DIY MFA Radio

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jason Naylor. Jason is an award-winning artist and designer based in NYC. He is known for his bright colors and even brighter messages. His work has received tons of awards and recognition, including the Golden Novum Design award and two CLIO Fashion&Beauty Bronze medals. He has also been featured on HGTV and the Discovery Channel. In 2018, Jason was name...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Adam Smyer. Adam Smyer is an attorney, martial artist, and mediocre bass player. His nonfiction has appeared in the Johannesburg Review of Books, and his debut novel, Knucklehead , was the sole title short-listed for the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Adam lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and cats. You Can Keep That...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Rachel Beanland. Rachel Beanland writes fiction and essays, and has recently released her debut novel. Her essays have appeared in Creative Nonfiction and Broad Street, among other places, and she has an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. With bachelor's degrees in art history and journalism, Rachel worked in public relations a...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Alexandra Monir. Alexandra is an Iranian-American author and recording artist who has published six popular young adult novels. Her internationally-bestselling debut, Timeless was a Barnes & Noble Bestseller and Amazon.com "Best Books of the Month." In 2018 she published the hit sci-fi novel The Final Six and Sony Pictures optioned the film rights in a ma...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Brad Fox. Brad is a novelist, journalist, translator, and former relief worker currently quarantined in rural Peru. His novel To Remain Nameless was a Paris Review staff pick, an SPD recommended new fiction title, has been a small press bestseller since its release. It was named by Dennis Cooper as a Best Book of 2020. Brad's stories, essays, and articles...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Marcella Pixley, the author of four acclaimed books for young people. Her novel Freak was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year for 2007, Without Tess was a Junior Library Guild Selection, and Ready to Fall was a Bank Street of Education Best Book for 2017. Her most recent novel Trowbridge Road was just recently named as one of ten books for children for the Nat...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Diane Zinna. Originally from Long Island, Diane received her MFA from the University of Florida and went on to teach creative writing for ten years. She formerly worked at AWP—the Association of Writers & Writing Programs—which hosts the largest literary conference in North America each year. In 2014, Diane created the AWP Writer to...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Veena Rao. Veena Rao is the author of Purple Lotus: A Novel (She Writes Press), as well as founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of NRI Pulse, a popular Atlanta-based Indian-American news publication. She is in the Limca Book of Records as the first Indian-origin woman to edit and publish a newspaper outside India. Veena Rao has a b...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sara Schaff. Sara is the author of two short story collections The Invention of Love and Say Something Nice About Me . She is a CLMP Firecracker Award Finalist in fiction and a finalist for the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award for short fiction. Her writing has appeared in Catapult, Kenyon Review Online, Yale Review Online, The...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Andi Cumbo-Floyd. Andi is a writer of both magical realism and nonfiction, but in the last year, she has taken on a new persona as ACF Bookens, author of cozy mysteries. Today we'll be talking about her process and strategy in crafting this series. When she's not writing, Andi is also an editor and writing coach, and she runs a beautiful, supportive onlin...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Meg LaTorre. Meg is a sci-fi/fantasy author, YouTube darling, and founder of iWriterly. She is also the creator of the free query critique platform, Query Hack, co-host of the Publishable show, and blogger for websites: Writer's Digest, Savvy Authors, Writers Helping Writers, and so forth. Formerly, she worked at a literary agency, a...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing the author, swordswoman, and falconer, Essa Hansen. Essa is a sound designer for sci-fi and fantasy films at Skywalker Sound, with credits in movies such as Doctor Strange and Avengers: Endgame .  Today we'll be discussing her debut novel, Nophek Gloss . In this episode Essa and I discuss: What Essa does to develop her story's langua...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Laura Jamison. Laura Jamison is an attorney from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and their four children. When she is not practicing law or writing, she is driving her kids to one of their many activities in her minivan. Laura is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan Law School. All...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Carol VanDenHende. Carol is an award-winning author who pens stories of resilience and hope. Her debut novel Goodbye Orchid recently won the American Fiction Award for urban fiction, the Pinnacle Book Award for multicultural fiction, and was listed by Buzzfeed as one of its 12 Most Anticipated books this fall. Carol is also a speaker...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Fish. Dwayne Booth has been a freelance writer and cartoonist for twenty-five years, publishing under both his real name and the pen name of Mr. Fish with the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, the Village Voice, the Atlantic, The Nation, Vanity Fair, Harper's Magazine, MSNBC, Truthdig, HuffingtonPost, ScheerPost and others. He wa...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Amy Alznauer. Amy lives in Chicago with her husband, two children, a dog and her four puppies, a parakeet, sometimes chicks and a part-time fish, but, as of today, no elephants or peacocks. Check back. Her writing has won the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction, the Christopher Award, and the SCBWI-Illinois Laura Crawford Memorial Mentorship, and...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Nathan Makaryk. Nathan is the author of Nottingham , which deconstructs the mythology of Robin Hood in a realistic historical context. Nathan is a playwright, theater-owner, director, stage combat choreographer, and comedian living in Southern California. Nottingham was based on his critically-acclaimed original play The Legend of Ro...

Hey there word nerds! Today we're doing something a little bit different. This is a special episode, created in partnership with INBOUND, one of my favorite marketing conferences where I have had the pleasure of speaking for the past three years. INBOUND is one of those conferences that has become a mainstay in my speaking schedule. I look forward to it every year, and I always have a blast speaki...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Helen Zuman. Helen Zuman is the author of Mating in Captivity , a memoir of her five years, post-Harvard, at Zendik Farm, a neo-hippie cult with a radical take on sex and relationships. Her memoir has received many honors. It got a starred review from Kirkus and was named Kirkus Best Indie Memoir of 2018, and it was a finalist in Cre...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ace Atkins. Ace Atkins is the author of twenty-six books, including ten Quinn Colson novels and eight New York Times–bestselling novels in the continuation of Robert B. Parker's iconic Spenser series. HBO has optioned the Quinn Colson novels with a series currently in high development and Atkins' second novel for Robert B. Parker est...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Matt Hongoltz-Hetling. Matt is a freelance journalist specializing in narrative features and investigative reporting. He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, has won a George Polk Award, and has been voted Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press association, as well as many other honors. His work has appeared in varied publi...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Julia London. Julia is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher's Weekly best-selling romance author of the popular contemporary romance series, The Princes of Texas, including the Charmer in Chaps , The Devil in the Saddle , and The Billionaire in Boots , as well as the upcoming rom-com, You Lucky Dog . She is also the author of...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Mike Maden. Mike grew up working in the canneries, feed mills and slaughterhouses of California's San Joaquin Valley. A lifelong fascination with history and warfare ultimately led to a Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of California at Davis with a focus on conflict and technology in international relations. Like milli...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing R.H. Herron. Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including thriller (under R.H. Herron), mainstream fiction, feminist romance, memoir, and nonfiction. She received her MFA in writing from Mills College, Oakland, and she teaches writing extension workshops at both UC Berkeley and Stan...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Syed M. Masood. Syed M. Masood grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, and now lives with his wife and children in Sacramento, California, where he is a practicing attorney. He wrote a few couplets in Urdu when he was a teenager, and his family still tells everyone he is an Urdu poet. He is not. More Than Just a Pretty Face is his young adult...