Podcasts about Nonfiction

Marlon and Jake explore why we're so eager to revisit the worlds of our favorite stories, asking whether great characters are better left where their authors left them—or if there's value in imagining what came before or after. Tune in as they unpack the appeal of sequels, the pitfalls of origin stories, and why some fictional worlds are more powerful when they remain a mystery. Subscribe to our River-herd newsletter for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content. https://sites.prh.com/riverhead-reader-newsletter A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes Lord of the Flies by William Golding Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser Mansfield Park by Jane Austen To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Lost Horizon by James Hilton Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Little Men by Louisa May Alcott David Copperfield by Charles Dickens The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Bleak House by Charles Dickens Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Big Blonde by Dorothy Parker The Tempest by William Shakespeare

"Mind Over Murder" hosts Bill Thomas and Kristin Dilley and their listeners review what books they are reading, podcasts they are listening to, and TV shows they are watching in Summer 2026, not just true crime but all genres.  This is Part 2 of 2 Episodes.National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC):  https://victimsofcrime.org/CrimeCon CLUE Awards Unveil 2026 Winners:https://podnews.net/press-release/crimecon-clue-winners-2026CrimeCon Clue Awards 2026:https://www.clueawards.com/NBC: FBI Norfolk field office links deceased suspect to additional Colonial Parkway Murders In January 2026, the FBI announced Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. is responsible for the 1986 Virginia murders of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski.https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/cold-case-spotlight/colonial-parkway-murders-cathleen-thomas-rebecca-dowski-resolved-rcna255097American Detective TV series: Colonial Parkway Murders:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp3rNRZnL0EWashingtonian: A Murder on the Rappahannock River:https://www.washingtonian.com/2019/06/27/murder-on-the-rappahannock-river-emerson-stevens-mary-harding-innocence-project/WTKR News 3: One year after development in Colonial Parkway Murders, where do things stand?https://www.wtkr.com/news/in-the-community/historic-triangle/one-year-after-development-in-colonial-parkway-murders-where-do-things-standWon't you help the Mind Over Murder podcast increase our visibility and shine the spotlight on the "Colonial Parkway Murders" and other unsolved cases? Contribute any amount you can here:https://www.gofundme.com/f/mind-over-murder-podcast-expenses?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customerWTVR CBS News:  Colonial Parkway murders victims' families keep hope cases will be solved:https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/colonial-parkway-murders-update-april-19-2024WAVY TV 10 News:  New questions raised in Colonial Parkway murders:https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/new-questions-raised-in-colonial-parkway-murders/Alan Wade Wilmer, Sr. has been named as the killer of Robin Edwards and David Knobling in the Colonial Parkway Murders in September 1987, as well as the murderer of Teresa Howell in June 1989. He has also been linked to the April 1988 disappearance and likely murder of Keith Call and Cassandra Hailey, another pair in the Colonial Parkway Murders.13News Now investigates: A serial killer's DNA will not be entered into CODIS database:https://www.13newsnow.com/video/news/local/13news-now-investigates/291-e82a9e0b-38e3-4f95-982a-40e960a71e49WAVY TV 10 on the Colonial Parkway Murders Announcement with photos:https://www.wavy.com/news/crime/deceased-man-identified-as-suspect-in-decades-old-homicides/WTKR News 3https://www.wtkr.com/news/is-man-linked-to-one-of-the-colonial-parkway-murders-connected-to-the-other-casesVirginian Pilot: Who was Alan Wade Wilmer Sr.? Man suspected in two ‘Colonial Parkway' murders died alone in 2017https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/01/14/who-was-alan-wade-wilmer-sr-man-suspected-in-colonial-parkway-murders-died-alone-in-2017/Colonial Parkway Murders Facebook page with more than 18,000 followers: https://www.facebook.com/ColonialParkwayCaseYou can also participate in an in-depth discussion of the Colonial Parkway Murders here:https://earonsgsk.proboards.com/board/50/colonial-parkway-murdersMind Over Murder is proud to be a Spreaker Prime Podcaster:https://www.spreaker.comJoin the discussion on our Mind Over MurderColonial Parkway Murders website: https://colonialparkwaymurders.com Mind Over Murder Podcast website: https://mindovermurderpodcast.comPlease subscribe and rate us at your favorite podcast sites. Ratings and reviews are very important. Please share and tell your friends!We launch a new episode of "Mind Over Murder" every Monday morning, and a bonus episode every Thursday morning.Sponsors: Othram and DNAsolves.comContribute Your DNA to help solve cases: https://dnasolves.com/user/registerFollow "Mind Over Murder" on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderOverFollow Bill Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillThomas56Follow "Colonial Parkway Murders" on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColonialParkwayCase/Follow us on InstaGram:: https://www.instagram.com/colonialparkwaymurders/Check out the entire Crawlspace Media network at http://crawlspace-media.com/All rights reserved. Mind Over Murder, Copyright Bill Thomas and Kristin Dilley, Another Dog Productions/Absolute Zero ProductionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mind-over-murder--4847179/support.

“Books have been both a refuge and a source of inspiration. And they can be so uplifting.” – Nicole Pope Today's featured award-winning author is a book coach, international journalist, editor, and ghostwriter, Nicole Pope. Nicole and I had a chat about her books, her unexpected journey from humanitarian work and foreign correspondence in Turkey to book coaching, the irreplaceable human element in writing amid the rise of AI, and more!Key Things You'll Learn:What led Nicole to unexpectedly become a journalistSome common traps to avoid when writing your bookWhy is incorporating storytelling and a human dimension into non-fiction importantWhat helps Nicole get her work done while still dealing with procrastinationNicole's Site: https://www.nicolepope.com/Nicole's Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001KIW0RC/allbooksThe opening track is titled, “Unknown From M.E. | Sonic Adventure 2 ~ City Pop Remix” by Iridium Beats. To listen to and download the full track, click the following link. https://www.patreon.com/posts/sonic-adventure-136084016 Please support today's podcast to keep this content coming! CashApp: $DomBrightmonDonate on PayPal: @DBrightmonBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dombrightmonGet Going North T-Shirts, Stickers, and More: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/dom-brightmonThe Going North Advancement Compass: https://a.co/d/bA9awotYou May Also Like…1038 – From Bulgaria to Publishing Success by Finding Your Unique Voice with Katerina Stoykova (@Katya_Stoykova): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1038-from-bulgaria-to-publishing-success-by-finding-your-unique-voice-with-katerina-stoykova/896 – From Mind to Manuscript with Maggie Mills (@takemaggiesword): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-896-from-mind-to-manuscript-with-maggie-mills-takemaggiesword/1071 – Self-Publishing Tips for A Successful Author Career with Wiebke Tasch (@Wiebke_Tasch): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1071-self-publishing-tips-for-a-successful-author-career-with-wiebke-tasch-wiebke_tasch/781 – Laughter, Learning, and Liberating Yourself Through Memoir Writing with Alison Wearing: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-781-laughter-learning-and-liberating-yourself-through-memoir-writing-with-alison-wearing/778 – How High Value Writing Can Transform Your Workplace Communication with Erin Lebacqz (@ErinLebacqz): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-778-how-high-value-writing-can-transform-your-workplace-communication-with-erin-lebacqz-erin/670 – The Bestselling Book Formula with Honorée Corder (@Honoree): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-670-the-bestselling-book-formula-with-honoree-corder-honoree/856 – The Bestselling Planner Pivot with Dr. Nicole Janz (@drnicolejanz): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-856-the-bestselling-planner-pivot-with-dr-nicole-janz-drnicolejanz/#Bonus Ep. – From Idea to Finished Manuscript with Chandler Bolt (@self_pub_school): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/bonus-ep-from-idea-to-finished-manuscript-with-chandler-bolt-self_pub_school/752 – The Speaker's Edge with Ken Lizotte (@kenlizotte): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-752-the-speakers-edge-with-ken-lizotte-kenlizotte/#BaltimoreAuthor Bonus Ep. - Navigating Contracts, Marketing, and Creative Growth with Jean Burgess, PhD: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/baltimoreauthor-bonus-ep-navigating-contracts-marketing-and-creative-growth-with-jean-burgess/712 – When Your Heart Says to Leave a Legacy with Bridget Cook-Burch: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-712-when-your-heart-says-to-leave-a-legacy-with-bridget-cook-burch-inspiritwriter/942 – Breathe. Write. Breathe. with Lisa Tener (@LisaTener): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-942-breathe-write-breathe-with-lisa-tener-lisatener/920 – The Surprisingly Simple Art of Getting It Done with Sam Bennett (@realsambennett): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-920-the-surprisingly-simple-art-of-getting-it-done-with-sam-bennett-realsambennett/

[REBROADCAST FROM February, 2021] We present the full conversation of an important installment of our Full Bio series. In 2021, historian David Blight shared stories and insights from his book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History.  Cover art courtesy of the publisher Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

[REBROADCAST FROM January 26, 2026] On January 28, 1986, a frigid cold day with an icy blue sky, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The accident killed all seven crew members aboard and was the first fatal in-flight spacecraft disaster in NASA's history. For many, the explosion came as an absolute shock. Millions of people were watching live, including school children who were especially eager to catch a glimpse of Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire and the first civilian in space. On this episode, we remember the Challenger tragedy with author Adam Higginbotham who details what went wrong and the aftermath in his book, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space. Photo by Corbis/VCG via Getty Images: A thick cloud of engine exhaust, solid rocket booster plume, and expanding gas fill the sky above the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which claimed the lives of seven crew members, including that of Christa McAuliffe, a teacher and the first civilian shuttle crew member. January 28, 1986.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

[REBROADCAST FROM May 11, 2026] 30 years ago, a deadly blizzard on Mount Everest claimed the lives of eight climbers. Among the surviving members of the expedition was journalist Jon Krakauer, who was covering it for Outside Magazine. His book about the experience, Into Thin Air, became a hit. But 30 years later, what has changed about the experience of climbing the highest peak in the world? Jon Krakauer discusses the new 30th anniversary edition of Into Thin Air.   Photo by John Storey/Getty Images: Author Jon Krakauer in a park. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tracy Kidder, co-author of "Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction," reads an excerpt illustrating how things work between him and his editor, and co-author of the book, Richard Todd. The full interview from this 2013 episode of "Conversations On The Coast with Jim Foster" can be heard now wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/kidder-good-prose-the-art-of-nonfiction--53250982.

Now the author of two books and many articles in major publications, Eva Holland was just getting started in 2012. That's when she was offered a 10-month back-fill position with Up Here magazine. “It was the break I was waiting for,” she says, “and I spent those months in an informal feature-writing boot-camp.”In this episode, Eva chats with The YUKON Magazine's co-publisher, Tammo Walter, about her evolution as a northern writer and what it means to “write the North.” She then reads a timeless story titled “I Found the Sweet Life,” which chronicles a week she spent among Skagway's seasonal workers during her “boot-camp” era more than a decade ago. Originally published in Up Here, this piece also appears in Eva's collection No Sleep ‘Til Fairbanks."This story,” she explains, “was my first foray into the sort of immersive first-person reporting that would become my trademark.”The rest is history.CREDITSInterview by Tammo WalterReading by Eva HollandMixed and edited by Mark KoepkeIntro/outro music and stings by Major FunkOther music:acoustic primitive guitar open C by yunclas -- License: Creative Commons 0MORE FROM THIS SERIES((Poetry)) by Peter Jickling((Theatre)) by Larrikin Entertainment((Radio)) by JAM Live!((Music)) by the august arrival((Fiction)) by Nadine Sander-Green((Moosic)) by Cows Go Moo((Music)) by The Lucky OnesSend us Fan MailCONNECT WITH USSend a text or voicemail Website: theyukonmagazine.comInstagram: @the.yukon.magazineFacebook: @TheYukonMagazineLinkedIn: @theyukonmagazineEmail: podcast@theyukonmagazine.comSUBSCRIBE TO THE MAGAZINESubscribe for yourself or as a gift for that special person who needs a little more Yukon in their life. Four issues every year, delivered right to your door.

Bestselling authors William Bernhardt (The Superman Wars) and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview WriterCon keynote speaker William Martin, the New York Times-bestselling author of twelve novels, a PBS documentary, book reviews, magazine articles, and a cult-classic horror movie. His most recent book is December '41, which Steve Berry (who has also keynoted at WriterCon), called “Another masterpiece from a master, and that's exactly what William Martin is.”0:00 Opening ThoughtsUpdates on the Commonwealth Prize controversy—and WriterCon '26!5:11 News1) Self-Published Book Sells Over 2.5 Million Copies!2) AI Stories Favor Elias Thorne and Lighthouses16:53 Craft CornerChristina Kaye discusses how to treat your books like a business, not a hobby20:17 Interview with William Martin49:46 Parting WordsBill's book The Superman Wars is about a writer, just like you, and the struggles he suffered are still with us today. Jerry Siegel, the kid who came up with the idea for Superman, was the first American writer to sue his publishers, and many other writers now benefit from what became the most important creator-rights battle of modern times.WriterCon is September 4-7, in Oklahoma City at the historic and haunted Skirvin Hilton. Lara and I will be there, plus Jesse, plus William Martin, plus about sixty other writers, agents, publishers, and people connected to the publishing industry. You can review the schedule on our website, www.writercon.com.If you haven't joined the WriterCon Facebook Group yet, do it today and join this wonderful community of writers. Click here!Until next time, keep writing, and remember: You cannot fail, if you refuse to quit.William Bernhardt www.williambernhardt.com www.writercon.com

The Miles of Books Non-Fiction Debut Episode originally dropped on April 22, 2025.This debut episode is ideal listening for all athletes, especially ones in a pursuit of increased athletic enjoyment and success. Along with host Sarah Bowen Shea, Coach Liz Waterstraat does a deep dive into the new book Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change by Olga Khazan. Among other things, Coach Liz discusses the importance of openness during a race; how conscientiousness can help runners succeed in training; and why being more outgoing might deepen your connection to running. (As promised, here's Coach Liz on Goodreads.)Other books Coach Liz recommends:How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be: Katy MilkmanFour Thousand Weeks: Oliver BurkemanUnwinding Anxiety: Judson BrewerThe Miles of Books Debut Fiction Episode originally dropped on May 6, 2025.Fiction lovers will delight in this first novel-filled episode of our new biweekly [now weekly!] podcast. In a lively conversation, Ellison Weist talks up these four books with host Sarah Bowen Shea:The Fisherman's Gift: Julia R. KellyTilt: Emma PatteeMurder at Gulls Nest: Jess KiddI See You've Called in Dead: John KenneyOther books Ellison is looking forward to reading:33 Place Brugmann: Alice AustenA Gentleman's Gentleman: T J AlexanderFeisty Fest: Join us from September 18-20, 2026 - https://feisty.co/events/feisty-fest/Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themotherrunner/Cozy Earth: Use code: AMR to receive 20% off at https://cozyearth.com/Hettas: Use code STAYFEISTY for 20% off at https://hettas.com/Momentous: Use code AMR for up to 35% off your first order at https://www.livemomentous.com/Currex: Use code AMR15 for 15% off at https://currex.com/Tifosi Optics: Use code FEISTY2026 for 20% off at https://tifosioptics.com/ PLUS: Register to win a Free Pair of Sunglasses: https://feistymedia.activehosted.com/f/121

Welcome back for a new season! Marlon and Jake catch up on what they've been reading, writing, and working on, including Marlon's new novel, and explore the books they return to when it's time to create. They discuss the stories that inspire rather than intimidate, the surprising value of giving up on a book, and the writers they revisit to clear the cobwebs from their minds. Tune in to hear how reading shapes their creative process, from finding the right voice to discovering what makes great dialogue. Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper. “A Trifle from Life” by Anton Chekhov Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne War Music by Christopher Logue The Odyssey by Homer The Oresteia by Aeschylus Letters from a Stoic by Seneca Maurice by E. M. Forster Ernesto by Umberto Saba Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar New Hampshire by Robert Frost In Parenthesis by David Jones Civil War by Lucan

 "Mind Over Murder" hosts Bill Thomas and Kristin Dilley and their listeners review what books they are reading, podcasts they are listening to, and TV shows they are watching in Summer 2026, not just true crime but all genres.  This is Part 1 of 2 Episodes.National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC):  https://victimsofcrime.org/CrimeCon CLUE Awards Unveil 2026 Winners:https://podnews.net/press-release/crimecon-clue-winners-2026CrimeCon Clue Awards 2026:https://www.clueawards.com/NBC: FBI Norfolk field office links deceased suspect to additional Colonial Parkway Murders In January 2026, the FBI announced Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. is responsible for the 1986 Virginia murders of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski.https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/cold-case-spotlight/colonial-parkway-murders-cathleen-thomas-rebecca-dowski-resolved-rcna255097American Detective TV series: Colonial Parkway Murders:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp3rNRZnL0EWashingtonian: A Murder on the Rappahannock River:https://www.washingtonian.com/2019/06/27/murder-on-the-rappahannock-river-emerson-stevens-mary-harding-innocence-project/WTKR News 3: One year after development in Colonial Parkway Murders, where do things stand?https://www.wtkr.com/news/in-the-community/historic-triangle/one-year-after-development-in-colonial-parkway-murders-where-do-things-standWon't you help the Mind Over Murder podcast increase our visibility and shine the spotlight on the "Colonial Parkway Murders" and other unsolved cases? Contribute any amount you can here:https://www.gofundme.com/f/mind-over-murder-podcast-expenses?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customerWTVR CBS News:  Colonial Parkway murders victims' families keep hope cases will be solved:https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/colonial-parkway-murders-update-april-19-2024WAVY TV 10 News:  New questions raised in Colonial Parkway murders:https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/new-questions-raised-in-colonial-parkway-murders/Alan Wade Wilmer, Sr. has been named as the killer of Robin Edwards and David Knobling in the Colonial Parkway Murders in September 1987, as well as the murderer of Teresa Howell in June 1989. He has also been linked to the April 1988 disappearance and likely murder of Keith Call and Cassandra Hailey, another pair in the Colonial Parkway Murders.13News Now investigates: A serial killer's DNA will not be entered into CODIS database:https://www.13newsnow.com/video/news/local/13news-now-investigates/291-e82a9e0b-38e3-4f95-982a-40e960a71e49WAVY TV 10 on the Colonial Parkway Murders Announcement with photos:https://www.wavy.com/news/crime/deceased-man-identified-as-suspect-in-decades-old-homicides/WTKR News 3https://www.wtkr.com/news/is-man-linked-to-one-of-the-colonial-parkway-murders-connected-to-the-other-casesVirginian Pilot: Who was Alan Wade Wilmer Sr.? Man suspected in two ‘Colonial Parkway' murders died alone in 2017https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/01/14/who-was-alan-wade-wilmer-sr-man-suspected-in-colonial-parkway-murders-died-alone-in-2017/Colonial Parkway Murders Facebook page with more than 18,000 followers: https://www.facebook.com/ColonialParkwayCaseYou can also participate in an in-depth discussion of the Colonial Parkway Murders here:https://earonsgsk.proboards.com/board/50/colonial-parkway-murdersMind Over Murder is proud to be a Spreaker Prime Podcaster:https://www.spreaker.comJoin the discussion on our Mind Over MurderColonial Parkway Murders website: https://colonialparkwaymurders.com Mind Over Murder Podcast website: https://mindovermurderpodcast.comPlease subscribe and rate us at your favorite podcast sites. Ratings and reviews are very important. Please share and tell your friends!We launch a new episode of "Mind Over Murder" every Monday morning, and a bonus episode every Thursday morning.Sponsors: Othram and DNAsolves.comContribute Your DNA to help solve cases: https://dnasolves.com/user/registerFollow "Mind Over Murder" on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderOverFollow Bill Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillThomas56Follow "Colonial Parkway Murders" on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColonialParkwayCase/Follow us on InstaGram:: https://www.instagram.com/colonialparkwaymurders/Check out the entire Crawlspace Media network at http://crawlspace-media.com/All rights reserved. Mind Over Murder, Copyright Bill Thomas and Kristin Dilley, Another Dog Productions/Absolute Zero ProductionsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mind-over-murder--4847179/support.

Send us Fan MailBeth and Lisa welcome literary agent and debut author Alia Hanna Habib, whose book Take It From Me is a practical behind-the-scenes guide to getting a nonfiction book published. Alia represents acclaimed writers including Clint Smith and Nicole Hannah-Jones, was named one of New York Magazine's most powerful New Yorkers you've never heard of, and writes the Substack newsletter Delivery and Acceptance.WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE TO BE A WRITER (WHEN YOU'RE ALSO AN AGENT)Alia shares what it was like to experience the writer's side of publishing for the first time — the anxiety of waiting for feedback, the obsessive inbox-checking, and the hard-won empathy for her own clients. Her takeaway: before you hit send on that panicked email to your agent, ask yourself — am I sending this because I need an answer, or to soothe my own anxiety? If it's the latter, wait.HOW THE BOOK CAME TO BEThe idea came during an afternoon nap. Alia was expanding a writing workshop for Stanford academics and realized there was no practical guide specifically about nonfiction publishing. She texted her colleague and friend Meredith Pafel Simonoff two paragraphs — and had a proposal within weeks. Writing the book took two years, complicated by divorce, loss, and the realities of doing it alongside a full-time career.THE NONFICTION LANDSCAPE RIGHT NOWWe're in an escapist moment. Romantasy, cozy mysteries, and rom-coms are dominating. In nonfiction, what's working is practical books that make your life better or give you hope. Alia also sees a coming wave of tech-critical books skeptical of our online lives. Her agenting philosophy: if something fascinates her, it'll fascinate readers. She doesn't chase headlines — nonfiction timelines are two-plus years, and you can't predict the news.CRAFT: WRITING A WINNING NONFICTION PROPOSALThe biggest mistake Alia sees is what she calls "death by PowerPoint" — leading with marketing bullet points instead of writing. Publishers are readers first. Her advice:Open with a scene in the voice of the book, not a summarySolve the "page 100 problem" — what's the engine that sustains 80,000 words?Keep marketing sections grounded in what you actually bring to the table — platform, expertise, existing audience. Publishers decide budgets and tours. Skip the hypotheticals.You're being judged on how you tell a story, not how great you are at bullet pointsWHAT ALIA IS LOOKING FOR RIGHT NOWBooks that provide guidance or reframe someone's life, historical true crime, and narrative nonfiction with a strong storytelling engine. Current projects include a Regency-era true crime story and My Jane Austen Breakup Album — a literary memoir about a man who lost his partner and his home and spent a year couch-surfing with his collected Jane Austen, reading her for romantic advice while navigating the gay dating scene in Manhattan.FIND ALIASubstack: Delivery and Acceptance Book: Take It From Me — available now wherever books are sold Support the show Visit the WebsiteFind Full Episodes on YouTube!Writers with Wrinkles Link Tree for socials and more!

How do you write about the most painful experiences of your life without being overwhelmed by them? How can timed writing and a braided story help you untangle your hardest stories? With Nicole Walker. In the intro, Self-Publishing Pop Up Books [Self-Publishing with ALLi]; New in KU [BookBub]; The solar sail theory of indie publishing [ProductiveIndieFictionWriter]; Bones of the Deep; Selfie Awards Shortlist 2026. This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Nicole Walker is a nonfiction author, essayist, poet, and editor, as well as a creative writing teacher. Her latest book is Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why writing helps us understand “the puzzles of the universe” — and when to trust that intuition The braided essay: alternating between trauma and an everyday obsession to unlock the hard stuff How two-minute timed writing lets you go deep and then safely step back Rooting pain in the body, using the senses, scene, and dialogue instead of words like “trauma” Truth in memoir, big T versus little t, and the emerging genre of speculative nonfiction What actually sells books: pairing up on book tour and getting readers back out into the world You can find Nicole and NikWalk.com. Transcript of the interview with Nicole Walker Jo: Nicole Walker is a nonfiction author, essayist, poet, and editor, as well as a creative writing teacher. Her latest book is Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose. So welcome to the show, Nicole. Nicole: Hi, Joanna. It's so nice to be here. Jo: I've lots to talk about, but first up— Tell us a bit more about you and your journey into writing and publishing. Nicole: I was always a writer. As all writers say, I've been writing since I was five. I kept little journals and things like that, and I was on the high school literary magazine. I was an English major in college, but that was always tempered with some serious commitment to the sciences, to English literature, to German, to Spanish. I had a wide variety of interests, but there was always something that tugged at me about writing that made me feel like, this is where I feel most at home. This is the way I like to understand the puzzles of the universe. This is how I make sense of the world—through writing. So even though I got my BA in English at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, I stuck around Portland for a few years because I loved it. I worked for various non-profits, and that was great. At some point I said, “I really want to take this seriously.” So I went ahead and applied to graduate school, and ended up in the University of Utah's PhD programme, where I stayed for eight very lovely years. I always recommend to my own students: never graduate. Stay in graduate school forever, because it's such a beautiful place where people support your writing. You have professors who support it, but more importantly, you have your cohort. To this day, I have so many great friends. You make a lot of friends if you stick around for eight years. That sort of community-building is, I think, the other part of why I became a writer. Writing by myself is obviously a lonely business, and there's a lot of internal struggle that happens with that. I have found a literary community, both at the University of Utah and then growing from there, serving as president of the NonfictioNOW Conference, teaching my own graduate students, serving as the series editor for Crux, the imprint at the University of Georgia Press. I feel like my world has expanded because of my writing. So that's been a true gift. Jo: Oh, I love that. I love that you said you understand the puzzles of the universe through writing, and that this tugged at you. Could talk about that a bit more? Because a lot of listeners, I think, sometimes mistrust that feeling. They think, “Oh, maybe I shouldn't necessarily lean into that intuition.” It feels like you leaned very strongly into an intuition that this was the way. Nicole: Yes, and this book in particular, Writing the Hard Stuff, takes that to heart. I think about writing the hard stuff as writing all kinds of tricky things—things that are really hard to communicate. The book begins revolving around personal trauma. Things that happened in my childhood, as well as difficult subjects that happen to us when we're growing up. It also includes things like environmental issues and political issues: things that are really hard to talk about, that are philosophically difficult to express, that can be controversial, and that you can put people off by talking about. One of the goals of the book—one of my own philosophies—is that by looking deeply into the knotted ball of string that is a kind of trauma or a kind of difficulty, and beginning to pull those strings out, that's where you start to not only make meaning out of what happened to you, or what this particular problem is, but those strings themselves become connections. I talk about Donna Haraway's book Staying with the Trouble. It's primarily about how we can overcome our political differences regarding climate change, and one of her examples is to change the way we think about narrative. In Western thought, we often think there's a beginning, a middle, and an end, and she brings up the Navajo game that we all know as cat's cradle. So if you think of that ball of knots—your trauma, your difficult subject—you start pulling out the strings, and then you start playing with it. With cat's cradle, you make one design with your hands, and then a friend pulls it around and turns it into another design. To me, that's how reading and writing work. We share, and we build on each other's ideas, but we're always connected by those strings. So if you have this difficult subject and you're shying away from it, you're losing, I think, some of the opportunity to make connections and to make sense of what that nest of string sitting in your stomach actually is. Jo: I love that metaphor. I think it's brilliant. I've never heard it described that way, and I think it's fantastic. What's interesting is that some people don't have a mind's eye—I know several listeners who don't. So while in my mind I'm picturing the ball of string and then the cat's cradle, some people won't be able to do that, which is also fascinating in terms of how people's brains work. In terms of how you'd recommend people think about it: this ball of string that we want to turn into a design like a cat's cradle is a total mess. So where do we even start? How do we know where to start pulling on the threads? Because it might just feel like it's out of control. Nicole: Oh, I deeply appreciate both the idea that some people don't have that mind's eye, or just think differently. We all have different ways of imagining what we call our trauma, this nest of problems, this ball of string. Of course a metaphor does oversimplify in some ways. I say, “Well, you just take one of the ends of the string and start pulling.” But practically, what does that really mean to do? There are a couple of things I suggest in the book and offer at workshops. One is an exercise I call writing the braided essay. I ask the writer to sit down and think about a scene that was difficult in their life—something that had a lot of tension, that they're really still struggling with, that they don't love thinking about. I'm going to ask them to go there for just a couple of minutes. Then there's the other side of the braided essay: I ask them to think about something completely different, completely off-topic. Perhaps a walk they took in the aspen grove, or what they were making for dinner last night, or perhaps they're deeply invested in the networks of the blood in the human body—anything they're fascinated and obsessed with. I say, “Okay, I want you to write about your difficult subject for two minutes, but then I'm going to give you a break, and you're going to pop over and talk about how you spent all day weeding your garden, and yet there are still weeds.” Then I'm going to ask people to go back and talk about their difficult subject, and then go back and talk about their obsession with weeds. They write about each of these things for two minutes. What happens—which I think is a pretty compelling experiment, from my point of view and from theirs—is that they write back and forth, and they're able to take a break from the hard thing. They're also tempted to go back to it once they've had that break in their research. The other thing that happens—and, you know, every book in nonfiction has to have a colon, so of course it's called Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose—is that by going back and forth, you'll see the connections these writers make. They make connections with word choice, with verbs, with colours and different kinds of imagery. They start to make meaning between those two ideas. What happens to the writer then—and to me, when I'm doing it—is that I now have something that is constructed. So it's not just this knot in my stomach. It's not just my interest in research. Now I've put these things together, and then I get to play. We get to the cat's cradle part of the metaphor, where I really start thinking about craft issues. Why did I happen to bring these two ideas together? What might they have in common? What does it mean that I'm telling the story of my parents' divorce and my personal trauma, and in the research part I'm talking about weeds? Well, maybe I felt in the weeds. You come up with some sort of overarching understanding of why you chose that research story, and it lets you go deeper into that personal trauma, now with some of the techniques of craft, which I think help shield you from some of the trauma and pain of that original hard story. Jo: Again, I really love that idea. Do you also think the timed writing actually helps people go deep and then withdraw a bit, which psychologically may help them write about these difficult subjects? People are like, “I need to sit down for two hours and write about this deeply traumatic thing,” which of course feels like it's going to be too hard. So perhaps that two-minute process actually releases people from that. Nicole: Oh, absolutely. What a great way to think about it. It is prohibitive to sit down and think, “Okay, I'm going to go into the worst thing that ever happened to me and sit with it for two hours.” Going back and forth, you create energy and tension. But also, nobody wants to sit with something by themselves for two hours. If you think of research as your companion—”I'm coming in there with you, buddy”—you have something to rely on, this other side of the story, and it gives you that space. The timed writing, the two minutes, two minutes, two minutes, also reminds you that you don't have to write for two hours straight any day. I have a goal where I write 500 words a day, which is mostly true, unless I'm really in the weeds. We'll use two metaphors today: we'll use string, and now we'll be using weeds. But when I'm really in the weeds teaching, or going around the country talking about books, I really do write 500 words a day. I often try not to write too much more, because sometimes it loses freshness, and it can be overwhelming. So I really appreciate you saying that having that timed writing is important, but also that having that balance of deep emotional investigation with this more cerebral, informational crutch can really help you get into the subject and go deeper. Jo: Yes, and perhaps it anchors the writing in something concrete. Because with memoir particularly—having also written one—it can be too easy to lean on big words like “pain” or “trauma,” but that's actually meaningless in a book. So why is it so important to be specific and concrete in our writing in order to convey these bigger topics? Nicole: I think we know our own trauma. We know how it feels in our bodies, and we've been living with it for a long time. So it's pretty hard to communicate it to others. Why does it matter to other people? Of course it matters to you, but how are you going to convey the breadth of that trouble with words that aren't rooted in the physical world? The nice thing about rooting things in the physical world is that every one of us has a body. We have different bodies, but we share that in common. So it's the old trope of using your senses first. What did it feel like? If you can't think of what part of your body it particularly hurts in, you have the availability of metaphor to describe how that might have felt. You have the opportunity to create scene. This is particularly difficult for memoir writers, I think, because we imagine it's the fiction folks who have to use dialogue, who have to have a setting, who have to put their bodies in a place. Thatt's one of my mantras when I teach: we need to be able to see where you are. We need to see what is physically happening, how the interactions work. Dialogue, I think, is one of the best ways to literally get your body on the page—and to get your other characters, or subjects, on the page—because to speak, you have to have a body. Once you start having dialogue, you can picture the way the speaker's face moves, the way they cross their legs. You can even picture the colour of the paint behind them, or the kind of chair they're sitting in. So dialogue is one of the first ways you can say, “All right, I must have a scene here.” I can't go on just telling people, “It was so traumatic. I suffered so much. It was terrible. I felt so much pain.” You can say that sometimes, that's totally fair, but you have to pair it with that physical, concrete imagery, so other people can begin to understand what it felt like for you in your body, so they can feel it in their body. Jo: Interesting that you bring up dialogue because one of the issues with memoir is—I've had people compare it to truth with a small “t” and truth with a big “T.” So you're telling some kind of big truth about your life. If you're writing dialogue about something that actually happened to you, in memory, it's very unlikely that it actually happened in that way, so it's not necessarily small-“t” true. So on a practical note, what are your thoughts and tips on truth. How do we tell our own story even if others don't see it that way? Nicole: This is a subject I'm deeply invested in right now. When I first started teaching creative nonfiction, it was at the height of the John D'Agata and David Shields questions. What is truth? Big T, little t? What am I obligated to do as a creative nonfiction writer? I had a great friend, Angie Truong, who came to teach one of my classes, and she said, “Nonfiction is a pretty big spectrum. You have journalism on one end, and then you have the lyric essay on the other end.” You imagine the lyric essay is full of metaphors and things like that, so you can approach truth. You're saying, “This is what it felt like. This is what it seemed like.” Check out my newest favourite thing. It's called speculative nonfiction, and I use a little bit of this in my book How to Plant a Billion Trees, which Writing the Hard Stuff is somewhat based on. I wrote them in tandem, which was a very strange and interesting and fun thing to do. But in How to Plant a Billion Trees I use this thing called speculative nonfiction, which goes even further along the spectrum, past the lyric essay, to this opportunity to use language like “perhaps,” “maybe,” “I imagined.” So I have sections in my book where I can't remember the dialogue exactly, but I know that the dialogue in some sense matters—that what might have been said will do much more to convey what was happening than my exposition over the matter. By using those turns of phrase, you're alerting your reader: “Dear reader, this definitely is not exactly what happened, but this is how I recall it.” Then you're being not only honest to the story and honest to your reader, but you're also conveying the feeling and the mood of the event—that other kind of truth that memoir is really trying to get at. It was like this for me, which is why I think this way now. It's a fledgling genre. I just read a book by Laraine Herring called A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens. It's brilliant. It's an amazing book that pairs her actual colonoscopy and discovery of colon cancer with the story of her dad, who has passed already and comes back as a raven and helps her through it. So you're pulling on some of the tools of fiction, which creative nonfiction already has been doing. But it does so in this bright and, I feel, incredibly ethical way. You're alerting your reader, “My dad is not really a raven.” But you're also saying, “Oh my gosh, I sensed he was with me. I sensed every time a raven approached that I had somebody's hand on my shoulder.” That, to me, has been a lot of fun—a much more imaginative way of creating some of those scenes than doing something like, “Well, I don't remember the dialogue.” Or, even worse—and we know people have been unethical in their approach—recreating the dialogue as if they'd had a tape recorder with them when they were 17 years old. Jo: Mm. Nicole: So I offer that as an option to your listeners, as something to experiment with. Allow yourself to have that imaginative opportunity to show the reader what it might have been like. Jo: I love that. It's interesting, you talk there about the spectrum of nonfiction, which is ridiculously big, as is fiction. Obviously these are very big. But I wonder if we do get hemmed in by genre. I love the idea of a speculative memoir. I'm going to have to go read that book because I can't even imagine what that really means. I feel hemmed in by my expectations of a memoir. But then, from a business and marketing perspective—because we're all trying to sell our books— Do we risk not meeting the expectations of a reader of a genre that way? Nicole: Right. One of the good and bad things about my literary career is that I've spanned a lot of genres. My PhD is actually in poetry. Nobody expects the full truth from poetry. One of my poetry professors once said she wrote this really sad poem about her father's death, and the audience was moved, and then her real father stood up and said, “Good job, daughter.” And someone in the audience was just shocked: “You just read a poem about your dead dad, and here he is!” We have absolute expectations of genre, and expectations of truth, in everything we read. If you label it fiction, you're kind of off the hook—even though, of course, fiction uses so many elements of nonfiction: so much research, so much information, so much personal memory to create those fantastic landscapes. So when I think about how one sells one's memoir, I do think you also have to acknowledge what you expect your audience to be. With Laraine Herring's A Constellation of Ghosts, by putting “colon, a speculative memoir,” you're alerting your reader to that possibility. And because it's a pretty far-out way of thinking right now, it probably does curtail some of the sales. On the other hand, think of memoirs that are written for celebrities, and how many of them are ghostwritten—or written with other people, where the ghostwriter's not even part of the thing—but it comes across as the most legit of all memoirs, because it's a celebrity and we know them. We associate their lives with their story, and their story must therefore be true. So I think, with all levels of creative nonfiction, it's incumbent upon the writer to suggest right off the bat what kind of nonfiction they're reading. Are they reading journalism? Are they reading lyric essays? Are they reading speculative nonfiction? I think a lot, too—as an editor for a literary series for nonfiction books—about what I look for in memoir. It's something that takes the personal story and connects it into the larger conversation. Even if the larger conversation is directly about what the main subject is about, to me it's still about the crux of the matter. Why does your story make an impact on the world in this bigger way? How do you let the world inform your story? How does your past and your trauma, or your difficulties, connect to a larger world? Jo: Mm. Nicole: To me, that's something some memoirs are capable of doing. Some memoirs are truly invested only in that personal story, which I think is totally legitimate too, because I love learning how people think. I love understanding. This is just how my brain works. But in terms of sales? I don't know. Again, as the series editor and as the seller of my own books, I think you can't determine it in advance. So you should probably write what you want to write, what feels right to you, using as many craft techniques as you can hone. But the market, to me, feels very non-negotiable. You never know exactly how things are going to turn out. So I deeply believe: write the best, most well-crafted book you can, and I do think your readers will find you. Jo: We'll come back to marketing in a minute, but just returning to your own writing practice. I've got your book page up in front of me, and you've written all kinds of things: your essays, your memoirs, some fiction, and some poetry, as you mentioned. So I wondered: when you're researching something, or you've got a feeling about wanting to write, how do you choose the type of book you turn it into—or a poem, or an essay? Or do you pitch it as some kind of external work, or turn it into a workshop? How do you turn an idea into what it will eventually be? Nicole: I love that question because it's somewhat of a mystery to me, but I think I'm getting close to understanding. It really is in those first few words, that first sentence, that I think, “Okay, I know which direction this is going.” For example, the other day I woke up in the morning and thought, “All right, I'm writing this poem about how man took over for God, and that's how the planet ended up being such a mess.” So I started writing it, and it was pretty lyrical at the beginning. But then I started making full sentences, and explaining things a little bit more, and I thought, “Okay, this is not a poem. It's going to be an essay.” When I start writing fiction, I pull on something a little further, a little more distant from my experience, and then I pull it back into something more character-driven. For example, in a novel I'm writing, I begin with this whole story about McDonald's and ravens, and then I pull it back into the character. If I were to diagram the sentences between a poem, the nonfiction, and the fiction, I think I'd see fundamental differences between the three. Jo: Do you work on multiple projects at the same time, or once you commit to something, is that what you finish? Personally, I have lots of little things happening, and then a moment comes and I commit to a book, and I won't stop until I've finished that book—the rest will have to wait. It's that decision moment. How does it work for you? Nicole: My process is pretty similar to yours. I have a number of ongoing projects, percolating here and there. Some days I'll think, “All right, today feels like a fiction day.” But for the most part, you're absolutely right. There's a bunch of little things I'm writing, or things I'm dabbling in, but once there's a critical mass—which I'd say is around 20,000 words or something—I'm all in, and I've got to focus on this project. Even though I think I can do whatever multitasking, really it's important to try to maintain some sort of through-line in whatever project I'm working on. If I do that with too many projects, I lose that through-line. I also worry sometimes that the projects start to sound too similar. So say I'm writing a nonfiction collection and a novel—if I go back and forth every other day, those sentence differences I'm talking about might start to collapse, and they become too similar. Then what the heck would I be writing? I don't even know. Jo: It's interesting because you span academic publishing and, I guess, trade publishing—whatever you want to call it—where more non-academics read books. I'm just finishing up a master's myself at the moment, and writing academic stuff is completely different to writing my other books. So when you're deciding on these books, are you aiming for a specific publication market—as in, you want an academic publisher, or you want a trade publisher? How do you think about publishing in the process? Nicole: As much as I once really wanted to find some ground as a scholarly and academic writer—and I really do love to write reviews of other people's books, and Writing the Hard Stuff is a textbook that relies tremendously on so many other people's books. That is really important to me because that goes back to how one both creates and thanks one's community for creating the literary world we live in—I feel like there's a smaller audience for that sort of academic writing. But it's something we should do. As generous as you are here, for example, reaching out to other people about other people's books is probably the kindest thing you can do. So I hope to continue to take time to do that and make it part of my repertoire. It's not as fun, I'd say, as the imaginative elements of writing creative nonfiction, or fiction, or poetry. That's when I really love to groove and get into that mode of, “Oh, the words are coming. Oh, I never thought about it that way.” With academic writing, I feel I sometimes write in a slightly more stilted voice. My friend Ander Monson, who teaches at the University of Arizona, has done a really great job of writing—whether it's his personal essays or his critical essays—where he maintains the same voice. He doesn't move into that super-formal academic speak. He'll literally say things like, “You know,” or, “That's a banger of a sentence,” in the middle of an academic essay, and I really admire him for that. I feel like maybe if academic writing were more receptive to people writing in their unique voices, then maybe more people would read it. Jo: Yes. One of the pieces of feedback on one of my earlier essays in my master's year was around my sentence structure—that it would be far more appropriate in a novel than in an academic essay. I was saying to my husband, “I can't believe this, but I'm just going to have to change my style.” It's very interesting. We're almost out of time, and I also wanted to ask you: you have a recent blog post on how to try to get your forthcoming book attention in 4,231 simple steps, which made me laugh. We all find book marketing a challenge, so what have you found works best for you? I should tell the listeners—there are not 4,000 steps in your blog post. Although I think people would want them. Nicole: Exactly. I stopped at 72, but I can go on. That was sort of the pre-publishing process. There have been so many great things that have happened, but a lot of them have been driven by me. I have a publicist, but he works on a lot of other books, and I have a marketing person at Bloomsbury. They have to juggle a lot. The only person who is really, really, really committed to your book is you. So I've written companion essays. I haven't had any luck publishing them, which hasn't been true in the past, so I wonder what's going on there. I'll write something for the Huffington Post or Newsweek that's tangentially related to my book. I also might just write too much in essay voice instead of popular-magazine voice. As we were just talking about, academic voice versus novelistic voice. So that might be part of the problem too. Reaching out to people who might invite me onto podcasts has been really rewarding, and very, very kind. I think the best thing I did was to put myself on book tour and to pair myself with someone in that community. I've gone on book tour before by myself, and there have been occasions where there were two to three people in the audience, which can be really disheartening. The problem wasn't so much the bookstore's fault or my book's fault—it's just that if you go to a bookstore in a town where nobody knows you, they're not going to put a lot of effort into making the date happen, unless you're super famous. So what I did was find somebody in a community—a friend of mine—who would go with me and be part of the conversation. Even if their book was a couple of years old, we'd still go and have a conversation about each of our books. This has worked tremendously well. People will come to see their friend, and then they'll be introduced to you, and they'll ask you questions and buy your book. You create new connections and new friends thanks to that friend and that place. So that's my number one recommendation for how to get the word out in the world. I also did all the social media stuff. It doesn't work as well as it used to. It's kind of a strange time. But because of my suggestion about going to bookstores with people you know… I think we're coming out of our COVID time, where we got so used to doing everything on our computers and just staying in our electronic universe. People are hungry to get out. So one thing I want to do, and haven't done yet, is throw a big party. Go to weird places where you don't even do readings—you just offer people snacks and a glass of wine and say, “Hey, here's a book if you want to buy it.” To have these more informal gatherings that bring people together because I do think there's a hankering for people to get out into the world again. Jo: And just on that—you've got these two books coming at the same time: How to Plant a Billion Trees, which is the memoir, and Writing the Hard Stuff, the how-to book for writers. When you do these events, are you choosing one or the other depending on the audience? Or are you selling both at the same time? Because they're obviously very different. Nicole: Yes, I'm definitely selling both at the same time. Although I probably push How to Plant a Billion Trees first, because most of the people I'm pairing with are also writers of nonfiction or memoir. The other thing is, I can talk about How to Plant a Billion Trees, and if people have a really deep question about, “Well, how did you write this section?” I can say, “Well, if you refer to this book, Writing the Hard Stuff, you'll see.” So it's an easier segue. I think people aren't used to going to book events for craft books. But in the interview world—where people are reviewing books or interviewing me—Writing the Hard Stuff has definitely been the primary book I've been approached to speak about because people really do want techniques. So it depends on the context as to which book gets the spotlight, but it's been really fun to be able to talk about both in tandem. I don't know if they're competing against each other or supporting each other. That's my hope, that people think, “Oh, I read this one book, I might as well read the other one.” But that's asking a lot of people, to buy two books, so I try not to overstate that hope. Jo: They are very different, and I love the idea of doing that. Absolutely. So where can people find you and your books online? Nicole: You can find me at my Substack, which is substack.nikwalk.com—N-I-K-W-A-L-K. Or my website, which is the same: nikwalk.com. I might just start going as Nik Walk in the world, so people can find me more easily. I also really love to support Bloomsbury. They have really good deals, especially on the audiobook for How to Plant a Billion Trees, and they also have good deals if you buy both books, you get free shipping. So Bloomsbury is probably the number one place to get the books, but of course they're also available on Bookshop.org and Amazon.com, and on Amazon in the UK as well. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Nicole. That was great. Nicole: Oh, it was so fun to talk with you, Joanna. Thank you again so much for this opportunity.The post Writing The Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects Into Meaningful Prose With Nicole Walker first appeared on The Creative Penn.

In this special episode of The Folklore Podcast, recorded live on location at The Bookery, a community-owned bookshop in Crediton, Devon, host Mark Norman talks with BBC Radio 6 Music's Zakia Sewell about her book Finding Albion. Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, the book is an exploration of British identity, folk culture and myth and grew out of a documentary series Zakia made for BBC Radio 4.Find Zakia online at www.zakiasewell.co.ukSupport The Folklore Podcast and join a community of like-minded others at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast where there is plenty more free and paid content available.

In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi Member Q&A podcast, hosts Michael La Ronn and Sacha Black discuss whether it is legal to use real people's names in nonfiction, including the limits around copyright, defamation, and writing about deceased public figures. Other questions include: How much does it generally cost to have a 52,000-word fiction short story collection edited? Where can an author find a cover designer for their next book? What should an author do to make the most of a BookBub featured deal they've just been granted? Whatever happened to the golden age of author podcasts, and what would be the gold-standard listens for someone entering the industry today? Where should an author distribute a professionally recorded, author-narrated audiobook? What can ALLi do for a member whose KDP account was wrongly terminated for the stated reason of having multiple accounts? And more! Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-Publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. About the Hosts Michael La Ronn is ALLi's Outreach Manager. He is the author of over 80 science fiction & fantasy books and self-help books for writers. He writes from the great plains of Iowa and has managed to write while raising a family, working a full-time job, and even attending law school classes in the evenings (now graduated!). You can find his fiction at www.michaellaronn.com and his videos and books for writers at www.authorlevelup.com. Sacha Black is a bestselling and competition winning author, rebel podcaster, speaker and casual rule breaker. She writes fiction under a secret pen name and other books about the art of writing. When Sacha isn't writing, she runs ALLi's blog. She lives in England, with her wife and genius, giant of a son. You can find her on her website, her podcast, and on Instagram.

This week Shannon and Robin are discussing LBGTQ-themed nonfiction. Titles mentioned include:Chris Belcher, Pretty BabyEthelene Whitmire, The Remarkable Life Of Reed Peggram: The Man Who Stared Down World War II In The Name Of LoveRuth Coker Burks & Kevin Carr O'Leary, All The Young Men: A Memoir Of Love, AIDS, And Chosen Family In The American SouthCaro De Robertis, So Many Stars: An Oral History Of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People Of ColorNico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate And Finding Joy In A Turbulent EraBen Barres, The Autobiography Of A Transgender ScientistAshley C. Ford, Somebody's DaughterChristian Cooper, Better Living Through Birding: Notes From A Black Man In The Natural WorldYou can always contact the Book Bistro team by searching @BookBistroPodcast on facebook, or visiting:https://www.facebook.com/BookBistroPodcast/You can also send an email to:TheBookBistroPodcast@gmail.comFor more information on the podcast and the team behind it, please visit:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/book-bistro

Photo by Shelley Thomas Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World is the latest book by this author and professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College in New York City. Johnson's biography of Church, a highly regarded 19th-century painter and landscape artist, was published by Scribner in May 2026. Johnson also authored American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction, the Pulitzer Prize for History, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography. Additionally, the book was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize. Fellow biographer and BIO member Natalie Dykstra interviewed Victoria Johnson. BIO Podcast is going on a summer break! We'll return with new episodes in September. Catch up on past podcast episodes here.

Bestselling author William Bernhardt (The Superman Wars) and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview Cristina LePort, a cardiologist and writer of medical thrillers, including Dissection, Change of Heart, and Defrosted. 0:00 Opening ThoughtsAI stories are winning awards??? Calgon, take me away...6:27 News1) Author/Murderer Sentenced to Life2) Human Authors Can Now Verify That They're Human14:50 Craft CornerLara Bernhardt Discusses the Value of Writing Contests19:26 Interview with Christina LePort37:57 Parting WordsOne more plug for Bill's new book, The Superman Wars. This book is about a writer, just like you. Jerry Siegel was the first American writer to sue his publisher, and many other writers now benefit from his fight. Learn more about the most important creator-rights battle in modern history.The WriterCon Retreat is at Canebrake Resort near Tulsa, July 15-19. Lauren Smith will be there, with John Wooley and agent Hunter Strickland. Come join us! www.writercon.com/retreat/The annual WriterCon Conference is September 4-7, in Oklahoma City at the historic Skirvin Hilton. Lara and I will be there, plus Jesse and about sixty other writers, agents, publishers, and others connected to the publishing industry. You can review the schedule on our website, www.writercon.com.

We sit down with Dr. Steven Thrasher to talk about his new book, The Overseer Class; how our police state today evolved from yesterday's slave plantations; and why Dr. Thrasher has been blacklisted from academia after defending his students at Northwestern University during the Palestine encampment movement in 2024. Guests:Steven W. Thrasher, PhD, is the author of The Overseer Class: A Manifesto and the award-winning book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, which was a New York Times's Paperback Row Editors' Pick, named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 by Kirkus Reviews, was longlisted for both the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Literature, and won the 2023 POZ Award for Best in Literature. He is also the inaugural Daniel Renberg Chair for Social Justice in Reporting at the Medill School of Journalism and a faculty member of Northwestern University's Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. An internationally renowned scholar on race, gender, and infectious disease, Dr. Thrasher's writing has been published by the Guardian, Atlantic, New York Times, Scientific American, Literary Hub, and in many academic journals.Credits:Studio Production / Post-Production: David HebdenBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

A new book traces the influence of women on the American Revolution, from a Cherokee leader to a British spy. Author Denise Kieran discusses her new book Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Anna and Geoff react to the 2026 Women's Prize winners:  Virginia Evans' THE CORRESPONDENT for Fiction, which prompts Geoff to recommend 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, and Lyse Doucet's THE FINEST HOTEL IN KABUL for Non-Fiction.    Our book of the week is JOHN OF JOHN by Douglas Stuart, the Booker Prize-winning author of SHUGGIE BAIN. Set in the remote Scottish Hebrides among a weaving community, this story of John and his son Cal was an Oprah Book Club pick, a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and picked by many as a Most Anticipated Book of 2026. Is it more Brokeback Mountain or Greek tragedy, or something else?   Coming up: HOUR OF THE STAR by Clarice Lispector translated by Benjamin Moser. Follow us! Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Michael sits down with former White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard to discuss "Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life", co-written with fellow former Social Secretary Lee Berman. Bernard shares behind-the-scenes stories from the Obama White House, including state dinners, holiday receptions, the night Osama bin Laden's death was announced, and lessons learned from some of the world's most influential people. Along the way, he explains why civility, kindness, and attention to detail can be powerful tools for success in both work and life. Original air date 13 February 20 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us Fan MailHow the Ghost Army Hoodwinked Hitler by Rebecca SiegelThis is the incredible story of how one unit was able to fool the German army during World War II and possibly help save thousands of lives. Because it was a secret army, it is hard to know their true impact, but reading this book will make you realize how there were many different fronts on which the war was fought. Recommended for grades 6 and up. Support the show

Louise Marie meets with Marie Zarro to discuss how to introduce non-fiction texts to the primary classroom!

Welche US-amerikanischen Sachbücher waren nicht nur genreprägend, sondern haben die Welt verändert? Wir stellen sie vor: vom wütenden antimonarchistischen Pamphlet über Tagebücher eines ehemals versklavten Menschen bis zum modernen Erziehungsratgeber. Rabhansl, Christian www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Lesart

Welche US-amerikanischen Sachbücher waren nicht nur genreprägend, sondern haben die Welt verändert? Wir stellen sie vor: vom wütenden antimonarchistischen Pamphlet über Tagebücher eines ehemals versklavten Menschen bis zum modernen Erziehungsratgeber. Rabhansl, Christian www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Lesart

Episode Summary: Father’s Day can be a complicated day—one that quietly reopens wounds many people work hard to keep closed. While social media fills with tributes to loving dads, laughter around backyard grills, and heartfelt cards, there are countless individuals listening today who feel something very different: grief over a father who has died, sadness for a relationship that never was, pain from abandonment or abuse, or longing for a father they never knew. If Father’s Day brings mixed emotions, confusion, or even dread, I want you to know - you are not alone, and there is nothing wrong with you. On this episode of Your Hope-Filled Perspective, we will gently explore why Father’s Day can be emotionally charged, how our experiences with our earthly fathers shape our emotional and spiritual lives, and - most importantly - how healing is possible. We will talk about how God meets us in the complexity, how He reveals Himself as the perfect Father when human fathers fall short, and how your story does not end with the wounds you’ve endured. We are talking about When Father’s Day Is Complicated: How to Heal from Wounds and Discover God as the Perfect Father Quotables from the episode: For many people, Father's Day isn't just a holiday. It's a trigger. Scripture reminds us that God is not intimidated by our complicated emotions. He invites honesty, not performance. That doesn't mean you're weak. It means you're human. Many people don't realize that their struggle to experience God as loving isn't a spiritual failure. It's often a relational wound. Recognizing this connection isn't about blaming. It's about understanding. One of the most important healing steps is learning to separate who God is from who your father was. God does not inherit the flaws of human fathers. Healing begins when we allow God to redefine fatherhood for us. God does not merely fill the gap. He heals the wound. Healing doesn't erase the past, but it loosens its grip. You are seen by a Father who delights in you, not because of what you do, but because of who you are. Scripture References: Matthew 7:9–11 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Psalm 27:10 – “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” Psalm 68:5 – that He is “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.” Recommended Resources: Free Stress-Response Personality Assessment Sacred Scars: Resting in God’s Promise That Your Past Is Not Wasted by Dr. Michelle Bengtson The Hem of His Garment: Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner AWSA 2024 Golden Scroll Christian Living Book of the Year and the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Christian Living and Non-Fiction categories YouVersion 5-Day Devotional Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms Today is Going to be a Good Day: 90 Promises from God to Start Your Day Off Right by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, AWSA Member of the Year, winner of the AWSA 2023 Inspirational Gift Book of the Year Award, the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Devotional category, the 2023 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in four categories, and the Christian Literary Awards Henri Award for Devotionals YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 1 YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 2 Revive & Thrive Women’s Online Conference Revive & Thrive Summit 2 Trusting God through Cancer Summit 1 Trusting God through Cancer Summit 2 Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the AWSA 2020 Best Christian Living Book First Place, the first place winner for the Best Christian Living Book, the 2020 Carolina Christian Writer’s Conference Contest winner for nonfiction, and winner of the 2021 Christian Literary Award’s Reader’s Choice Award in all four categories for which it was nominated (Non-Fiction Victorious Living, Christian Living Day By Day, Inspirational Breaking Free and Testimonial Justified by Grace categories.) YouVersion Bible Reading Plan for Breaking Anxiety’s Grip Breaking Anxiety’s Grip Free Study Guide Free PDF Resource: How to Fight Fearful/Anxious Thoughts and Win Hope Prevails: Insights from a Doctor’s Personal Journey Through Depression by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Henri and Reader’s Choice Award Hope Prevails Bible Study by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Reader’s Choice Award Free Webinar: Help for When You’re Feeling Blue Social Media Links for Host: For more hope, stay connected with Dr. Bengtson at: Order Book Sacred Scars / Order Book The Hem of His Garment / Order Book Today is Going to be a Good Day / Order Book Breaking Anxiety’s Grip / Order Book Hope Prevails / Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter (@DrMBengtson) / LinkedIn / Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube / Podcast on Apple Hosted By: Dr. Michelle Bengtson Audio Technical Support: Ashton Bengtson Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Want more book sales, visibility, and credibility? Speaking may be one of the fastest ways to get there.But how do you land speaking opportunities if nobody knows who you are? Do you need a polished keynote? A speaker reel? A big platform?In this episode, I sit down with Steve Markman, founder of Markman Speaker Management and a respected insider with more than 35 years in the speaking and conference world. Steve pulls back the curtain on what really gets authors booked and what quietly ruins opportunities before they begin.If you've ever thought, I'd love to speak, but where do I start? this conversation is for you.Steve shares practical advice on how nonfiction authors can use speaking to grow authority, open doors, sell more books, and create new opportunities without feeling pushy or self-promotional.In this episode, you'll discover:Why speaking can change the trajectory of your bookWhat happens when people hear you speak before they buy your book? Why do some authors gain momentum while others stay invisible?The surprising truth about getting your first speaking gigDo you need to get paid right away? Where should you start? Steve explains why some of the smartest opportunities may not pay a fee at first.What meeting planners secretly look forWhat makes someone an easy “yes”? The small details that can move you from overlooked to booked.The mistake that can kill speaking opportunities fastOne habit turns audiences and planners off almost instantly. Are authors making this mistake without knowing it?The simple assets that make you look more credibleDo you really need a speaker one sheet? A video reel? A polished bio? Steve shares what matters and what may not.If speaking has been sitting on your someday list, this episode may change how you think about what's possible.Here's how to connect with Steve:EmailWebsite*************************************************************************When Book Marketing Feels Overwhelming, Clarity Changes EverythingIf you know your book deserves more visibility, but marketing feels confusing or inconsistent, the Author Influencer Circle helps nonfiction authors build authority, attract opportunities, and market with confidence.Learn more about the Author Influencer Circle and turn your book into money making opportunities!*************************************************************************

In this archived conversation, Michael Smerconish sits down with renowned pediatric neurosurgeon and bestselling author Dr. Ben Carson to discuss his 2014 book "One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future". Carson reflects on his upbringing in Detroit, the influence of his mother, the power of education and reading, and his views on the American Dream. The discussion also explores government, fiscal policy, political polarization, higher education, and the major headlines of the day—including the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange. A candid look at the ideas that helped make One Nation a national bestseller. Original air date 4 June 2014. The book was published on 20 May 2014. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Can artificial intelligence completely replace a manufacturing workforce, and how are massive manufacturing plants adapting to the modern skill gap? In this episode of Manufacturing Talk Radio, host Lewis Weiss sits down with Tanushree Ghosh, the Senior Director leading site operations at Medtronic's Tempe complex. Managing a population of nearly 800 people across a nine-building facility, Tanushree oversees the production of critical cardiovascular, neurovascular, and pelvic health medical devices. Drawing from her PhD background in science and material chemistry—alongside a 17-year career at Intel—she delivers an authentic look into running a complex manufacturing ecosystem. Tune in as Lewis and Tanushree break down the actual reality of AI proliferation on the factory floor, separating the media hype from cost-effective operational constraints. Tanushree shares how large companies effectively manage long-term internship and workforce models to upskill the next generation. Finally, explore her parallel career as an author and the founder of the non-profit Her Rights, where she targets gender parity, workforce diversity, and social activism. Timestamps to Watch: 00:00 – Meet Guest Tanushree Ghosh: Senior Director at Medtronic 02:15 – Inside the Tempe Complex: Medical Device Manufacturing at Scale 03:41 – Addressing the Skill Gap, Obsolete Equipment, and Workforce Realities 05:06 – Developing Long-Term Interships & Mentorship Programs 08:47 – The Real Impact of AI vs. AI Hype in 2026 Manufacturing 13:17 – Capital Equipment Depreciation and the Mathematics of Automation 16:14 – Leveraging AI and Startups for Small to Medium-Sized Companies 19:59 – Social Activism: Founding "Her Rights" and Fostering Gender Equality 21:35 – Authorship & Literature: Navigating Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Social Change 24:54 – Ruthless Efficiency: Work-Life Balance and Finding Personal Success 29:05 – The Struggle of the "Stanford Duck": Being Vulnerable About Mental Health Continued Reading + Resources Queer Chronicles Book: https://mybook.to/queerchronicles Beyond #MeToo Book: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-MeToo-Ushering-Womens-Noise-ebook/dp/B0CN4GJVFN Her Rights Advocacy: https://www.herrights.org/ Thoughts & Rights Platform: https://www.thoughtsandrights.com/ Connect with our Guest Instagram: @thoughtsrightsnimages X: @thoughtsnrights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Publishing Talks started as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. It has been an ongoing education talking with people in the book industry about the evolution of publishing in the context of technology, culture, and economics. […] The post Publishing Talks: Ramsey Kanaan of PM Press first appeared on WritersCast.

This week, two debut authors received the Women's Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction, each worth £30,000, respectively. Anita Rani spoke to the two winners, novelist Virginia Evans and Lyse Doucet, known to listeners as the BBC's Chief International Correspondent.The Women's T20 Cricket World Cup has begun. Nuala McGovern talked to Clare Connor, former England women's captain, now the outgoing Managing Director of England Women. Over her 18 years in the job, Clare has overseen the professionalisation of the women's game as well as a big boost in grassroots participation.The government has announced how it is planning to roll out quicker and easier access to educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, and occupational therapists for SEND families. Nuala spoke to the Schools Minister Georgia Gould and Principal Educational Psychologist for Salford, Claire Jackson, about the upcoming Experts at Hand programme.Last week, Hannah Murray, who played Gilly in Game of Thrones, told Anita that during the final season of the show, the papers wrote she was pregnant - when she wasn't. Hannah said that maybe this was the only acceptable way for a woman in the public eye to gain weight. Following a strong listener response, we discussed if there is a right way to talk about women's weight. Anita was joined by Alex Light, a body confidence activist and author and Dr Dolly Van Tulleken, food policy researcher, policy consultant and visiting researcher at the MRC epidemiologist unit in Cambridge University.Have you ever had one of those moments when life feels so circular that you just can't believe it? A 'once-in-a-lifetime synchronicity' is what the poet Emily Cullen called it when she discovered that a poem she had written seven years ago, inspired by her eight year old son, turned up on the English exam paper he was sitting in Ireland. Anita caught up with Emily and son Lee.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Annette Wells

Last night, two debut authors received the Women's Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction, each worth £30,000, respectively. Anita Rani speaks to the two winners, novelist Virginia Evans and Lyse Doucet, known to listeners as the BBC's Chief International Correspondent.Last week, Hannah Murray, who played Gilly in Game of Thrones, told Anita that during the final season of the show, the papers wrote she was pregnant - when she wasn't. Hannah said that maybe this was the only acceptable way for a woman in the public eye to gain weight. Following a strong listener response to that item we discuss if there is a right way to talk about women's weight. Anita is joined by Alex Light, a body confidence activist and author and Dr Dolly Van Tulleken, food policy researcher, policy consultant and visiting researcher at the MRC epidemiologist unit in Cambridge University. England is hosting the 2026 T20 Women's World Cup this summer, and England and Sri Lanka launch the competition with their match at Edgbaston today. This is the first time that 12 teams will competing for the World Cup trophy – an increase on previous years. Anita talks to Melissa Story, a cricket player for Gloucestershire and a commentator for BBC's Test Match Special, about how the tournament works, the players to watch - and the matches we can't miss.This week the Royal College of Psychiatrists launched its first ever Women's Mental Health Strategy. It was instigated by Dr Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists who chose women's mental health as a key focus when she took up her post three years ago. As Lade steps down from that role, she joins Anita to talk about why she thinks that the women's mental healthcare is in crisis and her vision for improvements.When bride-to-be Kayley Stead was left alone at the altar on her wedding day in 2022, she did what few would think to do - she let the wedding continue. Kayley's photos of enjoying her wedding alone, including the speeches, the first dance and cutting the cake, went viral. Other women congratulated her for celebrating herself and still enjoying the day. Four years on, she's found love again - she's engaged! - and she says she wants her wedding to be "a big party." She joins Anita. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.If politics feels overwhelming, chaotic, or just plain exhausting right now — this episode is for you. Emily Amick, the attorney-turned-Instagram creator behind Emily in Your Phone, joins the show to talk about her book Democracy in Retrograde (co-authored with Sami Sage) and why civic action doesn't have to feel hopeless.From calling your actual representative (not Chuck Schumer) to showing up for your local library board, Emily breaks down the concrete, manageable things readers can do to engage with democracy right now — including a real talk about the 2026 midterms. If you've been doom-scrolling and wondering what to do, this conversation is your next step.

The exhibition Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica began its life at the Art Institute of Chicago before travelling to Museu d'art contemporani de Barcelona (Macba) in Barcelona and now to the Barbican in London, in each case changing in relation to the particular circumstances of its location. One of the show's curators is Elvira Dyangani Ose, the director of the Barcelona museum, and Ben Luke speaks to her about the show. Among the books shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction in the UK, which was awarded this week, is Daisy Fancourt's Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health. Ben discusses her research and how it can be implemented. And this episode's Work of the Week is Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943), by Barbara Hepworth. It features in Hepworth in Colour, a new exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and The Art Newspaper's digital editor, Alexander Morrison, speaks to the show's curator, Alexandra Gerstein, about the work.Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, Barbican Art Gallery, until 6 September. To find out more about the wider events across the Barbican visit the centre's website.Daisy Fancourt: Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health, US: Celadon Books, $28.99; UK: Cornerstone Press, £22.Hepworth in Colour, Courtauld Gallery, London, 12 June-6 September Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Film producer Jason Solomons and Guardian columnist Zoe Williams join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day – a film which looks at whether aliens are really out there. John D. MacDonald's psychological thriller The Executioners has inspired two Cape Fear films and now there's a 10-part TV series starring Amy Adams and Javier Bardem. Jason and Zoe give their verdicts. They also talk about M. C. Escher's major exhibition at Somerset House. Famous for drawing optical illusions, impossible buildings, and endless patterns, the Dutch artist's work has inspired film scenes in Labyrinth and Christopher Nolan's Inception. Plus we will be revealing the winners of the Women's Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

The BOB & TOM Show – June 10, 2026 6:00 AM Hour 6:00 – Orange barrels; Todd Yohn 6:03 – Chick out, Jeff in 6:07 – The Fugitive theme 6:12 – Search for John Wilkes Booth; movie discussion 6:14 – Jeff was next to a truck driver whose engine was on fire 6:15 – Tom: “I'm a big horn guy” 6:16 – Lean discussion 6:25 – Kristi did not want to die on the toilet during last night's storms 6:29 – Tom might have an electric rod on his house 6:31 – Jeff sits on the toilet backward for No. 1 6:32 – Tom discussed attractive women with very large feet 6:33 – Letter from a woman who wears size 12 shoes and is 6 feet tall 6:36 – Jeff's first wife was 6'2" 6:47 – Letter explaining why windshield cleaner smells bad; bird waste mentioned 6:48 – Letter: A good hose is not cheap 6:48 – Letter: Found colonoscopy pictures belonging to a friend's father 6:50 – Tom: If the elevator is not working, take the stairs 6:51 – Kristi discussed miniature horses delivering beer at a party 6:54 – Tom is a Mr. Potato Head fan 7:00 AM Hour 7:02 – Donating old socks to horses and donkeys 7:04 – Great Beaver Quest in Toronto 7:08 – World Cup fever may increase birth rates 7:21 – Letter: Listener puts socks on while standing like Tom, lost balance and fell 7:25 – Tom's morning routine 7:27 – Sports 7:27 – Fastest time to assemble a Mr. Potato Head 7:30 – Human tower greeted Pope Leo 7:36 – Porches designed to look like Toy Story characters 7:40 – Tom wondered whether a parody film was ever made about Johnny Appleseed 8:00 AM Hour 8:04 – Jeff's 9-year anniversary on the show 8:06 – Discussion of astronauts on the Artemis mission 8:08 – USA vs. Italy; NASA discussion 8:10 – Jeff wants to drive an Alfa Romeo 8:22 – Tom discussed a recipe for small beer 8:23 – “Island Rallies” with Josh and Jeff 8:28 – Kristi said cinnamon gets rid of ants 8:30 – Jeff has never gone commando 8:32 – Kristi discussed gym power plays 8:45 – Josh mocked Pat about paying taxes 8:47 – Today in History 8:49 – Parrot causing a disturbance at a funeral 9:00 AM Hour 9:05 – Nonfiction book sales are down 9:05 – In studio: Jessica Alsman 9:05 – Josh's big sneeze 9:14 – Lean discussion 9:22 – Zoom interview with Alli Breen 9:23 – New boyfriend deactivated one dating profile but remains on Tinder 9:25 – Boyfriend uses the nickname “Pickle” for multiple women 9:27 – Husband's friend is cheating on his wife and uses others as an alibi 9:33 – New boyfriend dropped his pants near an open door to urinate 9:35 – Josh and Tom exchange humorous comments 9:37 – Couple argued on a seven-day cruise; boyfriend later seen partying with other women 9:51 – Discussion about women and urination Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While the podcast team is taking a Radical Sabbatical, Kim is interviewing authors of the books that have had a big impact on her in the past two years.  In this episode, Kim speaks with Heather McGhee, the author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, a New York Times bestseller.  Heather takes Kim on a journey through US history, demonstrating how efforts to exclude some of us from public goods harm all of us, starting with public swimming pools in the United States. As Heather describes in The Sum of Us, “By World War II, the country's two thousand pools were glittering symbols of a new commitment by local officials to the quality of life of their residents, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to socialize together for free…A Pennsylvania county recreation director said, “Let's build bigger, better, and finer pools. That's real democracy. Take away the sham and hypocrisy of clothes, don a swimsuit, and we're all the same.” These swimming pools were remarkable public resources. The Fairground Park Pool had a sandy beach, elaborate diving boards, and a capacity of 10,000 people. However, when cities across the country were forced to integrate these pools, they chose to fill them in with dirt instead. Nobody got to swim–except people wealthy enough to join private clubs. Starting in the late 1960s, the same illogic was applied to more consequential areas of life than swimming pools. As the public began to perceive that government programs like welfare, healthcare, education, and infrastructure funding would benefit Black and Brown Americans, political support for these public goods collapsed.  For example, when Texas rejected Obamacare, its rural hospitals began going bankrupt, resulting in medical deserts and economic devastation in rural Texas towns.    Today, we have a choice: the solidarity dividend that results from public goods that benefit everyone; or the devastation for everyone that results from the kind of zero-sum thinking that would cause a community to destroy public goods rather than make them available to everyone.   Guest Background: Heather McGhee designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together spent 10 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was long-listed for the National Book Award and Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, among numerous other awards. In the summer of 2022, The Sum of Us was adapted into a Spotify podcast by Higher Ground, the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama. The Sum of Us was adapted into a young adult readers' version by Random House Children's in February 2023. The adaptation for middle and high-school students received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist, and Kirkus named it a Best Young Adult Book of the Year. CHAPTERS (00:00) Introduction to Radical Sabbatical and Bacon's Rebellion (02:05) Bacon's Rebellion: A Historical Perspective on Race Relations (04:49) The Economic Impact of Racism on Society (06:34) The Race Class Narrative Project and Its Implications (16:30) Education: The Cost of Inequality (22:09) Healthcare: The Consequences of Drained Public Goods (24:37) Racialized Healthcare Politics (26:32) The Impact of Medicaid Expansion (28:38) The Mortgage Crisis and Racial Discrimination (31:24) The Canary in the Coal Mine (34:58) Unionization and Economic Power (38:54) Cross-Racial Solidarity in Labor Movements (42:18) Environmental Justice and Collective Action Connect with the Radical Candor team: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling authors William Bernhardt (The Superman Wars) and Lara Bernhardt discuss the latest news from the book world, offer writing tips, and interview...William Bernhardt, whose 67th published book is The Superman Wars, the true story of Superman's creator, Jerry Siegel, and his fight to create, then recover, his iconic character.0:00 Opening ThoughtsThe Superman Wars, WriterCon 2026, and the host steps into the interview chair!4:25 News1) Protest Filed Over AI Audiobooks—Including One from John Grisham2) New Literary Scout Program Wants to Send Your Work to Hollywood15:21 Interview with William BernhardtThe guest would like you to know that when he talked about Jerry Siegel serving his "company," he of course actually meant "country," but he just gets so excited when he talks about Siegel and Superman that his stutter returns and he trips over his own tongue. Which Superman would never do. 47:34 Parting WordsWriterCon 2026 will take place in Oklahoma City on Sept 4-7 with over sixty presenters headlined by #1 NYTimes bestselling author William Martin, and Edgar Award-winner Lou Berney. Visit the website for more info: www.writercon.comIf you want a small-group enviroment and a chance to workshop your work-in-progress, consider the WriterCon Retreat, at Canebrake Resort near Tulsa on July 15-19. More info on the website: www.writercon.com/retreat/Until next time, keep writing, and remember: You cannot fail, if you refuse to quit.William Bernhardt www.williambernhardt.comwww.writercon.com

In this member-first Q&A on the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, ALLi nonfiction adviser Anna Featherstone walks authors through how to write, publish, and promote nonfiction that sells—covering how to test market demand, what makes a book stand out, and the most common pricing and production mistakes. She shares practical, low-cost marketing tactics, from direct outreach and library events to writing ready-made stories that overstretched newsrooms welcome. Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of 2,000+ blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. We invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

For years, I thought education was something that happened in classrooms, universities, and formal programs. Then I realized that some of the most meaningful learning in my life happened when I took responsibility for my own education.In this episode, I explore how self-education changed the way I think and live, why I recently enrolled in a free Harvard philosophy course, and what happened when I stopped waiting for someone else to decide what was worth learning.I also recommend Fences by August Wilson—a powerful play about fathers, responsibility, regret, and the complicated relationships that shape our lives.If you've ever felt the urge to learn more, think more deeply, or build a richer intellectual life, this episode is for you.Send Me a Text Message with Your Questions

In Ep#3 of our Effie series, strategists share lessons on how they approach a new strategic initiative. Johnny Corpuz, Head of Comms Strategy at BBDO, Asmirh Davis, Partner and President at Majority, and Gunny Scarfo, Co-Founder at Nonfiction join me. Thanks to Tracksuit (affordable brand tracking) for supporting this Effie series. www.gotracksuit.com

This week, Emma West joins and shares her reading journey, her favorite genres, and how she ended up the Inventory Manager at Wild Geese Books. Listen to hear about: Emma's reading journey beginning as a substitute for formal education, and how she approached books as a way to keep learning and expanding her worldview. How both of us gravitate toward layered, "mind-bending" stories that require active engagement rather than straightforward "popcorn thrillers."  How romance works best for uswhen it's about more than romance—family dynamics, grief, friendship, identity, or creative life make the emotional stakes richer. How books can explore identity, trauma, religion, immigration, and society through speculative or horror elements, with special praise for Sublimation and Yesteryear.  Our shared obsession with Ashley Winstead, and how both of us now consider Hot Girl Murder Club our favorite book of hers! Check Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackGet Bookwild MerchFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrianMacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Michael sits down with former Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein to discuss his new memoir, "Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs." Blankfein reflects on his journey from Brooklyn public housing to Harvard and the top of Wall Street, sharing lessons on leadership, ambition, resilience, and navigating the 2008 financial crisis. In a candid and often humorous conversation, he offers an insider's look at Goldman Sachs, the realities of high-stakes decision-making, and the street-smart instincts that shaped his remarkable career. Original air date 4 June 2026. The book was published on 3 March 2026. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode Summary: What if the reactions you’ve judged yourself for—your hypervigilance, emotional numbness, sudden panic, or exhaustion—aren’t signs of spiritual weakness or personal failure, but evidence of a brain that has been doing everything it can to keep you alive? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is one of the most misunderstood mental health conditions, especially within faith communities. Today on Your Hope-Filled Perspective, we are going to gently untangle what PTSD truly is, what it is not, and how God meets us not just in the trauma itself—but in the long, tender aftermath that follows. Today, in honor of PTSD Awareness Month, we’re going to talk about Understanding PTSD: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and How God Meets Us in the Aftermath of Trauma. Quotables from the episode: PTSD is not a failure of faith. It is the result of a nervous system that adapted to survive overwhelming circumstances." Your trauma responses are not moral failures. They are survival responses. The body remembers what the mind would rather forget. The same brain that learned to protect you can also learn safety again. God does not rush the healing He Himself designed to unfold gently. God is not disappointed by your symptoms. He is present in your healing. Scripture never teaches that faith erases biology. Your faith resides in your heart and mind, but trauma often lives in the body. And God cares about both. Healing from PTSD does not mean erasing your story. It means integrating it. Your trauma may have changed you, but it does not disqualify you. Scripture References: Lamentations 3:31–32 “For the Lord will not cast off forever… He will show compassion.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Recommended Resources: Free Stress-Response Personality Assessment Sacred Scars: Resting in God’s Promise That Your Past Is Not Wasted by Dr. Michelle Bengtson The Hem of His Garment: Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner AWSA 2024 Golden Scroll Christian Living Book of the Year and the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Christian Living and Non-Fiction categories YouVersion 5-Day Devotional Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms Today is Going to be a Good Day: 90 Promises from God to Start Your Day Off Right by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, AWSA Member of the Year, winner of the AWSA 2023 Inspirational Gift Book of the Year Award, the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Devotional category, the 2023 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in four categories, and the Christian Literary Awards Henri Award for Devotionals YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 1 YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 2 Revive & Thrive Women’s Online Conference Revive & Thrive Summit 2 Trusting God through Cancer Summit 1 Trusting God through Cancer Summit 2 Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the AWSA 2020 Best Christian Living Book First Place, the first place winner for the Best Christian Living Book, the 2020 Carolina Christian Writer’s Conference Contest winner for nonfiction, and winner of the 2021 Christian Literary Award’s Reader’s Choice Award in all four categories for which it was nominated (Non-Fiction Victorious Living, Christian Living Day By Day, Inspirational Breaking Free and Testimonial Justified by Grace categories.) YouVersion Bible Reading Plan for Breaking Anxiety’s Grip Breaking Anxiety’s Grip Free Study Guide Free PDF Resource: How to Fight Fearful/Anxious Thoughts and Win Hope Prevails: Insights from a Doctor’s Personal Journey Through Depression by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Henri and Reader’s Choice Award Hope Prevails Bible Study by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Reader’s Choice Award Free Webinar: Help for When You’re Feeling Blue Social Media Links for Host: For more hope, stay connected with Dr. Bengtson at: Order Book Sacred Scars / Order Book The Hem of His Garment / Order Book Today is Going to be a Good Day / Order Book Breaking Anxiety’s Grip / Order Book Hope Prevails / Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter (@DrMBengtson) / LinkedIn / Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube / Podcast on Apple Hosted By: Dr. Michelle Bengtson Audio Technical Support: Ashton Bengtson Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Henri Kisielewski is a self-taught photographer whose work is concerned with the porous boundary between fact and fiction in documentary media. His practice has been recognised and supported by several grants and awards, and he has exhibited in group shows and festivals internationally. In 2025, he was shortlisted for both the Prix Élysée and Grand Prix Images Vevey. In 2021, Henri was employed by Magnum Photos to conduct the first complete review of their historic archive - he remains the only person to have seen the nearly 1 million images within. Informed by this experience, and his studies in human geography, Henri's work operates at the intersection of real-world issues and their modes of representation. His first book Non Fiction was published by Le Bec en l'air in 2024. It was selected by Clément Chéroux as one of his ten books of that year and shortlisted for the Prix Nadar in 2025. Henri is also the founder of Soft Eyes, a new photography lecture series which runs three times a year at Reference Point in London. It aims to open up space for community and dialogue outside of institutional frameworks, inviting artists.   On episode 283, Henri discusses, among other things: How A Small Voice has been part of his photographic education. How he came to assist Magnum photographer, Olivia Arthur. And run a dilapidated hotel for three years. How a year in Valencia changed his life. His decision to spend money on a.) a trip to Ibiza or b.) a camera. Returning to the hotel for his first proper photo project. Learning to edit from Olivia Arthur. How his book project Non Fiction came about. Photography and documentary media's relationship to truth. The cast of characters who appear in Non Fiction. The amazing story behind his new book project, Agloe N.Y. Post-truth America. The new photography event in London he is curating, Soft Eyes. Referenced: Alexander Meurice Erasmus Programme Joan Wakelin Bursary Charlie Engman Bruce Eeesly Melanie Mues   Website | Instagram Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £4 per month. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides. Follow me on Instagram here. Need a new website? I will build you one with Squarespace. Details here.

In honor of Pride Month, Jules Wernersbach, author and founder of Hive Mind Books shares their suggested LGBTQ+ history book list. Stock photo by O2O Creative/E+ via Getty Creative Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has started, managed, and owned multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management. He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books, articles, and blogs to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain. Find him at https://peterlyledehaan.com/books/ and on his Substack at https://peterdehaan.substack.com/Sign up for the June 12 Craft&Connect Live event here: https://tidycal.com/writeyourlife/craft-and-connect-live-q2Sign up for my writers' newsletter to learn more about the craft of writing, know when my workshops are and be the first to get exclusive information on my writing retreats. https://katcaldwell.com/writers-newsletterWant more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I'm reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter. https://storylectory.katcaldwell.com/signup You can always ask me writing questions on instagram @author_katcaldwell

On today's bonus episode of The Press Box, Bryan is joined by bestselling author Jon Krakauer. It's the 30th anniversary of his book ‘Into Thin Air,' so they talk about climbing Mount Everest, the quick writing process of the book (21:25), why he stopped writing books (38:34), and much more. Host: Bryan CurtisGuest: Jon KrakauerProducers: Donald LoBianco Isaiah Blakely, and Oscar De La Luz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices