Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon

We talk with Ross Barkan about his book, The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, The Coronavirus & The Fall of New York. We also get an update from him after the release of New York Attorney General Leticia James’ bombshell report about Cuomo’s sexual harassment of young female staffers and the toxic workplace environment that enabled it. Then, how does it actually work that the superrich all too often pay little to no taxes? We talk with Chuck Collins about his book, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions To Hide Trillions. Writer’s Voice — in depth progressive conversation with writers of all genres. On the air since 2004. Rate us or leave us a review on your podcast app! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or find us on twitter @WritersVoice. Ross Barkan When we spoke a few weeks ago with Ross Barkan about his expose of New York Governor Cuomo’s disastrous handling of the COVID19 pandemic in the state, we didn’t know that we would be airing the show the same week that NY Attorney General Leticia James would come out with a bombshell report about Cuomo’s sexual harassment of young female staffers and the toxic workplace environment that enabled it. But while the world is focussed right now on Cuomo’s predilection for preying on women, serious as it is, there is another area where the NY governor’s megalomania has had far more drastic consequences—life and death consequences—for thousands of New Yorkers. That’s his catastrophic handling of the coronovirus pandemic in New York. Because, contrary to popular belief, Andrew Cuomo was not the masterful COVID hero he was made out to be by an adoring public and fawning press. That was largely based on his performative posturing during his daily COVID briefings in the early months of the pandemic. In fact, as Ross Barkan brilliantly lays out in his book, The Prince, Andrew Cuomo’s arrogance, corruption and incompetence led to the deaths of many more New Yorkers than might have occurred if he had simply followed the science, the counsel of the public health community, or even the example of some other governors, like Jay Inslee in Washington State. Or if he hadn’t so shredded the health care safety net in New York State already for years prior to the pandemic’s rise. Ross Barkan is an award-winning journalist and novelist. He is a columnist for the Guardian and Jacobin, as well as a contributor to the Village Voice, The Nation, and Gothamist/WNYC. We spoke with him in mid-July and then again on August 4, for an update after the New York AG’s bombshell report. Read an excerpt from The Prince Chuck Collins Business mogul and convicted felon Leona Helmsley once said, “We don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes”. Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, has had years where he paid zero taxes. How do billionaires like Bezos, Elon Musk, Donald Trump and others dodge taxes while the burden of keeping the government up and running falls on the merely well-off and below? That’s what Chuck Collins sets out to explain in his book The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions To Hide Trillions. Chuck Collins is the Director of the Program on Inequality and...

We talk with Megha Majumdhar about her breakout debut novel, A Burning. It follows three characters in today’s India: one, a young Muslim woman falsely accused of terrorism, and two others who must choose between justice and self-interest. Then, rural America isn’t just poverty, opioid addiction and despair; it’s also community, resilience, and some remarkable young women. We talk with Gigi Georges about Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your podcast app! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Megha Majumdar India is often called the “world’s biggest democracy.” But is that still true? India today is a country in the grip of extremism that promotes anti-Muslim hatred and is riddled by corruption. In such a society, income inequality reigns and the poor are ever more desperate. Yet they, like everyone, aspire to a better life. But what is the price of betterment in a system run on the principle of divide and conquer? The moral dilemmas that arise are the heart of Megha Majumdar’s electrifying debut novel, A Burning. It’s about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies—and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India. A Burning was named A New York Times Notable Book and is an honoree on the National Book Award Longlist. USA Today called it a “gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary.” Megha Majumdar was born and raised in Kolkata, India. She moved to the United States to attend college at Harvard University, and works as an associate editor at Catapult. Listen to an excerpt from A Burning Gigi Georges The usual picture we get of rural America is of regions sunk into poverty and despair, overridden by the opioid crisis, and gripped by anti-immigrant, rightwing politics. But when Gigi Georges moved to rural Maine, she found a much more nuanced story. There was a lot of poverty, yes. There was some addiction. But there was also tight-knit community, strong women and girls, caring teachers and welcome of new immigrants. In her book, Downeast, Georges follows five remarkable young women, high school students, as they negotiate the maze of coming of age in their community. Their stories reveal surprising truths about rural America and offer hope for its future. Gigi Georges has taught political science at Boston College, served as Program Director for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovation Strategies Initiative, and worked as a former White House Special Assistant to the President Read an excerpt from Downeast

We talk with journalist Nina Burleigh about Trump’s failure on Covid and what that says about our public health system—and capitalism. Her book is Virus: Vaccinations, the CDC, and The Hijacking Of America’s Response To The Pandemic. Then, we shift gears to consider a remarkable debut novel by Celia Jeffries, Blue Desert. It’s about freedom and limits, secrets and what happens when a young British woman falls in love with the chieftain of a Tuareg tribe in Morocco in the early years of the 20th century. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your podcast app! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Nina Burleigh As the US begins to see yet another surge in COVID19 cases, driven by the Delta variant and vaccine resistance promoted by GOP and Fox network lies and misinformation on social media, it’s useful to consider how exactly we got here. Nina Burleigh’s book Virus is a penetrating analysis of just that. She reveals how the confluence of key government missteps, behind-the-scenes corruption, staggering dismissal of decades of scientific progress, conspiracy theories, and other malfeasance were behind the hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. It’s a terrific book, trenchant, absorbing—and necessary. Nina Burleigh is the author of seven books, including The Trump Women and Unholy Business. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Time, New York, The New York Times and Slate. Read Nina Burleigh’s articles in the Nation based on her reporting for VIRUS New on Writer’s Voice! Tell us what your favorite reading is right now. Email us at writersvoice[at]icloud[dot]com or leave us a voicemail at (408) 372-6220‬ Celia Jeffries Celia Jeffries’ debut novel Blue Desert is a beauty. It tells the story of Alice George, a headstrong young British woman, and her life among the Tuareg, a tribe of nomadic warriors. A matrilineal society in which the men are veiled and the women hold property, it was a world well suited to eighteen-year-old Alice, who discovers a life she could never live in England. In 1917, Alice returns home to a world completely alien to the one she had left seven years before. Her silence about her life in the Sahara is finally broken five decades later when she receives a telegram announcing Abu has died in the desert. “Who is Abu?” her husband asks. “My lover,” she replies. The novel is a love story. But that vehicle becomes a way to explore what true freedom is, how culture can constrain our most authentic needs, and the connections that endure through decades of separation. Moving back and forth between two periods fifty years apart, Blue Desert is contemplative and gripping and, above all, profoundly humane. Celia Jeffries is a writer, editor, and teacher whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines, as well as the anthology Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper. She lives in western Massachusetts. Blue Desert is her first novel.

Today we talk with DC Comics & Warner Brothers comic book editor Joseph Illidge about his career in comic books, bringing diverse voices to the super hero genre. We also hear a sneak preview of our interview with recycling maven Jennie Romer about her book Can I Recycle This? Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Joseph Illidge Our tagline for Writer’s Voice is “in-depth conversation with writers of all genres” but, truth be told, there are some genres the show is pretty light on—romance novels, for example. Another one that we seldom cover (although more than romance) is comic books. Over the years, we’ve talked with Art Spiegelman, Ted Rall and others writing graphic novels on political or historical themes, but not the super hero region of the genre. Well, in this episode, we right that wrong. We have a conversation with one of the most innovative and important figures in the field of superhero comics, Joseph Illidge. He was the first Black editor of the Batman series and, throughout his career, he’s worked to bring diverse voices of many kinds to superhero comics, including gay superheroes, disabled superheroes, women and People of Color. Joseph Illidge is a comic book writer and editor who has been working with DC comics and Warner Bros for more than 20 years. He is a public speaker on the subjects of race, comics and the corporate politics of diversity. He helped to launch “Catalyst Prime”, the multicultural superhero comic book imprint and is the co-author of MPLS Sound, a graphic novel. In addition to his other work, he is Executive Editor for Heavy Metal, an illustrated magazine for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Jenny Romer, Sneak Preview We play a sneak preview of our upcoming interview with Jenny Romer, environmental lawyer and recycling activist, about her book, Can I Recyle This? Next Week on Writer’s Voice, we talk with novelists Celia Jeffries about her novel Blue Desert and Megha Majumdar about her novel, A Burning.

We spend the hour talking with Ann Armbrecht, first about her new book, The Business of Botanicals: Exploring the Healing Promise of Plant Medicines in a Global Industry. It’s the first book to explore the interconnected web of the global herb industry and its many stakeholders. Then, we revisit part of our 2009 conversation with her about her memoir, Thin Places. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Ann Armbrecht From tulsi to turmeric, echinacea to elderberry, medicinal herbs are big business—but do they deliver on their healing promise, the promises made not only to those who consume them, but also to those who provide them, and to the natural world? Using herbal medicines to heal the body is an ancient practice, but in the twenty-first century, it is also a worldwide industry. Yet most consumers know very little about where those herbs come from and how they are processed into the many products that fill store shelves. In The Business of Botanicals, author Ann Armbrecht follows their journey from seed to shelf, revealing the inner workings of a complicated industry, and raises questions about the ethical and ecological issues of mass production of medicines derived from these healing plants, many of which are imperiled in the wild. The Business of Botanicals is the first book to explore the interconnected web of the global herb industry and its many stakeholders. It’s an invaluable resource for conscious consumers who want to better understand the social and environmental impacts of the products they buy. Ann Armbrecht is an anthropologist, herbalist and writer. She is the Director of the Sustainable Herbs Program of the American Botanical Council and the co-producer of the documentary film Numen, which is about plants. Watch short videos from the Sustainable Herbs Program. We last spoke with Armbrecht in 2009 about her first book, Thin Places. Listen here to the unedited version of that interview, where Francesca was joined by writer Christian MacEwen in talking with Ann Armbrecht. Numen: the Nature of Plants from Sustainable Herbs Program on Vimeo.

In 2009, Writer’s Voice spoke with Ann Armbrecht about her memoir, THIN PLACES: A Pilgramage Home. Francesca Rheannon was joined on the interview by writer Christian MacEwen. The original edited aired episode has been lost, so here is the unedited version of the conversation, pulled from our archives. The first few minutes have been lost, but we join her as Armbrecht is talking about how the people in the village in Nepal first received her. Ann Armbrecht When Ann Armbrecht went to a small village in Nepal to research her dissertation in anthropology, she thought she would find answers to her questions about Nepalese land rights. But she also found answers to questions in her own life–questions about community, relationships, and trust. Through her friendships with women in the village, including an old grandmother and a young woman who dreamed of a different life, Armbrecht learned to see beyond the narrow confines of cultural expectations to the common bonds between human beings. She worked in the fields beside the women, talked to the shamans about the spirit world, and went on a grueling pilgrimage to a cave high in the Himalayan mountains. But her real pilgrimage was toward the center of the human heart. Her memoir is THIN PLACES: A Pilgrimage Home. Armbrecht is an anthropologist and herbalist, as well as a writer. She co-produced the film Numen: The Nature of Plants.

We talk with Cal Flyn about her book, Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape. Then, just in time for Pride Month, James Romm tells us about his book The Sacred Band: Three Hundred Theban Lovers Fighting To Save Greek Freedom. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. If you subscribe to our podcast, give us some love on wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps others to find the show. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Cal Flyn After the nuclear disaster In Chernobyl, only a handful of people went back to their dangerously irradiated homes. But animals that haven’t been seen there in centuries have returned — wolves, bears and other denizens of wild places. The devastated Bikini Atoll, site of the the last atomic bomb test, the biggest nuclear explosion ever set off—is teeming with underwater biodiversity. These and other so-called “wastelands” are the subject of Cal Flyn’s extraordinary book, Islands of Abandonment. She says we need to see these areas not as ruined places but as testaments to the incredible resilience of life. Exploring extraordinary places where humans no longer live (or survive in tiny, precarious numbers), Islands of Abandonment give us a glimpse of what nature gets up to when we’re not there to see it. Cal Flyn is an award-winning writer from the Highlands of Scotland. She writes literary nonfiction and long-form journalism. Flyn is also the author of another work of nonfiction, Thicker Than Water. Read an excerpt from Islands of Abandonment James Romm Long before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell made miserable the lives of gay servicemen and women in the US Armed Forces, there was an army of male warrior-lovers who dominated the ancient world. Their leadership of ancient Greece came about as a daring act of resistance, defending democracy against the authoritarian Spartan regime that had taken over their city-state of Thebes. In his book, The Sacred Band, Classics scholar James Romm takes a deep dive into the last decades of ancient Greek democracy leading up to Alexander the Great’s destruction of Thebes. The story of the Sacred Band, an elite 300-man corps recruited from pairs of lovers, highlights a chaotic era of ancient Greek history, four decades marked by battles, ideological disputes, and the rise of vicious strongmen. At stake was freedom, democracy, and the fate of Thebes, at this time the leading power of the Greek world. James Romm is the author of numerous books and edited volumes about ancient Greece and Rome, including his biography of Seneca, Dying Every Day, that we spoke with him about in 2015. He teaches classics at Bard College. Next Week on Writer’s Voice We talk with Ann Armbrecht about her groundbreaking book about the herbal supplement industry, The Business of Botanicals. We also learn all about recycling from Jenny Romer. Her book is Can I Recycle This?

Parkinson’s disease. It’s an epidemic—and growing. We talk with Dr. Michael Okun about the book he co-authored, Ending Parkinson’s Disease: A Prescription for Action. He tells us about symptoms, causes, and new treatments. But first, we talk with novelist Lionel Shriver about her latest foray into burning questions for our times. This one asks, as per its title, Should We Stay Or Should We Go. Should we cut our lives short before reaching possible decrepitude or should we stick around for come what may? Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Lionel Shriver Once you reach a certain age, you start thinking about the end. Especially if your parents’ Golden Years turned out be depressingly tarnished. Some people want to take their fate into their own hands, but is that even possible? In her new novel Should We Stay Or Should We Go, Lionel Shriver takes a deep dive into whether we can take control of our deaths—and should we? The couple at the center of her story make a pact to take their lives when the younger partner, by one year, reaches 80. Shriver writes twelve alternate outcomes to that decision—almost every possible scenario—to explore the vicissitudes of fate, chance and contemporary society’s attitude toward death. Lionel Shriver’s fiction includes The Mandibles; Property; the National Book Award finalist So Much for That; and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which was made into a film starring Tilda Swinton. She’s also a journalist who has written for many publications. She’s been on Writer’s Voice before, most recently in 2013, talking about her novel, BIG BROTHER. Read an excerpt or listen to an audio sample of Should We Stay Or Should We Go  Dr. Michael Okun Brain diseases are now the world’s leading source of disability. The fastest growing of these is Parkinson’s: the number of impacted patients has doubled to more than six million over the last twenty-five years and is projected to double again by 2040. Harmful pesticides that increase the risk of Parkinson’s continue to proliferate, many people remain undiagnosed and untreated, research funding stagnates, and the most effective treatment is now a half century old. Dr. Michael Okun is among the world’s foremost experts in Parkinson’s disease, both as researcher and clinician. He’s teamed up with three other leading experts in the field in a new book, Ending Parkinson’s Disease. Together with Drs. Ray Dorsey, Todd Sherer & Bastiaan Bloem, Dr. Okun shares their plan to help prevent Parkinson’s, improve care and treatment, and end the silence associated with this devastating disease. Dr. Michael Okun has served as the National Medical Director for the Parkinson’s Foundation since 2006, and was recognized in a 2015 White House ceremony by the Obama administration as a Champion of Change for Parkinson’s Disease. Resources from the Ending Parkinson’s campaign Next week on Writer’s Voice

We talk with Judy Batalion about her book, The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos. Then, another WWII story—this time fiction—told through an unforgettable cast of characters: we talk with Lissa Evans about V for Victory, the sequel to Crooked Heart. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice. And if you subscribe to our podcast, give us some love on wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps others to find the show. Judy Battalion In 1939, more than three million Jews lived in Poland, making up one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in Europe. When WWII ended, 90% of them had been murdered by Hitler’s regime. The Nazi extermination program was implacable — but it did not go unresisted. Young people — and especially young women— who had been active in the Jewish youth movement before the War fought back against the Nazis. They cared for the sick, brought food to the hungry and mounted operations of rescue and refuge. They also carried out military-style campaigns of sabotage and assassination. They didn’t expect to survive—and most didn’t. But some did. After the war, they found the world wasn’t interested in their stories of resistance—and even many of them just wanted to put it all behind them. Their heroic history went underground like their own resistance during the War. But now that hidden history has been brought out of the shadows by Judy Battalion’s book The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos. The world has taken notice. The book is on numerous bestseller lists, including the New York Times— and Stephen Spielberg has already optioned it for a major motion picture. Judy Batalion’s New York Times Op Ed, The Nazi-Fighting Women of the Jewish Resistance and much more. Lissa Evans Back in 2015, we spoke with Lissa Evans about her novel Crooked Heart, a black comedy set in wartime London. It told the story of a precocious ten year old orphan, Noel, who is taken in by a small time con artist named Vera when he is evacuated from the London Blitz. Now, Evans has come out with a sequel, V for Victory (it’s actually the third in a trilogy). Noel is almost fifteen now and he and Vera are still together, facing down the Blitz in a large house next to Hampstead Heath, where Vera has taken in lodgers, barely scraping by. The story of those final days of the War—along with revelations of secrets the two have been hiding for years—is told by Lissa Evans in her signature poignantly comic touch. Evans is the author of six novels for grownups and three for children.  

We talk with Carey Gillam about her page-turning follow-up to Whitewash, The Monsanto Papers: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice. It’s about the groundbreaking case of school groundskeeper Lee Johnson—how he sued Monsanto and won. Then, sea level rise is happening—and it’s affecting way more than just coastal communities. That means millions are going to have to move to higher ground. We talk with John Englander about how fast sea level rise is happening and what communities can do about it. His book is Moving to Higher Ground: Rising Sea Level and the Path Forward. Carey Gillam Glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup, is the world’s most widely used herbicide. The International Agency for Research on Cancer or IARC says it’s a probable human carcinogen. Other scientific studies have linked it not only to cancer but to kidney and liver damage, endocrine disruption, reproductive and developmental harm, neurological damage, and immune system dysfunction. It doesn’t just poison people but the insects that pollinate our food crops and other living beings. But aggressive public relations by glyphosate’s developer, Monsanto and its current purveyor, Bayer, has resulted in the widespread perception that the glyphosate is ‘safe’. School groundskeeper Lee Johnson thought Roundup was safe, but two tragic accidental spills of the chemical left him with a horribly disfiguring and deadly disease. In a ground-breaking case with global implications, Johnson took Monsanto to court — and won. We last spoke with journalist Carey Gillam about Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science, her exposé of how Monsanto had captured federal agencies and academic scientists to promote Roundup and suppress attempts to regulate it. Her thrilling sequel to that book tells the courtroom drama of Lee Johnson’s suit against Monsanto. It’s called The Monsanto Papers. Carey Gillam is an American investigative journalist and author with more than 30 years of experience covering food and agricultural policies and practices, including 17 years as a senior correspondent for Reuters international news service. Report on glyphosate’s harm Judge reads verdict in Lee Johnson’s case John Englander As the globe heats up due to human caused carbon pollution, sea levels around the world are rising at an accelerating pace. New research estimates that 200 million people will live below the sea level line by 2100. An additional 160 million will be affected by higher annual flooding due to rising ocean levels. A whole lot of people will be facing the choice: adapt somehow or move to higher ground. How communities can evaluate and face the threat of sea level rise is the topic of John Englander’s new book, Moving to Higher Ground: Rising Sea Level and the Path Forward. John Englander is an oceanographer, multi-book author, and expert speaker on climate change and Sea Level Rise (SLR). His first book, High Tide on Main Street, was a bestseller about rising sea level. John Englander’s blog Sea Level Rise Now

What do the oldest cultures in the world have to teach us about raising happy, well-adjusted children? Michaeleen Doucleff tells us, as she talks about her book, Hunt, Gather, Parent. Then, a leading social psychologist reveals the family secrets that drove her to study how technology is eroding human connections. Sherry Turkle tells us about her fascinating memoir, The Empathy Diaries. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Michaeleen Doucleff When Francesca first heard about Michaeleen Doucleff’s book Hunt, Gather, Parent, she thought to herself, “just another parenting book.” So she was intrigued but skeptical when she sat down to read about what Doucleff had to say about “what ancient cultures can teach us about the lost art of raising happy, helpful little humans” (the subtitle of her book.) But she was quickly won over by Doucleff’s combination of her personal story (trying to parent her strong-willed young daughter), her research into parenting styles of three indigenous cultures (Maya families in Mexico, Inuit families above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania) and her eminently practical suggestions for parenting. And her ideas don’t just work for young children, but for relationships we have with family members of all ages. Michaeleen Doucleff is a correspondent for NPR’s Science Desk, where she reports on disease outbreaks, cross-cultural parenting, and women and children’s health. Hunt, Gather, Parent is a NYT bestseller. LISTEN TO AN AUDIO EXCERPT FROM HUNT, GATHER, PARENT Sherry Turkle MIT social psychologist Sherry Turkle is best known for her books, Reclaiming Conversation and Alone Together. They both offer penetrating insights into the toll that digital technology has taken on our human connections. Now, in her intimate memoir of love and work, The Empathy Diaries, Turkle ties together her own’s life’s story and her pathbreaking research on technology, empathy, and ethics. Growing up in postwar Brooklyn, she searched for clues to her identity in a house filled with mysteries. Empathy became her strategy of survival as she strove to master the codes that governed her family’s secrets. In The Empathy Diaries, Turkle asks the big question that has motivated her research: how does one change minds? She discovers the clue to unlock that process of change through examining her own story: it’s all about creating and preserving connections between people. Sherry Turkle is Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT, and the founding director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. LISTEN TO OR READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE EMPATHY DIARIES

We talk with Milo Beckman about his book, Math Without Numbers. It’s a conversational guide to the three main branches of abstract math—topology, analysis, and algebra. Then, we go from math to astronomy as we talk with science writer Giles Sparrow about his new book, A History of the Universe in 21 Stars: (and Three Imposters). Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Milo Beckman For the math-challenged, the idea of doing math without numbers is attractive. But isn’t that like writing without words? Not at all, at least according to author Milo Beckman. In fact, the higher orders of math are done without any numbers at all. But you don’t have to be a mathematician to understand the math in Beckman’s book, Math Without Numbers. Charmingly illustrated by M. Erazo, it’s a conversational guide to the three main branches of abstract math—topology, analysis, and algebra that is surprisingly easy to grasp. Milo Beckman has been addicted to math since a young age. A math prodigy, he was captain of the New York City Math Team by age thirteen. His diverse projects and independent research have been featured in the New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, Salon, the Huffington Post, the Economist, and others. Giles Sparrow On a clear evening, if you look up you can see thousands of stars shining in the dark sky, each with a story of their own. Taking twenty-one stars (and three imposters, that aren’t technically stars), expert science writer Giles Sparrow offers a complete introduction to what is happening up in the night sky. We talk with him about the universe from its birth to its death and much in between, including that mysterious thing, dark matter. Giles Sparrow writes about astronomy, science and other cool subjects, and is a regular contributor to magazines including All About Space and The Sky at Night.

We talk with Carl Hart about his book, Drug Use For Grownups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear. We also talk with Hari Ziyad about their memoir, Black Boy Out Of Time. It’s about growing up Black and queer in a family of Hari Krishna adherents. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Carl Hart Judging from the reaction to his book, Drug Use For Grownups, it took an extraordinary amount of courage for Carl Hart to come out about his recreational use of drugs. He’s had to endure outrage and disbelief at his suggestion that drugs, from cannabis to heroin and cocaine, can be used responsibly by adults without physical or psychological harm, much less addiction. Yet Hart comes to his position through decades of respected research into drugs and their impact on human health. He is a Professor of Psychology in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is also a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Hart has published numerous scientific and popular articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology and is co-author of the textbook Drugs, Society and Human Behavior. So, if anyone has the credentials to say drugs can be used responsibly, it’s Carl Hart. Far more dangerous, Hart maintains, is the War on Drugs, which has resulted in the mass incarceration of millions of our citizens, disproportionately people of color. Drug Use For Grownups is not only an impeccably laid out scientific case for legalizing drugs, it’s a passionate critique of the institutional groupthink that condemns them and the racist Injustice system of the War on Drugs. Listen to or read a sample from Drug Use For Grownups Hari Ziyad One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare Krishna mother and a Muslim father. In his memoir, Black Boy Out of Time, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio, and of navigating the equally complex path toward finding their true self in New York City. Exploring childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations, Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Hari Ziyad is a writer, screenwriter, and the Editor-in-Chief of the online journal RaceBaitr. They are a 2021 Lambda Literary Fellow, and their writing has been featured in Gawker, Out, The Guardian, Huffington Post and Ebony, among other publications. Next Week on Writer’s Voice: It’s all about math and astrophysics. We talk with Milo Beckman about his book Math Without Numbers and with Giles Sparrow about A History of the Universe in 21 Stars.    

We talk with Julia Fine about her genre-bending novel The Upstairs House. It’s about a new mother’s postpartum depression—and her obsession with Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon. Then best-selling legal thriller novelist Lisa Scottoline tells us about her first foray into writing historical fiction, Eternal. It’s about a love triangle between three young friends in Rome during Mussolini’s Fascist regime. We also hear poet Martin Espada read his poem The Fugitive Poets of Fenway Park.

We talk with Eliot Peper about his cli-fi novel, Veil. It’s about what happens when a tech CEO decides to geo-engineer the climate—in secret. Then, we catch up with author Paul Greenberg about The Climate Diet: 50 Simple Ways to Trim Your Carbon Footprint. It’s just out for Earth Day. Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use! Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, find us on Vurbl, or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Eliot Peper A few years ago, climate fiction, or cli-fi, was a sparsely-populated genre. But the growing angst about the climate climate crisis is finding expression in a plethora of new novels. One of the finest is Veil by Eliot Peper. It tackles the conundrum we face because of our failure to tackle climate change on time and to scale: should we geo-engineer the climate to slow the crisis, despite unknown risks? And if so, who should decide? This forms the core of Peper’s novel Veil. In the novel, Peper gives voice to all sides of the question. Should one tech CEO acting alone be allowed to cool the planet? What if his actions cause millions to starve because the monsoon rains fail, possibly as a result? Should the big global powers — many of which got us into the problem in the first place — make the decision? Or should those small, poor countries, like Fiji and other island states be the deciders? All these questions are explored withIn a plot that unfolds like a spellbinding thriller. Kim Stanley Robinson said of Veil, “This is the best kind of science fiction.” In addition to Veil, Eliot Peper is the author of several other novels, including Borderless, Bandwidth, Cumulus, and the Uncommon Series. He is the co-creator of the award-winning True Blue website and the game, Machine Learning President. Read an excerpt from Veil Paul Greenberg Americans need to go on a diet. Not a diet to slim their waistlines—although plenty of us need to do that, too—but a Climate Diet, one that trims CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and gets our companies and governments to do the same. It’s all laid out in 50 diet rules in Paul Greenberg’s new book, The Climate Diet. Greenberg is an award-winning food and environmental writer, author of such books as Four Fish and The Omega Principle. Read the NYT Op-Ed by Paul Greenberg and Carl Safina Next week on Writer’s Voice We talk with bestselling novelist Lisa Scottline about her first historical novel Eternal. And Julia Fine tells us about The Upstairs House, a genre-bending novel about new motherhood. Don’t miss it!