Video Editor – Peter Foggy Audio Editor – Ben Smith Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-second episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres. We’re excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.Our guest this time is Pulitzer-prize winning historian Anne Applebaum. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her latest book “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism” by publisher Penguin Random House.She is a writer for the Atlantic, as well as a Senior Fellow of International Affairs and an Agora Fellow in Residence at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where she co-directs LSE Arena, a program about disinformation and 21st century propaganda. In her new book she uses her expertise in these areas and personal experiences to explore the rise of fascist authoritarianism across the globe and explain how the political landscape’s changes over time have allowed it to happen. In this conversation we’ll learn about the negative effects cultural tribalism has on democracy, explore the ways some world leaders have exploited “cultural despair” for their own gain, and hear how parts of Europe have handled the Covid-19 pandemic as compared to the United states as Anne Applebaum joins us on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org. Producer – Julie Winkle Host – Brenda Madden Video Editor – Greg Kopp Audio Editor- Paul Langdon Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-first episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.Our guest this time is founder and CEO of Organize 365, Lisa Woodruff. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her latest book “The Paper Solution: What to Shred, What to Save, and How to Stop It From Taking Over Your Life” by publisher Penguin Random House.She is a professional organizer, productivity coach, and podcaster. She uses her background in education to help instruct other on how to better organize their living spaces. In this conversation she shares the story of how she became a professional organizer, and we’ll learn what to expect when starting to sort through personal papers as Lisa Woodruff joins us on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org. Video Producer and Host – Victoria Babu Supervising Producer – Julie Winkle Video Editor – Peter Foggy Audio Editor- Ben Smith Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirtieth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.Our guest this time is bestselling author Fiona Davis. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her latest book “The Lions of Fifth Avenue” by publisher Penguin Random House.Her novels all follow a theme, each is a work of historical fiction based around a building in New York City. Her settings have ranged from the Dakota Apartments in the 1880s, to Grand Central Terminal in the 1920s, to the Chelsea Hotel in the 1950s. In “The Lions of Fifth Avenue” her setting is, of course, the New York Public Library. She discusses her writing process as well as how the New York Public Library’s fascinating collections and history have influenced her latest novel on this edition of Talking with Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Producer – Julie WinkleHost – Ashley HastyVideo Editor – Peter FoggyAudio Editor- Ben SmithProduction Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer – Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-ninth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect. Our guest this time is Wes Moore. We spoke with him via Zoom in July of 2020 about his most recent book “Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City” published by Penguin Random House.He’s an author, combat veteran, and CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a top poverty fighting nonprofit. But his incredible life story isn’t the focus of this episode’s conversation. Instead, he discusses the life and tragic death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man that suffered a fatal spinal cord injury at the hands of the Baltimore police in April of 2015. Moore’s latest book examines the aftermath of this young man’s death, as told through the experiences of multiple people from different backgrounds. Important topics concerning race, police violence, and the needs for systemic change in the United States are addressed on this edition of Talking with Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Producer – Christian Chastain Host – Kira Banks Video Editor – Christian Chastain and Greg Kopp Audio Editor- Ben Smith Production Support – Jayne Ballew HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-eighth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re very excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. Now sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect. Our guest this time is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers Award for Best Short Story of the Year and author of over 35 novels, Jeffery Deaver. We spoke with him via Zoom in May of 2020 about his latest book “The Goodbye Man” by publisher Penguin Random House.His books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide, and have featured protagonists including the exceedingly popular quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme, and even fiction’s most famous secret agent James Bond. “The Goodbye Man” is the second book to feature his latest hero, Colter Shaw, an itinerant reward-seeker. We’ll learn about Deaver’s latest thriller, get some insights on the settings of his books, and hear some stories from his years on the road on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Producer – Julie Winkle Host - Angie Weidinger Video Editor – Greg Kopp Audio Editor- Ben Smith Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-seventh episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re very excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. Now sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect. Our guest this time is renown restaurant critic and former editor of Gourmet Magazine Ruth Reichl. We spoke with her via Zoom in May of 2020 about her latest memoir “Save Me The Plums” published by Random House.Her previous memoirs have been translated into 18 different languages and published all around the world. Considering her impact on food media, it’s no wonder so many people want to know more about her experiences. She’s been blazing new trails throughout her career, from her writings in the New York Times to her tenure as editor for Gourmet Magazine. We’ll learn a little about her current documentary project exploring Covid-19’s impact on the food industry, get her insights into the future of food media, and hear quite a few stories from her latest book on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org. Producer – Julie Winkle Host - Magazine Heather Hughes Huff Video Editor – Peter Foggy Audio Editor- Paul Langdon Production Support - Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-sixth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres. We’re very excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. Now sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect. Our guest this time is international bestselling author Alex George. We spoke with him via Zoom in April of 2020 about his book “The Paris Hours” published by Flatiron Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers.Before starting his career as an author, he worked as a corporate lawyer in his home country of England, as well as Paris. Now living in Columbia Missouri, he owns his own bookstore, still occasionally practices law, and spends his days writing critically acclaimed novels like “A Good American” and “Setting Free the Kites.” We’ll learn the details of how his latest novel was developed, hear about his life in Europe and the American Midwest, and get insights into his experiences as both an author and a bookshop owner on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org. Host and Video Producer - Angie Weidinger Video Editor – Greg Kopp Audio Editor- Ben Smith Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle Production Support - Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon Podcast Host - Rod Milam You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors": Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-fifth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re very excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. Now sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect. Today, our author is an intelligence expert and award winning creator of 5 novels, Alma Katsu. We spoke with her via Zoom in April of 2020 about her book “The Deep” by publisher Penguin Random House.This writer of horror and historical fiction has had her work published in 10 different languages around the world. But her career before writing for public consumption was with the NSA, CIA, and other intelligence agencies in the United States. Given that background, she knows how important it is to get facts correct. And with that in mind, before she took on her most recent book about the twin ocean liners the Titanic and the Britannic, she had to really think through what she was getting herself into. We’ll hear about that story of “The Deep”, talk a bit about her earlier work on the subject of The Donner Party, and learn more about her writing process. Award winning author Alma Katsu joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Here’s our host this time is Victoria Babu.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and Video Producer - Victoria BabuVideo Editor - Kerry MarksAudio Editor- Paul LangdonSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew and Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-fourth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re still back with you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. After the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. Now sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.Today, our author is an award winning, #1 New York Times Bestselling creator of over 20 novels, Chris Bohjalian. We spoke with him via Zoom in April of 2020 about his book “The Red Lotus” by publisher Knopf Doubleday.This Vermont based writer has been a published novelist since 1995. And like most writers, he gets ideas from his own experiences and hobbies. With the oddly prescient and timely “The Red Lotus”, after he figured out that part of the locale would be in southeast Asia, he turned his one of his past-times into research to help him fill in his story. And he mixed a bike trip with interviews with emergency room doctors and epidemiologists to come up with the thriller that provides mystery in the characters, and a knowing fear for the reader since we are all now in the middle of a global pandemic. Author Chris Bohjalian joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and Producer - Angie WeidingerVideo Editor - Greg KoppAudio Editor - Ben SmithSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-third episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re very excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. Now sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect. Today, our author is the #1 New York Times Bestselling creator of over 30 works in the international thriller genre, James Rollins. We spoke with him via Zoom in April of 2020 about his book “The Last Odyssey” by publisher Harper Collins.“Two books a year for the last 20 years,” is how this practicing veterinarian has spun off his interest in writing into a full-blown successful literary career. And his signature series of books “Sigma Force” has taken up the largest area of focus for his writing. In “The Last Odyssey”, as usual, he draws inspiration from his fondness for myths and stories from around the world. This time, the Abrahamic religions caught his attention and he was driven by their views of The End Times.In this interactive, virtual interview we’ll learn more about this newest book, his coming work, his process for writing, and some more about his many interests. Author James Rollins is our guest this time on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is the author events coordinator for the St. Louis County Library, Carrie Robb.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host - Carrie RobbAudio Editor- Paul LangdonSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-second episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.We’re very excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned. But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. Now sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect. Today, our author is a New York Times economic reporter and writer, Eduardo Porter. We spoke with him via Zoom in March of 2020 about his book “American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed our Promise” by publisher Penguin Random House.Being an economic reporter and having focused on the cost that people are willing to pay for things in their everyday lives in his first book “The Price of Everything”, Eduardo Porter wanted his second book to focus on how the United States seemed to be unwilling to pay as much for a social safety net as compared to its peer nations. But the path to writing that book lead him down the road to why that unwillingness exists…Race.And throughout the book he dives into how and why those lines have diminished the potential that the US has. We’ll hear some of these details, talk about some possible solutions, and learn a bit about the life of reporter and writer Eduardo Porter on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Christina Chastain.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Producer, Host, and Video Editor - Christina ChastainAudio Editor- Ben SmithSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twenty-first episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is documentary filmmaker and writer of books about Hollywood history, Robert Matzen. We spoke with him as he was on tour in November of 2019 with his book “Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II” by publisher GoodKnight Books.Robert Matzen was working on his second book in the mid-2010s about Hollywood actors during World War II, when he learned that Audrey Hepburn actually lived in German occupied The Netherlands throughout the conflict. It had been believed that she’d been part of the Dutch resistance during that time, but Robert, ever the documentarian, couldn’t find any definitive writings that could confirm that OR much about her life during that time. The reason…her parents’ pre-war sympathies and activities. Even with press questions at time, they yielded nothing.But later he was able to connect with the sons of Audrey Hepburn and spend a great deal of time in The Netherlands to unearth the details of the decade’s hidden subject and write about it himself first…to his amazement. We’ll learn about some of these details, how they were gotten, and how Audrey Hepburn’s life as a child in a war zone lead her to her support children suffering in conflicts around the world as an adult in our conversation with filmmaker and writer Robert Matzen on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Here’s our host and interviewer this time, Paul Schankman.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host, editor, and producer of this episode - Paul SchankmanPhotography - Peter Foggy, Ken CalcaterraAudio - Paul LangdonEditor and Graphics - Jayne Ballew and Gregg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twentieth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is a culture reporter for the New York Times and four time book author Dave Itzkoff. We spoke with him as he was on tour in November of 2019 with his then brand new book “Robin” a biography of Robin Williams by publisher Pan Macmillan.Dave Itzkoff is a journalist that has covered the worlds of film, theatre, TV, and pop culture…and he would need to use his knowledge of all of those worlds to take on the subject of the comedian and actor Robin Williams when he decided to write his biography. The multi-talented artist that died back in 2014 had previously given some interviews with Itzkoff back in 2008 and 2009. Those talks coupled with more than another 100 interviews with family and friends, helped Dave learn about the ways that Williams connected to his fame and his fans. He also learned about the darker world of depression and addiction that Willams occupied. We’ll take a deep dive into the career of the iconic comedian and actor Robin Williams and learn about his journey through Hollywood and later life. Culture writer Dave Itzkoff on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Angie WeidingerPhotography - Peter Foggy, Ken Calcaterra, and John RossAudio - Ben SmithEditor and Graphics - Jayne BallewSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina Chastain and Jayne BallewHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the nineteenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Our author is award winning investigative journalist Ben Westhoff. We spoke with him as he was on tour in September of 2019 with his then brand new book “Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic” by publisher Grove Atlantic.But after following that thread of information, he found himself tracking down the source of the additives to China, tracing the spread of the synthetic drug throughout the world, and testifying in the halls of the Congress about the manufacture, use, abuse, and effect of fentanyl in the United States. We’ll learn about investigative journalist Ben Westhoff’s deep journey through the illicit drug world and hear some stories about the lives of the businesses and people effected by it on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Brenda MaddenPhotography - Peter Foggy and Ken CalcaterraAudio - Ben SmithEditor and Graphics - Kerry MarksSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina Chastain and Jane BallewHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the eighteenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is independent film and television producer and writer Marra Gad. We spoke with her as she was on tour in November of 2019 with her book “The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl” by Agate Publishing.Marra Gad was born as the product of a relationship between an unwed black father and white Jewish mother in Chicago, Illinois, and was adopted into an all white Jewish family in 1970 at three days old. As an obviously mixed race child of the time, she grew up standing out in the close knit Jewish community and synagogue of her adopted parents and in the city of Chicago in general. But her parents were firmly behind her and against all people that couldn’t understand that she was who she was. But the strain from too much attention was always with her.But with explicit backing, she found a way to always seek paths of connection to those that were racist and hurtful to her…even those in her own family that she was once close with when they were willing and able to receive her love. We’ll take a deep dive into the unique life of producer and author Marra Gad, our guest on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Brenda MaddenPhotography - Peter Foggy and Ken CalcaterraAudio - Ben SmithEditor and Graphics - Kerry MarksSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina Chastain and Jane BallewHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to the St. Louis Jewish Book FestivalYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the seventeenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is the New York Times Best Selling writer Dr. Michael Roizen. We spoke with him as he was on tour in November of 2019 with his book “What to Eat When: A Strategic Plan to Improve Your Health and Life Through Food” by publisher The National Geographic Society.Dr. Roizen is a board certified anesthesiologist and internist, and the chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic, an academic based medical center in Cleveland, Ohio. He became a 5-time New York Times Best Selling author with a series of books from his RealAge service of personal health tools for the general public. He has made many media appearances over the years and been part of the Dr. Oz Show for several episodes. In this new book “What to Eat When” that he penned with fellow doctor Michael Crupain, he talks about new research that showed him that timing of eating also effects people’s overall health.We’ll go over his findings and prescription for changing the way that everyone eats so that they can maximize their health. Dr. Michael Roizen is our guest on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our host and interviewer this time is Victoria Babu.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and editor of this episode - Victoria BabuPhotography - Peter Foggy and Jim ChambersAudio - Ben SmithEditor - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina Chastain and Jane BallewHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to the St. Louis Jewish Book FestivalYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the sixteenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our guest is a journalist, psychotherapist, and New York Times best selling author Lori Gottlieb. We spoke with her as she was on tour in November of 2019 for her book “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Lori Gottlieb’s professional career has taken her from film development, to TV writing and production in the 1990s with NBC, to medical school, to journalism, and to psychology later on. And now with her behind-the-scenes look into the life of a therapist in the book “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” being adapted to a TV series, she’s coming full circle…back to the media world. She very much wants to tell stories about real life and to help lead people to take care of their mental health like they would other aspects of their well-being.And between this book, her column in “The Atlantic”, her public speaking work, and her therapy practice she’s on a mission to have as many people as possible realize that they too are worthy and deserve to be helped and heard in order to live a more healthy life over all. Psychologist, journalist, and New York Times Best Selling author Lori Gottlieb on this episode of Talking with Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our host and interviewer this time is Christina ChastainHEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and editor of this episode - Paul SchankmanPhotography - Peter Foggy and Ken CalcaterraGraphics - Jane Ballew and Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editor - Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to the St. Louis Jewish Book FestivalYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fifteenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is famed fashion designer Issac Mizrahi. We spoke with him at the Jewish Community Center in St. Louis as he was on tour in November of 2019 with his book “I.M.: A Memoir” by publisher Macmillian.This world famous fashion designer and TV personality started off his life in Brooklyn, New York in the 1960s as one of three children in an observant Syrian-Jewish family. His father was in the clothing business and gave him a sewing machine when he was 10 and he eventually went to school at the famed LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. His eventual voyage to fame in the very liberal and open worlds of high fashion and television performance was far from smooth, especially given the very conservative background he came from. One of the big things that he did not get from his home life was...optimism.But he's found out that living his life in full has taught and continues to teach him what he did not get growing up. We’ll hear about the other eclectic things that life has taught this man of many talents…designer, TV show host, business owner, and author Issac Mizrahi on this episode of Talking with Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our host and interviewer this time is Paul Schankman.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and editor of this episode - Paul SchankmanPhotography - Peter Foggy and Ken CalcaterraGraphics - Jane Ballew and Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editor - Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to the St. Louis Jewish Book FestivalYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fourteenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is a Newberry award winning writer Erin Entrada Kelly. We spoke with her at the HEC Media studios as she was on her summer book tour in September of 2019 when her book “Lalani of the Distant Sea” was hot off the presses.This New York Times Best Selling children’s book writer was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana and started off her career as a journalist in The South. She then relocated to the American Northeast and became an author in 2015 and only 2 years later in 2017, she won the Newberry award for her third book, “Hello, Universe”. Writing for and being able to relate to middle schoolers and young people is clearly a passion for Erin Entrada Kelly. And she knows that being able to provide a sense of belonging in book form for her audience is very important. And in the book we’ll learn about and talk about today, “Lalani of the Distant Sea”, we’ll hear about the trials of adolescent girls and boys through a lens of fantasy. That and how this award winning Filipino American writer’s career came to be and how she plays her role in the world. New York Times Best Selling and Newberry Award winning author Erin Entrada Kelly on this episode of Talking with Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this episode - Brenda MaddenPhotography - Peter Foggy and Ken CalcaterraEditor & Graphics - Kerry MarksAudio - Ben SmithSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew and Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Ben SmithPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirteenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is New York Times best selling writer Marty Makary, M.D. We spoke with him as he was touring the United States talking about his book “The Price We Pay: What Broke the American Healthcare System - and How to Fix It”. This one-on-one was done in October of 2019.More than a writer, Dr. Makary is an oncology and gastrointestinal surgeon plus a teacher of public health policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Through all of his contact with his patients, he knows that the trust that people have with doctors is one of the most critical components in promoting good public health. But given the way that people are forced to interact with the financial part of healthcare system, Dr. Makary knows that trust can become eroded because of that interaction. He strongly feels that there needs to be public accountability for hospitals that are involved in what he calls price gauging.In spite of that doctor has optimism for what the future of healthcare could be in the US…and he has a prescription for some “common sense” solutions for some of the biggest woes. We’ll see what the prognosis is during this interview with the New York Times best selling writer Marty Makary on this episode of “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Paul Schankman.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and editor of this episode - Paul SchankmanPhotography - Peter Foggy and Ken CalcaterraGraphics - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew and Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the twelfth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today our author is a Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Award winning science fiction writer Ann Leckie. We spoke with her in December of 2017, shortly after the release of her book “Provenance”, part of the “Ancillary” universe of books from the publisher Orbit that made her beloved by readers of the science fiction genre.This New York Times Best Selling author’s rise to sci-fi stardom began with her first novel “Ancillary Justice” in 2013 and kicked off her award winning career. The “Imperial Radch” trilogy continued with “Ancillary Sword” in 2014 and “Ancillary Mercy” in 2015 and featured sharply tuned characters dealing with ancient alien cultures. And while “Provenance” is set on the other side of the same universe as the “Ancillary” books, Leckie wrote the protagonist, Ingray, with an atypical attitude for a lead in that world…one that may be more relatable to most of us down here on Earth.We’ll learn about that new tack on a sci-fi hero and the change of focus to antiquity smuggling and forgery in “Radch Space", plus we’ll hear about the real world road taken by Ann Leckie to the worlds she creates on this episode of Talking with Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this episode - Brenda MaddenPhotography - Cecil Corbett and Chris CrossEditor & Graphics - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew and Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Ben SmithPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Maryville University, St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7 KWMU, TechArtistaYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the eleventh episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Our author this time is a two time Newberry award winning writer Kate DiCamillo. We spoke with her at the Ladue Middle School in Ladue, Missouri as she was on her summer book tour in 2018. We talked with her about her then most current book, “Raymie Nightingale” by Candlewick Press…as well as her then upcoming companion book, “Louisiana’s Way Home”.New York Times Best Selling author Kate DiCamillo’s wildly popular first published novel “Because of Winn-Dixie” was eventually adapted into a movie in 2005. Her first Newberry award came for her book “The Tale of Despereaux” in 2004, and she repeated the accomplishment with the book “Flora & Ulysses” in 2014. In the world of children’s literature she writes picture and early chapter books, as well as novels, like “Raymie Nightengale”. She knows how important it is to keep the voices of her characters true to what her young readers will accept…and that’s usually putting the stories in the third person. But one of her characters for a subsequent book kept calling out to her and made her break format and write a book in the first person for the first time since "Because of Winn-Dixie".That book went on to be “Louisiana’s Way Home”, a stand-alone, companion novel to “Raymie Nightengale” the main subject of our interview. We’ll also talk about the road to becoming a published writer and how this self-described introvert loves getting to see the young readers she writes for in-person. All of that and more on this episode of Talking with Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books featuring the award winning, New York Times Best Selling, and former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Kate DiCamillo. Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this episode - Brenda MaddenPhotography - Peter Foggy and Quinsonta BoydEditor - Kerry MarksGraphics - Greg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew and Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Ladue Middle SchoolYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the tenth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Our author this time is 100 plus million book selling and Edgar award winning crime writer Patricia Cornwell. We spoke with her as she was touring the United States talking about her 22nd crime novel in her Kay Scarpetta series, “Flesh and Blood” by Harper Collins Books. This one-on-one was done in November of 2014.Patricia Cornwell started out working with words professionally as a reporter in North Carolina in the late 70s. She began doing feature work, but eventually moved to the the crime beat where she eventually won an award for a series on prostitution. By the time she started writing novels in 1984, her news background lead her to want to make her imagined subjects as real as possible…so she began to take an almost participatory journalistic approach to her novels.And from the position of authority that she writes from having actually learned the skills of many of her characters has helped her revolutionize the crime genre, not just in literature, but on television as well…where she’s often credited for greatly influencing the rise of forensic science being popular in crime dramas on the air. We’ll hear about the hugely popular “Kate Scarpetta” series of books and life beyond the printed word for our guest, Edgar Award winning, best selling writer Patricia Cornwell on this episode of “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Cordell Whitlock.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this episode - Cordell WhitlockPhotography - Tom Newcomb, Peter Foggy, and Jayne BallewEditor and Graphics - Taunia Allen MasonSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Ben SmithPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Maryville University and St. Louis Public RadioYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the ninth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Our author this time is New York Times best selling writer Piper Kerman. We spoke with her as she was touring the United States talking about her non-fiction book “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison” by Spiegel and Grau/Random House books, less than a year after the debut of the fictionalized Netflix program “Orange is the New Black” based on her life. This one-on-one was done in September of 2014.Piper Kerman was born in Boston and had a family full of educators, attorneys, and doctors. But through a relationship she had with a girlfriend in her 20s, she became involved in the drug trade and was eventually convicted of felonious drug trafficking and money laundering. Her memoir of her time in federal prison became the book “Orange Is the New Black”. The on-screen version of her life in the most-watched series on Netflix that most people are familiar with is a little different than her reality.We’ll learn about the differences between her lived experience and the adaptation, her post-incarceration pursuit of prison reform, and her life as a public speaker now on this episode of “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Brenda MaddenPhotography - Cecil Corbett and D.J. RockwellEditor and Graphics - Gregg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Helen HedrickHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Maryville University and St. Louis Public RadioYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the eighth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is the former cabinet Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. We spoke with her about her book “How Safe Are We?: Homeland Security Since 9/11” by PublicAffairs Books in February of 2019 at Spot Studios in St. Louis, Missouri.As the third full-time head of the Department of Homeland Security since its creation post September 11th, Secretary Napolitano is very well versed about the threats that the United States faces: foreign states acting against US interests, transnational terror organizations, and domestic groups wishing to disrupt the lives of the American public directly being among the many threats on the list. But she says while people don’t often think of climate change and security in the same sentence, they ought to.In this wide-ranging interview, we’ll hear about how she approached dealing with these challenges during her 4 plus year stint in office during the Obama administration and how it compares to how things are being handled now during the Trump administration. That and more from the former governor & cabinet secretary, and current President of the California University system and writer Janet Napolitano on this episode of “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our host and interviewer this time is Paul Schankman.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Paul SchankmanPhotography - Cecil Corbett and John RossEditor - Paul SchankmanGraphics - Gregg KoppSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Ben SmithPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Spot StudiosYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the seventh episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is a New York Times best selling crime writer Karin Slaughter. We spoke with her as part of a tour for her book “Pieces of Her” by Harper-Collins Book. This interview conducted in August of 2018 at the Hilton Saint Louis Frontenac.Karin Slaughter was born in Georgia and is very well known for her two groupings of books, the “Will Trent Series” and the “Grant County Series”…both of which are set in her home state. Karin’s desire to create written works was apparently born with her in the South. When she was a little girl, she used to make little short stories with as few as 10 pages where her sisters were characters, but they didn’t always come off so well on paper. The paying consumer group of one of all of those stories was her father. She says he always supported her pursuit of storytelling. But that support had a cut off point...living at home after graduation.After working a large number of "terrible" jobs while she wrote, she finally got a publisher. Now she’s 18 novels into her career of writing about crime in the real and fictionalized versions of the Peach State. We’ll learn about her reasons for setting her thriller stories in Georgia, her process of writing, and her undying support of libraries of all kinds. Edgar-nominated and New York Times best selling writer Karin Slaughter is our guest on this episode of “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Victoria Babu.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host and producer of this episode - Victoria BabuPhotography - Peter Foggy and Jeff WhiteEditor - Kerry MarksGraphics - Gregg KoppLocation Producer - John BakerSupervising Producer - Julie WinkleProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina ChastainPodcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to the Hilton St. Louis FrontenacYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the sixth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is Hollywood actor, humorist, woodworker, and New York Times best selling writer Nick Offerman. He sat down with us for an interview in September of 2016 at the Goebel & Company Furniture woodworking shop in St. Louis, Missouri.“Good Clean Fun: Misadventures in Sawdust at Offerman Woodshop” is only one of 4 books that Nick has penned or helped pen. But his work as a writer isn’t what the Illinois native is best known for. Most people know him as the character Ron Swanson from the hit TV show “Parks and Recreation". Ron Swanson is a self-described “man’s man”. A hairy, bearded man. A flannel wearing, Canada and France hating political libertarian man. And while Nick Offerman embodies that role for the camera and has shades of his true self show through, like his love of working with wood, Nick, the real person isn’t one dimensional. In this wide-ranging interview, we’ll hear about how he spends his time in real life his wife, fellow Hollywood actor Megan Mullally, with his very real woodworking shop in southern California, and we’ll learn how his midwestern roots have shaped his life and his book “Good Clean Fun”.Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this interview - Angie WeidingerSupervising Producer - Julie WinklePhotography - Spot MPGVideo Editor and Graphics - Gregg KoppProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Paul LangdonPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Goebel & Company FurnitureYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fifth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is journalist and writer, Sarah Kendzior. She sat down with us for a discussion in February of 2018 at one of her alma maters Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.Sarah Kendzior is a Connecticut born, St. Louis based international journalist whose education in anthropology and career as a reporter in Europe, Russia, and the US led her to publish the book “The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America” from Flatiron Books. This book is a collection of essays that she wrote for the network Al Jazeera English between 2012 and 2014 and it covers the increasingly difficult state of the lives and careers of American citizens from the perspective of people who don’t live on the East and West coasts of the country. Our conversation will cover those topics that she says were reported on journalistically. But Ms. Kendzior is also well known to write online and speak on television about a wide range of subjects while notedly giving her studied opinion on the matters.The US presidency, the start of the Black Lives Matters movement, the current state of academia, and more, is what we’ll hear about from our guest, journalist, cultural commentator, and writer Sarah Kendzior on “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host and interviewer this time is Victoria Babu.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this interview - Victoria BabuSupervising Producer - Julie WinklePhotography - Pete Foggy and Jeff WhiteVideo Editor and Graphics - Kerry MarksProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Ben Smith and Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to Maryville University, and St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7 KWMUYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fourth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.Today, our author is journalist and New York Times best selling writer Charles Fishman. We spoke with him as part of a book tour for his latest work “One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission that Flew Us to the Moon” in July of 2019….50 years to the month after the first historic words transmitted from the surface of the moon were heard, "Houston...Tranquility Base here...the Eagle has landed."Charles went from being a little kid in 1969 repeatedly listening to that call from Neil Armstrong on the moon to capsule communicator Charlie Duke on Earth on a phonograph record, to being a journalist with multiple beats, including being a space reporter with the Washington Post. When writing this book, he didn't want to tell the stories of the 21 individuals that flew to the moon during NASA’s Apollo program. They've already been widely told. In “One Giant Leap”, he wanted to tell some of the stories of the more than 400,000 people on Earth that were involved in the entire Apollo program. We'll talk about those stories as well as thoughts on the state of space travel today from journalist and writer Charles Fishman on this episode of “Talking with Authors”. Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri. With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.Host of this interview - Angie WeidingerSupervising Producer - Julie WinklePhotography - Pete Foggy and Ken CalcaterraVideo Editor - Kerry MarksSound - Paul LangdonProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsTalking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Producer - Rod MilamPodcast Editors - Paul Langdon and Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamThanks to NASA for the audio clip of the moon landing from July 20, 1969You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the third episode of “Talking with Authors” where we’ll be talking to a variety of best selling authors spanning genres — authors like Judy Blume, Janet Napalitano, and so many more. Today, our author is New York Times best selling writer Brad Meltzer. We spoke with him in January of 2019 as part of a book tour for his then latest work “The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington” on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.Brad Meltzer is a writer of many genres…from children’s books and comics, to television and political thrillers. But his book that he’ll discuss at length today, “The First Conspiracy”, is his first foray into non-fiction. Here, he heads back to the time period before the end of the Revolutionary War and through the early days of the United States where George Washington had to set up an entire operation to counter a probable attempt against his life. We'll also hear about other items he uncovered in his research for this book, plus have a wide ranging discussion about his in-person contact with other former US Presidents, his connection to 9/11, and his “I Am…” series of children’s books on this episode of “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books.Our host this time is Angie Weidinger.You can see this interview as well at https://hecmedia.org/posts/adventures-in-writing-with-brad-meltzerHEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri, and with the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch all of these video interviews on hecmedia.org.Host and Editor of the video version of this program - Angie WeidingerSupervising Producer - Julie WinklePhotography - Pete Foggy and Ryan FitzgeraldGraphics - Gregg KoppProduction Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsThe Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Editor - Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the second episode of “Talking with Authors” where we’ll be talking to a variety of best selling authors spanning genres — authors like Judy Blume, Brad Meltzer, Janet Napalitano, and so many more. Today, our author is journalist and writer, Alexis Clark. She sat down with us for a discussion in July of 2018 at the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes Jewish College in St. Louis, Missouri.We interviewed Ms. Clark at a nursing school. Why? Because the extremely unlikely, non-fiction story that she researched and published, “Enemies in Love”, tells the tale of a World War II era, Black, American Army nurse and her relationship with a captured German POW in the United States while the hostilities were still going on. The story of how these two people that would never have met, if not for the extremes in the societies on both sides of that war, is what we’ll hear about from our guest, journalist and writer Alexis Clark on “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our host is Paul Schankman.You can see this interview as well at https://hecmedia.org/posts/the-unlikely-romance-of-a-black-nurse-and-a-german-p-o-w-in-world-war-twoHEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri, and with the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch all of these video interviews on hecmedia.org.Host and Editor of the video version of this program - Paul SchankmanSupervising Producer - Julie WinklePhotography - Pete Foggy and Ryan FitzgeraldGraphics - Gregg KoppFamily photos courtesy of Chris AlbertProduction Support - Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsThe Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast editors - Paul Langdon and Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamSpecial thanks to the Goldfarb School of Nursing, Maryville University, and St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7 KWMUYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the first ever episode of “Talking with Authors” where we’ll be talking to a variety of best selling authors spanning genres — authors like Judy Blume, Brad Meltzer, Janet Napalitano, and so many more. HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri, and with the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch all of these video interviews on hecmedia.org.Today, our author is Emmy Award Nominee and writer Jenna Fischer. She sat down with us for this discussion in March of 2018 at the Marriot St. Louis Grand Hotel.We’ll hear how the now famous St. Louisian went from being passionate about one subject area growing up, and on to becoming a star in Hollywood and landing the role of Pam Beesly in the hit TV show “The Office”. She decided to write her book “The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide” to ease the path for others who might be like her growing up…finding themselves wanting to become a performer when it wasn’t necessarily their original plan.Jenna Fischer is our first guest on “Talking with Authors” from HEC Media and HEC Books. Our interviewer is Angie Weidinger.You can see this interview as well at https://hecmedia.org/posts/jenna-fischer-shares-hollywoods-secretsHost and Producer - Angie Weidinger Video Editor and Graphics - Greg Kopp Supervising Producer - Julie WinklePhotography - Spot Media Production GroupProduction Support - Jayne Ballew and Christina ChastainHEC Media Executive Director - Dennis RiggsPodcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain Podcast Editors - Ben Smith and Rod MilamPodcast Host - Rod MilamYou can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthorsTwitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors