Tag

Death

Fiction, Humor

May 11: Unlikely Animals with Annie Hartnett

May 11, 2022

Spirits narrate. Animals talk. Humor, heartache,  love, & a missing girl … a magical tragicom filled with the messiness of family life and death.

Author Annie Hartnett‘s second novel wasn’t going too well. She wasn’t enjoying authoring it and wondered if all second novels were this difficult to write. But as she took a drive through New Hampshire, Annie spotted something that changed the direction of her story and brought Unlikely Animals to life … or raised it from the dead … because the folks in the cemetery narrate the story.

About Annie Hartnett

Annie Hartnett‘s first book, Rabbit Cake, was listed as one of Kirkus Review’s Best Books of 2017 and was a New England Book Award finalist. Annie was awarded fellowships and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library. She holds degrees from the MFA program at the University of Alabama. Information for Book Clubs.

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Fiction, Writers on Writing

MAY 13: Love, Death, and Rare Books by Robert Hellenga

May 13, 2020

Award winning writer, Robert Hellenga, joins us with his eighth novel, Love, Death, and Rare Books. BOOKLIST describes the story as “... an ode to physical books, their smell and feel, but also to the idea of both living life and reading about it, not choosing one over the other.”

Robert’s been writing for 40 years about love and loss, so what does he know now that he wishes he’d known when he first began his writing journey?  How did the Italian men who worked for his father influence him as a child? And what did he learn about the rare book business during his story research? He’ll answer these questions and more today.

Robert Helenga’s many accolades range from The Pen Syndicated Fiction Award, to the Washington Post “Best Novels of 2010″, and the Society of Midland Authors 2015 fiction award. Hellenga is professor emeritus at Knox College in Galesburg, where he taught for many years.

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Essays, Health & Wellness, Memoir, Social Issues

JAN 21: Suicide Awareness & Prevention Special with A. W. Barnes, Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore, & Sigrid Reinert

January 8, 2019

Death by suicide leaves family members and loved ones with a million unanswered questions. Today we devote the entire hour to suicide awareness and prevention.

Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD, is an author and psychologist. As a trusted expert on parenting, child development, and mental health, Dr. Kennedy-Moore joins us to discuss Suicide in Children–What Every Parent Must Know.  If you have kids, this is a must!

We’ll also hear from Sigrid Reinert, suicide prevention specialist with the Washington State Department of Health Suicide Prevention Resource Center. She’ll share signs that indicate someone may be suicidal, red flags to act upon, and expert resources for those who need help.

And, since coping with the suicide of a loved one is arguably one of the hardest experiences we face, we’ll end the hour with one man’s painful journey following the death of his older brother, Mike.

Author A.W. Barnes and Mike were both gay and raised in a large, unaccepting, ultra-conservative Midwest family that shaped their identities … until Mike took his own life.

Seeking catharsis, A.W. wrote a collection of personal essays in The Dark Eclipse: Reflections on Suicide and Absence. Did he find the answers he was looking for? Did Mike’s death change his views on how they were raised? Has time and reflection helped A.W. come to terms with his loss?

A.W. Barnes has a Ph.D. in English Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing. His nonfiction  has appeared in numerous publications, and he’s the academic author of Post-Closet Masculinities in Early Modern England.

 

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Essays, Humor, Memoir, Non Fiction, Writers on Writing

DEC 03: Sara Ruhl’s Letters From Max & Matt Geiger’s Astonishing Tales

November 9, 2018

Sara Ruhl is a distinguished playwright and author, Tony award nominee, and two time Pulitzer Prize finalist.  In 2012, exuberant and opinionated Max Ritvo took her playwriting class at Yale University, proving himself a highly gifted poet.  Max was also in remission from pediatric cancer.  Over the course of four years, Sara watched Max blossom as his illness returned and his health declined, exchanging a series of letters with him that changed the way she looked at life, death, and the unexpected connections one makes along the way.  She shares these urgency and humor filled exchanges in Letters From Max: A Book of Friendship.

Sara’s plays have won numerous awards, and have been produced all over the country and internationally, including on Broadway.

Matt Geiger, our second guest, says “Anytime I’m able to talk about Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov in a single interview, I’m happy!” So Vicki makes him happy and asks why.  We’ll chat about his latest book Astonishing Tales: Your Astonishment May Vary – a collection of stories and essays.

Matt is a humorist, essayist, and award-winning journalist and author, who lives in Wisconsin with his wife, daughter, ten animals, and several metaphysical questions.

 

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Memoir, Personal Development, Self-help, Writers on Writing

JAN 08: A Life in Novels with Kathleen Hill & Life is a Musical with Tim Federle

January 5, 2018

When books come to you at the just the right time, they can change your life.Kathleen Hill’s new memoir, She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels, explores defining moments of a life illuminated by novels.

Kathleen is a noted author who teaches in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College.  Her first two books have received critical acclaim and her stories have appeared in numerous collections.

Everything Tim Federle knows about life he learned from doing theater – think Don’t Sweat the Small Stuffwith Jazz Hands. Life is Like a Musical: How to Live, Love, and Lead Like a Star is designed for anyone who wants to find and live by their own song, whatever that means to them.

Tim is a Broadway dancer-turned-author who won awards for his Young Adult books and pun-tastic cocktail novels, and works with Fox Animation in developing new projects.

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Memoir, Personal Development, Self-help, Writers on Writing

OCT 23: A Life in Novels with Kathleen Hill & Life is a Musical with Tim Ferdele

September 23, 2017

When books come to you at the just the right time, they can change your life. Kathleen Hill’s new memoir, She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels, explores defining moments of a life illuminated by novels.

Kathleen is a noted author who teaches in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College.  Her first two books have received critical acclaim and her stories have appeared in numerous collections.

Everything Tim Federle knows about life he learned from doing theater – think Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff with Jazz Hands. Life is Like a Musical: How to Live, Love, and Lead Like a Star is designed for anyone who wants to find and live by their own song, whatever that means to them.

Tim is a Broadway dancer-turned-author who won awards for his Young Adult books and pun-tastic cocktail novels, and works with Fox Animation in developing new projects.

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Memoir

May 29: Driving Miss Norma & Death Need Not Be Fatal

May 15, 2017

Norma Jean Bauerschmidt lived a quiet northern Michigan life for 90 years, never even crossing a state line.  It took the death of her husband of 67 years, followed by her own diagnosis of a terminal illness two days later, for Norma to stop existing and start living. Refusing a hospital bed, she told her doctor, “I’m 90-years-old. I’m hitting the road.”

Driving Miss Norma: One Family’s Journey Saying “Yes” to Living chronicles the year-long road trip with son and daughter-in-law, Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle. Both are professional nomads who travel cross-country full-time in their Airstream trailer, along with Ringo the dog.

Also today, being the last remaining child of Angela of Angela’s Ashes fame, coupled with being Irish, Malachy McCourt has a certain expertise on death.  His latest book, Death Need Not Be Fatal, is of course about the rituals of death … for instance, why do we keep our lights on in funeral processions … but it also is about laughing, tears, brotherhood, poverty, the famous, and living life to the fullest.

Malachy McCourt is an actor, writer, politician, and younger brother of famed writer Frank McCourt.  He was the 2006 Green Party candidate for Governor of New York, has appeared in numerous television shows and movies, and authored several books.

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