The exquisite award-winning Dani Shapiro joins Vicki today to discuss the subject of her latest bestseller, Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life. We’ll also select holiday books as gifts courtesy of Karen West, events coordinator for the reknowned Bay Area bookstore Book Passage.

Click here for a list of books recommended by Karen West as great holiday gifts!
Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs every Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. Like Conversations Live on Facebook for exclusive updates, and follow Vicki on Twitter!

BaBestselling author Dani Shapiro is back with Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life, a witty, practical, and heartfelt look at the exhilarating and challenging process of storytelling. At once a memoir, meditation on the artistic process, and advice on craft, Still Writing is an intimate and eloquent companion to living a creative life. The versatile Shapiro has penned several novels and memoirs, has taught in the writing programs of various universities, is a contributing editor at Travel + Leisure, and is co-founder of the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy. She will be appearing at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Company at 7 PM on December 7th.

Known as “The Bay Area’s liveliest bookstore,” The Book Passage is an award-winning and New York Times-reporting destination for anything book related. Karen West is the events coordinator, helping provide the community with an array of author events, writing and language classes, and highly respected annual conferences. Today she shares her expertise on what books are ideal as holiday gifts.
Here are some of the books Karen recommends as gifts for this holiday season!
The Circle of 13 by William Petrocelli
Aimless Love, a book of poetry by Billy Collins
The Circle by David Eggers
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Colonel Chris Hatfield
The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
The Ottolenghi series of Mediterranean cookbooks
Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett

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Enjoy this encore edition of Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair as we embark upon Thanksgiving Week! We hope you will have a great holiday and enjoy some quality time with your family and loved ones. Vicki returns live next week!

In what can best be described as a “delicious read”, Ellen Kanner brings an irreverent recipe for a reverent life! Later, Adam Grant debunks the notion that good guys finish last with a groundbreaking look at how to achieve success!

Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs every Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. Get exclusive updates by liking Conversations Live on Facebook, and you can also follow Vicki right here on Twitter!

Ellen Kanner believes that with a little thought and preparation, every meal we eat can not only nourish our bodies, but our souls as well. Feeding the Hungry Ghost: Life, Faith, and What to Eat for Dinner is a one-of-a-kind book that ventures far beyond being simply a collection of recipes. In between global vegan recipes that call you to the table, she presents inspiring stories and establishes meaningful connections between the simple act of eating a meal and creating a more vital and nourished soul. The book challenges you to decide if you want to keep reading or start cooking! Ellen is an award-winning food writer and writes the syndicated column Edgy Veggie. She is Huffington Post’s Meatless Monday blogger and has been published in a wide variety of culinary publications.

Why do some people rise quickly up the corporate ladder while others languish at the bottom? Is there something beyond talent, effort, and luck that drives our productivity and accomplishments? In his landmark new book Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, Wharton professor Adam Grant reveals how the way we choose to interact with others defines our successes and failures. He demolishes the “me-first” worldview and shows the best way to get to the top is not to focus on the solo journey, but to help others rise to the occasion along with you. Grant is the youngest full professor at Wharton Business School. He has been honored as one of BusinessWeek’s favorite professors and one of the world’s 40 top business professors under 40.

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Newberry and Carnegie award winning author Sharon Creech shares her inspirations and chats with Vicki about her latest work, The Boy on the Porch. Later, is family more sacred to you than sales? Filmmaker Dave Gardner and the Growthbusters team have put together an alternative to Black Friday shopping with their new documentary Hooked on Growth. Also today, writer Rivvy Neshama discusses her delightfully inspiring new book Recipes for a Sacred Life.

Please take a moment to visit the link below, it is an information and registration page offered by Growthbusters for the public. They’ll send a link for the screening to everyone who registers!
http://www.growthbusters.org/see-the-growthbusters-documentary-free-on-black-friday-around-the-world/

Enjoy Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair every Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. You can follow Vicki on Twitter, and like Conversations Live on Facebook for exclusive show updates!

Sharon Creech is back with a new novel that poignantly illustrates how love can be discovered in the strangest of circumstances. The Boy on the Porch begins with a couple returning home to find a young boy sleeping on their porch with a note from a parent unable to care for hm. Their lives take an unexpectedly joyous turn as they begin to raise the boy as their own… until the father returns and reclaims him. What happens next is at once heartbreaking and inspiring, and the surprise ending will leave you in tears. Creech has been honored with both the Carnegie Medal and Newberry Medal for her writing, and is a national bestseller with over a dozen novels in print.

To inspire a low-consumption holiday season this year, the Growthbusters team is organizing a free worldwide Black Friday screening of Hook On Growth via the internet. Families are encouraged to avoid malls and big chain stores, and reconnect to what the holidays are supposed to be about… playing games, eating great food, and spending time with loved ones. The screening event is Growthbusters way to spur on interesting conversation, have fun, and leave a small ecological footprint. Director Dave Gardner directs you to the Growthbusters website for further ideas to make the holidays more about family and less about consumerism.

Rivvy Neshama’s new book, Recipes for a Sacred Life: True Stories and a Few Miracles may sound like it’s a run of the mill self-help book, but nothing could be further from the truth. From dancing to forgiving, from walking at dawn to sharing dinner with a stranger, Neshama shares true short tales that are at once meaningful, playful, and inspiring. She proves she has a timeless wisdom, turning down-to-earth ordinary encounters into enriching and sacred moments that can be appreciated by readers of all ages and backgrounds. Neshama is a writer, editor, and community organizer who draws her unique spiritual path from many sources.

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For straight talk on confidence, courage, and career for women, Becky Blalock delivers, and she dares you to take charge of your life! Also today, Anne Katherine recognizes that your boundaries may be your comfort zone, but in excess may be limiting your potential. 
Join us every Monday at noon Pacific for Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair on KKNW 1150 AM or 94.9FM HD. And throughout the week get exclusive show and guest updates by liking Conversations Live on Facebook, and enjoy the musings of Vicki St. Clair on Twitter!

Becky Blalock’s new book Dare takes women firmly by the hand and propels them onward and upward. Through a series of dares, Blalock empowers women to succeed with practical strategies that build relationships, promote potential, and ultimately create opportunities on which great careers are founded, nurtured, and grown.

Have you ever felt a little empty at the end of a day? Or maybe it seems as if your dreams and goals are becoming farther away and harder to attain. Perhaps there are days when it seems like you have more friends in the digital world than the real world. Anne Katherine has discovered that not truly connecting to people face-to-face can be detrimental to your long-term goals as well as your daily happiness. In Boundaries in an Overconnected World, she can help you better certain aspects of your life, such as the distance or closeness you want with friends, turning longings into reality, and making better connections to the people in your life.

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Therapist and former philosophy professor Dr. Paul Dunion believes that peace and a more meaningful life can come from becoming… and remaining… a ‘novice mystic.” Later, from musicians in hospitals to quilts on the National Mall, art is already healing people all over the world. Dr.‘s and spiritualists Michael Samuels (MD) and Mary Rockwood Lane (PhD) have teamed up once again with their latest book, Healing with the Arts: A 12-week Program to Heal Yourself and Your Community, combining their own stories with professional expertise to teach people how to heal themselves. 

Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs each Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM and 94.9FM HD. Throughout the week you can get exclusive Conversations Live updates and guest information by liking our Facebook page, and follow Vicki on Twitter!

Dr.’s Michael Samuels (MD) and Mary Rockwood Lane (PhD) both know firsthand what it’s like to heal through art: Mary painted her way through depression, while Michael healed a patient’s arthritic pain via illustration. Based off of their proven program used in hospitals around the country, Healing with the Arts: A 12-Week Program to Heal Yourself and Your Community highlights the extraordinary ways that the arts can help people heal mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Michael and Mary have teamed up on several books devoted to creativity and innovation in healing, and are widely considered among the foremost experts in body, mind, and spirit medicine.

The key to gaining some understanding of the journey of life begins with grasping and accepting that is is mysterious, insecure, and unpredictable. Dr. Paul Dunion, therapist and former philosophy professor, explains in his new book Path of the Novice Mystic: Maintaining a Beginner’s Heart and Mind that wheter you are religious or non-religious, there can be spiritual enrichment in remaining a beginner, as he opines that a novice starts the day open to what’s new, and lives from curiosity rather than already discovered conclusions. Dr. Dunion can help foster the ability to forgive, develop a healthy ego without becoming arrogant, and make peace with life while shedding needless worry and anxiety. Dr. Dunion is a licensed professional counselor with his own counseling and consulting practice. He has led over 300 workshops on a wide range of topics.

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A recent Gallup poll indicated that less than 1/3 of the combined American/Canadian workforce are commited to making positive contributions to their workplace… which places us amongst the world leaders! Leadership consultant and career coach Bud Bilanich shares why this can actually be a good thing, as well as tips on how to become re-engaged to your work! Also today, behavioral health specialist Georgianna Donadio shares why the government shutdown might be just one (really big) indication of a major inability to communicate in this country.

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

If you are having a hard time being engaged…really commited to making positive contributions… you are far from alone. Nearly 7 out of 10 people are with you on that. Dr. Bud Bilanich, leadership consultant and career coach, has examined the issue of engagement at work, and found that all is not lost. “It can be good for the employees who are engaged,” he says, adding that being engaged provides plenty of opportunity to shine. But for those who are not, Bilanich looks at ways to change that, such as the employer themselves ratcheting up the engagement of their workers, re-establishing what bought you to that line of work in the first place, or even trying something new and exciting instead. Dr. Bilanich, aka The Common Sense Guy, has been featured or quoted in nearly every major news network or periodical. With a Doctorate of Education from Harvard, he is a well regarded motivational speaker and has gone on to author 19 books, including the Success Tweets series.

For over 30 years, Dr. Georgianna Donadio has been a pioneer in the field of behavioral health, working with healthcare professionals and patients in changing behaviors to lead to better health. This work is the foundation for her new book, Changing Behavior: Immediately Transform Your Relationships with Easy-to-Learn, Proven Communication Skills. Dr. Donadio uses the government shutdown as a prime example of the impact a lack of communication can have and that consequences that can come with it. She also presents her thoughts on how we can fix the lack of solid communication, starting in our own backyards. Dr. Donadio’s expertise has been called upon by hundreds of online, print, and radio and tv interviews, and she recently retired from a 20 year stint of hosting the nationally syndicated cable tv show, Woman to Woman.

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Grammy winner Lani Hall Alpert — performer, lyricist, now author — joins Vicki to share her stories about the choices women face in Emotional Memoirs. The best story of all? Lani’s love affair with husband, Herb Alpert. Financial pressure… stress at work… relationship problems… troubles at home… chances are at some point you have had to deal with at least one of these issues, if not all at once! Clinical psychologist Guy Winch offers valuable advice for bouncing back from life’s biggest… and smallest… disappointments in his new book Emotional First Aid.

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

It seems like more than ever before, we are being assaulted by emotions from every different direction, whether it be financial security in a troubling economy, the increased difficulty of finding perfect balance in our relationships, a stressful work environment, or even with the kids acting out. Clinical psychologist Guy Winch recognizes the harm that can be done by dealing with the cumulative effects of stress on the body and mind, and he has come forth to offer relief in the form of Emotional First Aid. In the book, he discusses the seven most common psychological injuries daily life can cause, including rejection, loneliness, guilt, failure, low self-esteem, loss, guilt and rumination, and offers well researched and easy to administer (even to kids!) treatments to soothe the pain and keep things from getting worse! In addition to holding a doctorate in clinical psychology and having a private practice in Manhatten, Winch is a member of the American Psychological Association and an in-demand keynote speaker.

Lani Alpert Hall was born and raised in Chicago, becoming a professional vocalist at age 19. Travelling the world as lead singer of Sergio Mendez and Brasil ’66, her credits include 12 albums in English, Spanish, and Portugese, and the titular song for the James Bond film Never Say Never Again. She received a Grammy Award for her Latin CD, Es Facil Amar, in 1985, and to this day continues to record with her husband, the legendary Herb Alpert of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. A writer of innumerable lyrics throughout her life, Emotional Memoirs and Short Stories marks her first book. She uses the powerful creativity that marks her musical career to peek deeply into the inner lives of women and artists in this urban Chicago based anthology, investigating that fine line between creative fact and personal fiction.

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The oil industry would like you to believe that fracking is the miracle cure-all to our energy ills, but energy expert Richard Heinberg doesn’t buy the hype, and has done the research to tell you why. Vicki also welcomes Joshua Safran, whose new book tells the compelling true tale of a childhood surrounded by free spirit and the counter-culture, and how he overcame a hand-to-mouth, off the grid youth to become a successful lawyer and advocate for survivors of domestic abuse and wrongful imprisonment! We’ll also be joined by NYT bestseller Carla Neggers on her latest work! 

Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs every Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD! Like us on Facebook to get exclusive content and updates, and follow Vicki St. Clair on Twitter!

Richard Heinberg, among the world’s foremost energy educators, casts a critical eye on the oil industry hype that has hijacked America’s energy conservation in his new book Snake Oil: How Fracking’s False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future. Heinberg uses information obtained from the most thorough analysis of shale gas and oil drilling ever undertaken to answer the question of whether fracking is a miracle cure to all of our energy problems, or merely a costly distraction from finally freeing ourselves of the dependance of fossil fuels.

When Joshua Safran was 4 years old, his mother Claudia, a middle-class ’60’s flower child on the hunt for paradise, took her young son on the open road and off the grid. His became a youth of extreme hardship, enduring years of horrific abuse at the hands of a violent alcoholic stepdad, an endless parade of counter-culture characters living on the margins of society, and a true hand to mouth existance. Safran persevered, and despite his unorthodox childhood, attended and graduated college on a full scholarship and followed that by travelling to Israel to study at several yeshivas. Finally, he returned to the US and put himself through law school. Today, as a successful lawyer who works pro bono tirelessly in addition to his day job, Safran champions those who have suffered domestic abuse and wrongful imprisonment on a national level from his home in San Francisco. His new book, Free Spirit: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid, tells the story of how he overcame the odds. Safran was the subject of the award-winning documentary Crime After Crime.
Carla Neggers has been spinning stories ever since she climbed a tree with a pad and pen at age eleven. Now she has millions of copies of her books in print in more than 30 countries, and has placed over two dozen books atop the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller lists. Her latest work, Declan’s Cross, takes place in an idyllic South of Ireland seaside village, where an escape to heal a broken heart becomes a dangerous journey riddled with death and deception!

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Office politics… most people try to avoid them, but they are a fact of workplace life. Political scientist and PhD Jack Godwin offers vital information in winning the game of power and politics at work! And before you embark on a major upheaval to the way you get things done, find out how making small changes can lead to bigger results with Shannon Cassidy, founder and CEO of Bridge Between Inc.!

Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs each Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. Get exclusive show updates and information by liking Conversations Live on Facebook, and follow Vicki St. Clair on Twitter!

“In today’s hyper-competitve job market, you have to be hardworking, smart, and educated, but you also have to be politically astute. Fortunately, politics is a skill you can learn,” says Jack Godwin, author of The Office Politics Handbook. Armed with an insider’s knowledge, Godwin takes the time to explore why people are political animals, why they engage in power seeking behavior, and how your personality can affect the way you communicate and classify information. With this book, you will learn how to cultivate political skill, exert power beyond your place on the organizational chart, defend against political attacks, and know how to pick your battles. Godwin began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer, and has gone on to be a notable political scientist. He is a 5-time Fulbright Scholar and a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, as well as Chief International Officer at California State University since 1999.

With Shannon Cassidy’s new book The 5 Degree Principle, you can become the CEO of your own life by making changes in small increments with big results. She demonstrates how taking one 5 degree step at a time, rather than trying to do a full 180, gives you an opportunity to explore all options, listen to your gut, let it rest when you have to, and take action when the time is right! Cassidy is the founder and CEO of Bridge Between Inc., a management-consulting firm focused on behavioral change and communication. Before starting her own company, she was a corporate leader, successfully building businesses and driving innovation and leadership intiatives.

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