Always Authors

Enjoy a conversation between bestselling Middle Grade author/illustrators as they discuss what drew them to write diary-style books for “tweens,” how adding humor helps tweens navigate big emotions and figuring out their place in the world, and how it’s impossible to impress their own kids no matter how successful they’ve become.
Because we’ve all lived through those turbulent years, their books also resonate with adults! Find out which one of them made a 50-year-old man cry while reading one of her books.

Listen to these 2 award-winning and bestselling authors as they discuss the challenges of turning your book into a screenplay or a stage play, the challenges of finding time to write when you’re also a full-time professor, the fascinating subculture communities you can find on Facebook, and how getting out into nature is a great way to settle your nervous system before writing.
These authors even admit that a good editor who really gets your vision is an amazing thing.

Join these two prolific authors as they discuss the moral and ethical dilemmas in our current world, finding a purpose in life that is compelling, how the first time in NYC was a wake-up call, how death threats have been part of the journey when writing books about what is ethically right contradicts far-Right evangelical views, and what it means to be in the Church in this context… You might also hear a little about sports!
​This is a timely and compelling conversation, no matter what religion you practice (or don’t).

Join author/playwright/producer Peter Parnell in a fascinating conversation with critically acclaimed author and essayist Rachel Cohen about the intersection between art and “time,” how painting is the only art form outside of time, how our current relationship to time is very bound up by tech, and the experience of being “inside/outside” of a character. 
​And what writer was only getting 5 cents a word?

Join bestselling authors Kerri Maher and Annie Hartnett as they discuss their books, failed projects that didn’t sell, dogs who need SSRIs, the magic of doing “The Artist’s Way,” and bowling nights with fellow writers. 
​You’ll also hear the story about one of them being booed at her own wedding!

Join these two bestselling authors as they discuss their their books, their essays and their shared love poetry.
 
They talk about how to survive in the traumas of our current time, how poetry comes from your ancestors, and what it means to be a good artist.
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And don't be surprised, but they feel F-Bombs are appropriate when the world is on fire.

Join these two bestselling authors as they discuss their new books set in Old Hollywood.
They talk about not outlining their books because “it ruins all the fun,” how locations are sentient, how no two people read the same book, being traumatized by rabid Virginia Woolf fans, and visiting the mind-blowing prop room at Warner Bros.
​You might even hear about the connection between handwriting every day and dementia.

Remember “science,” everyone? We’re thrilled to have two incredibly accomplished science researchers and authors on this episode.
Listen as they discuss what “face blindness” means, the existential freakout most scientists are currently having, recall fondly the time when we used to have “slow news days,” and how we need weirdos in the world. 
​You’ll also hear what happens when you look inside a bunch of people’s belly buttons.

 
Who doesn’t love a good story about the Royal Family (even if it’s your secret, guilty pleasure)? Join these two bestselling historical fiction authors as they talk about their recent novels, both about the Royals, but from different points of view and at different times in history. Listen to them discuss historical parallels to modern-day Royals, how you have to approach writing historical fiction, and whether to focus on real vs. imagined characters, and how younger readers seem to have a harder time entering a past time period where gender roles are different.
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You might even hear about the Queen skydiving into the 2012 London Olympics (or did she?...)

Internationally bestselling author Nadia Hashimi in conversation with Afghan-born debut author Patmeena Sabit (a “gorgeous and powerful debut” - NYT). They discuss their shared family roots in Afghanistan, how women fought in the Special Forces on the frontlines of war, how there’s a variety of perspectives in the Muslim diaspora, how characters talk to you, and how all writing is a “false start” until you hit your stride.
You will also hear whose young son mistakenly said, “I thought you wrote the books. I didn’t know you just ordered them from Amazon.”