Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon

We talk with Jackie Higgins about her book, Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses. Then we air our 2020 interview with Carl Safina about his book, Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast app! It really helps others find our show. And like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice. Jackie Higgins On June 14, New York’s Supreme Court declared that an elephant is not a person. Happy the elephant, the Guardian reported, will not be released from the Bronx zoo to a more spacious sanctuary through a habeas corpus proceeding, which is a way for people to challenge illegal confinement. The court said “granting legal personhood in a case like this would affect how humans interact with animals, according to the majority decision.” Indeed. What they really mean, is that it would call into question our use of animals as objects to exploit. Anyone who has seen how elephants mourn understands that elephants are persons. Moreover, we humans are animals, a fact so obvious that only willful ignorance can deny it. So changing how we interact with animals might be a good thing, not only to save and protect other animals, but also to preserve the biosphere on which we depend. This is very much the perspective that informs Jackie Higgins book, Sentient. Higgins shows the evolutionary links between our own senses and those of animals—senses that encompass not only the five we are so familiar with, but up to seventeen more senses. Sentient explores the scientific revolution stirring in the field of perception, showing that the extraordinary sensory powers of our animal friends can help us better understand the same powers that lie dormant within us. Carl Safina Go here for information about our 2020 interview with Safina about Becoming Wild.  

We talk with Rebecca Wragg Sykes about her bestselling book, Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art. Her book sheds new light on the complex culture of our Neanderthal ancestors. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Rebecca Wragg Sykes Many have long been fascinated by Neanderthals, even before we discovered that many people contain Neanderthal DNA. Who was this hominem who seems so far from us, yet somehow near—as if the DNA many of us carry of this vanished species is signaling to our unconscious that we are kin? In her bestselling book Kindred—now out in paperback—Neanderthal expert Rebecca Wragg Sykes shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an icy wasteland, and reveals the Neanderthal you don’t know, our ancestor who lived across vast and diverse tracts of Eurasia and survived through hundreds of thousands of years of massive climate change. Her book sheds new light on where they lived, what they ate, and the increasingly complex Neanderthal culture that researchers have discovered. Rebecca Wragg Sykes is an archaeologist and Honorary Fellow in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. Kindred won the 2021 PEN Hessell-Tiltman prize for history and was awarded Book of the Year by Current Archaeology, among other honors. She is the creator of the blog The Rocks Remain.

We talk with Antonio Scurati about his international bestseller about Mussolini, M: Son of the Century. It won the prestigious Strega Prize. Then Tsering Yangzom Lama tells us about her powerful novel of Tibetan exile and resilience, We Measure The Earth With Our Bodies. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Antonio Scurati Benito Mussolini came to power in circumstances that are resonant with the crises we face today: economic turmoil for the masses, disenchantment with elites that fail to govern, and the erosion of democracy. In his international bestseller, M, Antonio Scurati takes a deep dive into the mind of the dictator and the social conditions he was able to exploit in his rise. By combining fiction with documentary evidence and meticulous historical research, Scurati has invented a new genre, which he calls the “documentary novel.” M is a cautionary tale that we would all do well to heed. Read An Excerpt From M Tsering Yangzom Lama In today’s world, thirty people become refugees every minute and 68 million people have been displaced (almost certainly an undercount.) One of the earliest post WWII refugee crises happened in 1959, when Mao’s People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet. About 80,000 Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, were forced to escape to India and Nepal, uprooted from their ancestral villages and way of life. Many people died during that exodus. Tsering Yangzom Lama’s parents were among those who fled. She was born in Nepal. Yet there was much about her family’s history that she was unaware of growing up. Her acclaimed debut novel We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies tells the story of the Tibetan diaspora. But it also brings alive the rich history, traditions and culture of Tibet. Named a most anticipated book of the year by The Millions and Ms. and among the Washington Post’s 10 Noteworthy Books for May, 2022, We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies is a story of courage, survival resilience by an extraordinary young writer.

This week on Writer’s Voice, we talk with historian Philip Dray about his book, A Lynching at Port Jervis: Race and Reckoning in the Gilded Age. It’s about how the nation was shocked when a local Black man was lynched in 1892 in the supposedly enlightened North. Despite the shock, no one was held to account. Then, classics scholar Natalie Haynes tells us about her feminist interpretation of the ancient Greek myths and plays. Her book is Pandora’s Jar: Women In The Greek Myths. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Philip Dray Today, it’s a terrible truth that the assault on the lives of Black Americans is neither a regional nor a temporary feature, but a national crisis. Just last week, a self-described fascist and white supremacist murdered 10 Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York. 130 years ago, a mob in Port Jervis, New York lynched a local Black man when he was accused, like so many lynching victims, of sexually assaulting a white woman. A charge that was never proved. That lynching shocked New Yorkers—they thought their state was too enlightened to lynch a Black man. But no one was held to account for the murder. In A Lynching At Port Jervis, Philip Dray revisits that time and place, and draws lessons that are as relevant to us today as they were more than a century ago. READ AN EXCERPT Philip Dray is the author of several books of American cultural and political history, including At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America, and Capitol Men: The Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen. Natalie Haynes We all learned that Pandora was the woman who unleashed all the evils into the world. (Evil woman, that tired old trope.) But what if the original story was different? What if it was much more benign? And why did the story change so much over the centuries? Natalie Haynes has written an entertaining and meticulously researched book that argues women in the Greek myths were much more complex, interesting and powerful human beings than later men gave them credit for. Her book is Pandora’s Jar: Women In The Greek Myths. Natalie Haynes is the author of six books, including the bestselling A Thousand Ships, which was shortlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is the host of the BBC program, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. Haynes has written for the Times, the Independent, the Guardian and the Observer.

We talk with Mark Vonnegut about his memoir, THE HEART OF CARING: A Life In Pediatrics. Then, environmental reporter Oliver Milman tells us about the shocking carbon bomb that President Biden is detonating with his record-breaking sales of oil and gas leases. Milman co-wrote a recent piece in the Guardian, “Us Fracking Boom Could Tip World To Edge Of Climate Disaster.” And we hear a poem by Mary Oliver, “At The River Clarion.” Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Mark Vonnegut Can you believe there was a time when doctor’s visits were $10 to $20, people paid in cash and, if there was insurance, there were no co-payments and deductibles, or medical debt, because insurance companies didn’t go after patients for not paying their bills? Sounds improbable these days, but that’s the way it was when my guest Mark Vonnegut—and yes, he is the son of the famous writer—started his practice as a pediatrician. His new memoir, The Heart of Caring: A Life In Pediatrics, recounts what happened when the medical system started serving insurance company profits instead of patient health. It’s a story we all know well, at least our own versions of it. But Vonnegut tells it through the lens of a practicing doctor who has seen the toll it has taken not only on patients but on doctors as well. Physicians are leaving their profession in droves, beset by burnout, the moral hazard of compromising care to conform to insurance company demands, and the loss of control over their own practice of medicine. The Heart of Caring is filled with stories that reveal Vonnegut’s commitment to his patients–like Anna Maria, a little girl with an incurable case of bone cancer; and Marlowe, whose life-threatening anemia is cured by his just-born baby brother. Vonnegut reminds us what it means to be a good doctor and why we should care about what happens to good docs like him. Mark Vonnegut is the author of several previous memoirs, including Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness, Only More So, which recounts his battle with bipolar disorder. Mark Vonnegut practices pediatrics in Quincy, MA. Oliver Milman When Joe Biden ran for president, he promised to tackle the climate emergency—he called it existential—that threatens our survival. It gave me hope that finally something might be done to avert the climate apocalypse. There must be a special place in Hell for politicians who talk the talk on climate but turn around and do the direct opposite. Joe Biden is headed for that Hell. Unfortunately, he’s bringing the rest of us with him. He just sold a record number of leases to oil and gas companies to drill baby drill on our public lands. As Oliver Milman reports in his recent piece in the Guardian, co-written with Nina Lakhani,

Today on Writer’s Voice, we feature two books on crime in America. First, as meaningful gun safety legislation is perpetually stalled in the US Congress, another approach to preventing gun violence is gaining ground throughout the country. We talk with Mark Follman about his book Trigger Points: Inside The Mission To Stop Mass Shootings In America. And later we talk with Rachel Rear about her investigation into the murder of her stepsister and the government corruption that long delayed solving it. Her memoir is Catch The Sparrow: A Search For A Sister And The Truth Of Her Murder. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Mark Follman Ten years ago, Mark Follman joined with other reporters at Mother Jones to establish a database of mass shootings in America, A Guide To Mass Shootings in America. The rate and number of mass shootings has only increased from then.  Which led Follman to the question: what can be done to prevent them, in an environment where passing gun safety legislation on the national level seems out of reach? Follman discovered a prevention movement gaining ground that uses assessment, compassion and treatment instead of punishment to identify and prevent people at risk of becoming mass shooters. His book Trigger Points explores this approach, behavioral threat assessment. Mark Follman is a journalist and editor who has worked with Mother Jones, Rolling Stone and the Atlantic, among other press venues. Read an excerpt from Trigger Points Rachel Rear Growing up, Rachel Rear knew the story of Stephanie Kupchynsky’s disappearance. The young woman was the daughter of Rear’s high school music teacher. Then, several years after she vanished, her father married Rear’s mother. Rachel and Stephanie became stepsisters—after Stephanie’s death. Rear’s uncanny resemblance to Stephanie was just one of the points of contact that drove her curiosity and then obsession with finding out what happened to Stephanie. She chronicles her search in her fascinating memoir, Catch The Sparrow. Along the way, she discovered that long-standing corruption in the local police department prevented solving the murder for years, until a new police chief was installed. Rachel Rear is a writer, actor and teacher in New York City.    

We talk with Catie Marron about her gorgeously illustrated new book, Becoming A Gardener: What Reading and Digging Taught Me About Living. Then, poet and therapist Sharon Charde tells us about the poetry program she founded for incarcerated girls. Her book is I Am Not A Juvenile Delinquent: How Poetry Changed a Group of At-Risk Young Women. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Catie Marron It’s May and gardening season is revving up. There’s nothing more soothing than digging in the dirt and planting food for body and soul, especially in these fraught times. The deep healing afforded by gardening is one of the themes of Catie Marron’s gorgeously illustrated book, Becoming A Gardener. Another is how the author was inspired by writers like Jamaica Kincaid and Alexander Pope as she planned and planted her new garden in Connecticut. Marron has been a guest on Writer’s Voice before, to talk about her book about City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World. She’s also the author of City Parks: Public Spaces, Private Thoughts. Becoming A Gardener combines personal reflection and practical advice to gladden the heart of all gardeners–aspiring, novice or master. Hear Catie Marron reading from Becoming A Gardener Sharon Charde When Sharon Charde lost her teenage son to a terrible accident, she fell into years of unremitting grief. Then she was given the opportunity to create a poetry writing program for delinquent teenaged girls, at a facility in Connecticut called Touchstone. It ignited a passion in her for pushing their voices out into the world—and gave her a new sense of purpose that enabled her to let go of the mourning that had overwhelmed her. Her memoir brings together her own story, told with searing honesty, and those of her students, who are able to forge new stories for themselves through poetry. Sharon Charde is a retired therapist and a poet. She’s written several previous poetry collections and one that is forthcoming next year.  

We talk with world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal about his new book, Different: Gender Through The Eyes of a Primatologist. Then we re-air our 2019 conversation with Richard Louv about his book Our Wild Calling. It’s about redefining the future of human-animal coexistence. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Frans De Waal Chimpanzees and bonobos are our closest living relatives. We share nearly 99% of our DNA with both of these primate species. Yet the two couldn’t be more different: you could say only half in jest that “chimps are from Mars and bonobos are from Venus.” In his new book Different, world-famous primatologist Frans de Waal draws on decades of research into both human and animal behavior to parse the difference between biological sex and gender in determining behavior. De Waal shows that sex differences are no excuse for justifying gender inequality. Different challenges widely held beliefs about masculinity and femininity, and common assumptions about authority, leadership, cooperation and competition. Frans de Waal is Professor Emeritus of Primate Behavior at Emory University and the former director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He’s the author of three previous books, including Mama’s Last Hug. Read an excerpt from Different Richard Louv Back in 2019, we spoke with Richard Louv about his book, OUR WILD CALLING: How Connecting with Animals Can Transform Our Lives―and Save Theirs. We bring our conversation to you again now.

We talk with Lumah Mufleh about her spellbinding book, LEARNING AMERICA: One Woman’s Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children. Then, for Earth Day, we re-air our 2017 interview with NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus about his book, Being the Change. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Luma Mufleh The global refugee population has more than doubled in the past decade. Over 83 million people have been forced to leave their homes — and that’s before Russia’s genocidal war on Ukraine that’s creating a tidal wave of additional refugees. Their problems aren’t over even when—or if— they receive asylum in another country. Prejudice and resentment combine with indifference or worse to isolate refugees and thwart their chances for success. In the US, kids who may be unable to read in English—or in any language due to having grown up without schooling—are thrown into inferior schools where their academic and social needs are ignored. Lumah Mufleh decided to do something about it. She is a refugee herself. As a gay woman, she faces the death penalty if she returns to the country of her birth, Jordan. Her book Learning America is a gripping account of her fight for educational justice for refugee children. She is the founder and director of “The Fugees”, a non-profit organization devoted to working with child survivors of war. Mufleh’s vision began as a soccer team and tutoring program, but has grown to include schools serving high school and middle school students in Clarkston, Georgia and Columbus, Ohio and has a program to train school districts in the Fugee approach.   Peter Kalmus (encore) On April 6, NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus was arrested after chaining himself to a Chase Bank. The action was part of global protests staged by Scientist Rebellion after the release of the most dire UN climate report ever. We spoke to him in 2017 about his book Being The Change, which explores the connections between our individual daily actions and our collective climate predicament. We air that interview again in honor of Earth Day.      

We talk with NoViolet Bulaweyo about her powerful allegorical novel about the fall of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the chaos and opportunity that rose in its wake. It’s called Glory. Then, Jennifer Haigh tells us about her new novel, Mercy Street. It’s a gripping tale about abortion: its defenders and its antagonists. We also hear Theresa Davis reading her poem “What to Do When a Politician Tries to Fall into Your Vagina Feet First.” Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. NoViolet Bulaweyo NoViolet Bulaweyo gained acclaim for her first novel We Need New Names, a finalist for the Booker-prize and many other awards. Her new novel, Glory, bids fair to win similar acclaim. A trenchant satire inspired by George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Glory follows the fall of the Old Horse, leader of the fictional African nation of Jidada. His fall brings great hope that justice will finally come, decades after Jidada’s revolution against colonialism. A young goat, Destiny (all the characters in the book  are non-human animals), lost her father when the revolution became a dictatorship. Now she hopes things will be different. What Destiny learns about her own country’s history and its fight for freedom is more than a metaphor for Zimbabwe. It holds lessons for all people who fight for justice for themselves, their families, their nation and the world. Read An Excerpt Jennifer Haigh This week, the Oklahoma State legislature passed a total ban on abortion. It is almost certain not to be the last state to do so. A basic constitutional right is hanging by a thread that the rightwing Supreme Court is likely to cut in the near future. All the more reason why Jennifer Haigh’s new novel Mercy Street is so important and timely. Mercy Street grew out of Haigh’s own experience volunteering as a counselor in an abortion clinic. It follows Claudia, an abortion counselor in a Boston reproductive care clinic. With her inimitable flair for character and plot, Haigh explores a polarized America, where the real needs of women and their families fall prey to the twisted motives of misogynists and ideologues. Jennifer Haigh is the author of numerous books and has been a guest on Writer’s Voice several times before, including talking about her last book, Heat and Light. Read and Listen to An Excerpt

We talk with Oliver Milman about his book The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World. It’s a devastating examination of how collapsing insect populations worldwide threaten everything from wild birds to the food on our plate. Then, we round out today’s episode with some practical advice on how to make your lawn and garden pollinator-friendly. We talk with Gail Pellett of the group ChangeEHampton. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Oliver Milman Do you like birds? How about eating? How would you like to live in a world where our waste never degrades—bodies and poop just piling up around us? The end of birds; the end of food; and the end of complex life as we know it—that’s the catastrophe we face if we continue to lose insect populations around the world, as we are doing at an alarming pace. Three out of every four of our planet’s known animal species are insects. In The Insect Crisis, journalist Oliver Milman dives into the torrent of recent evidence that suggests that the insects kingdom is suffering the greatest existential crisis in its 400-million-year history. What’s causing the Insect Apocalypse? Why does it pose such a threat to us? And what can be done to stem the loss of the miniature empires that hold aloft life as we know it? Oliver Milman, environment correspondent for the Guardian, gives us some of the answers. Oliver Milman in the Guardian: “Bees Can Play Soccer” Oliver Milman in the Guardian: “Fears for bees as US set to extend use of toxic pesticides that paralyze insects” How To Bring Pollinators To Your Yard and Community Communities all around the country are becoming more friendly to pollinators in order to stem the drastic decline of insects. Francesca spoke with Gail Pellett, organizer for one such group, ChangeEHampton, about their campaign to make their local community more pollinator-friendly. The full interview aired on originally on Sustainable Long Island, a monthly radio show Francesca hosts on WPKN 89.5 FM. Find out more about what you can do at PollinatorPathway.org

This week on Writer’s Voice we talk with Rosemary Sullivan about her book, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation. The book has become mired in controversy since our interview was recorded. We include links to the critique of the book and the rebuttal to those critiques, as well as Rosemary Sullivan’s statement to Writer’s Voice about the controversy. Ever since the original publication of Anne Frank’s diary by her father Otto Frank in 1952, the identity of the betrayer of the Frank’s hiding place to the German authorities has been the burning question about that history. Rosemary Sullivan’s book The Betrayal of Anne Frank was published in mid-January (we’ve interviewed Sullivan before, about her award-winning biography of Stalin’s Daughter.) It takes the reader through “a cold case investigation” undertaken by an investigative team that included retired FBI agent Vincent Pankoke. After examining and rejecting several other figures who have been suspected of the betrayal, the team concluded the betrayer was a Jewish notary named Arnold van den Bergh, who died in 1960. But soon after the book’s publication, several Dutch historians went public with doubts about the book’s conclusions. Just last week, the publisher of the Dutch edition of the book, AmbosAthos, withdrew it from publication. The American publisher, Harper Collins, is standing by the book. In a statement released to me by Harper Collins, the author Rosemary Sullivan wrote: “Although I was not involved in the research process, I have full confidence in the investigation led by Vince Pankoke into the betrayal of Anne Frank. Certain critics have questioned the book’s conclusion: that a Jewish notary Arnold van den Bergh gave a list of anonymous addresses to the SD which included that of the secret Annex where Anne Frank and her family were hiding. This conclusion was reached in part because of the lengths to which Otto Frank and Miep Gies went to protect the identity of the betrayer. It is the critics who refer to Van den Bergh as a “traitor.” The team is always careful to see him as a victim whose motive was to save his family from deportation and death under the Nazi occupation. Without requesting a response from Pankoke and his team, the Dutch publisher AmboAthos printed an apology to anyone offended by the book and then withdrew the book. Pankoke has therefore published his rebuttal on the web site: www.coldcasediary.com. While new information is continually coming to light, Pankoke has been able to refute the distorted assumptions the critics say the team makes about the wartime Jewish Council, the existence of lists, and other matters. The team has also been careful to protect the identity of the granddaughter of Van den Bergh. The way she has been manipulated by the press is regrettable.” In our interview with Rosemary Sullivan, we discuss at length the larger implications for our time of the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands during World War II: the devastating consequences of hatred and bigotry, the forces that push people to collaborate with oppression, whether under duress or conviction, and the utter failure of violence to do anything but threaten the wellbeing of all. Interested listeners can explore the controversy at these links: Critique by historians Rebuttal by Vincent Pankoke

We talk with Ali Noorani about his book Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants. It’s about going beyond divisive polemics to bring a compassionate understanding of the reality of immigration to the public. Then, we talk with Andy Bowman about how solar power is becoming the cheapest energy source. His book is The West Texas Power Plant That Saved The World: Energy, Capitalism, and Climate Change (Foreword by Katherine Hayhoe.) Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Ali Noorani Millions of Ukrainian refugees are fleeing war. They are being welcomed by the same countries that turn back refugees from other nations, like Syria, that are also fleeing war’s destruction. Ali Noorani is the head of the National Immigration Forum. He says the European and US immigration systems are broken, largely abandoning the humanitarian considerations for refugees put in place after WWII. His book Crossing Borders goes beyond the hateful polemics of our current immigration debate to put a human face on the complexities of migration, introducing us to the families fleeing violence and poverty, the organizations trying to help or hinder their progress, and the American communities and local leaders receiving those desperate for a fresh start. Ali Noorani is also author of There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration. Andy Bowman Andy Bowman has been in the renewable energy industry for more than 25 years. In that time, he’s seen solar power go from being a highly expensive niche energy source to cheaper than fossil fuels. His book The West Texas Power Plant That Saved The World tells the story of the moment that solar started to beat out dirty energy in the energy market and what that means for our future, if we can deploy renewables in time to save the planet. He explains energy markets, utility scale vs. distributed renewable energy, and the prospects for affordable storage of clean power.

We spend the hour with John Nichols talking about his latest book Coronavirus Criminals And Pandemic Profiteers. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. John Nichols As of March 15, over 965,000 Americans have died of COVID19. That’s according to the official count. But it’s almost certainly an undercount. If you go by the CDC’s reckoning of excess deaths that could be attributed to COVID, another 500,000 deaths would be added to the official toll. Meanwhile, the pandemic has been very good for the nation’s billionaires, who have increased their already astronomical wealth by 70%. They’ve collectively accrued an extra $2.1 trillion in a little more than a year, according to a report from October 2021. And the profits of pharmaceutical company and Covid vaccine maker Pfizer doubled. It’s long been apparent that corruption kills. It makes any sort of effective response to crisis impossible, as the common good is tossed in favor of the individual profits of the richest, most powerful people and corporations. The link between corruption on a systemic and individual level and the outsized toll of the pandemic on the US is explored in John Nichols’ latest book, Coronavirus Criminals And Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability For Those Who Caused The Crisis. From Mike Pence to Andrew Cuomo, Mitch McConnell to his wife Trump cabinet secretary Elaine Chao, and from Amazon to Pfizer, Nichols details the callous decisions of powerful people that resulted in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, hundreds of thousands disabled, and millions of people grieving their lost family members. John Nichols is national affairs correspondent for The Nation magazine. He’s the author of numerous books, including The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party, which was the last book of his we spoke with him about before this interview. Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers is out from Penguin Random House. And speaking of Penguin Random House, the publisher has created a Banned Books Resources Hub that includes tools, materials and information that can help people and organizations fighting book bans. Next week on Writer’s Voice, we talk with Andy Bowman about his book The West Texas Power Plant that Saved the World: Energy, Capitalism, and Climate Change. It’s about a small power plant in Pecos County TX that became a test case for renewable energy in the US. Don’t miss it!

We talk with Lee Kravetz about his stunning literary mystery, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. Then, as more states pass laws attacking transgender families, we listen back to a clip from my 2019 interview with Mimi Lemay about her memoir of her transgender son, What We Will Become. Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show. Lee Kravetz Lee Kravetz’s first published book was Strange Contagion: Inside the Surprising Science of Infectious Behaviors and Viral Emotions. It came out of his work as a psychologist. But Kravetz always knew he wanted to be a novelist. His debut novel The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. has just been released to rave reviews. Blending past and present, and told through three interwoven narratives it reimagines a chapter in the life of Sylvia Plath, telling the story behind the creation of her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. is brilliant and beautifully written—a literary mystery that never ceases to surprise and delight the reader. Listen to an audio excerpt from the book Mimi Lemay (encore) On March 7, 2022 the Florida Republican-led legislature signed what’s being called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill; Governor Ron de Santis is expected to sign it. It forbids discussions in schools of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K through 3. Meanwhile, Republican Texas Governor Abbott just signed a directive to the state child welfare agency to investigate reports of children receiving gender-affirming care as “child abuse.” Several hospitals already have suspended such care as a result. These kinds of laws and executive executive actions are likely to spread across GOP led states—and experts say they will be devastating for transgender kids and families. Back in 2019 we spoke with Mimi Lemay, a parent of a transgender child and author of the memoir, What We Will Become: A Mother, a Son, and a Journey of Transformation. The book runs on two converging tracks, Mimi LeMay’s own story and the story of her young transgender son. Born anatomically female, Jacob knew from the age of three that he was a boy. What We May Become tells how his parents came to realize and honor their son’s gender identity, allowing him to transition at the age of four. We hear a clip from our 2019 interview with Lemay. Listen to the whole interview