Craft: Exploring Creativity

Surgeon Kelly Parsons wrote Doing Harm in the off hours over the past 8 years to give an insider’s look at how murders are secretly committed in hospitals. Perhaps I should label the above [satire] like Facebook is apparently doing just … Continue reading →

Thirsty for a great interview? Mindy McGinnis, a young adult librarian, author, and active blogger, is a must-meet individual whose talent and comical personality make for one refreshing conversation. In her two post-apocalyptic novels, Not a Drop to Drink and … Continue reading →

Veronica Roth seems like one of the nicest authors I’ve talked to in a while and her Divergent series has racked up huge sales. But we did have different views on one important aspect of our shared experiences. Listen in … Continue reading →

August 6 Thurber House guest Tony Mendoza has been an educator, an engineer, an architect, and an almost obsessive photographer of cats. His first book, Ernie, chronicled several months in the life of his roommate’s cat. His latest, A Cuban … Continue reading →

-Kayla In the dark hallways of an eerie school of mermaids, trash trolls, and magic, there is also attempted murder. Leave it to Kayla, the summer Craft intern, to conjure up  an interview with the mind behind The Arkwell Academy series, Mindee Arnett. … Continue reading →

Lawyer and novelist Claire McMillan will appear with the The Thurber House on Wednesday, July 23, reading from her book Gilded Age, a modern retelling of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth. We discussed how her computer file names betray her anxieties … Continue reading →

-Kayla Geyer When was the last time you told Columbus she was pretty? Andrew Welsh-Huggins, July 9th Thurber House author, values the beauty and intrigue of Columbus so much that when he based his novel, Fourth Down and Out, on … Continue reading →

What if I told you Superman was real? Or that some characters in the Superman comic book series were real? At the 2014 Ohioana Book Festival, Craft summer intern Kayla talked with the good-humored Brad Ricca, author of Super Boys: The … Continue reading →

Journalist and essayist David Giffels has written for the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Grantland, and Redbook among others. His most recent book is The Hard Way on Purpose, a collection of essays about growing up near … Continue reading →

Celtic band Switchback, Martin McCormack and Brian FitzGerald, will be in Columbus for two concerts this weekend, June 13 and 14: Friday night at Hoover House Concerts (contact Nancy Tomei at 740-965-3935 for tickets)  and Saturday night at Hey, Hey Bar and Grill. Brian … Continue reading →

Making a living as an artist has often been a challenge. I recall one smart and talented art student I knew who also earned a business degree. Why? “Because people are going to pay me for my art,” she replied. … Continue reading →

Journalist Sally Howard has written for The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, and Forbes on topics such as travel and celebrities like Daryl Hannah, Jimmy Choo, and Colin Firth. Read more about her at her website or follow her on Twitter @wanderingsal. … Continue reading →

Did Edgar Allan Poe have an affair with an aspiring poet? Thurber House guest Lynn Cullen makes some guesses at the Poe mystery with her historical novel Mrs. Poe. She’ll be at the Thurber House on Tuesday, May 6. In … Continue reading →

Ohioana Book Festival featured author Matt Kish likes big projects – big like a whale projects. He created one illustration for each page of Moby Dick, and then did the same thing for each page of Heart of Darkness. After … Continue reading →

Singer-songwriter Patty Larkin is renowned for her guitar work as well as songwriting. She is touring in support of the release of her 14th recording, Still Green, the writing and recording of which we discussed on Craft. CAPA presents Patty Larkin … Continue reading →

How can you tell when a poet is getting ready to do a lot of writing? Like birds nesting in the spring, he or she will start to gather paper. Or so it was with Columbus College of Art and … Continue reading →

Bruce Weber was. And his book Life is a Wheel: Love, Death, Etc., and a Bike Ride Across America is the result. We discussed why anyone would want to undertake such a trip, especially when one has already done it once. … Continue reading →

Part 2 of the double header this week on Craft: My interview with Amy Raubenolt. On Sunday, April 6 from 2-6pm, Westerville South High School will host Starry Night, which its organizers, Amy Raubenolt and Michael Wander, describe as a … Continue reading →

“Living in Argentina, I’ve learned a lot about how the world works. You live in The States and a dollar’s a dollar,” says Richard Shindell. That’s not the case in other countries, where “the IMF, Moody’s and what they say about … Continue reading →

Travel writer Carl Hoffman will be at Thurber House on March 31 to discuss his new book Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art.  We talked about how Hoffman followed up on his journalistic hunches … Continue reading →

Cable Green received his doctorate in educational psychology from Ohio State and started its first online doctoral program. He is now the Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons, a nonprofit for open access. He will deliver the keynote address … Continue reading →

What’s REALLY March Madness? WCBE giving me a full hour on March 22 at 3 pm (daytime, even) to delve into the nature of humor and humor writing with an array of great writers: PJ O’Rourke – bestselling author and … Continue reading →

Witness the triumphant return of Ohio native Kelsey Kinney with the Happily Ever Laughter tour with Chicago’s Second City on March 21 and 22. In addition to revisiting classic sketches from the 54-year history of Second City, Kelsey and the … Continue reading →

Novelist and screenwriter Amy Talkington’s book Liv Forever debuts this week. We talk about how she got started on the book, what kinds of supernatural experiences led (or didn’t lead) to this paranormal thriller, and how she feels about doing an … Continue reading →

JA Jance will be in Columbus with the Thurber House on March 10. We talked about how she got started, why she doesn’t like the word “prolific,” and why you shouldn’t plan even fictional murders in restaurants.