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Writer

Conservation, Nature, Non Fiction, Science

Jun 11: Grass Isn’t Greener with Danae Wolfe

June 11, 2025

Bringing Nature to Your Own Backyard

Grass Isn’t Greener with author Danae Wolfe

Photographer and conservationist Danae Wolfe loves bugs – but it wasn’t love at first sight for her. Today we talk about her beautiful new book Grass Isn’t Greener: The Everyday Conservationist’s Guide to Bringing Nature to Your Yard.

Danae shares small, simple changes that can make your garden less work for you and more inviting for butterflies, birds, and wildlife – as well as better for our environment.

We discuss the benefits of ditching your lawnmower and rewilding that perfect patch of green grass that turns out to be “not so green“, after all. How to create a quick and easy butterfly puddle station. And why invasive plants might be more of a problem than you think.

Meet Danae Wolfe

Danae Wolfe is a macro photographer and conservation educator. In 2015 she founded Chasing Bugs and teaches others about the beauty, diversity, and importance of insects and spiders through photography, public speaking, and writing. Danae’s work has been featured in various outlets including CNN, The American Gardener magazine, and Nature Conservancy magazine. In 2022 Danae received the Garden Communicators International Emergent Communicator award. Danae Wolfe’s new book – full of color photos and quick, easy ways to support nature and rewilding – is Grass Isn’t Greener: The Everyday Conservationist’s Guide to Bringing Nature to Your Yard.

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Conservation, Memoir, Nature, Non Fiction, Writers on Writing

Feb 26: Bad Naturalist – Paula Whyman

February 26, 2025

One Woman’s Attempt to Restore 200 Acres of Farmland in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Bad Naturalist with author Paula Whyman

With humor, humility, and awe, writer Paula Whyman faces her limitations, while getting to know a breathtaking corner of the natural world.

When she first climbed a peak in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains looking for a home in the country, she had no idea how little she knew about hands-on conservation, or how quickly her tidy backyard ecology project would grow into a massive endeavor.

From Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop we explore some of Paula’s many challenges, failures, and successes as she learns hour by hour how to work with nature and its seasons, with indigenous versus invasive growth, and nature … the ultimate boss.

Meet Paula Whyman

Paula Whyman’s new book, Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop, is a blend of memoir, natural history, and conservation science. Her short story collection You May See a Stranger, earned praise from The New Yorker, a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and won the Towson Prize for Literature. Paula Whyman’s stories have appeared in journals including McSweeney’s Quarterly and Virginia Quarterly Review, and her fiction was selected for the anthology Writes of Passage: Coming-of-Age Stories and Memoirs from The Hudson Review. Whyman’s nonfiction has been featured on NPR, and in the Washington Post, The American Scholar, and The Rumpus. She is co-founder and editor-in-chief of the literary journal Scoundrel Time.

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Essays, Memoir, Non Fiction, Writers on Writing

Nov 09: Peter Orner – Still No Word From You: Notes in the Margin

November 9, 2022

Observations on books, stories, poems, and life by the author of Am I Alone Here?

He’s known as a writer’s writer, a triple threat — novelist, short story master, and prolific essayist. But if you ask Peter Orner what he really wants readers to take away from his work, it’s connection.

Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin melds intimate stories from the lived life and reading life. We discuss how Peter’s stories are often built around small moments;  how he knows which moments will make a great story. Living the writer’s life. What challenges Peter as a writer, and more.

About Peter Orner

The author of two novels and several story collections, Peter Orner‘s work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and more. His previous essay collection, Am I Alone Here? Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. Peter Orner is a 3-time recipient of the Pushcart Prize and has received numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Fulbright in Namibia. He is currently the director of creative writing at Dartmouth College.

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Fiction, Suspense, Writers on Writing

Dec 16: Last Girl Ghosted with NYT Bestselling Author Lisa Unger

December 15, 2021

Think Twice Before You Swipe

Whether or not you’ve already dated online, Lisa Unger‘s Last Girl Ghosted will definitely make you think twice before you swipe. As well as the dangers of online dating, this suspense story touches on mental health, family abuse, and a survivalist lifestyle.

Today we talk about why Lisa says love is not an algorithm. How she crafted her protagonist,  flaws and all. The most challenging parts of writing … or not.  What Lisa’s mom asked her to change in the book. And … did she change it?

About Lisa Unger

Lisa Unger is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author. With books published in 30 languages and millions of copies sold worldwide, she is widely regarded as a master of suspense. Her latest novel is LAST GIRL GHOSTED.

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Fiction, Writers on Writing

DEC 30: Award-winning Crime Thriller Author Glen Erik Hamilton

December 30, 2020

The Van Shaw series 5th novel: A Dangerous Breed

We’re ending the year with another chance to catch listener favorite, Glen Erik Hamilton.

We discuss how Glen develops his recurring cast of characters to keep them fresh and evolving. What kind of research he did for A Dangerous Breed. And where and why Glen took creative license.

Glen also shares his perspective on the responsibilities artists have in today’s social and political culture.

About Glen Erik Hamilton

Glen Erik Hamilton writes crime thrillers. His award-winning novels have been called “outstanding” (Publishers Weekly), “perfect mix of serious crime and caper movie” (Criminal Element), and “a must-read series” (Mystery Scene Magazine). Most of Glens’ books begin and end in Seattle, and growing up on a sailboat around local marinas and docks, provided him with a unique insider advantage to writing about the Pacific Northwest.

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