Search Results

susan wiggs

Fiction, Writers on Writing

Jun 21: Welcome To Beach Town with Susan Wiggs

What Happens When You Dream One Thing & Something Different Comes Your Way?

Welcome to Beach Town with author Susan Wiggs

A longtime listener favorite returns to today with her latest summer release – Welcome to Beach Town. Bestselling author Susan Wiggs is known for exploring everyday dramas of ordinary people, facing extraordinary circumstances.

In Welcome to Beach Town, Susan dives deeply into timely, complex themes including the dark side of privilege and class, drug and alcohol abuse, grief, trauma, and women’s empowerment.

We discuss how the story behind real-life headlines inspired the concept for Welcome to Beach Town. How Susan developed her characters and the idyllic California beach town for the story’s key setting. Susan also shares some of the research she delved into. And what she attributes to the sustainability of a 30+ year career as a published author.

About Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs is the author of more than 50 novels, including the beloved Lakeshore Chronicles series and the recent New York Times bestsellers The Lost and Found Bookshop, The Oysterville Sewing Circle, and Family Tree. Her award-winning books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. She and her husband live on an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound area. More about Susan Wiggs.

Continue reading
Fiction, Writers on Writing

Jul 27: #1 NYT Bestselling Novelist Susan Wiggs with Sugar and Salt

Everyone has a past. It’s who you are now that matters.

A long-time listener favorite joins us with a great new story just in time for summer. Sugar and Spice takes us back to Perdita Street (introduced in The Lost and Found Bookshop) with a tale of family, friendship, redemption, and love.

Susan Wiggs is known for weaving women’s issues into her storylines, and Sugar and Spice is no exception — including abortion, sexual abuse, and racism. Today we find out how Susan gets in the right headspace to write those challenging scenes. How she approaches writing multiple timelines. And how has she learned to draw readers into her books from page one.

About Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. She’s authored more than 50 novels including the Lakeshore Chronicles series and the New York Times bestsellers The Lost and Found Bookshop, The Oysterville Sewing Circle, and Family Tree. Her award-winning books have been translated into two dozen languages.  Susan lives with her family on an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound.

 

Continue reading
Fiction, Poetry, Writers on Writing

AUG 11: Summer Reads & Celebrations with Susan Wiggs & Maggie Smith

One novelist. One poet. A whole lot of good reading!

“Even sitting closed on a shelf, a book had a life of its own.”
Susan Wiggs

Today #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs shares some of her favorite books for summer reading, authors to follow, and her best summer cocktail recipe.

Susan joined us last year with her latest novel, The Lost and Found Bookshop. Now she celebrates the premium edition, which includes special features, including book club resources. But Susan’s favorite feature of the new edition is the recipe in the back of the book. It’s ” … the best banana bread in the world!” she says.  Find earlier conversations with Susan Wiggs here.

Long-celebrated in the poetry community for her lyricism and style, Pushcart Prizewinning poet Maggie Smith gained star status in 2016 with her viral poem Good Bones.

Today, Maggie shares her latest collection, Goldenrod. Celebrating “the contours of daily life”, Goldenrod explores the space between thought and experience reminding us that we decide what is beautiful. Maggie reads and discusses a couple of her poems with us. And shares her writing journey, and why poetry is her chosen form.

About Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs’ novels have appeared in the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List, and have been translated into more than 20 languages, and read in over 30 countries. A former Harvard graduate, Susan Wiggs has been featured in the national media, including NPR, PRI, and USA Today.

Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith is the bestselling author of Good Bones, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, Lamp of the Body, and the national bestseller Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has received several awards including a Pushcart Prize.

Continue reading
Fiction, Writers on Writing

JUL 01: The Lost and Found Bookshop with Susan Wiggs

If you had to start over, what would you do, and who would you be?  Returning guest Susan Wiggs explores that question along with the meaning of happiness, trust, and faith in oneself in The Lost and Found Bookshop.

Susan shares her thoughts on artistic expression, how she develops her stories and characters, and the responsibility she feels an author has in portraying characters outside their own ethnic background.  She also reveals how she persevered through an incredibly tough period early in her career.

Susan Wigg’s novels have appeared in the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List, and have been translated into more than 20 languages and 30 countries.  Her recent novel, The Apple Orchard, is currently being made into a film, and The Lakeshore Chronicles has been optioned for adaptation into a series.

Continue reading
Uncategorized

Aug 04: 1] National Geographic’s Brain Games 2] NYT #1 Bestelling Author Susan Wiggs ~PODCAST

National Geographic’s Emmy-nominated hit series Brain Games returns to the airwaves with Johns Hopkins psychologist Dr. Susan Carnell kicking things off! Publisher’s Weekly calls Susan Wiggs latest work, The Beekeepers Ball, “a dazzling intergenerational tale of courage and hope.” This great summer read continues in her tradition of writing heart warming novels with substantive plot lines and her trademark engaging writing style.

Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs each Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. Like us on Facebook and follow Vicki on Twitter for exclusive updates and contests!

Susan Wiggs is a Harvard graduate and former math teacher who has enjoyed immense success as a writer, becoming internationally recognized with millions of copies of her books in print. Her legions of fans will not be disappointed with her latest work, The Beekeepers Ball, as it cements her reputation as a writer with richly imagined plots that weaves secrets, family ties, and the inedible imprint love can make on the heart. A #1 NYT and USA Today bestseller, Susans first novel was published in 1987 and since then her 40 contemporary and historical novels have garnered her numerous prestigious awards, and her works regularly appear on “Best Of” lists including those featured on NPR and Booklist. Based in Bainbridge Island, Susan is a frequent workshop leader and speaker at writers’ conferences and libraries across the country.

Have you ever heard the phrase “thinking with your stomach?” National Geographic’s Brain Games returns with an episode in which you will discover that what ends up in your belly has more to do with your brain than your mouth. Johns Hopkins psychologist Dr. Susan Carnell guests on the first episode this season and helps educate viewers on topics such as some VERY surprising ingredients that may color your food, why many food companies are more concerned with what’s on the box rather than what’s inside, and why seeing red can make you reach for something you might otherwise pass up.  Dr. Carnell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.  Her research focuses on the psychological and biological drivers of appetite.

Listen to PODCAST –

Continue reading
Uncategorized

Jun 10: Summer Reads from NYT Bestsellers Bella Andre and Susan Wiggs ~ PODCAST

The sun is out until almost 9 o’clock these days, and that means it’s time for Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair to present some great summer reads to while away the lovely Pacific Northwest twilight! So grab your drink of choice and enjoy the evening breezes with two great offerings from Bella Andre and Susan Wiggs!
Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs Mondays at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. Like us on Facebook for frequent updates and show previews and follow Vicki for more exclusive features on Twitter!

The Look of Love is the first novel in the highly anticipated Sullivan Series from NYT and USA Today bestseller Bella Andre. This is the introduction to what promises to be a fun and emotional contemporary romance series about the Sullivan family, and you will find out that when a Sullivan bad boy falls, he falls hard. And it’s forever. Andre has sold over 1.5 million books, and is known for her “sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance” (Publishers Weekly).

The versatile Susan Wiggs returns to Conversations Live with her latest work, The Apple Orchard, featuring one of her favorite themes… unexpected family members. As the story unravels, heroine Tess Delaney meets her sister for the first time as a young woman, and together they wind their way through a maze of family secrets (and some of their own) as well as uncovering a priceless treasure. Wiggs is the recipient of numerous literary awards and has over 30 published novels under her belt. She makes her home right here among us in the Pacific Northwest.

Listen to PODCAST –

Continue reading
Uncategorized

Mar 18: 1] Local NYT #1 Bestselling Author Susan Wiggs 2] Your Future Starts Now ~ PODCAST

National bestselling and multiple award-winning local author Susan Wiggs joins Vicki today to discuss her latest work, Return To Willow Lake. Later, former Microsoft senior manager Whitney Keyes shares her 5 essential steps towards accelerating your business for the future! Enjoy this encore presentation of Conversations Live! Vicki returns live next week!

Conversations Live airs every Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. Follow us on Facebook, and keep up with Vicki on Twitter, too!

Susan Wiggs continues the immensely popular Lakeshore Chronicles series with her latest offering, Return To Willow Lake. The drama is off the charts, and the timing is uncanny as an election scandal unfolds while the pressures of women making major career choices amidst a family illness. Known for her strong women’s fiction, reviewers are calling Return To Willow Lake Wiggs’ best work yet. She is a three time Rita Award winner, and has also won the Dorothy Parker Award of Excellence, in addition to being a #1 bestseller on the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly charts. Being a local author, living on Bainbridge Island has influenced her work greatly, and her success has led to her nurturing a number of local writers, as she speaks regularly at Washington writer’s conferences. She will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Emerald City Writer’s Conference in October.

What does a Fortune 500 company like Starbucks have in common with a small meat vendor in Malaysia? Surprisingly, a lot, because when it comes to marketing, size doesn’t matter. In PROPEL: Five Ways to Amp Up Your Marketing and Accelerate Business, author Whitney Keyes shows readers how to remove challenges holding a business back, identify new marketing opportunities, and turn ideas into action by creating a customized plan. As Keyes notes, anyone can do marketing, but true success lies in how it’s done. For over 20 years, she has been on the front lines of bringing success to organizations and individuals. As a senior manager at Microsoft, she managed global marketing campaigns, including the launch of Office 2000, and helped create the company’s philanthropy program, Unlimited Potential. Prior to that, she worked for the City of Tacoma helping over 500 small businesses stay afloat while managing her family’s retail store. Today she serves as a fellow for the Center for Strategic Communications and as a professor of Global Reputation Management at Seattle University. She will be speaking throughout the greater Seattle area during the latter half of September, you can view her speaking calendar here for an upcoming appearance!

Listen to PODCAST –

Continue reading