Author2Author

Bill welcomes bestselling novelist Joyce Maynard to the show. Joyce Maynard is the author of twelve previous novels and five books of nonfiction, as well as the syndicated column Domestic Affairs. Her bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, has been translated into sixteen languages. Her novels To Die For and Labor Day were both adapted for film. Her latest novel is How the Light Gets In.

Bill welcomes novelist, short story writer, and essayist Debra Spark to the show. Debra is the author of five novels, two collections of short stories, and two books of essays on fiction writing. Her most recent books are the novel Discipline and the essay collection And Then Something Happened. With Deborah Joy Corey, she co-edited Breaking Bread, a book of food essays by Maine writers to raise funds for a hunger nonprofit. Her short work has appeared in Agni, AWP Writers’ Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Cincinnati Review, the Chicago Tribune, Epoch, Esquire, Five Points, Food and Wine, Harvard Review, Huffington Post, Maine Magazine, Narrative, New England Travel and Life, the New England Review, the New York Times, Ploughshares, salon.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, Yankee, and Yale Alumni Quarterly, among other places.

Bill welcomed award-winning novelist and short story writer Ellen Birkett Morris back to the show. Ellen’s novel Beware the Tall Grass is the winner of the Donald L. Jordan Award for Literary Excellence, judged by Lan Samantha Chang. She is the author of Lost Girls: Short Stories, winner of the Pencraft Award. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, Antioch Review, Notre Dame Review, and South Carolina Review, among other journals. She is a winner of the Bevel Summers Prize for short fiction. Morris is a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship for her fiction from the Kentucky Arts Council.

Bill welcomes poet and writing instructor Meredith Heller to the show. Meredith is the author of Writing by Heart, Write a Poem, Save Your Life, and several poetry collections. A poet, singer-songwriter, avid nature lover, and educator with degrees in writing and education, she leads writing workshops online and in-person at schools, juvenile detention centers, women’s prisons, and wellness retreats. Her latest book is Writing by Heart: A Poetry Path to Healing and Self-Discovery.

Bill welcomes novelist Anastasia Zadeik to the show. ANASTASIA is a writer, editor, and narrative nonfiction performer. She lives in San Diego, CA, where she serves as Director of Communications for the San Diego Writers Festival, as a mentor for the literary nonprofit So Say We All, and as a board member for the International Memoir Writers Association. Her first novel, Blurred Fates, won both the 2023 Sarton Award and the 2023 National Indie Excellence Award in Contemporary Fiction. Her latest novel is The Other Side of Nothing. Find her online at anastasiazadeik.com

Bill welcomes novelist Hazel Hayes to the show. Hazel is an Irish-born, London-based writer and director who for many years wrote primarily for the screen. After graduating from Dublin City University with a degree in journalism, she went on to study creative writing at the Irish Writers Centre, before honing her craft as a screenwriter through numerous short films and sketches. Her eight-part horror, PrankMe, won series of the year at Social in the City, as well as the award for excellence in storytelling at Buffer Festival in Toronto. Out of Love was her first novel, and Better By Far is her most recent!

Bill welcomes author and podcaster Jo Piazza to the show. Jo is a bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and critically acclaimed podcast creator. Her books have been published in ten languages and twelve countries. Many of her projects are currently in development for film and television. Jo's podcasts have garnered more than twenty-five million downloads and regularly top podcast charts, and her journalism has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York magazine, Marie Claire, Time, and numerous other outlets. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and three feral children.

Bill welcomes bestselling author Steve Almond to the show. Steve Almond is the author of eleven books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His essays and reviews have been published in venues ranging from the New York Times Magazine to Ploughshares to Poets & Writers, and his short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Mysteries, and Best American Erotica. Almond is the recipient of grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. He cohosted the Dear Sugars podcast with his pal Cheryl Strayed for four years, and teaches Creative Writing at the Neiman Fellowship at Harvard and Wesleyan. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts, with his family and his anxiety.

Bill welcomes bestselling novelist Eileen Garvin to the show. Eileen is the author of the national bestselling novel The Music of Bees and the acclaimed memoir How to Be a Sister. Crow Talk is her latest novel. Born and raised in Washington State, she lives in Oregon. Visit her website at www.eileengarvin.com.

Bill welcomes novelist and short story writer John Michael Cummings back to the show. John is the author of three novels, two novellas, and more than one hundred short stories. His debut novel, The Night I Freed John Brown (Penguin Group, 2008), won The Paterson Prize for Books for Young People and was selected for Black History Month by USA Today. Ugly To Start With (West Virginia University Press, 2011) was a finalist in the Foreword INDIES Book of Year Award. Don't Forget Me, Bro (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2016) was widely excerpted in the Chicago Tribune. His nonfiction has been published by New York Daily News, Orlando Sentinel, Charleston Gazette-Mail, The Providence Journal, Richmond Free Press, and The Newark Star-Ledger. His short stories have appeared in Kenyon Review, North American Review, and The Iowa Review. His latest short story collection is The Spirit in My Shoes.