Author2Author

Bill welcomes memoirist Nadine Kenney Johnstone to the show. Nadine is the author of the memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, winner of the CWA Book of the Year award. Coverage of her memoir has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Today’s Parent, MindBodyGreen, Metro, and Chicago Health Magazine, among others. She teaches at Loyola University and received her MFA from Columbia College in Chicago. Her other work has been featured in various magazines and anthologies, including Chicago Magazine, The Moth, PANK, and The Magic of Memoir. Nadine is a writing coach who presents at conferences internationally. She is a core faculty member at Story Studio.

Bill welcomes debut novelist Susan Zurenda to the show. After teaching literature, composition, and creative writing to thousands of high school and college students for 33 years, Susan turned her attention to putting a novel in her heart on paper, the genesis of which started with a short story that won a fiction prize some years ago and Bells for Eli  was published on March 2! During her years of teaching at Spartanburg Community College and then as an AP English teacher at Spartanburg High School, Susan published short stories and won numerous regional awards such as the South Carolina Fiction Prize (twice), the Porter Fleming Competition, The Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Writers Fiction Contest, The Hub City Hardegree Contest in Fiction, Alabama Conclave First Novel Chapter Contest, and The Jubilee Writing Competition (twice).  Since 2018, she has published six stories in literary magazines.

Bill welcomes memoirist and fiction writer Donna Conrad to the show. Donna  is an award-winning author, journalist, activist, and teacher. Her core values revolve around the concept of individual empowerment, a sustaining ideal running through the books she writes. She has studied writing with the likes of Alan Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Erica Jong. Her writing interests are varied and include articles for fine-art periodicals, memoir/narrative non-fiction, as well as historical, flash, and paranormal fiction. She teaches all of the above at writers’ conferences, including PNWA. Her first published book, "House of the Moon: Surviving the Sixties," has received rave reviews. Don't miss it!

Bill welcomes author and psychologist Andrea Polard back to the show. Andrea is a life-long meditator. Her interest in psychology and happiness began early, at age sixteen. She became a Clinical Psychologist in Germany (1993) and California (2001) and was trained in Primal Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Self-Psychology, and Positive Psychology. When Andrea discovered that happiness is possible even for those who were previously traumatized, she decided to share the necessary skills. Soon she began to write A Unified Theory of Happiness: An East-Meets-West Approach to Fully Loving Your Life, which she completed over the course of twelve years. It was published by Sounds True and is an internationally published, award-winning book. Subsequently, she founded a psychotherapeutic approach, synthesizing psychology and the wisdom traditions: Zen Psychology Therapy (ZPT). She offers this approach in her Los Angeles Center for Zen Psychology. Andrea also writes a popular column for Psychology Today. Her two, new projects --The Heart Sutra and Enlightenment Guaranteed: The 10 Habits of Sane People in an Insane World - are soon to be published. Don't miss it!

Bill welcomes lecturer, newscaster, and filmmaker Louise L. Schiavone to the show. Louise is a member of the full-time faculty and Senior Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. She teaches “Business Leadership and Human Values” and “Business Communication” to graduate level students at the Baltimore and Washington D.C. campuses. A career journalist, and TEDx speaker, Schiavone has covered Congress, the White House, as well as news at the Pentagon, Treasury, State, Transportation, Energy, and Housing Departments, as well as national presidential campaigns, the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis, food safety challenges, and natural disasters. An on-air veteran of CNN, ABC News, and the Associated Press, Schiavone is currently a newscast anchor at NPR and a SiriusXM “P.O.T.U.S.” host, both on a contributing basis. Her award-winning 2020 short documentary, “Crisis on The Half Shell: The Chesapeake Bay” is being shown at film festivals this Spring. She also writes for print media, with work appearing most recently in The Los Angeles Review of Books as well as in National Geographic. Schiavone speaks extensively about the environment, politics, journalism, communication and civility. Schiavone is currently producing a video documentary about marine life biodiversity in the Scottish Highlands, and the role of the oyster in raising the quality of the marine environment around the world. You won't want to miss this one!

Bill welcomes debut author and digital marketing guru Jess Zafarris to the show. Jess Zafarris is the author of Once Upon a Word: A Word-Origin Dictionary for Kids. She is also an award-winning innovator of digital content and marketing solutions and a prolific online and print journalist, having served as the Executive Director of Marketing & Communications for Gotham Ghostwriters. Before that, she served as Digital Content Director and Content Strategist for Writer’s Digest and Script, and she still occasionally writes for WD. Her nine years of experience in digital and print content direction and marketing include such roles as editor-in-chief of HOW magazine and online content director of HOW and PRINT magazine, as well as writing for the The Hot Sheet, the Denver Business Journal, ABC News, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She spends much of her spare time researching curious word histories and writing about them at UselessEtymology.com. Don't miss it!

Bill welcomes novelist, essayist and short story writer John Michael Cummings to the show. John is the author of the nationally acclaimed coming-of-age novel "The Night I Freed John Brown", winner of The Paterson Prize and recommended by USA TODAY for Black History Month. His 2011 short story collection, "Ugly To Start With", was an IndieFab Award Finalist hailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer for its "sharp observation and surpassing grace." His last novel, Don't Forget Me, Bro was excerpted in The Chicago Tribune. Over the last twenty years, John's short stories and essays have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including The Iowa Review, North American Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Kenyon Review. Don't miss it!

Bill welcomes author Christina Adams to the show. Christina is an award-winning writer, journalist, author, and speaker. She and her work have been featured by National Public Radio, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and the LA Times Magazine. Her book Camel Crazy: A Quest for Miracles in the Mysterious World of Camels explores the scientific and cultural importance of camels and their milk. Her book, A Real Boy reveals the world of autism and her son’s early intervention. Her series “Autism and Beyond” airs on Autism Live at www.autism-live.com. An expert on autism and camel milk, she advises families and scientists from many countries. Don't miss it!

Bill welcomes debut suspense author Amy K. Green to the show. Amy was born and raised in a small New England town where she was once struck by lightning. She was a practicing CPA before leaving the corporate life to work in film production, write, and wear fewer high heels. Her first novel, The Prized Girl, is receiving rave reviews. Don't miss it!

Bill welcomes bestselling suspense writer Joseph Finder to the show. Joe is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen previous suspense novels, including JUDGMENT, THE SWITCH, THE FIXER and SUSPICION. He introduced “private spy” Nick Heller in VANISHED, an instant bestseller, and the continuing series includes BURIED SECRETS, GUILTY MINDS and, most recently, HOUSE ON FIRE. Joe’s novels HIGH CRIMES and PARANOIA have been adapted as major motion pictures. GUILTY MINDS and COMPANY MAN won the Barry Award for Best Thriller. An international bestseller, KILLER INSTINCT won the International Thriller Writers’ Thriller Award for Best Novel. BURIED SECRETS won the Strand Critics Award for Best Novel. A founding member of the International Thriller Writers, Joe is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He is a graduate of Yale College and the Harvard Russian Research Center, and lives in Boston. Don't miss it!