QWERTY: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life

Ep. 130 Sarah Leavitt Nov 15, 2024

Sarah Leavitt is a cartoonist and author of the graphic memoir, Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me (2010), and the author of the award-winning historical fiction comic Agnes, Murderess (2019). Sarah is an assistant professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where she has developed and taught undergraduate and graduate comics classes since 2012. Her new book, a graphic memoir, is just out from Arsenal Press. The book is titled Something, Not Nothing, A Story of Grief and Love. Listen in as we discuss the varieties of grapahic memoirs, how to write a graphic memoir, what distinguishes graphic memor from strictly prose memoir, and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 129 Brigit Bins Sep 20, 2024

Brigit Binns is a prolific author of cookbooks, with more than 100,000 copies in print, including eleven titles she has authored for Williams Sonoma. She has also co-authored cookbooks, edited cookbooks and written 90 shows for the Food Network series, The Hot Tamales. And now she has turned her attention to memoir. Her new book is titled Rottenkid: A Succulent Story of Survival, just out from Sibylline Press. In this fine memoir, she covers food, Hollywood, neglect, celebrity, infidelity, cooking, betrayal, narcissism, recipes and transcendenceListen in as we discuss how to handle big, compelling themes while writing memoir. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 128 Caro de Robertis Sep 06, 2024

Caro De Robertis, whose pronouns are they/theirs, is a Uruguayan-American author and full tenured professor in the creative writing dept at San Francisco State University. They are the author of five novels and the editor of an award-winning anthology, Radical Hope. Their books have been translated into seventeen languages and have received numerous other honors, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature. Their new book is The Palace of Eros, just out from Atria Books. Listen in as we discuss how to write characters' interior lives, and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 127 Juli Min Aug 23, 2024

Writer and novelist Juli Min is the editor-in-chief and fiction editor of the Shanghai Literary Review. Currently a resident of Shanghai, she was born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in New Jersey, and has just published her debut novel. Entitled Shanghailanders, the book is just out from Spiegel and Grau. Listen in as she and I discuss book structure, and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project's free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts, and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 126 Deborah Paredez Aug 09, 2024

Deborah Paredez is the author of the critical study, Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory (Duke 2009) and the poetry collections, This Side of Skin (Wings Press 2002) and Year of the Dog (BOA 2020). Her poetry, essays, and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, National Public Radio, Boston Review, The Georgia Review, Feminist Studies, and elsewhere. She is a professor of creative writing and ethnic studies at Columbia University and is the Co-Founder of CantoMundo, a national organization for Latinx poets. At Columbia, Professor Pah Red dez Paredez is a recipient of a Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award. Her new book is American Diva, just published by W.W. Norton. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 125 Rusty Gear Jul 12, 2024

Rusty Gear is an Americana recording artist whose work explores the story of the USA and for whom the Qwerty Podcast host, Marion Roach Smith, writes lyrics. In this episode, they explore working together as creatives. What is the nature of good artistic collaboration? How do two writers work together? Listen in as we explore those themes and much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 124 Margaret Juhae Lee Jun 28, 2024

Margaret Juhae Lee has been been published in The Nation, Newsday, Elle, ARTnews, The Advocate, The Progressive and most recently in The Rumpus and Ploughshares Blog. She received a Bunting Fellowship from Harvard University and a Korean Studies Fellowship from the Korean Foundation in support of research for her recently published book, book, Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History, published by Melville House. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 123 Lissa Soep Jun 14, 2024

Lissa Soep knows how to reanimate the voices of the dead, and she is here to teach you how to get those voices into your memoir writing. She is a senior editor for audio at Vox Media and special projects producer and senior scholar-in-residence at YR Media. She has a PhD from Stanford, where she studied education, social theory, and linguistic anthropology with leading Bakhtin scholars. She lives in San Francisco. Lissa has co-led teams honored with Peabody, Murrow, Kennedy, IRE, Gracie and other awards, and knows what it takes to make a great story. She has written for Harvard Educational Review, Boing Boing, NPR and Edutopia, among others, and is the author of a glorious new book that reminds and informs us that we carry within us the language of loved ones who are gone and how their words can be portals to other times and places. The book is Other People’s Words: Friendship, Loss and the Conversations that Never End. Just out from Spiegel & Grau. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 122 Alicia D. Williams May 31, 2024

Storyteller, actor and award-winning author, Alicia D. Williams is on The Qwerty Podcast to talk about her new book, Mid Air, illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff and just published by Atheneum. Her book, Genesis Begins Again received the Newberry and Kirkus Prize honors, and was a William C. Morris Award finalist and won the Coretta Scott King- John Steptoe Award for New Talent. She is also the author of the picture books, Jump at the Sun and The Talk. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 121 Michael Jamin May 17, 2024

Michael Jamin is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter who has been writing for television since 1996, and whose credits include Just Shoot Me, King of the Hill, Beavis & Butthead, Wilfred, Out of Practice, and Rules of Engagement. He’s also served as Executive Producer/Showrunner on Glenn Martin DDS, Maron, and Rhett & Link’s Buddy System. If you are interested in how to write book-length memoir in essays, his new book will show you how, one essay at a time. It's called, A Paper Orchestra, and is just out from Three Girls Jumping Press. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 120 Janet Skeslian Charles May 03, 2024

Janet Skeslien Charles is a New York Times and international bestselling author whose work has been translated into 37 languages. Her shorter work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Montana Noir. Her 2021 novel, The Paris Library, became an instant New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today bestseller upon release. Originally from Montana, she lives in Paris and has just released Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade, published by Atria. Listen in and read along as we talk about doing reserach, writing historical fiction and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 119 Hal Schrieve Apr 19, 2024

Hal Schrieve is the author of the 2019 book, Out of Salem, selected for the National Book Award Long List for Young People’s Literature. Hal works as a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library. As a librarian, Hal has written educator guides to other queer books for children and teens. Hal has had poetry in Vetch magazine, and is featured in Stacked Deck Press’s 2018 trans comics anthology We’re Still Here. Hal writes queer fiction for young people and writes comics and zines. Hal’s new novel, How To Get Over the End of the World, was just released with Seven Stories Press. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 118 Suzette Mullen Apr 05, 2024

Suzette Mullen is the author of the new memoir, The Only Way Through is Out, just out from the University of Wisconsin Press. She is the founder of Your Story Finder, where she provides nonfiction book coaching. In 2021, she published a Tiny Love Story in The New York Times that was the seed that became her new book. Listen as she and host Marion Roach Smith discuss how to go from a short piece of memoir to a book, and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 117 Kevin Baker Mar 22, 2024

Author, historian, essayist, bestselling novelist and commentator Kevin Baker has just published part one of his long-awaited two-part look into baseball and the city that formed it and was formed by it. Called The New York Game: Baseball and The Rise of a New City (Knopf, 2024), this was a labor of love from a super fan of both the city and the game. In our interview on the Qwerty podcast, we discuss the sport, the city and how a historian does his work. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 116 Ani Gjika Mar 08, 2024

Author, essayist, poet and activist Ani Gjika is an Albanian-born poet, literary translator, writer, and author of Bread on Running Waters (Fenway Press, 2013). A finalist for the 2011 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize and 2011 May Sarton New Hampshire Book Prize, she moved to the US at age 18 and earned an MA in English at Simmons College and an MFA in poetry at Boston University. Her honors include awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, English PEN, the Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship, Framingham State University's Miriam Levine Reader Award, and the Robert Fitzgerald Translation Prize. Her poetry appears in Seneca Review, Salamander, Plume, From the Fishouse, and elsewhere. Her new book is An Unruled Body: A Poet’s Memoir, just out from Restless Books, which is the winner of the 2021 Restless Books’ New Immigrant Writing Prize. Listen in and she and host Marion Roach Smith discuss writing into trauma in this new episode of the Qwerty podcast. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 115 Meg Kissinger Feb 16, 2024

Writer and author Meg Kissinger spent more than two decades traveling across the country to report on America’s mental health system for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, she has won two George Polk Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors, and two National Journalism Awards. Kissinger teaches investigative reporting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was a visiting professor at DePauw University, her alma mater. Her stories on the abysmal living conditions for people with mental illness inspired changes to Wisconsin law and led to the creation of hundreds of new housing units. Now, she has brought the knowledge, insights, determination and humility of a reporter’s eye to the vulnerability needed to get to heart of her own origin story and published her new book, While You Were Out: The Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 114 Taylor Brorby Feb 09, 2024

Writer, essayist, speaker and activist Taylor Brorby is the author of Boys and Oil, Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land, a NYT Editors’ Choice published in 2022 by Liveright, a division of W.W. Norton. He is also the author of Crude: Poems, Coming Alive: Action and Civil Disobedience, and he is the co-editor of Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, LitHub, Orion Magazine, The Arkansas International, Southern Humanities Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and numerous anthologies. He is a contributing editor at North American Review and serves on the editorial boards of Terrain.org and Hub City Press. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 113 Felice Cohen Jan 26, 2024

Known nationally and internationally as the woman who lived in one of the world’s smallest apartments, Felice Cohen is the award-winning author of the bestselling books Half In: A Coming-of-Age Memoir of Forbidden Love, 90 Lessons for Living Large in 90 Square Feet (...or More) (inspired by the YouTube video of her tiny NYC studio with over 25 million views) and What Papa Told Me, about her grandfather’s life before, during and after the Holocaust. Felice has been featured on Good Morning America, NBC, CBS, NPR, Time, Globe & Mail, New York Daily News, the Daily Mail and more. She speaks around the country leading memoir workshops, talking about how living tiny made her life larger as well as offering tips on organizing and decluttering, and about writing a book with her grandfather. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 112 Kate Cohen Jan 12, 2024

Washington Post contributing columnist and author Kate Cohen writes about American culture. Her new book, We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (and Maybe You Should Too), is just out. Listen in as we discuss her book, writing about faith and the loss of it, and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 111 Joanna Penn Dec 29, 2023

Mega-bestselling author Joanna Penn, whose 40 books span several genres, has now written a memoir after making three separate solo pilgrimage walks. The walks and this new book, Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways, allowed her to define for herself her personal definition of being a seeker. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the bookThe Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 110 Kristin Jarvis Adams Dec 15, 2023

When writer, author and advocate Kristin Jarvis Adams pitched a potential publisher on her book, she began with a sentence so startling that it made the publisher ask her to breakfast. The book that followed was full of such sentences. This is a conversation about an unlikely book on an nearly impossible topic to sell that worked. Be inspired by her tale. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 109 Virginia Sole-Smith Nov 24, 2023

Writer, author and advocate Virginia Sole-Smith knows how to write into other's biases, and she writes right into them, giving us new language while she explores diet culture, anti-fat bias, feminism and health. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 108 Allison K. Williams Nov 10, 2023

Allison K. Williams utilized her years as what she calls an "unkind editor" to write and publish her fine book, Seven Drafts: Self-Edit like a Pro from Page to Book, which she discusses here on the Qwerty podcast. This skillfully constructed book breaks down the process of writing and self-editing into seven definitive drafts – the vomit draft, the story draft, the Character draft, the technical draft, the personal copyedit, the friend read and the editor read. Listen in and learn.

The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all my free webinars and instructive posts, as well as our online classes, our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Ep. 107 Kerri Maher Oct 27, 2023

Kerri Maher knows how to choose topics to write about. The author of the USA Today bestseller, The Paris Bookseller, is back with one of the most compelling topics of our time. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 106 Matt Mendez Oct 13, 2023

Matt Mendez is the author of Barely Missing Everything, his debut novel, and the short story collection Twitching Heart. He writes from places that have been traiditonally ignored and brings his perspective to his work. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 105 Roxan Mcdonald Sep 29, 2023

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Ep. 104 Alice Carriere Sep 15, 2023

Alice Carriere has written a dynamic debut memoir from her unconventional, big downtown New York life. Raised in the art scene, she is practically burdened with great, vivid material, including a supporting cast of celebrity artists, actors and infuencers. How to write a memoir from a vivid, troubled upbringing? Like this. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 103 Michele Cushatt Jul 21, 2023

How to write memoir from the middle of the mess? Perhaps the expert on this is author Michele Cushatt, whose books from Zondervan, provide readers with the guidance to read and live through life's complications. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 102 Dave Pelzer Jul 07, 2023

Dave Pelzer, bestselling author of A Child Called It and Qwerty podcast host Marion Roach Smith talk about writing from a place of helping others. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 101 Lamya H Jun 23, 2023

How to write an anonymous memoir with Lamya H, author of Hijab Butch Blues. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 100 Robin Schepper Jun 02, 2023

How to write a braided memoir? Author Robin Schepper and host Marion Roach Smith take on the topic of the braided memoir in this episode of The Qwerty podcast. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 99 Elizabeth Rau May 19, 2023

Journalist and essaying Elizabeth Rau speaks with host Marion Roach Smith about the power of the personal essay, how to write from everyday life, and how to publish an essay collection in this episode of The Qwerty Podcast. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 98 Jennifer De Leon: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 05, 2023

On this episode of The Qwerty podcast, the award-winning Young Adult writer, Jennifer De Leon, discusses how to make a writing career by writing what you know Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 97 Rona Maynard Apr 21, 2023

How to write dog memoir. Writer and author Rona Maynard talks with Qwerty podcast host Marion Roach Smith about her new book, Starter Dog. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 96 Julie Zickefoose Apr 07, 2023

Naturalist, writer, author, illustrator and wildlife rehabilitator, Julie Zickefoose, speaks with Qwerty podcast host Marion Roach Smith about writing from nature. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 95 Rebecca Fogg Mar 24, 2023

Memoirist Rebecca Fogg speaks with Qwerty opdcast host Marion Roach Smith about writing a first memoir and the lessons learned when writing from trauma. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 94 Heinz Insu Fenkl Mar 10, 2023

Author, translator and professor Heinz Insu Fenkl and host Marion Roach Smith talk about writing from one's own life story and the writing tools available from being an outsider. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 93 Iris Smyles Feb 24, 2023

Author, essayist and humorist Iris Smyles and host Marion Roach Smith discuss how to write funny in this latest episode of the Qwerty podcast. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 92 Scott Keyser: A Podcast for Writers on How to Life the Writing Life Feb 10, 2023

Author Scott Keyser and host Marion Roach Smith discuss the great art of rhetoric on this episode of The Qwerty podcast. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 91 Shirley Showalter: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 30, 2022

Author, opinion writer, essayist and speaker Shirley Showalter talks about how to write memoir with host Marion Roach Smith in this episode of the Qwerty podcast, a podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 90 Joanne Tubbs Kelly: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 16, 2022

First time author Joanne Tubbs Kelly talks with host Marion Roach Smith on how to write the book you want to read. Listen in as they discuss Kelly's memoir, Walking Him Home: Helping my Husband Die with Dignity, just out from She Writes Press. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 89 Lisa Lucca: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 02, 2022

In episode 89 of The Qwerty Podcast, author Lisa Lucca and host Marion Roach Smith take on the tricky topic of writing about our past while living in the present. Many decisions go into how to characterize ourselves, our family, the times and more as we look from here back to there, especially when viewed through the lens of changing cultural norms. In 1974, when the author's father came out as gay, the family blew apart. Looking back, now with the eyes of a devoted ally, Lisa Lucca talks about how to look at ourselves and those we love when - and as - we change. Listen in and read along. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 88 Amy Biancolli: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Nov 18, 2022

In this episode of The Qwerty podcast, we discuss how to write memoir about loss and grief with Amy Biancolli, author of two memoirs on that topic. Amy is a staff writer for Mad in America, an online site that takes on global mental health. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

Ep. 87 Shayla Raquel: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Nov 04, 2022

How and when should writers and authors promote themselves? Author branding maven Shayla Raquel walks us through everything you need to know about author branding in this episode of The Qwerty podcast. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.

Ep. 86 Beth Lapides: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 21, 2022

Founder of UnCabaret and author of the audiobook So You Need to Decide, Beth and QWERTY podcast host Marion Roach Smith discuss the format of writing and recording an audiobook. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.

Ep. 85 Martha Anne Toll: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 07, 2022

Novelist, book reviewer and essayist Martha Anne Toll is on episode 85 of The Qwerty podcast to discuss writing fiction from the large themes of life. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

https://marionroach.com/

Ep. 84 Zoe Sivak: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Sep 23, 2022

Debut novelist Zoe Sivak is on episode 84 of The Qwerty podcast with host Marion Roach Smith to discuss restoring diversity to historical narratives. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

https://marionroach.com/

Ep. 83 Carolyn Sloan: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Aug 19, 2022

Writer, composer, musician and performer Carolyn Sloan is on episode 83 of the Qwerty podcast to talk about how to live the creative life with host Marion Roach Smith. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

https://marionroach.com/

Ep. 82 Margaret Roach: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Aug 05, 2022

New York Times garden columnist and author Margaret Roach talks about the fine art of writing what you know on episode 82 of The Qwerty podcast with host Marion Roach Smith. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

Ep. 81 Marie Myung-Ok Lee: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 25, 2022

Author Marie Myung-Ok Lee takes on writing with transparency, confronting bias in America and how to write across genres in this gorgeous conversation on episode 81 of The Qwerty podcast with host Marion Roach Smith. Qwerty is the podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life.

Ep. 80 Zibby Owens: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 08, 2022

Author, podcaster, publisher, writer and influencer Zibby Owens on writing and publishing memoir

The Memoir Project

Ep. 79 Melissa Faliveno: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 24, 2022

Melissa Faliveno, the essayist and author of Tomboyland, talks about writing memoir that takes on gender, sexuality, and the America of now.

The Memoir Project

Ep. 78 Scott Bane: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 10, 2022

Essayist and author Scott Bane talks about how to research and write a biography that explores the partnership of two great American artists.

The Memoir Project

Ep. 77 Anna Quindlen: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 27, 2022

Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Anna Quindlen on how writing improves your life.

Ep. 76 Sarah Fay: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 13, 2022

Author Sarah Fay on how to write a medical memoir: Listen in to discover how to write about your own health

Ep. 75 Andy Aledort: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 29, 2022

Guitarist Andy Aledort comes back to the QWERTY podcast to talk about writing song lyrics from life

Ep. 74 Mary Laura Philpott: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 15, 2022

Bestselling author Mary Laura Philpott talks about curating scenes from her life for her new memoir in essays.

Ep. 73 Bryan Collins: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 01, 2022

How to become a writer, with bestselling author and creativity expert, Bryan Collins

Ep. 72 Rachael Cerrotti: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Mar 18, 2022

How to bear witness in writing

Ep. 71 Farah Jasmine Griffin: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Mar 04, 2022

How to write memoir based on the books that you've read

Ep. 70 Dave Chesson: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Feb 18, 2022

Book marketing for every author, with Kindlepreneur's Dave Chesson

Ep. 69 Genevieve Kingston: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Feb 04, 2022

How to write a Modern Love column and expand it into a book, with writer Genevieve Kingston

Ep. 68 Jessica DuLong: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jan 21, 2022

How to report on and write about trauma, with writer and author Jessica DuLong

Ep. 67 Megan Falley: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jan 07, 2022

Poet, writer, teacher and spoken word performer Megan Falley on writing one's truth

Ep. 66 Geraldine deRuiter: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 17, 2021

On the consequences of telling our tales, with author Geraldine deRuiter

Ep. 65 Laura Davis: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 03, 2021

How to write a family memoir after partial reconciliation

Ep. 64 Kevin Barhydt: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Nov 12, 2021

The author Kevin Barhydt discusses writing about healing

Ep. 63 Dianne Jacob: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 29, 2021

How to develop your writer's voice

Ep. 62 Catherine Raven: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 15, 2021

How to find the right voice for your memoir

Ep. 61 Dori Jones Yang: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 01, 2021

On writing across genres and the world of publishing, with author Dori Jones Yang.

Ep. 60 Dreux Richard: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Sep 17, 2021

How do writers choose their topics? We ask author Dreux Richards, author of Every Human Intention.

Ep. 59 Samantha Clark: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Sep 03, 2021

Samantha Clark, author of the memoir, The Clearing, on giving yourself permission to write what you know

Ep. 58 Rebekah Taussig: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Aug 20, 2021

Rebekah Taussig, author of Sitting Pretty, on how to write a memoir in essays

Ep. 57 Ellen Abrams: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Aug 06, 2021

The playwright, Ellen Abrams, discusses writing for the stage

Ep. 56 Rachel Michelberg: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 23, 2021

How to write a difficult family memoir, with author Rachel Michelberg

https://marionroach.com/

Ep. 55 Travis Andrews: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 09, 2021

Author Travis Andres talks about his new book with host Marion Roach Smith in this episode of the Qwerty podcast, a podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

https://marionroach.com/

Ep. 54 Allison Fallon: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 25, 2021

Author Allison Fallon talks about the power of writing it down with host Marion Roach Smith in this episode of the Qwerty podcast, a podcast by, for and about writers. Listen in and learn how to live this writing life. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know.

https://marionroach.com/

Ep. 53 Monica Wesolowska: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 11, 2021

On curating your own life, with Monica Wesolowska, author of Holding Silvan

Ep. 52 Julie Metz: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 28, 2021

How and when to see your life as story, with bestselling author Julie Metz

https://marionroach.com/

Ep. 51 Ali Stafford: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 14, 2021

How to become a food writer, with cooking teacher and cookbook author Alexandra Stafford

Ep. 50 Carol Edgarian: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 30, 2021

Advice to young writers from bestselling author Carol Edgarian

Ep. 49 Milo Beckman: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 16, 2021

On writing for visual thinkers, with Milo Beckman, author of Math Without Numbers

Ep. 48 Toni Jensen: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 02, 2021

Toni Jensen, the author of Carry, a new memoir in essays, speaks on indigenous people and the gun crisis in America.

Ep. 47 Amy Solomon: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Mar 19, 2021

On getting accepted into a humor collection, with editor and producer Amy Solomon

Ep. 46 Terry Sue Harms: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Mar 05, 2021

Memoirist and novelist Terry Sue Harms on how to write a family memoir.

Ep. 45 Suzanne McConnell: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Feb 19, 2021

Author Suzanne McConnell on how to become a writer.

Ep. 44 Devi Laskar: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Feb 05, 2021

Author Devi Laskar talks to us about writing from a place of darkness.

Ep. 43 Donny Jackson: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jan 22, 2021

Spoken word performer Donny Jackson discusses how to train a writer's eye.

Ep. 42 Edward Schwarzschild: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jan 08, 2021

Writer, author and teacher Edward Schwarzschild talks about how to develop a writer's eye for detail.

Ep. 41 Kristen Millares Young: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 18, 2020

Writer and author Kristen Millares Young on how to find a writer's voice.

Ep. 40 Jennifer Risher: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 04, 2020

Author Jennifer Risher discusses how to write about tough topics as we talk about her book on wealth.

Ep. 39 Gregg McBride: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Nov 13, 2020

Multi-platform writer and author, Gregg McBride discusses how to tell the truth in writing

Ep. 38 Laurie Wolf: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 30, 2020

Laurie Wolf, writer and author, and the "Martha Stewart of Edibles," talks living an authentic writing life

Ep. 37 Bob Cowser: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 16, 2020

Author and writer Bob Cowser discusses writing non-fiction in real time.

Ep. 36 Elizabeth Rosner: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Aug 14, 2020

Author Elizabeth Rosner on what writers carry with them and draw from as they work

Ep. 35 D. Colin: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 31, 2020

In this episode of the Qwerty podcast, spoken word artist D. Colin talks with host Marion Roach Smith on living the writing life.

Ep. 34 Nancy Campbell: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 17, 2020

Non-fiction author Nancy Campbell gives advice on how to be a science writer.

Ep. 33 Amy Halloran: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 03, 2020

Writer and food justice advocate, Amy Halloran, on how to turn your politics into a writing career

Ep. 32 Ellen Bass: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 19, 2020

Award-winning writer Ellen Bass speaks with host Marion Roach Smith on on how poetry informs us.

Ep. 31 Sarah Enni: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 05, 2020

Writer Sarah Enni leads us through how to enter the Young Adult market and survive the publishing experience.

Ep. 30 Joanna Penn: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 22, 2020

How broad should an author platform be? Let's ask Joanna Penn, of the Creative Penn.

Ep. 29 Anne Kreamer: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 08, 2020

From observation to manuscript: Author and entrepreneur Anne Kreamer on writing books from a cultural studies angle.

Ep. 28 Andy Aledort: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 24, 2020

Music journalist Andy Aledort on how to turn a passion into a writing career.

Ep. 27 Joseph Dalton: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Apr 10, 2020

Non-fiction writer Joseph Dalton discusses how to write someone else's story.

Ep. 26 Richard Zacks: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Mar 27, 2020

Non-fiction writer Richard Zacks discusses how to write from who you really are.

Ep. 25 Ada Calhoun: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Mar 13, 2020

Bestselling author Ada Calhoun talks to Qwerty podcast host Marion Roach Smith about how to go from idea to publication.

Ep. 24: Alice Lichtenstein: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Feb 28, 2020

Novelist Alice Lichtenstein discusses spending time with life's tough topics and the fiction that can result.

Ep. 23: Diane Cameron: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Feb 14, 2020

Trauma recovery is writer Diane Cameron's area of expertise, and on this episode of QWERTY, she shares with us how to write through life's toughest material.

Ep. 22: Anthony D'Aries: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jan 31, 2020

On this episode of the QWERTY podcast, writer Anthony D'Aries talks about how to interview your family when writing memoir.

Ep. 21: Jeff Goins: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jan 17, 2020

Jeff Goins answers questions on how to find your writer's voice on this episode of the QWERTY podcast.

Ep. 20: Jack Hitt: A Podcast for Writers on How to live the Writing Life Jan 03, 2020

Jack Hitt, author, magazine writer and winner of two Peabody awards for his radio work, discusses how to craft a story.

Ep. 19: Joe Bunting: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 20, 2019

Joe Bunting, Creator of The Write Practice, visits the QWERTY podcast and talks about how to promote a self-published book.

Ep. 18: David Leite: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Dec 13, 2019

Food writer David Leite and memoir coach and teacher, Marion Roach Smith, discuss the art and science of food writing.

Ep. 17: Jane Friedman: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Nov 29, 2019

How do you get an agent for your writing? This, and other questions on the business of publishing, are discussed when Jane Friedman visits the QWERTY podcast and talks with author, writer and teacher Marion Roach Smith.

Ep. 16: William Kennedy: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Nov 15, 2019

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Genius grant, William Kennedy knows about how to write from home. He has brought Albany, New York to the world through his work. Marion and David speak to one of America's greatest living writers.

Ep. 15: Annotations II: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Nov 01, 2019

In this second Annotations segment, Marion and David sit down together to discuss best writing practices and answer several listeners' questions.

Ep. 13: Jill Smolowe: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 18, 2019

Journalist and author Jill Smolowe discusses her memoir "Four Funerals and a Wedding" and the challenges she faced writing about the many facets of grief and healing.

Welcome to Season 2: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Oct 11, 2019

Author and memoir writing teacher Marion Roach Smith and memorist and cookbook author David Leite kick off Season Two of QWERTY with a previerw of upcoming guests.

Ep. 12: Julia Siler: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Aug 09, 2019

Two-time best-selling nonfiction author Julia Flynn Siler gives excellent advice to writers about writing what you believe in, testing your material and setting writing deadlines and goals to have a writing life.

Ep. 11: Elissa Altman: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Aug 03, 2019

Best-selling memoirist Elissa Altman discusses with Marion and David the hard work of writing about family, getting to the truth, and the importance of what to include and what to leave out in her latest book, Motherland.

Ep. 10: Corvette Hunt: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 26, 2019

Writer Corvette Hunt recounts how to control your personal details when writing memoir, how to get an essay published in The New York Times and then turn that into a book-length memoir.

Ep. 9: James Barron: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jul 19, 2019

Marion and David ask a lifetime New York Times reporter about writing on deadline and how to identify when you know enough to publish.

Ep. 8: Literary Forensics: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 28, 2019

In this first Annotations segment, Marion and David discuss the difficult process of reporting on one's own life when writing memoir.

Ep. 7: Marcia Butler: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 21, 2019

Author Marcia Butler's first book, The Skin Above My Knee, chronicled surviving abuse through art, which brought her national acclaim. In this moving episode, she speaks about this gorgeous, notable memoir.

Ep. 6: Gary Taubes: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 14, 2019

Gary Taubes has turned investigative journalism into a science. With three cover stories for the New York Times Magazine and a string of books, he has brought his skeptical scrutiny to topics as diverse as high-energy physics, salt, and dietary fat.

Ep. 5: Asha Dornfest: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life Jun 07, 2019

Author Asha Dornfest has built a successful writing life one platform at a time. In this episode, she explains exactly how she did it and how her decisions led to several successful books.

Ep. 4: Sloane Tanen: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 31, 2019

Bestselling author Sloane Tanen talks about her writing process and the tough choice of whether to tell your story as fiction or memoir.

Ep. 3: Zoë François: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 21, 2019

Bestselling cookbook author Zoë François, who has more than 800,000 copies of her work in print, talks with Marion and David about the process of revising and updating your work.

Ep. 2: Lisa Cron: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 21, 2019

Lisa Cron is the brain behind the brain science of writing. Marion and David speak with her about why we are all wired for story.

Ep. 1: Boris Fishman: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 21, 2019

In the first episode, Marion Roach Smith and David Leite chat with author Boris Fishman about memoir writing, the power of food, and writing about depression.

Welcome to QWERTY: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life May 20, 2019

Qwerty is the podcast for writers on how to live the writing life. Host Marion Roach Smith interviews well-published writers for their writing tips, their advice on how to write and their insights into how to get published.

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