

Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!
Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due | Realm
Authors and screenwriters Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due (and guests!) on writing, the writer's life, Hollywood, the work/family balance and relationships - the tools writers need to make themselves the heroes/heroines of their own story. - LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) - Join our MAILING LIST at www.lifewritingweekly.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 24, 2023 • 59min
Guest Linda D. Addison! (On Befriending Your Demons)
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner Linda D. Addison, a poet and writer whose collections include How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend. On her pioneering work as a Black horror creative, how she pushed past her scary bout of early COVID in 2020, and how she has moved past adversity to create and thrive. LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 17, 2023 • 58min
Our 102nd Episode Celebration!
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive celebrate their 102nd episode with reminiscences and clips of past guests: Roy Wood, Jr., comic/actress Naomi Ekperigin, Patton Oswalt, New York Times bestseller Leigh Bardugo, Hollywood writer/showrunner Rodney Barnes, and excerpts from a 2000 interview with Octavia E. Butler. Thanks so much to all of you for supporting our podcast. Please wish us a happy anniversary by leaving us a voicemail: LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 11, 2023 • 1h 1min
Guest Aaron Covington! (CREED)
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to screenwriter Aaron Covington, who met director Ryan Coogler while in grad school at USC -- and they collaborated on CREED. (Which, as Steve points out, was the FIRST film with a love scene with a Black man that earned over $100 million. Even Aaron didn't know this!) On creating CREED, working in Hollywood, and keeping dreams alive. LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 3, 2023 • 59min
Guest Daniel Kraus! (Whalefall)
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to bestselling author Daniel Kraus, whose novel WHALEFALL recently was featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. On horror, defeating genre bias, highs and lows during his book tour, writing -- and his experiences finishing novels by icon George A. Romero. LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 26, 2023 • 58min
Best of Lifewriting: On Fighting Fear!
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive share their past personal and professional fears and how they have overcome them. Tananarive explains the relationship between her fears and her path as a horror writer. Also: a listener voicemail! You can leave us a voicemail too - https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 19, 2023 • 54min
Guest Silvia Moreno-Garcia! (Mexican Gothic, Silver Nitrate)
In this "Ladies Only" episode, Tananarive talks to bestselling author Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic, Silver Nitrate) about genre, her rise to the New York Times bestseller list, and the love of writing! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 12, 2023 • 1h 2min
Guests Omar Epps and Clarence A. Haynes! (NUBIA: The Reckoning)
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to actor (and author) Omar Epps and author Clarence A. Haynes about their Afrofuturistic NUBIA book series: Nubia: The Awakening and their new book, Nubia: The Reckoning. We couldn't talk about Omar's film and television career during the taping because of the SAG-AFTRA strike (which ended the very next day!), but Epps has appeared in Love and Basketball, House, E.R., Higher Learning and so much more! And his film debut was in Ernest Dickerson's Juice as a teenager, when he was interviewed by...Tananarive Due! Listen in to hear Epps talk about his longevity in Hollywood, and Epps and Haynes talk about how they gave birth to NUBIA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 5, 2023 • 1h 3min
Best of Lifewriting: The Writers' Room Survival Guide! (Niceole Levy)
Now that the WGA strike is over, writers are scrambling to try to get staffed or find jobs in TV writers' rooms. Whether you just love TV and want to know how it's written or you want to get into the industry, learn the secrets to success in a TV writers' room from screenwriter and author Niceole Levy, author of The Writers' Room Survival Guide. Steve and Tananarive talk to Levy about her years of experience in television writing to help aspiring TV writers learn the secrets of the writers' room. Plus, advice on how to get into the industry! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 29, 2023 • 46min
On Tananarive's Novel THE REFORMATORY - and Turning Heartache to Horror
Tananarive spent more than seven years working on her new novel, THE REFORMATORY, which was inspired by true-life family history about her great-uncle Robert Stephens and the Dozer School for Boys in Marianna, FL. In this podcast, she and Steve talk about why it took so long to write, the Lifewriting tools she used to complete it, and how she's fighting to stay centered in the whirlwind of her book's publication. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 21, 2023 • 53min
Our Favorite Horror Movies of 2023!
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk about their favorite horror movies from 2023 - and a couple of misfires. Also, movies they didn't give enough love in 2022. Here's their list: The Blackening, Talk to Me, When Evil Lurks, M3GAN, Evil Dead Rise, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, No One Will Save You, Knock at the Cabin, Wrath of Becky, Renfield, Last Voyage of the Demeter. And a couple of gems from 2022: Nanny and Barbarian.Do you agree? Disagree? Leave them a voicemail at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices