Robert Olen Butler & Caitlin Doughty

Pulitzer Prize winning author Robert Olen Butler joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest Christopher Marlow Cobb novel, The Empire of Night, and how to utilize the "compost of the imagination" to create art. 

Licensed mortician Caitlin Doughty joins in the second half to discuss her memoir, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory.  Caitlin gives advice on how to talk to children about death, what attracted her to mortuary science, and options for after-life care most people don't know exist. 

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(Broadcast date: November 12, 2014)

Meg Wolitzer & Thrity Umrigar

New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer joins Marrie Stone to talk about her latest young adult novel, Belzhar, her attraction to young adult fiction, Sylvia Plath, and what makes a compelling character.  Thrity Umrigar joins in the second half to discuss her latest novel,  The Story Hour, and how the power of narrative has the ability to alter our world view.  

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(Broadcast date: October 15, 2014)

Jayne Anne Phillips & Matthew Thomas

Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Quiet Dell, and Matthew Thomas, author of We Are Not Ourselves, join Marrie Stone to talk about inspiration, craft, endurance, and their revision process.

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(Broadcast date: August 27, 2014)

Lit agent Laurie Fox on with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Literary agent Laurie Fox spent the entire hour on the show talking about what she looks for in potential clients, query letters, and more.

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 (Broadcast date: Nov. 5, 2014)

Smith Henderson, James Ellroy & KUCI Fund Drive

Smith Henderson, author of Fourth of July Creek, joins co-host Marrie Stone to talk about marrying two separate stories together, the importance of plot, writing across genres, and how being steeped in the mountains of Montana and a dismal life of social work gave rise to a beautiful novel.  In the second half, James Ellroy, author of Perfidia,  talks about the definition of noir, immersing oneself in story and the past, living without technology, and how stories are born in his brain.

It's KUCI's semiannual Fund Drive.  For the next week and a half, your donations will support our podcasts, our station, and our show.  If you--or someone you know--has benefited from our show, now is your chance to show your support.  Someone once described "Writers on Writing" as a free and convenient MFA program.  Stellar authors bring their wisdom and advice into your home each week.  We have some awesome premiums, including gift certificates, tickets to Long Beach Confidential: An Evening of Noir, books, t-shirts, CDs, etc., which are all available for your donation. 

Call us at (949) 824-5824 or donate online at www.kuci.org, and be sure to mention our show. Thank you!

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(Broadcast date: October 29, 2014)

Michael Datcher and Leni Zumas on the show with Nicole Nelson, co-host

Michael Datcher, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir RAISING FENCES, talks with Nicole Nelson about his new novel AMERICUS and about writing dialogue, layering conflict, and getting from draft number one to draft number 19. Then Leni Zumas, author of the story collection FAREWELL NAVIGATOR and the novel THE LISTENERS discusses her work and the value of defamiliarization, learning to use autobiographical elements discerningly, and tips on writing past clichés.
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(Broadcast date: October 22, 2014)

T. Jefferson Parker on Writers on Writing with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

T. Jefferson Parker, author of the new mainstream literary novel, Full Measure, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his book, writing, the books he re-reads and much more.

Jeff will be the featured author, in conversation with Barbara, at the Pen on Fire Speaker Series in Corona del Mar, CA, on Tuesday night, Oct. 14. If you'd like to attend, click here for more information.

Download audio. (Broadcast date: Oct. 8, 2014

Courtney Moreno and Cindy Muchnick

Courtney Moreno, author of the debut novel IN CASE OF EMERGENCY talks to guest host Nicole Nelson about incorporating setting in the story, developing her characters, and balancing the daily chaos and trauma that is a part of life for her EMT protagonist with quieter moments on the page. Then Orange County writer Cindy Muchnick, author of WRITING SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE APPLICATIONS, talks about ways in which she enjoys the publicity and marketing side of being an author, her experience collaborating with her teenage son on one of her nine books, and her advice to fellow writers to "just write it."

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(Broadcast date: October 1, 2014)

Novelist Scott Spencer talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett on Writers on Writing

Novelist Scott Spencer, author of Endless Love, Willing, Man in the Woods, A Ship Made of Paper, and more, was my guest for the entire hour.  I've loved his work for so long so it was a major treat to talk with him.

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 (Broadcast date: Sept. 24, 2014)

Rebecca Makkai and Stuart Rojstaczer

Rebecca Makkai, author of The Hundred-Year House, talks with Nicole Nelson about telling a story backwards, writing humor, and the Google problem for fiction. We also talked about her Ploughshares blog, where she covers everything from an alternative MFA program she envisions and why it's prudent to steer clear of movie quotes and song lyrics in fiction. Stuart Rojstaczer, author of The Mathematician's Shiva, talks about balancing tragedy with comedy, the similarities between writing an academic paper and writing a novel, and how the third time, novel-writingwise, can be the charm.

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(Broadcast date: September 17, 2014)

Elinor Lipman, novelist and essayist.

Elinor Lipman, the author of the novel, The View from Penthouse B, and the essay collection, I Can't Complain, spent an hour on the show talking about her work and writing and so much else with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett.

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(Broadcast date: May 15, 2012)

Novelist Bret Anthony Johnston

Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This (Random House, 2014) joins Barbara for an hour of literary talk about his new novel, how it began, revising, and much more.

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(Broadcast date: Aug. 20, 2014)

Alex Tizon and Carl Phillips

Alex Tizon, the author of Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He joins Nicole Nelson for a conversation about stereotypes in fiction and other art, journaling, and writing about identity. Then Carl Phillips, the author of The Art of Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination and a distinguished poet with awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Pushcart Prize, and the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Male Poetry, talks about intentional and unintentional daring, life as a form of revision, and why we read poetry. 

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(Broadcast date: August 13, 2014)

Bay Area Literary agent Andy Ross

I love that Andy Ross is the former owner of Cody's Books in Berkeley, and that I went there when I first moved to San Francisco after college. When The Satanic Verses came out, someone threw a pipe bomb through the window (it didn't explode), and the staff voted unanimously to continue to sell the controversial novel (was there ever a more controversial novel??).

"That was my proudest moment in bookselling," Andy says on his website, andyrossagency.com.

He's was on the show, for the entire hour, Andy talks about what his agency takes on, publishing, Amazon, and more. He was great fun to talk to, and I hope to do it again.

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 (Broadcast date: August 6, 2014)

Joanna Rakoff & Kseniya Melnik

Joanna Rakoff shares her memoir, My Salinger Year, with Marrie.  She talks about the similarities between memoir and fiction, the right time to write a memoir, and what she learned about publishing and writing from her year of working with a literary agent.  Kseniya Melnik joins in the second half to discuss her debut short story collection, Snow in May.  She discusses the importance of place, dialogue, and writing in a language that's not her own.

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(Broadcast date: July 16, 2014)

Jennifer duBois and Kate Zambreno

Nicole Nelson talks with Jennifer duBois, author of Cartwheel about the challenges of writing (and discussing) a novel that drew its initial inspiration from a real event, in this case, the Amanda Knox trial and the strong and diverse opinions that people held about the verdict. DuBois also talks about learning to relax into a scene, and writing plays to sharpen her dialogue skills. Kate Zambreno, author of Green Girl and Heroines, talks about her experience re-releasing Green Girl -- how the re-release came to pass and what it was like to have the option to revise a work that was published years earlier. She talks about developing the shopgirl protagonist Ruth, who tries to sell the scent "Desire" to people, and achieving urgency in her prose by writing toward confrontation.

[The show begins abruptly due to the loss of the very beginning (but the interviews are complete).]

Download audio. (Broadcast date: July 30, 2014)

Lisa See & Jojo Moyes

New York Times bestselling author Lisa See talks with Marrie about her latest novel, China Dolls, finding inspiration, research, and the complicated world of female friendships.  In the second half, Jojo Moyes discusses her novel, One Plus One, compelling characters, difficult points of view, and the drawbacks and advanges of social media for authors.

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(Broadcast date: July 2, 2014)

David James Poissant & Emma Straub

Marrie Stone talks with short story writer David James Poissant (Jamie), author of the debut collection The Heaven of Animals about collections based around a theme, finding the point of entry into a story, experimental fiction, and much more.  In the second half, novelist Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers, talks about coming from a legacy of writing, the importance of place, and how her novel came together in four short months.

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(Broadcast date: June 25, 2014)

Sandra Tsing Loh and Courtney Maum on Writers on Writing

Nicole talks to writer and performer Sandra Tsing Loh about her latest memoir The Madwoman in the Volvo: My Year of Raging Hormones, discovering that her voice was better suited to personal stories rather than fiction, and the differences between writing for radio compared to print. Then debut fiction author Courtney Maum discusses her novel I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and its circuitous journey to publication, how work experience as a corporate namer drove her to change the book's title from its original, The Blue Bear, and how writers are sometimes better off stepping away from the computer and social media.  

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(Broadcast date: July 9, 2014)

David Fuller & Boris Fishman

Marrie Stone talks with David Fuller, author of Sundance, about enduring characters, generating ideas, and knowing when to pull the plug on ideas that don't work.  In the second half, Boris Fishman, author of A Replacement Life, talks about characters, craft, and revision.

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(Broadcast date: June 11, 2014)