The bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - and bonafide Charming British Lady - Helen Simonson lets us in on her writing process, her thoughts on sunshine, and the perils of HGTV. Her latest novel, set in 1914, is The Summer Before the War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bona fide podcasting star, Aaron Mahnke has turned his love of the darker side of history into the spooky smash hit, Lore, which he researches and authors. He's also the author of four thrillers, a veteran of self-publishing, and handy with an 80s film reference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Richard Russo is the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Empire Falls and Nobody’s Fool - both were adapted into films starring Paul Newman. He returns to the fictional working class town of North Bath for his most recent novel, Everybody's Fool. We sat down with him on the darkened stage of an eerily empty theater before an extended interview at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, NH. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a writer, Joe Hill's family name gave him a leg up. Instead, he chose to create his own. We sat down with the best-selling author just before his appearance at Writers on a New England Stage at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH, where he was discussing his latest thriller, The Fireman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James McBride, a National Book Award-winning author and musician, shares insights from his latest biography on James Brown. He discusses the challenges of capturing accurate details through research while juggling personal commitments as a single father. McBride emphasizes the discipline of rewriting and the need for intrinsic motivation over external validation. The conversation also touches on the impactful role of writers during wartime, reflecting on the deeper fulfillment that comes from a career in both literature and music.

In this episode, married co-authors Kevin Flynn & Rebecca Lavoie. Together, they have written four true crime books, most recently Dark Heart: A True Story of Sex, Manipulation, and Murder. They are also two of the eponymous crime writers behind the podcast Crime Writers On... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are thrilled to say the 10-Minute Writer's Workshop has picked up a ton of new listeners, so, we're bringing you this bonus episode to say thank you! and welcome...we are ecstatic to have you! On this episode, author, columnist and critic Olivia Laing. Her most recent work, The Lonely City, is part memoir, part searching exploration of loneliness and artists whose outsider experience inspired their creativity, from seeming social gadfly Andy Warhol to the reclusive Henry Darger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alice Dreger is a historian of science, anatomy, and medicine, known for her work studying and advocating for people born with atypical sex disorders. She famously resigned from Northwestern University in protest of academic censorship, and gained some infamy on Twitter for live-tweeting her son's sex education class. We had a delightful chat with her about her writing process in advance of the paperback release of her book, Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alexander Chee is a careful craftsman of language. As we came to find out, when we talked to him from Argot Studios in NYC, he is as measured, unassuming and thoughtful in his speech. A retiring man, who prefers to write in transient spaces, he also just so happens to have penned the most hotly anticipated literary novel of 2016 - The Queen of the Night, a sophomore work fifteen years in the making*. *He assures us it only took eleven or twelve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Long-time NPR reporter and five-time author Tom Gjelten recently visited the studios here at NHPR. We, of course, couldn't resist talking to him about his latest book, A Nation of Nations, and asking him for ten minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices