Podcasts about midwest book award

In this episode, KyLee and Darcy share a few holiday highlights, then KyLee sits down with author Julie Klassen to talk about research, faith, and her latest Regency release. Key takeaways Holiday traditions can be simple, and still feel special. Teachers and read-aloud stories can shape a reader and a writer for life. Julie Klassen weaves themes of grace, forgiveness, and second chances into her fiction. Real places and local legends can add weight and texture to historical novels. Whispers at Painswick Court blends romance with gothic atmosphere and a murder plot. Holiday baking, hot chocolate, and an Instagram invite A Bookworm Review of The Lost Girl of Astor Street, Stephanie Morrill KyLee: Today I will be talking with Julie Klassen. Darcy will not be with us because she’s gone to spend some time with her family. We’re recording this beforehand, and Darcy, we are about 10 days until Christmas. I know you are full of Christmas cheer and doing tons of Christmas things. No, that is not true. Darcy and I were talking about how it feels like the season has not quite started because we have been so busy. However, there are a couple special things we would like to share with you. Darcy: The most Christmas-y thing I am doing this year is making hot chocolate over and over at the ice cream shop. I’m not complaining — I love hot chocolate. I love making it, frothing the milk and everything. I am really looking forward to visiting my sister for Christmas. She lives five hours away. We see each other regularly through the year, but I’m going to spend a whole week at her place with my younger sister. The three of us will be hanging out. She has to work, so we’ll probably be doing some reading during the day. I have a couple of Christmas novellas picked out, one by Rosanna White. I’m looking forward to relaxing and doing Christmas-y things after I get the chaos behind me. KyLee: Do you ever throw something in with your hot chocolate, or make it different? Darcy: I’m very classic. I like to stir it with a candy cane and let that slowly melt in. So it’s like a peppermint hot chocolate. KyLee: I only ask because I started baking while procrastinating on preparing for this episode. I had this idea to take peanut butter cookies, make them a little bigger, and put a Reese's cup in the middle. Like you put a chocolate kiss in the middle. We got Reese's cups and they were PB&J, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I thought, let's see if I can make this work. I get halfway through the recipe. I have my sugar out, shortening measured, flour measured, and I have no peanut butter. I do not know how this happened in my house. My oldest has a pretty severe allergy to milk that affects her esophagus. Finding things like proteins is something we’re constantly trying to do. I pulled out some plant-based chocolate protein powder and mixed that in with the cookies, then cooked them up. They are so good. They are a little heavy on the sugar. Along with having my daughter with this severe allergy, my husband has diabetes. So I rarely bake. I was procrastinating and it is Christmas time, so I broke that out. He tried them against my recommendation. He hates coconut, and since it is plant-based, it has coconut, so he does not want them. So it worked out. Darcy: I love that you are improvising with your holiday baking. This may be a new tradition. You might end up making these chocolate-protein-powder cookies every Christmas now. KyLee: They might be the start of a beautiful Christmas dessert. For our listeners, we are going to do something fun. Pop over to Instagram, on the Historical Bookworm Podcast page. On Instagram, it is Historical Bookworm Podcast, not Historical Bookworm Show. You will find a picture of my cookies, and Darcy, a picture of some hot chocolate. Darcy: Yes, absolutely. KyLee: We would love to see pictures of your sweet treats that you are making this holiday season. Now we are going to get on to the show with Julie Klassen. Meet Julie Klassen Julie Klassen loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. She worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full time. Three of her novels have won the Christy Award for Historical Romance. She has also won the Minnesota Book Award, the Midwest Book Award, and Christian Retailing's BEST Award. Julie is a graduate of the University of Illinois. She and her husband have two sons and live in St. Paul, Minnesota.  KyLee: Julie, welcome to the Historical Bookworm Show. Julie: Thank you, KyLee. I’m happy to be here. The most Jane Austen thing, besides tea KyLee: Tea drinking goes without saying for an Anglophile. What is the most Jane Austen thing, other than drinking tea, that you might incorporate into your daily life? Julie: True confessions, I do not drink as much tea as I’m probably alleged to do. I am a coffee drinker. Normally it is coffee in the morning, and then I might switch to tea. I just went to the Jane Austen Christmas and birthday party for my local Jane Austen Society of North America meeting and drank lots of tea. Today I drank lots of tea, but it’s not usual. I don’t incorporate a lot of things from the Regency era into my real life because I like my computer and technology. A few things I do. I love candles. I’m not a writer who writes with music or soundtracks, but I do love to burn sweet-smelling candles when I write. If we’re talking about Christmas, then I do love to go to church. We have candlelit services. Charity was very big in the Jane Austen time during Christmas in general. Those kinds of things I am a fan of, but I also like modern medicine and other ways of modern life. KyLee: I agree with you about the modern thing. There is something homey and romantic about candles. Aromatherapy would be great for when you are writing. Julie: I do enjoy it. Ordinary people who leave a lasting impact KyLee: Jane Austen's characters are average people with ordinary lives, often drawn from real life observations. Can you tell us about a time an ordinary person left a lasting impact on your life? Julie: There are a lot. I’ll name teachers. Mrs. Hayes read Jane Eyre to us out loud over several weeks in the sixth grade. That cemented my love of all things English, British literature. Even though I grew up in Illinois, she had a big impact on me. Later, Mrs. Mitchell, a high school writing English teacher, encouraged me in my writing. I am still connected with both of those women online, and I send them my books every year. KyLee: Teachers have a big impact on our lives. There is something special about having a story read aloud to you. It builds trust and imagination. I am a teacher, so I try to read out loud to my students often. I read to them every day. When my children were younger, I read out loud to them too. They don’t really let me do that anymore. How faith and writing intersect KyLee: Could you share a little bit about how faith and writing intersect for you? Julie: I came to Christ later, in my 20s. A lot of my books carry similar themes of grace, forgiveness, second chances, things that I appreciate in my own life. God was very generous to me and wooed me and called me and saved me when I was not interested in Christianity. I try to weave those kinds of things into my books. I have imperfect characters who make mistakes, because that is what I did and continue to do. I am grateful for His mercy, and I try to weave that into all of my books. KyLee: It makes sense that you would share those experiences. We write what we know. Real history, and writing historical fiction versus fantasy Is there anything especially interesting you haven’t covered in other interviews for this book? Julie: One of the things I love about being a historical writer is that, even though I am writing fiction, I love to base things on what was really happening. My book is set in a real place called Painswick in England. Someone praised me about how I continue to show great historical medical knowledge. I laughed because I have zero real medical knowledge, but it shows I have to do a lot of research. For this book, the main character is a surgeon's daughter. She is trying to serve as a sick room nurse to an older woman. It was a fun connection that Jenner, who came up with the smallpox vaccination, was related to Painswick. I did not know that when I made the setting there. It was interesting to include some real history about medical practices. I do a lot of research, but I am not a medical expert. KyLee: You do your research and write those characters and that story, and it takes off. Weaving in historical details makes a difference. I am a fan of fantasy too, but I like that historical fiction is anchored in the way it really was. Julie: In fantasy, you have to build that whole world. In historical, I have anchors, but you still have to build the world for the story. I don’t think I could be a fantasy writer. You would have to make up all your rules and keep track of it. KyLee: I would have to have lists of rules, then I would lose the list and find it a decade later on my computer. Julie: You and I have a similar organizational system. There are so many resources in historical. I can check if a word is too modern. I can see if Jane Austen used it. Whispers at Painswick Court KyLee: Let's talk about your latest release, Whispers at Painswick Court. Anne Loveday, a surgeon's daughter, is determined to live a single, useful life. To escape her matchmaking stepmother, she accepts an invitation from an old friend to return to Painswick, the place she and her sister spent many happy summers until that last, fateful year. Soon after arriving, Anne is asked to serve as sick-room nurse to Lady Celia, who forbade her nephew to marry Anne's sister years before. Pushing aside resentments, Anne moves into Painswick Court, a shadowy old house rumored to be haunted. Also in residence are Lady Celia's spinster daughter, her handsome adult nephews, and a secretive new lady's maid.  Two local doctors visit regularly as well, one of whom admires Anne while concealing secrets of his own. As an escalating series of mishaps befalls her patient, Anne realizes someone is trying to kill the woman. But who? When Anne finds herself a suspect and her determination to avoid romance challenged, can she discover the real killer—and protect her heart—before it's too late? KyLee: Somehow the title did not prepare me for the secrets to include a murder plot. Anne has medical knowledge at her disposal. Why has she set her heart on remaining single? A heroine committed to the single life Julie: Women in that time period, in general, their main goal was to marry and marry well. There were not a lot of options for women. Anne has gotten a taste of helping others and having a greater purpose than marriage. She thinks that because she has a sister who married in an arranged marriage and is unhappy. That’s been her example. Her young stepmother is trying to marry Anne off to completely inappropriate men. Men who are strangers, far too old, and not at all suitable. Men who want a wife and do not appreciate Anne's qualities. She’s determined that marriage is not for her. In that time period, many marriages were more like business arrangements. She does not want to marry for those reasons. She does not want to give up helping others and using the knowledge she has. The men interested in her would expect her to give that up to be their wife. KyLee: She found something she loves. Being pulled away from that would be heartbreaking. Julie: In a different world, she would have loved to be a doctor, a physician, a surgeon. She is smart enough and capable enough, but that was not an option for women. This is as close as she can get. The men in Anne's orbit KyLee: There seem to be several gentlemen of interest. Two nephews of Lady Celia, and a young doctor who admires Anne. Could you sketch a quick portrait of each? Julie: Anne and her sisters spent summers in Painswick because her grandparents lived there. She knows the two grown nephews from her younger days. One is very handsome and charming, and untrustworthy. Jude Dalby is the man her sister fell in love with years ago. His aunt said no, you are not going to marry this surgeon's daughter with very little money. So Anne has resentment toward him. The other nephew is a former military man. They were friends. He takes a shine to her and vice versa, but it is more of a friendship. There are actually two doctors in the story. Both doctors have secrets. The one who takes an interest in Anne has other stuff going on, so he cannot be forthcoming right away. Anne has to review her plan for her life. Sometimes God has other plans. She has to reevaluate if there is a way for her to have both marriage and purpose. KyLee: Which is the happily ever after we hope for. Julie: When you read a Julie Klassen book, you are going to have a happily ever after. It’s pretty much guaranteed. Gothic atmosphere, real legends, and place-based history KyLee: Did this book uncover any new historical tidbits, or give you an opportunity to weave in detail you had not shared before? Julie: There is poison involved, so I had to research those things. I love that the setting, Painswick, has real history I could weave in. The house I based it on is a real place with gothic legends surrounding it for generations. King Charles I stayed there, and people report seeing his ghost around the house and the adjacent churchyard. I am not that interested in ghosts except the Holy Spirit, but it is a well-known legend, and he really did stay in the house. The old house had jail cells in the basement because it used to be used as a courthouse. Prisoners were sent there. I love when I can take something real and weave it into the novel. I think it makes the world more believable and more real for readers. KyLee: Especially when there is somewhere they can go. If you can’t go to England, you can use street view and at least have an idea of what it looks like. Julie: Painswick has a beautiful church and a churchyard that is famous. It has 99 yew trees, and there is legend around it. If they plant another to make it 100, one of the other ones will die, and they will have to cut it down. I did not know yew has lore around it. It is a symbol for eternal life. It is also used for poison. I love to weave in that symbolism. You can Google it and see beautiful pictures. KyLee: I did not know yew wood was poisonous either. That will be handy if it is part of the murder plot. What's next for Julie Klassen KyLee: What is next for your writing, looking forward to 2026? Julie: I turned in my draft for the 2026 novel. Most of my books have been standalone. Whispers at Painswick Court is a standalone, and the 2026 book is also a standalone. It’s not a murder mystery, per se, but it’s a romantic story set on the coast of North Cornwall. It has gothic elements, bumps in the night, rumors, smugglers, those kinds of good things. It’s more of a romance with those gothic elements. It’s set to come out in December of 2026. The title is The Widow of Woodlark Cottage. It’s about a woman who rents Woodlark Cottage on this estate. There are a couple of men with different agendas and a lot of other things going on. Connect with Julie: Newsletter, Pinterest, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram. Bookworm review: The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill In “The Lost Girl of Astor Street,” Stephanie Morrill combines a gusty heroine, chronic illness representation, a swoony detective, feuding mafia families, and raw emotion into a gripping YA mystery that'll keep readers guessing till the very end. Fans of first-person narratives will fall for Piper Sail's vibrant voice that practically zings off the page. Determined and devoted, Piper is a compelling character sure to win readers' hearts as they're immersed in her dualistic world of Chicago amid the Roaring Twenties. If you love to hunt for clues with gumshoes and amateur sleuths, join the search for The Lost Girl of Astor Street! Read more about Stephanie at her website. (www.stephaniemorrill.com) ~ Angela Bell, author of A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure If you enjoyed this episode, we hope you'll subscribe for more on your favorite listening platform, and join our newsletter (see the sidebar). Don't forget to share it with a fellow historical fiction reader! And if you really enjoyed this episode and would like to support, you can always buy us a coffee.

In this episode, Dean Horswell chats with Stephanie Anderson about the many challenges within America's food and farming system, and how regenerative agriculture, female leadership, and consumer support can help address them. Bio: Stephanie Anderson is the author of From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture (The New Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, Flyway, Hotel Amerika, Terrain.org, The Chronicle Review, Sweet and others. Stephanie is the 2020 winner of the Margolis Award for social justice journalism and a co-editor for the University of Nebraska Press “Our Regenerative Future” book series. Her debut nonfiction book, titled One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture, won a 2020 Nautilus Award and 2019 Midwest Book Award. Stephanie holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University, where she serves as Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction.

In this episode, Dean Horswell chats with Stephanie Anderson about the many challenges within America's food and farming system, and how regenerative agriculture, female leadership, and consumer support can help address them. Bio: Stephanie Anderson is the author of From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture (The New Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, Flyway, Hotel Amerika, Terrain.org, The Chronicle Review, Sweet and others. Stephanie is the 2020 winner of the Margolis Award for social justice journalism and a co-editor for the University of Nebraska Press “Our Regenerative Future” book series. Her debut nonfiction book, titled One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture, won a 2020 Nautilus Award and 2019 Midwest Book Award. Stephanie holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University, where she serves as Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction. 

S5EP9, The Courage to Change Our Food System with Stephanie Anderson From the Ground Up, by award-winning author Stephanie Anderson, offers a journey into the root causes of our unsustainable food chain, revealing its detrimental reliance on extractive agriculture, which depletes soil and water, produces nutritionally deficient food, and devastates communities and farmers. Anderson then delivers an uplifting, deeply reported narrative of women-led farms and ranches nationwide, supported by women-led investment firms, farmer training programs, restaurants, supply chain partners, and advocacy groups, all working together to create a more inclusive and sustainable world. Show Benefits: -Simple & Engaging: Discover what regenerative agriculture is and why it matters—explained clearly. -Big-Picture Impact: Can it solve climate change and food insecurity? Learn its potential and limits. -Surprising Stories: Hear the most unexpected insights from "From the Ground Up"—real farming revelations. -Your Role Matters: Find out how you can support a regenerative, fair food system and make a difference. Stephanie Anderson is the author of From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture (The New Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, Flyway, Hotel Amerika, Terrain.org, The Chronicle Review, Sweet, and more. Winner of the 2020 Margolis Award for social justice journalism, Stephanie is also a co-editor of the University of Nebraska Press series Our Regenerative Future. Her debut nonfiction book, One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture, earned a 2020 Nautilus Award and a 2019 Midwest Book Award. She holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University, where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction Find out more about Stephanie Anderson: Website: stephanieandersonwriting.com Facebook: facebook.com/stephanieandersonwriting Instagram: instagram.com/stephanieandersonwriting LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stephanie-anderson-writing #VoicesOfCourage #KenDFoster #StephanieAnderson #TheCourageNetwork #VOCPodcast #VOCSeason5 #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableFarming #ClimateAction #FoodSecurity #WomenInAgriculture #FarmToTable #EcoFriendlyLiving #SoilHealth #FutureOfFood #SustainableLiving #PodcastInterview #GreenEconomy #EthicalEating #Agroecology #FarmRevolution #ConsciousConsumer

It is quite interesting to see women lead the charge in revolutionizing regenerative agriculture, which is a male-dominated space. They are bringing a brand-new approach to raising awareness about social justice, gaining mostly the attention and interest of youth. Corinna Bellizzi chats with Stephanie Anderson, an award-winning journalist, who utilizes storytelling to bring regenerative farming practices to the mainstream. She explains why diversity is needed to minimize soil disturbance, make nutritious food easily accessible to the public, and empower local farmers and businesses. Stephanie also discusses how to go through the challenges of transitioning to regenerative agriculture, creating a better perception of profit, and voting for pro-environment politicians.About Guest:Stephanie Anderson is the author of From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture (The New Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, Flyway, Hotel Amerika, Terrain.org, The Chronicle Review, Sweet and others. Stephanie is the 2020 winner of the Margolis Award for social justice journalism and a co-editor for the University of Nebraska Press “Our Regenerative Future” book series. Her debut nonfiction book, titled One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture, won a 2020 Nautilus Award and 2019 Midwest Book Award. Stephanie holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University, where she serves as Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction.Guest Website: https://StephanieAndersonWriting.comGuest Social: https://instagram.com/stephanieandersonwritinghttps://facebook.com/stephanieandersonwritingShow Notes: Raw audio00:03:27 - A Farm Girl's Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture00:06:34 - Achieving Diversity In Regeneration00:11:46 - How Women Embody Regeneration Beyond Soil00:19:00 - How To Finance Regenerative Agriculture Efforts00:22:28 - Using Storytelling To Convey The Message Better00:26:47 - Common Threads Among Women Regenerative Leaders00:30:50 - What Capital Is Left For Regenerative Farming00:35:02 - Greater Women Participation In Agriculture00:39:18 - Changing Perspectives On Profit And Supporting Local Businesses00:49:46 - Breaking Down A Big Problem Into Smaller Parts00:51:59 - Getting Into The Justice Ecology00:53:33 - Voting For Pro-Environment Individuals00:57:04 - Stephanie's Next Projects00:59:11 - Episode Wrap-up And Closing WordsJOIN OUR CIRCLE. BUILD A GREENER FUTURE:

Ben Tanzer - After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema. This is episode 759 of Teaching Learning Leading K12, an audio podcast. Emmy-award winner Ben Tanzer's acclaimed work includes the novel - The Missing, the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool.  Ben is a Story South and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award and a Midwest Book Award. He also received an Honorable Mention at the Chicago Writers Association Book Awards for Traditional Non-Fiction and a Bronze Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.  He's written for Hemispheres, Punk Planet, Men's Health, and The Arrow, AARP's GenX newsletter. He lives in Chicago with his family. Our focus today will be his latest work - After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema. Powerful writing. Engaging. Thought provoking. Please share. Thanks for listening! Before you go... You could help support this podcast by Buying Me A Coffee. Not really buying me something to drink but clicking on the link on my home page at https://stevenmiletto.com for Buy Me a Coffee or by going to this link Buy Me a Coffee. This would allow you to donate to help the show address the costs associated with producing the podcast from upgrading gear to the fees associated with producing the show. That would be cool. Thanks for thinking about it.  Hey, I've got another favor...could you share the podcast with one of your friends, colleagues, and family members? Hmmm? What do you think? Thank you! You are AWESOME! Connect & Learn More: https://www.tanzerben.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-podcast-will-change-your-life/id564098800 https://twitter.com/BenTanzer https://www.instagram.com/tanzerben/ https://www.facebook.com/BenTanzer/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanzerben/ https://www.tiktok.com/@bentanzerauthor https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001JRXQDQ Length - 01:11:10

This week on Everything You Didn't Know About Herbalism, we joined by the award-winning author who is on a literary mission to amplify the voices of the women combatting climate change through regenerative agriculture, Stephanie Anderson. Tune in as Stephanie shares what it means to be a women working within our industrialized food system, inspiring stories from diverse female farmers who are riding a green wave of change, and what inspired Stephanie to write her latest book, From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture.  We hope this episode provides our listeners with takeaways on how the resilient women within our food system offer an instrumental perspective towards building a future of socially responsible and sustainable food. As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are an invaluable piece to our podcast. Send us an email at podcast@mountainroseherbs.com to let us know what solutions we should uncover within the vast world of herbalism next. Learn more about Stephanie below! ⬇

This week, scholar Marilyn Sanders Mobley visits the AWM to discuss her book Toni Morrison and the Geopoetics of Place, Race, and Be/longing, which Henry Louis Gates, Jr. calls a "powerful and learned meditation, and one that deserves a prominent place in the field of Morrison studies." Mobley is joined in conversation by poet Parneshia Jones. This conversation originally took place October 15, 2024 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum.AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOMEMore about Toni Morrison and the Geopoetics of Place, Race, and Be/longing:Toni Morrison's readers and critics typically focus more on the “what” than the “how” of her writing. In Toni Morrison and the Geopoetics of Place, Race, and Be/longing, Marilyn Sanders Mobley analyzes Morrison's expressed narrative intention of providing “spaces for the reader” to help us understand the narrative strategies in her work.Mobley's approach is as interdisciplinary, intersectional, nuanced, and complex as Morrison's. She combines textual analysis with a study of Morrison's cultural politics and narrative poetics and describes how Morrison engages with both history and the present political moment.Informed by research in geocriticism, spatial literary studies, African American literary studies, and Black feminist studies at the intersection of poetics and cultural politics, Mobley identifies four narrative strategies that illuminate how Morrison creates such spaces in her fiction; what these spaces say about her understanding of place, race, and belonging; and how they constitute a way to read and re-read her work.MARILYN SANDERS MOBLEY is Emerita Professor of English and African American Studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the author of Folk Roots and Mythic Wings in Sarah Orne Jewett and Toni Morrison: The Cultural Function of Narrative and a spiritual memoir, The Strawberry Room, and Other Places Where a Woman Finds Herself.PARNESHIA JONES studied creative writing at Chicago State University and earned an MFA from Spalding University. Her first book Vessel (2015) was the winner of the Midwest Book Award and featured in O, The Oprah Magazine as one of 12 poetry books to savor for National Poetry Month. Her poems have been published in anthologies such as The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (2007), Poetry Speaks Who I Am (2010), and She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems (2011), edited by Caroline Kennedy. Jones serves on the boards of Cave Canem and the Guild Complex and the advisory board for UniVerse: A United Nations of Poetry. She is the director of Northwestern University Press.

Notes and Links to Ben Tanzer's Work      For Episode 250, Pete welcomes Ben Tanzer, and the two discuss, among other topics, his childhood love of books, formative and transformative writers and writing, bothy past and present, muses, Jim Carroll and his powerful and pivotal work, Ben's podcast and motivations for living the creative life, and salient themes and issues in his novel like sacrifice, family bonds, parenthood, small towns, the unknown, and awe.      Ben Tanzer is an Emmy-award winning coach, creative strategist, podcaster, writer, teacher and social worker who has been helping nonprofits, publishers, authors, small business and career changers tell their stories for 20 plus years. He serves as a Lecturer (and part-time faculty) at Lake Forest College, where he teaches LOOP 202: 21st Century Development and Liberal Arts and The Workplace. He produces and hosts This Podcast Will Change Your Life (300+ episodes and counting), which was launched in February 2010, focuses on authors and changemakers from around the country and the world, and was named by Elephant Journal as one of "The 10 Best Podcasts to Help you Change your Life. His written work includes the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. I'm a storySouth and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award and a Midwest Book Award.   Buy The Missing   A Conversation with Ben in The Chicago Review   Ben Tanzer's Website   At about 2:15, Ben gives background on the “creative life” and his day-to-day and “hustle” At about 5:30, Ben describes the importance of an “awesomely discouraging” tax person when one lives the creative life At about 6:45, Ben shouts out Columbia College in Chicago At about 7:45, Ben discusses his early relationship with reading and the written word At about 10:00, Ben talks about meaningful feedback in a writing class and how he started his writing career  At about 11:10, Ben cites Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries, DeGrazia's American Skin, and other formative texts, like Catcher in the Rye, Will Allison and Joe Mino,  At about 14:10, Ben reflects on the importance of cross country and wrestling in his life At about 15:10, Ben shouts out Wendy C. Ortiz's Excavation, Gina Frangello, Donald Quist, Joe Meno, Sara Lippman, Alice Kaltman, Gionna Cromley, Lee Matthew Goldberg, and Lisa Cross Smith as writers and writing that thrills and inspires and “crush[es]” him At about 17:30, Pete cites the thrill of meeting standout writers, and Ben expands upon ideas of the brain being “profoundly affected” by meeting literary heroes At about 20:10, Ben talks about his podcast and its roots and philosophy  At about 22:30, Ben responds to Pete's question about Ben's viewpoint on the “muse,” in both his writing and his podcasting-shout out to SpiderMeka! At about 27:15, Pete and Ben lay out the book's exposition and Ben discusses the book's seeds At about 29:45, Ben gives background on a stimulating idea provided by his agent At about 31:45, The two discuss the aging and maturing or not of the central characters of the book At about 36:00, The two discuss how Ben writes about “what could have been” in using “speculative flashbacks” and ideas of the sexualization of young girls, especially in missing children cases; Ben shouts out Emily Schultz's Little Threats At about 40:35, Ben reflects on playing with the idea of having a kid who would dare date someone with a bad haircut, etc. At about 42:25, The two discuss unprocessed traumas and Hannah and Gabriel's mindsets and an awe-inspiring scene involving trains At about 47:00-Bobby Baccala and the trains-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! At about 47:45, Ben responds to Pete's comments about Gabriel being referenced in the book as a “good father and a bad husband” At about 51:45, Pete wonders about Krista's reasons for leaving, and Ben talks about the unknown and his rationale in using a lot of unknown, as well as how many real-life parallels he's seen to the book's events At about 55:35, A key question about living one's best life is explored At about 56:15, Casting choices abound! and Ben expands on his interest in Officer John At about 57:35, Ed, father of Hannah, is explored as a victim and a great listener, and Gabriel's mother as an “enabler” is expanded upon At about 1:01:05, Ben gives contact info and social media information At about 1:03:10, Pete and Ben discuss the buying domain business    You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch this and other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.    I am very excited about having one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review.    Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl     Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode features segments from conversations with Deesha Philyaw, Luis Alberto Urrea, Chris Stuck, and more, as they reflect on chill-inducing writing and writers that have inspired their own work.       This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 251 with Alexandra Alessandri. She is the author of several books for children, including Isabel and Her Colores Go to School (2021), and Grow Up, Luchy Zapata (2024), a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection; her books have received numerous distinctions, including the International Latino Book Award    The episode will go live on September 3.     Lastly, please go to https://ceasefiretoday.com/, which features 10+ actions to help bring about Ceasefire in Gaza.

Todd Davis is the author of seven books of poetry. His most recent collections are Coffin Honey and Native Species. His book Ditch Memory: New and Selected Poems is forthcoming from Michigan State University Press in August of 2024. He has won the Midwest Book Award, the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Bronze and Silver Awards, the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Editors Prize, and the Bloomsburg University Book Prize. His poems appear in such journals and magazines as Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, Iowa Review, Missouri Review, North American Review, Orion, Southern Humanities Review, and Western Humanities Review. He is an emeritus fellow of the Black Earth Institute and teaches environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University's Altoona College.Links:Read "For a Stray Dog near the Paper Mill in Tyrone, Pennsylvania" in 32 PoemsRead "Burn Barrel" at BroadsidedDitch Memory: New and Selected Poems, forthcoming in August 2024"A Nature Poet Grapples with Life at the Edge of the Climate Crisis," an interview in Allegheny FrontTodd Davis' websiteBio and Poems at the Poetry FoundationTwo poems in North American ReviewThree poems at Terrain.org"Salvelinus fontinalis," a video poemPodcast archive for Notes from the Allegheny Front

Todd Davis is the author of seven books of poetry. His most recent collections are Coffin Honey and Native Species. His book Ditch Memory: New and Selected Poems is forthcoming from Michigan State University Press in August of 2024. He has won the Midwest Book Award, the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Bronze and Silver Awards, the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Editors Prize, and the Bloomsburg University Book Prize. His poems appear in such journals and magazines as Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, Iowa Review, Missouri Review, North American Review, Orion, Southern Humanities Review, and Western Humanities Review. He is an emeritus fellow of the Black Earth Institute and teaches environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University's Altoona College.Links:Read "For a Stray Dog near the Paper Mill in Tyrone, Pennsylvania" in 32 PoemsRead "Burn Barrel" at BroadsidedDitch Memory: New and Selected Poems, forthcoming in August 2024"A Nature Poet Grapples with Life at the Edge of the Climate Crisis," an interview in Allegheny FrontTodd Davis' websiteBio and Poems at the Poetry FoundationTwo poems in North American ReviewThree poems at Terrain.org"Salvelinus fontinalis," a video poemPodcast archive for Notes from the Allegheny Front

A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to build a rewarding creative life. My guest is Ben Tanzer, author of the novel The Missing, available from 7.13 Books. Tanzer is an Emmy winner. His work includes the short story collection Upstate, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. Ben is a storySouth and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award and a Midwest Book Award. He also received an Honorable Mention at the Chicago Writers Association Book Awards for Traditional Non-Fiction and a Bronze Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. He's written for Hemispheres, Punk Planet, Men's Health, and The Arrow, AARP's GenX newsletter. He lives in Chicago with his family.  *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Twitter Instagram  TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Tanzer's work includes the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. Tanzer is a storySouth and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award and a Midwest Book Award, and has received an Honorable Mention at the Chicago Writers Association Book Awards for Traditional Non-Fiction and a Bronze Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Tanzer has also also written for Hemispheres, Punk Planet, Men's Health, and The Arrow, AARP's GenX newsletter..The Missing releasing March 21, 2024, nearly contemporaneous contemporaneously with this special episode release!SRTN Website

Ben Tanzer - Award Winning Author Shares his Novel: The Missing. This is episode 660 of Teaching Learning Leading K12, an audio podcast. Emmy-award winner Ben Tanzer's acclaimed work includes the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. Ben is a Story South and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award and a Midwest Book Award. He also received an Honorable Mention at the Chicago Writers Association Book Awards for Traditional Non-Fiction and a Bronze Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. He's written for Hemispheres, Punk Planet, Men's Health, and The Arrow, AARP's GenX newsletter. His forthcoming novel The Missing will be released in Spring 2024 by 7.13 Books. He lives in Chicago with his family. Our focus today will be his novel - The Missing. Awesome story! You won't want to put the book down once you start reading. Thanks for listening! Before you go... You could help support this podcast by Buying Me A Coffee. Not really buying me something to drink but clicking on the link on my home page at https://stevenmiletto.com for Buy Me a Coffee or by going to this link Buy Me a Coffee. This would allow you to donate to help the show address the costs associated with producing the podcast from upgrading gear to the fees associated with producing the show. That would be cool. Thanks for thinking about it.  Hey, I've got another favor...could you share the podcast with one of your friends, colleagues, and family members? Hmmm? What do you think? Thank you! Okay, one more thing. Really just this one more thing. Could you follow the links below and listen to me being interviewed by Chris Nesi on his podcast Behind the Mic about my podcast Teaching Learning Leading K12? Click this link Behind the Mic: Teaching Learning Leading K12 to go listen. You are AWESOME! Thanks so much! Connect & Learn More: https://www.tanzerben.com tanzerben@gmail.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-podcast-will-change-your-life/id564098800 https://twitter.com/BenTanzer https://www.instagram.com/tanzerben/ https://www.facebook.com/BenTanzer/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanzerben/ https://www.tiktok.com/@bentanzerauthor https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001JRXQDQ Length - 55:34

Become a Patron of Textual Healing: https://www.patreon.com/textualhealing Emmy-award winner Ben Tanzer's acclaimed work includes the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. Ben is a storySouth and Pushcart nominee, a finalist for the Annual National Indie Excellence and Eric Hoffer Book Awards, a winner of the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award and a Midwest Book Award. He also received an Honorable Mention at the Chicago Writers Association Book Awards for Traditional Non-Fiction and a Bronze Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. He's written for Hemispheres, Punk Planet, Men's Health, and The Arrow, AARP's GenX newsletter. His forthcoming novel The Missing will be released in Spring 2024 by 7.13 Books. He lives in Chicago with his family. Check out past episodes of Textual Healing on our website: https://textualpodcast.com/ Rate us on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/textual-healing-with-mallory-smart/id1531379844 Follow us on Twitter: @podhealing Take a look at Mallory's other work on her website: https://mallorysmart.com/ beats by God'Aryan

More than twenty years ago, a bizarre confluence of meteorological events resulted in the most damaging blowdown in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness's history. It traveled 1,300 miles and lasted 22 hours, flattening nearly 500,000 acres of the Superior National Forest. Hundreds of campers and paddlers were stranded and dozens injured; amazingly, no one died. The historic storm ultimately reshaped the region's forests in ways we have yet to fully understand. Here, author Cary J. Griffith is joined in conversation with scientist Lee Frelich and Peter Leschak, who was involved in the response and rescue effort.Cary Griffith is author of several novels and four books of nonfiction, including Gunflint Falling: Blowdown in the Boundary Waters and Gunflint Burning: Fire in the Boundary Waters. He is recipient of a Minnesota Book Award and a Midwest Book Award.Lee Frelich is director of the Center for Forest Ecology at the University of Minnesota. He is listed among the top 1% of scientists in the Web of Science, Ecology, and Environment and has authored more than 200 publications, and has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, and the Washington Post.Peter Leschak was chief of the French Township fire department in Side Lake, Minnesota, for thirty years. He has written ten books and has worked in a variety of wildfire-related capacities and held positions of leadership in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service.Gunflint Falling: Blowdown in the Boundary Waters is available from University of Minnesota Press."In the tradition of The Perfect Storm, Cary J. Griffith brings readers into the Boundary Waters moment by moment as an epic gale sweeps through. Ample maps and in-depth interviews with witnesses both immerse us in one terrifying day and offer a glimpse of the past and future of Minnesota's boreal forest."—Kim Todd, author of Sensational: The Hidden History of America's “Girl Stunt Reporters”"In Gunflint Falling, Cary J. Griffith provides an accurate, comprehensive narrative of those impacted by one of the region's most devastating storms. The damage and pain brought by the derecho storm was more severe than anything previously experienced in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The reader is taken into the personal experiences of the injured and those searching for them for fourteen days in the million-acre wilderness, and Griffith's narrative of these experiences demonstrates how, when faced with an emergency, we come together to help one another."—Jim Sanders, retired forest supervisor, Superior National Forest (1996-2011), USDA Forest Service

Season 4: Episode 6--The UP Notable Book Club presents Ann Dallman author of "Cady and the Birchbark Box." The Crystal Falls Community District Library in partnership with the U.P. Publishers & Authors Association (UPPAA) presents author events with winners of the UP Notable Book List.  For more information please visit the links below www.UPPAA.org  www.UPNotable.com  www.anndallman.com  ANN DALLMAN has lifelong roots in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She started out as a newspaper reporter/photographer and later taught middle and high school English/Journalism/Reading, fifteen of those years on the Hannahville Indian Reservation in Wilson, MI. She holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism Education from the University of Wisconsin and a master's degree from Viterbo University. A freelance writer, she is now writing her third Cady novel. Ann served as Writer in Residence at Wild Acres Retreat Center in North Carolina and was awarded scholarships to study writing with author Susan Power/Split Rock Arts Institute/Minneapolis, MN and to Highlights Foundations sessions in Honesdale, PA.  Her Middle Grade novel, Cady and the Bear Necklace, a U.P. Notable Book, received: Historical Society of Michigan State History Award, Midwest Book Award, New Mexico-Arizona Book Award and was a Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist. The second book in the series, Cady and the Birchbark Box, is also a U.P. Notable Book and received the Historical Society of Michigan State History Award.

I so enjoyed this conversation with Julie Klassen. She loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. Her books have sold over a million copies, and she is a three-time recipient of the Christy Award for Historical Romance. The Secret of Pembrooke Park was honored with the Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction. Julie has also won the Midwest Book Award and Christian Retailing's Best Award and has been a finalist in the RITA and Carol Awards. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Julie worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full-time. She and her husband live in St. Paul, Minnesota. Julie and I talked about her research process, her fascination with England, and her newest novel, The Sisters of Sea View. Julie also asked me about my own writing, so that was a fun twist to this episode! Here's a description of The Sisters of Sea View from Bethany House Publishers: When their father's death leaves the Summers sisters impoverished, Sarah Summers hatches a plan to open their seaside home to guests to provide for their ailing mother. Younger sisters Emily and Georgiana are on board, but Viola, physically and emotionally scarred, is distressed at the idea. Left with no other choice, the four sisters begin their new venture with the help of family and friends. But instead of hosting elderly invalids in need of fresh sea air, the sisters find themselves in the company of eligible gentlemen and a mysterious Scottish widower. Some guests have come for a holiday, others for hidden reasons of their own. As Sarah is torn between a growing attraction to the mysterious stranger staying at Sea View and duty to her family, their new situation also threatens to expose Viola's scars—both the visible and those hidden deep within. The Sisters of Sea View is a story full of faith, intrigue, and the unbreakable bonds between sisters. Readers will be eager to escape into this new series set on the charming Devonshire coastline. Purchase The Sisters of Sea View on Amazon (affiliate). Check out Julie's website and follow her on Instagram and Facebook! Purchase Alison's historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate). Purchase the best screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth (affiliate). Join my community and help support the show on Patreon! Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook! Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website. Follow the show on Instagram! Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Gregory Renz served the citizens of Milwaukee for twenty-eight years as a firefighter, retiring as a fire captain. He was involved in a dramatic rescue of two boys from their burning basement bedroom. For this rescue, he received a series of awards, including induction into the Wisconsin Fire and Police Hall of Fame in 2006. Greg has always been an avid reader and thought, maybe, he could craft a compelling novel if he could learn how to get these stories on the page. After only ten years of creative writing courses through the University of Wisconsin and countless workshops and conferences later, Gregory typed The End to his highly acclaimed debut novel, BENEATH THE FLAMES, which has won The Readers' Favorite International Book Award Gold Medal, the Independent Author Network Debut Novel of the Year, a Midwest Book Award, an American Book fest Best Book Award, and an International Book Award. Gregory is currently working on his second novel.

Please take this quick poll to help us decide the best time to air our live Rattlecasts! https://www.rattle.com/poll/ Todd Davis is the author of seven full-length collections of poetry: Coffin Honey, Native Species, Winterkill, In the Kingdom of the Ditch, The Least of These, Some Heaven, and Ripe—as well as of a limited edition chapbook, Household of Water, Moon, and Snow. He edited the nonfiction collection, Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball, and co-edited Making Poems: Forty Poems with Commentary by the Poets. His poetry has appeared in Ted Kooser's syndicated newspaper column American Life in Poetry and his poems have won the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Editor's Prize, the Midwest Book Award, the ForeWord INDIES Book of the Year Bronze and Silver Awards, and the Bloomsburg University Book Prize. He teaches creative writing, American literature, and environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University's Altoona College. For more, check out his website at: http://www.todddavispoet.com/ As always, we'll also include live open lines for responses to our weekly prompt or any other poems you'd like to share. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ This Week's Prompt: A woman walks down a dirt road late at night. Next Week's Prompt: An aphorism is a concise statement that contains a bit of wisdom or wit about life, such as “If it ain't broke, don't fix it,” or “Honesty is the best policy.” Write a poem that is either based on an aphorism or contains one or more aphorisms. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

As I said in the intro, this will be the fifth season of the MSU Press podcast, and I'm excited to share new interviews with MSU Press authors on subjects such as remix culture, nuclear energy, and life in a small town in Michigan's upper peninsula. We'll also have native American stories, Australian politics, eloquence in public speech, and plenty of poetry. I hope you'll come along for the whole season.Today, we're discussing Coffin Honey. Todd Davis's seventh book of poems and his sixth with MSU Press. In the book, Davis explores the many forms of violence we do to each other and to the other living beings with whom we share this planet. Davis dramatizes racism, climate collapse, and pandemic, as well as the very real threat of extinction in intimate portraits of Rust-Belt Appalachia: a young victim of sexually assault struggles with dreams of revenge and the possible solace that nature might provide; a girl whose boyfriend has enlisted in the military faces pregnancy alone; and a bear named Ursus navigates the fecundity of the forest after his own mother's death, literally crashing into the encroaching human world. The poems in Coffin Honey illuminates beauty and suffering, the harrowing precipice we find ourselves walking along here in the twenty-first century. As in his previous prize-winning books, Davis names the world with love and care, demonstrating what one reviewer describes as his knowledge of “Latin names, common names, habitats, and habits . . . steeped in the exactness of the earth and the science that unfolds in wildness.”TODD DAVIS is the author of seven full-length collections of poetry as well as a limited-edition chapbook, Household of Water, Moon, & Snow. His writing has won the Midwest Book Award, the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Editors Prize, the Bloomsburg University Book Prize, and the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Silver and Bronze Awards.Todd Davis's Coffin Honey along with his other poetry collections are available at msupress.org and other fine booksellers. You can learn more about Todd and his work at todddavispoet.com. You can connect with the press on Facebook and @msupress on Twitter, where you can also find me @kurtmilb.The MSU Press podcast is a joint production of MSU Press and the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University. Thanks to the team at MSU Press for helping to produce this podcast. Our theme music is “Coffee” by Cambo. Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi people. The University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw.Thank you all so much for listening, and never give up books.

Ep:086 Lev Raphael is the author and co-author of 27 books in a dozen genres from memoir to mystery.  His first book of short stories, Dancing on Tisha B'Av, won a Lambda Literary Award. He’s published hundreds of stories, essays, articles, and book reviews in a wide range of newspapers, magazines and journals. Lev has also won Amelia’s Reed Smith Fiction Prize and International Quarterly’s Crossing Boundaries Prize for Innovative Prose, awarded by novelist D.M. Thomas, author of The White Hotel.  His suspense novel Assault with a Deadly Lie was a Midwest Book Award finalist.Lev’s fiction and essays have appeared in over 24 anthologies in the U.S. and England, and they are taught at colleges and universities around the country—which means he's become homework. His fiction has been analyzed in scholarly journals, books, and at academic conferences.  He's been a newspaper columnist and book reviewer, produced his own radio talk show, and reviewed books for newspapers, magazines, public radio stations, online magazines and websites. You can connect with him on Facebook or Twitter, his author website, or his Write Without Borders website, where he mentors authors online. QueerWritersOfCrime.comDonate: Buy me a Cup of CoffeeLev Raphael's WebsiteLev's Writer Mentoring Site, Write Without BordersCold Was The Ground by B.A. Black Brad Shreve's WebsiteRequeered Tales.com

Stu Levitan welcomes the renowned broadcast journalist, educator and author Patty Loew, formerly of Madison, for a conversation about the second edition of her award-winning book Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal, from our very good friends at the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Wisconsin has about 87,000 American Indians living on about 647,000 acres of reservation and in various urban and rural settings, about 1.5% of the state's population on about 1.5 percent of the state's land mass. But despite those small percentages, the 11 federally recognized nations and tribal communities – Menominee, Oneida, Ho-Chunk, Forest County Potawatomi, Stockbridge-Munsee, and the six bands of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, plus the unrecognized Brothertown Indian Nation – have played a huge role in our history, economy and culture. Telling that history is the business that occupies Patty Loew in Indian Nations of Wisconsin, a comprehensive and accessible account, heavily illustrated, with maps and tables showing the changes over time in the location and population of the Nations. It's a book she is extremely, perhaps uniquely qualified to tell. Because, as an enrolled Member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe with a Ph D, she has both studied this history, and lived it. Now, while you were watching Patty Loew the award-winning reporter/anchor on WKOW-TV from the mid-70s to the late-90s and producer/host on Wisconsin Public Television from 1991-2011, you probably didn't realize that Patty Loew the student was also working towards a masters and doctorate in mass communications from the UW-Madison, with a dissertation on “The Chippewa and Their Newspapers in the ‘UnProgressive Era.'” Upon getting that doctorate in 1998, she continued on TV for a few years, but also became Patty Loew the Professor, in the UW's Department of Life Sciences Communication, where she remained until 2017. That's when she became Professor Emerita and moved to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she also directs the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research. As broadcast journalist and author, she has won numerous state, national and even international awards, and has received numerous honors, including the Outstanding Service Award, Great Lakes Inter-tribal Council. Her book Seventh Generation Earth Ethics: Native Voices of Wisconsin, also from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, won the Midwest Book Award in 2014, while the first edition of Indian Nations of Wisconsin received the 2001 Outstanding Book Award, Wisconsin Library Association, so we know how good a third edition would be. She has also written an award-winning textbook for fourth-graders, Native People of Wisconsin, along with a teacher's guide co-written by our own Back to the Country co-host Bobbi Malone. It is a real pleasure to welcome to MBB, a friend to us all, Patty Loew.

  Stu Levitan welcomes Madison native and retired Milwaukee Fire Captain Gregory Renz, author of the award-winning debut novel, Beneath the Flames, and an actual hero. Guilt. Inner peace. Racism. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Farms and station houses, rural Wisconsin and inner city. Lust and love. Family. Failure. Redemption. These are the themes and settings that occupy Greg Renz in Beneath the Flames, the story of a young dairy farmer and volunteer firefighter from rural Wisconsin and the angry young Black girl he meets and tries to befriend when he becomes a firefighter in inner city Milwaukee. The occupation was successful; since its publication in 2019, Beneath the Flames has received the gold medal in the Readers' Favorite International Book Awards, Midwest Book Award, Best Book Award from American Book Fest, and the Public Safety Writers Association award. Needless to say, I'll say it anyway, it's a really good read. Greg Renz was born and raised on Madison's far east side, and is a Purgolder, East High Class of 1969. He took a BS degree in Zoology from the UW-Madison in 1976, and three years later, after a somewhat ironic stint at Oscar Mayer, began a 29-year career with the Milwaukee Fire Department, including three years at Fire Station 5, at 13th and Reservoir, in the core of the inner city – an experience which directly inspired Beneath the Flames. In 2006, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Fire and Police Hall of Fame for the dangerous, even a bit reckless, rescue of two young boys in 2004. He retired in 2008, moved to Lake Mills, and set about turning his experiences and imagination into prose. It was not a quick or easy process, but the effort was worth it. It is a pleasure to welcome to Madison Bookbeat, Capt. Greg Renz.  

Sam Thayer was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, where he first learned to gather wild food in vacant lots, backyards, city parks, and at the edge of town. Later, his family moved to rural southern Wisconsin, and then to Madison. Sam's first presentation on edible wild plants was to his seventh grade science class, demonstrating the foods that he collected regularly on his three-mile walk to school. He began "survival camping" at fourteen and led his first wild food walks when he was 19. After graduating from high school, he moved near the south shore of Lake Superior and built a rustic log cabin on an abandoned farmstead, chasing his childhood dream of "living off the land" while working part-time at a variety of jobs.Since 2000, when he won the Hazel Wood National Wild Foods Cooking Contest, Sam has been teaching regularly on edible wild plants, giving workshops across the United States. In 2002 he was inducted into the National Wild Foods Hall of Fame at North Bend State Park in West Virginia. His first book, The Forager's Harvest, has won a Midwest Book Award, IPPY Book Award, and was a finalist for the USA Book News Best Books 2007 award. It has been a steady Amazon category best-seller and has sold more than 100,000 copies. His second book, Nature's Garden, has received similar acclaim and sold over 75,000 copies. Incredible Wild Edibles was released November 1, 2017.He currently lives in the woods of northwestern Wisconsin with his wife, Melissa, their daughters, Myrica and Rebekah and son, Joshua. Along with speaking and writing, he is also a maple syrup producer, wild rice harvester, owns a small organic orchard, and has been revitalizing a lost tradition of making hickory nut oil.Besides wild food foraging, Sam is an all-around naturalist with particular interest in reptiles, amphibians, bird watching, botany, and mammals. His passion for wild food extends to studying the origin of cultivated plants and the socio-economic history of the human diet.Connect with Sam:WebsiteBooksShopConnect with Jacob:InstagramFacebookWebsiteSupport AAA:ListenRate / Subscribe / ReviewWatch / Subscribe on YouTubeDonate PayPal / VenmoShop through our Amazon PortalSubscribe on PatreonMusic by Jacob Gossel / DPLV

A young man visits his half-brother in Vancouver and steals a book that changes his life. An archeology student is befriended and brought to Iraq by a brother and sister who need his help in assessing a family art collection. A man who fought for the British in South Africa’s Boer War enlists as an American to fight in WWI Germany. Spanning decades and continents, the stories in Bechard’s haunting novel A Song from Faraway (Milkweed Editions, 2020) slowly reveal themselves to be connected. In these pages, the lies of one generation are inherited by the next, homes are burnt to the ground, wives are abandoned, and innocent people suffer. With gripping portrayals of fathers and sons, mothers and siblings, passion and pain – this is a moving, non-linear novel about the relationships to family and society upon which all humanity rests. Deni Ellis Bechard is the author of eight books of fiction and nonfiction, including Vandal Love (Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book); Into the Sun (Midwest Book Award for Literary Fiction and chosen by CBC/Radio Canada as one of 2017’s Incontournables and one of the most important books of that year to be read by Canada's political leadership); Of Bonobos and Men (Nautilus Book Award for investigative journalism and Nautilus Grand Prize winner); Cures for Hunger (an IndieNext pick and one of the best memoirs of 2012 by Amazon.ca); Kuei, my Friend: a Conversation on Racism and Reconciliation, (coauthored with First Nations poet Natasha Kanapé-Fontaine). A traveler by nature, Béchard has a habit of changing homes as often as every three months, and the place he has lived in the longest over the past ten years was a community circus. G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com) if you wish to recommend an author (of a beautifully-written new novel) to interview, to listen to her previous podcast interviews, to read her mystery book reviews, or to check out some of her awesome recipes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A young man visits his half-brother in Vancouver and steals a book that changes his life. An archeology student is befriended and brought to Iraq by a brother and sister who need his help in assessing a family art collection. A man who fought for the British in South Africa’s Boer War enlists as an American to fight in WWI Germany. Spanning decades and continents, the stories in Bechard’s haunting novel A Song from Faraway (Milkweed Editions, 2020) slowly reveal themselves to be connected. In these pages, the lies of one generation are inherited by the next, homes are burnt to the ground, wives are abandoned, and innocent people suffer. With gripping portrayals of fathers and sons, mothers and siblings, passion and pain – this is a moving, non-linear novel about the relationships to family and society upon which all humanity rests. Deni Ellis Bechard is the author of eight books of fiction and nonfiction, including Vandal Love (Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book); Into the Sun (Midwest Book Award for Literary Fiction and chosen by CBC/Radio Canada as one of 2017’s Incontournables and one of the most important books of that year to be read by Canada's political leadership); Of Bonobos and Men (Nautilus Book Award for investigative journalism and Nautilus Grand Prize winner); Cures for Hunger (an IndieNext pick and one of the best memoirs of 2012 by Amazon.ca); Kuei, my Friend: a Conversation on Racism and Reconciliation, (coauthored with First Nations poet Natasha Kanapé-Fontaine). A traveler by nature, Béchard has a habit of changing homes as often as every three months, and the place he has lived in the longest over the past ten years was a community circus. G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and a prolific baker of healthful breads and pastries. Please contact her through her website (GPGottlieb.com) if you wish to recommend an author (of a beautifully-written new novel) to interview, to listen to her previous podcast interviews, to read her mystery book reviews, or to check out some of her awesome recipes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This conversation focuses on the value of reencountering works of art—and especially writing—during a pandemic. We touch on how the meditative focus of re-reading can help combat doomscrolling and the attention deficit of a 24-hour bad-news cycle. We also discuss how returning to beloved written works can offer solace and strength during difficult times. Participants include: Gerry Canavan - is an associate professor in the English Department here at Marquette, specializing in twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature. His first book, Octavia E. Butler, appeared in 2016 in the Modern Masters of Science Fiction series at the University of Illinois Press. Angela Sorby - is a professor in the English Department at Marquette. She has published 4 single-author books and 2 edited collections. She has won multiple awards for her poetry, including a Midwest Book Award and the Brittingham Prize. Amy Cooper Cary - is Head of Special Collections and University Archives in the Raynor Memorial Libraries at Marquette University. In addition to her MLIS, she holds a Masters in Comparative Literature and Translation, and is an eclectic reader with interests in British history and dystopian fiction. For more information on the podcast or the research being done at Marquette University, you can visit Marquette's COVID-19 research initiative here: https://www.marquette.edu/innovation/covid-19-research.php You can email the podcast at covidconvos@marquette.edu Music is "Phase 2" by Xylo Ziko https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/Phase_2

Liz talks with Brantley Hargrove about his first book The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras. Brantley Hargrove is a journalist who has written for Wired, Popular Mechanics, and Texas Monthly. He’s gone inside the effort to reverse-engineer supertornadoes using supercomputers and has chased violent storms from the Great Plains down to the Texas coast. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Renee, and their two cats. The Man Who Caught the Storm is his first book. Jessie will talk with our very own Steve McEllistrem about his newest work Hound of God, the story of a researcher doing DNA testing and preparing for grad school, suddenly becoming a werewolf. At first, she doesn’t believe it. However, she soon realizes that the dreams are real and that she has become the victim of an ancient mystical curse. Steve McEllistrem has been a writer and editor for more than 25 years. His Susquehanna Virus novels include The Devereaux Dilemma and The Devereaux Disaster, both finalists for the International Book Award in Science Fiction, The Devereaux Decision, named a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award, a Midwest Book Award and an International Book Award, and The Devereaux Deity, also a finalist for an International Book Award. He has been a producer and host of Write On! Radio in Minneapolis - where he interviews local, national and international authors - for many years.

We speak with our own Ian Graham Leask about his new novel House of Large Sizes, which has been garnering rave reviews.  He is also the author of The Wounded: And Other Stories About Sons and Fathers. He has taught at the University of Minnesota and the Loft Literary Center, and has been a literary consultant for many years. Recently, he helped form the publishing company Calumet Editions. We then talk with our own Steve McEllistrem about his newest science fiction effort The Devereaux Deity. He is the author of the acclaimed novels The Devereaux Dilemma, The Devereaux Disaster and The Devereaux Decision, which was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award, a Midwest Book Award and an International Book Award.

Compassionate rebels are the new real-life superheroes without the capes and the celebrity, with the super powers of compassion and courage and determination that can change the world in so many different ways that offer cause for hope in these troubled times. Their powerful stories, being told publicly for the first time, will encourage you to find and unleash the compassionate rebel that resides in all of us, guides us through tough times, helps us find solutions to our most pressing problems, and makes us all potential agents of social change. Burt Berlowe is an author, journalist, educator and social change activist. He has been writing and publishing people’s stories for more than four decades. His current book: The Compassionate Rebel Revolution: Ordinary People Changing the World has been honored as a finalist for a Midwest Book Award and the international Reader’s Favorite award. It follows its predecessor The Compassionate Rebel: Energized by Anger, Motivated by Love, co-authored by Berlowe, and honored as a finalist for the nationally-prestigious Nautilus Award, presented during Book Expo America in Los Angeles. In all of his work, Berlowe’s ultimate objective is to use storytelling as a way to transform our culture. “I believe that everyone has a compassionate rebel story waiting to be told,” he says. “I want to help people find and share that story and turn it into action that will positively change our society now and for years to come.” Tracy CulbreathKing has a passion for conflict resolution that began after pursuing her Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Central Florida in Interpersonal Organizational Communication. Tracy is an Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator at the Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO).

Ann Tatlock is a novelist and children's book author. Her books have received numerous awards, including the Christy Award, the Midwest Book Award, and the Silver Angel Award for Excellence in Media. She also serves as Managing Editor of Heritage Beacon, the historical fiction imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She lives with her family in Western North Carolina. Please visit her website at www.anntatlock.com.   Her latest book is called Once Beyond a Time and bridges time gaps, where some believe she is hinging on paranormal. You can find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1941103901/.

Ann Tatlock is a novelist and children’s book author. Her books have received numerous awards, including the Christy Award, the Midwest Book Award, and the Silver Angel Award for Excellence in Media. She also serves as Managing Editor of Heritage Beacon, the historical fiction imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She lives with her family in Western North Carolina. Please visit her website at www.anntatlock.com.   Her latest book is called Once Beyond a Time and bridges time gaps, where some believe she is hinging on paranormal. You can find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1941103901/.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! with authors Kelli Hughett and Ann Tatlock. Kelli Hughett's love for the game of football and heart-pounding romance combine to strengthen the voice in Red Zone. Kelli earned a degree in women's studies from Bear Valley Institute of Denver in 1998. A homeschool-mom-turned-suspense writer, Kelli writes suspense with His fingerprints all over it. She is a member of ACFW-Colorado chapter, and is involved in two critique groups. She is a back-to-back Genesis finalist 2011/2012. Kelli thrives on public speaking, teaching, and writing children's Bible curriculum. Discover more about her at www.kellihughett.com. Ann Tatlock is a novelist and children's book author. Her books have received numerous awards, including the Christy Award, the Midwest Book Award, and the Silver Angel Award for Excellence in Media. She also serves as Managing Editor of Heritage Beacon, the historical fiction imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She lives with her family in Western North Carolina. Please visit her website at www.anntatlock.com.  

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! with authors Kelli Hughett and Ann Tatlock. Kelli Hughett’s love for the game of football and heart-pounding romance combine to strengthen the voice in Red Zone. Kelli earned a degree in women’s studies from Bear Valley Institute of Denver in 1998. A homeschool-mom-turned-suspense writer, Kelli writes suspense with His fingerprints all over it. She is a member of ACFW-Colorado chapter, and is involved in two critique groups. She is a back-to-back Genesis finalist 2011/2012. Kelli thrives on public speaking, teaching, and writing children's Bible curriculum. Discover more about her at www.kellihughett.com. Ann Tatlock is a novelist and children’s book author. Her books have received numerous awards, including the Christy Award, the Midwest Book Award, and the Silver Angel Award for Excellence in Media. She also serves as Managing Editor of Heritage Beacon, the historical fiction imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She lives with her family in Western North Carolina. Please visit her website at www.anntatlock.com.  

Julie Klassen is Minnesota’s answer to Jane Austen. Her romances, set in Regency-era England, have a strong and growing national following. Two of these, The Maid of Fairbourne Hall and The Girl in the Gatehouse, have the rare distinction of receiving both a Midwest Book Award and the Christy Award for Historical Romance. Her third […]