Talking with Authors

This is the fifty-third episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is journalist, broadcaster, and New York Times Best Selling writer Joan Lunden. We spoke with her via Zoom in October of 2020 about her newest book "Why Did I Come Into This Room?: A Candid Conversation about Aging" by publisher Forefront Books.

Joan Lunden was a co-host on Good Morning America for 17 years in the 80s and 90s and is currently a special correspondent at NBC. And among many other things, she’s written eight books as well. In her most recent book, “Why Did I Come Into This Room,” she takes on the subject of aging, specifically in women, and how the seldom discussed issues associated with getting older leaves so many women feeling isolated.

However, from minor aches and pains, to major health issues, this new book reflects many of the issues that she’s dealt with...but handled with a sense of humor. We’ll hear more about the book and life experience of journalist, broadcaster, and best selling writer Joan Lunden on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our interviewer this time is Victoria Babu.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Interviewer and producer for this episode - Victoria Babu
Video Editor - Greg Kopp
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Paul Langdon
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

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This is the fifty-second episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is journalist Connor Towne O'Neill. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his book "Down Along with That Devil's Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy" by publisher Algonquin Books.

Writer Connor Towne O’Neill is a Pennsylvania born journalist that has had work in thoroughly northern publications like New York Magazine, and has been a producer on the Southern history based NPR podcast, “White Lies”. He’s a in instructor at Auburn University in Alabama now and researched and penned the book “Down Along with That Devil’s Bones” after more than 5 years of trying to pick apart some of the reasons why monuments to Confederates are still so common, like ones to the slave-owning, Southern General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first head of the Ku Klux Klan. In the book he explores not just the odes to Forrest, but to other racist and problematic figures from Southern history. And he digs into how even those from the North, like himself, that wish they were absolved from the current presence of the memorials, could and should feel otherwise.  We’ll explore more details of the book and of the life experience of journalist and writer Connor Towne O’Neill on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time is Paul Schankman.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Interviewer, producer, and editor for this episode - Paul Schankman
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fifty-first episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is journalist and sports writer Reid Forgrave. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his book “Love, Zac” by publisher Algonquin Books.

Writer Reid Forgrave has spent most of his career covering sports. He’s done long form reporting on the Olympics, basketball, and the NFL, and worked with the New York Times, CBS Sports and other organizations. But in his book, “Love, Zac”, he takes on the real life tragic death of a small town, high school football player that was ultimately found to have died from the effects of CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Zac Easter took his own life, but left behind enough clues to what he thought was wrong with him so that he would feel like his life had meaning. We’ll find out the impact that Zac’s death had on his family, his home town, the sports community, and our guest as well, writer Reid Forgrave on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time is Victoria Babu.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Interviewer for this episode - Victoria Babu
Video Editor - Kerry Marks
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Paul Langdon
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the fiftieth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and best selling author, Laila Lalami. We spoke with her via Zoom in October of 2020 about her newest book “Conditional Citizens” by publisher Pantheon Books.

Laila Lalami is a naturalized US citizen of Arab descent born in Morocco. The professor of linguistics’ pathway to citizenship lasted from 1992 to 2000 and she experienced a wide range of contradictions along the way. She notes in “Conditional Citizens” that she realized while she had to declare herself as ethnically “white” on official paperwork…she didn’t see Arabs existing the same way as other “white” people in the real world.

In her memoir that consists of her essays she’s written over the years, she breaks down how “accidents of birth” such as national origin, race, or gender play a large role in shaping the experience of what it means to be “American” to this day. We’ll learn more about this book, other best sellers, and the life of professor and writer Laila Lalami on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our interviewer this time is Anna Crosslin.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Interviewer for this episode - Anna Crosslin
Video Editor - Peter Foggy
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the forty-ninth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

The now celebrated and respected lawyer Jill Wine-Banks was a young prosecutor and only woman on the team during the Nixon impeachment hearings. In “The Watergate Girl”, she tells how she elicited this testimony and exchange from the president’s secretary about the missing audio from the famous taped recordings. 

from that famous revelation, she moved along as a trailblazer throughout her career in law at the US Army, for the state of Illinois, and the American Bar Association. The memoir of the status quo breaking jurist, writer Jill Wine-Banks is our guest on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

A side note and another reminder for context…this conversation was recorded on November 6, 2020…which was just after the 2020 presidential election. It was also after the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump in December of 2019, but before the events around the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021…and subsequent second impeachment of Trump.

Our host and interviewer this time is Kathy Bratkowski.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host and video producer of this episode - Kathy Bratkowski
Video Editor - Peter Foggy
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Paul Langon
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

Special thanks to The Jewish Book Festival.

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

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This is the forty-eighth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is the Best Selling author Jan Greenberg. We spoke with her in St. Louis in  November of 2020 about her newest book “World of Glass: The Art of Dale Chihuly” by publisher Abrams Books. The award winning writer Jan Greenberg has penned books for adults and children about art of all types. From poetry to pottery…ballet to van Gogh, she’s been able to break down interpretations of all of the forms for readers to make the works more accessible to all that encounter them. This time she went into the “World of Glass”, which she wrote with her frequent collaborator Sandra Jordan, and artist Dale Chihuly because of the transformative nature of his work.

We’ll hear about her visits to Chihuly’s studio for research on this book, how and why she got started writing about art, how she works with her collaborator and more.  Best selling writer Jan Greenberg is our guest on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host and video producer of this episode - Angie Weidinger
Video Editor - Greg Kopp
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

Special thanks to Left Bank Books and the St. Louis County Library.

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

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This is the forty-fifth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is New York Times Best Selling author Jasper Fforde. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his newest book "The Constant Rabbit" by publisher Viking Books.

The British novelist Jasper Fforde writes works of fantasy in what’s been called an “absurdist reality” style.  He uses concepts and situations that are grounded in real life, but then he gives himself a “narrative dare” when composing the work, and fuses the two together. The original spark this time produced the book “The Constant Rabbit”. It’s our world, but one with anthropomorphic bunnies that speaks to how humans relate to others…and themselves. We’ll hear about this book, the “Thursday Next” book series and more of the creative life of New York Times Best Seller Jasper Fforde on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time is Angie Weidinger.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host and video producer of this episode - Angie Weidinger
Video Editor - Greg Kopp
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

Special thanks to Left Bank Books and the St. Louis County Library.

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

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This is the forty-fourth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is the Sunday Times best selling and award winning author Matt Haig. We spoke with him via Zoom in October of 2020 about his newest book “The Midnight Library" by publisher Viking Books.

English writer Matt Haig has penned two dozen works…both children’s and adult…fiction and non-fiction in his career as a novelist.  He’s worked as a journalist as well. But what he likes to infuse his work with is from a career path he didn’t take. we’ll certainly hear about different philosophies in his book “The Midnight Library”, along with a look into his love of science, libraries, and screen adaptations of his pieces. Award winning author Matt Haig is our guest today on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time is Carrie Robb.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host of this episode - Carrie Robb
Video Producer - Christina Chastain
Video Editor - Kerry Marks
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Paul Langdon
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

Special thanks to The Novel Neighbor.

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

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This is the forty-third episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is Rachel Howzell Hall. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her newest book "And Now She's Gone" by publisher Macmillan.

Rachel Howzell Hall is based in Los Angles and the author of 9 novels and many short stories and essays.  She’s written science fiction, mystery, and crime stories featuring the character Lou Norton. But the story in “And Now She’s Gone” is one that really began a long time ago for her. We’ll find out more about the mix of magic, intrigue, and abuse in this latest work. And we’ll her about the literary volunteer efforts and very busy life outside of the page of  author Rachel Howzell Hall on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time, Heather Ash.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host of this episode - Heather Ash
Video Editor - Kerry Marks
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the forty-second episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is New York Times Best Selling British crime novelist Ann Cleeves. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her newest book “The Darkest Evening" by publisher Macmillan.

Ann Cleeves is the author of more than 30 books, some of which have spawned two TV series with a third on the way.   The BBC has the show “Shetland”, and the station ITV has the very popular show “Vera” based off of Cleeves’ character from her novels, Detective Vera Stanhope. Why does the author think “Vera” has caught on so well with audiences?

Our host and interviewer this time, Angie Weidinger.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host  and producer of the video version of this episode - Angie Weidinger
Video Editor - Greg Kopp
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Paul Langdon
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the forty-first episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is New York Times Best Selling author Yaa Gyasi. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her second and newest book “Transcendent Kingdom" by publisher Penguin Random House.

Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama as a daughter of immigrant parents. She uses that lived experience in her newest work of fiction to broaden the conversation around the way that many stories are told about newcomers to the United States….this time through the tale of the main character, a neuroscientist named “Gifty". We’ll get into detail about the gripping life and times of Gifty and her family from the book and the real life of our guest Yaa Gyasi in our conversation today with this award winning, New York Times Best Seller on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time is Tayari Jones.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host  of this episode - Tayari Jones
Video Editor - Peter Foggy
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the fortieth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is author Elise Hooper. We spoke with her via Zoom in September of 2020 about her third and newest book “Fast Girls" by publisher HarperCollins.

Elise Hooper is a writer of historical and biographical fiction. She’s taken on the subjects of women in different periods of history in all of her work…such as the real women of the novel “Little Women”, and early 20th century documentary photographer Dorothea Lange. In “Fast Girls” she focuses on the story behind some of the women on the US Olympic team that competed in the summer games of 1936 in Berlin. we’ll get into detail about three of these athletes and their individual paths to Germany…along with a story about finding the stories when we start our conversation with writer Elise Hooper on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time, Ashley Hasty.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host and producer of this episode - Ashley Hasty
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Paul Langdon
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the thirty-ninth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is forensic anthropologist, television producer and author Kathy Reichs. We spoke with her via Zoom in June of 2020 about her newest book "A Conspiracy of Bones" by publisher Scribner Books.

The 12 seasons of the TV show “Bones” was produced by Kathy Reichs and the title character Temperance Brennan is loosely based on Kathy’s life as a practicing forensic anthropologist. When Kathy started writing the character of Temperance 20 books ago, she was able to bring her experience to the page and make the readers’ experience very authentic. But writing the books changed how she worked in forensics a little bit too.

We’ll get into detail about how she details her written work and learn about how she’s remained a prolific writer while working for TV and being an academic. Kathy Reichs is our guest on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time, Paul Shankman.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host, editor, and producer of this episode - Paul Shankman
Graphics - Gregg Kopp & Jayne Ballew
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the thirty-eighth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our author is New York Times Best Selling writer, Tom Clavin. We spoke with him via Zoom in June of 2020 about his recent book "Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday and the Vendetta Ride from Hell" by publisher St. Martin's Press.

Tom Clavin was a reporter at the New York Times and has written on a variety of topics for prominent magazines like Smithsonian, Golf, and Cosmopolitan. But his series of historical books that focused on the legends from the United States’ westward expansion, helped bring him multiple best sellers. The research and work he did for his final book of the trilogy, “Tombstone”, dispels some of the myths about the OK Corral, but reveals some even more fascinating stories. And the fictionalized print and movie versions of the tales of Doc Holliday and the Earp Brothers almost pale in comparison to what he has discovered. We’ll hear about the more true story of the “Wild West” in today’s conversation with New York Times Best Selling writer Tom Clavin on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time, Paul Shankman.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host, editor, and producer of this episode - Paul Shankman
Graphics - Gregg Kopp & Jayne Ballew
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Paul Langdon
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the thirty-seventh episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our guest is a screenwriter and Booker Prize  winning author, Roddy Doyle. We spoke with him via Zoom in June of 2020 about his newest book “Love: A Novel” by publisher Penguin Random House.

Roddy Doyle has placed the setting of many of his 11 novels for adults in and around his home stomping grounds of Dublin.“Love: A Novel” continues in that vein. This tale centers around a pub crawl of two 50-year-old drinking buddies of decades. They find that this on night out they try to talk a bit more deeply than they ever have with hopes of continuing a their kinship on a more mature level. The subject of love comes up and they talk about a woman that they knew long ago in their younger days of carousing. Roddy wrote this conversation with some intentional ambiguity. And from their talk about their past object desire, the book hits on the subject of different kinds of love, including love between childhood friends. We’ll hear more about the winding path the book takes AND about the recent screenplay work of award winning writer Roddy Doyle on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Our host and interviewer this time is Brenda Madden.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host and producer of this episode - Brenda Madden
Video Editing - Peter Foggy
Graphics - Gregg Kopp
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Jayne Ballew & Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
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This is the thirty-sixth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

Today, our author is award winning writer, Bonnie Tsui. We spoke with her via Zoom in June of 2020 about her recent book “Why We Swim” by publisher Algonquin Books. Bonnie Tsui is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and California Sunday Magazine and has previously written a book about some of the “Chinatowns” that are around the US. In her newest offering, however, she’s focusing on humans and their relationship to the water. She’s the daughter of two swimmers and grew up being a competitive swimmer herself.

“Why We Swim” takes a look at the stories of a wide range of people from swimmers of all types around the world and goes into the reasons why they…and other humans…seem to have an innate attachment to the water.  We’ll go deeper into the subject of people and their draw to H20 in our conversation with award winning writer Bonnie Tsui on this edition Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

Here’s our host and interviewer this time, Angie Weidinger.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.

Host and producer of this episode - Angie Weidinger
Video Editing - Peter Foggy
Graphics - Gregg Kopp
Supervising Producer - Julie Winkle
Production Support - Christina Chastain
HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
Talking with Authors Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
Podcast Audio Editing - Ben Smith
Podcast Producer - Rod Milam
Podcast Host - Rod Milam

Special thanks to Surf Simply, St. Louis County Library, and Left Bank Books

You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-fifth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.
  
  We’re excited to be back after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned.  But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.

Our guest this time is Political Journalist Jennifer Steinhauer. We spoke with her via Zoom in June of 2020 about her latest book “The Firsts: The Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress” by publisher Algonquin Books.

She has been a journalist with the New York Times for over 30 years. Throughout her career she’s written about everything from the West Coast, to politics, business, food, and health care. Since 2010 her main beat has been the US congress and her new book explores the experiences of the women in the 116th congressional freshman class and how the sudden increase in female members has impacted the house and senate. We’ll explore the hurdles many women have to overcome when running for public office, hear how the current social climate and the pandemic have affected the freshmen class, and learn about the history of women in the congress, as Jennifer Steinhauer joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.
 
 HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.
  
  Host and Video Producer – Victoria Babu

 Supervising Producer – Julie Winkle 
  Video Editor – Greg Kopp
  Audio Editor – Paul Langdon
  Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain
  HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
  Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
  Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon
  Podcast Host - Rod Milam
  
  You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":
  Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors
  Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-fourth episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.
 
 We’re excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned.  But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.

Our guest this time is Sweden’s “Queen of Crime” Camilla Lackberg. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her latest book “The Golden Cage” by publisher Penguin Random House.

Her books have been translated into 40 languages and have sold over 20 million copies around the world. In addition to being one of Europe’s most recognizable crime novelists, she is an entrepreneur, part owner of a jewelry company, co-founder of an investment firm dedicated to helping women start their own businesses, and creator of a popular Swedish soap opera. We’ll hear about her formative years, learn about her inspiration for the characters in her crime novels, and get some insights into how her career and celebrity status has changed her home town as Camilla Lackberg joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.

HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.
 
 Host and Video Producer – Angie Weidinger
 Supervising Producer– Julie Winkle 
 Video Editor – Greg Kopp
 Audio Editor- Paul Langdon
 Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain
 HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
 Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
 Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon
 Podcast Host - Rod Milam
 
 You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":
 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors
 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors

This is the thirty-third episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.

We’re excited to be back after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned.  But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.

Our guest this time is New York Times Best-Selling author Linda Castillo. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her book “Outsider: A Novel of Suspense” available through Macmillan Publishers.

She is the author of over 30 novels, including the immensely popular Kate Burkholder Series.  We’ll learn more about Kate Burkholder’s past, as it’s explored in Linda Castillo’s latest novel. We’ll also hear how she got interested in Amish society, why she chose to make that the setting of her most popular series, and how a new character introduced in her latest book has been in development since the first Kate Burkholder novel was released over a decade ago, as Linda Castillo joins us now on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.
 
 HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.
  
  Host and Video Producer – Kathy Bratkowski
  Supervising Producer– Julie Winkle 
  Video Editor – Peter Foggy
  Audio Editor – Ben Smith
  Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain
  HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
  Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
  Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon
  Podcast Host - Rod Milam
  
  You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":
  Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors
  Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors 

This is the thirty-second episode of "Talking with Authors" by HEC Media and HEC Books. We're a program dedicated to speaking with some of the best selling authors around, covering many different genres.
 
 We’re excited to be able to come back to you after an unplanned hiatus due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. Since no authors were able to travel, and our partners at the St. Louis County Library and Left Bank Books were physically closed in the early days of social distancing, we were unable to conduct many of the scheduled interviews that we had planned.  But, after the initial weeks of the global shutdown, we were able to set up remote video interviews with many authors. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be providing you with the audio of these interviews. The sound quality may be slightly different than our previous podcasts, but they all still contain the great content that you’ve come to expect.

Our guest this time is Pulitzer-prize winning historian Anne Applebaum. We spoke with her via Zoom in July of 2020 about her latest book “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism” by publisher Penguin Random House.

She is a writer for the Atlantic, as well as a Senior Fellow of International Affairs and an Agora Fellow in Residence at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where she co-directs LSE Arena, a program about disinformation and 21st century propaganda. In her new book she uses her expertise in these areas and personal experiences to explore the rise of fascist authoritarianism across the globe and explain how the political landscape’s changes over time have allowed it to happen. In this conversation we’ll learn about the negative effects cultural tribalism has on democracy, explore the ways some world leaders have exploited “cultural despair” for their own gain, and hear how parts of Europe have handled the Covid-19 pandemic as compared to the United states as Anne Applebaum joins us on this edition of Talking With Authors from HEC Media and HEC Books.
 
 HEC Media is a production company out of St. Louis, Missouri.  With the help of independent bookstore Left Bank Books and St. Louis County Library, we are able to sit down with these amazing writers and thought leaders to discuss their work, their inspiration, and what makes them special. You can watch video versions of most of our interviews at hecmedia.org.
 
 Producer – Julie Winkle
 Host – Brenda Madden 
 Video Editor – Greg Kopp
 Audio Editor- Paul Langdon
 Production Support – Jayne Ballew and Christina Chastain
 HEC Media Executive Director - Dennis Riggs
 Podcast Executive Producer - Christina Chastain
 Podcast Producer – Paul Langdon
 Podcast Host - Rod Milam
 
 You can follow us on all social media platforms. Just search for "Talking with Authors":
 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/talkingwithauthors
 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingwithauthors
 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalkingwAuthors