DIY MFA Radio

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Robert Dugoni. Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times , #1 Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon Internationally Best-Selling Author of 17 novels in The Tracy Crosswhite police detective series set in Seattle, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and the Charles Jenkins espionage series. He is also the author of seve...

Hey there word nerds!  Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Samuel Shem, a novelist, playwright, and activist. He is a Professor in Medical Humanities at NYU School of Medicine, and Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. His novels include The House of God , Fine , Mount Misery , In the Heart of the Universe , and The Spirit of the Place (which won two national "Best Literary Novel...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Constance Sayers talking about her debut novel, A Witch in Time , which is forthcoming in February. A finalist for Alternating Current's 2016 Luminaire Award for Best Prose, her short stories have appeared in Souvenir and Amazing Graces: Yet Another Collection of Fiction by Washington Area Women as well as The Sky is a Free Country....

Hey there word nerds!  Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Janae Marks! Janae is an award-winning children's book author living in Connecticut. She has an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School, and is an active member of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Her debut is the middle grade novel, ...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Kiley Reid! An Arizona native, Kiley Reid is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Truman Capote Fellowship. Her short stories have been featured and are forthcoming in Ploughshares, December, New South, and Lumina. With the latter publication, her short story won first place in the 2017...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Marie Force. Marie is the New York Times , USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than seventy contemporary romances, including the Fatal Series. Thirty of her books have been New York Times bestsellers, and she has sold more than nine million books worldwide. Today we'll be discussing book #15 in the Fatal seri...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Morgan. A USA Today bestselling author Sarah writes lively, sexy contemporary stories for Harlequin. Romantic Times has described her as "a magician with words" and nominated her books for their Reviewer's Choice Awards and their "Top Pick" slot. In 2012 Sarah received the prestigious RITA® Award from the Romance Writers of Ame...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan. Virginia Loh-Hagan is an educator and author. She is the 2016 recipient of California Reading Association's Marcus Foster Memorial Award for outstanding achievement in reading. Currently, she is directing the Liberal Studies program at San Diego State University. She has a B.A. in English and a Masters in Elem...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Carolyn Crimi and Corinna Luyken, the author and illustrator behind the buzz-worthy middle grade novel Weird Little Robots . Carolyn Crimi is the author of several books for children, including Where's My Mummy? , Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies , Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates , and There Might Be Lobsters . Weird Little Robot...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sam Hooker and Seven Jane.  Sam Hooker writes darkly humorous fantasy novels about things like tyrannical despots and the masked scoundrels who tickle them without mercy. He knows all the best swear words, though he refuses to repeat them because he doesn't want to attract goblins.  Seven Jane is an author of dark fantasy and specula...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Kristyn Merbeth. Kristyn is an author who's obsessed with SFF, food, video games, and her dog. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, and her book Fortuna launches a new space opera trilogy that will hook you from the first crash landing. In this episode Kristyn and I discuss: How a NASA discovery and a TV show inspired the world and story of...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam, author and illustrator of the I Need My Monster picture book series. Amanda Noll was born and raised in Canberra, Australia and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. After marrying her college sweetheart, she began working in the purchasing division of a private university (which is ironic,...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing my friend and fellow New Yorker, Amanda Slavin. Amanda is the founder and CEO of the award-winning brand consulting firm CatalystCreativ, the author of The Seventh Level book, and the creator of the Seventh Level Engagement Framework. She uses this framework to guide brands like Coca-Cola, Google, and HubSpot to connect more meaningf...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Megan McDonald, the author behind the popular Judy Moody series. Megan grew up the youngest of five sisters, so knows a thing or two about speaking up for herself. Before she became a writer, she worked in museums, libraries, and bookstores; she has also made a living as a storyteller and a park ranger. In addition to the best-sellin...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Brenda Jackson. Brenda Jackson is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of over 100 novels and novellas, including two that have been turned into films— One Special Moment and Truly Everlasting . Brenda is a recipient of the Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award and an NAACP Image Award nominee for Out...

Hey there word nerds!  Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Nicole Valentine. Nicole Valentine earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches the Brain Trust Workshop at the Highlights Foundation in Honesdale, PA. Before shifting to writing, she used to work at CNN.com in NYC where she helped build the first web publishing tool for a...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Kristan Higgins. Kristan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly twenty novels, which have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Her books have received many awards and accolades, and she is a six-time nominee for The Kirkus Prize for best work of ficti...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Rob Hart about his latest book The Warehouse. When I heard Rob's editor talk about this book at the BookExpo Editors' Buzz Panel, I knew I had to have Rob on the show. Now, if you guys don't know about Book Expo, it's a big literary trade show that happens every May in New York City. They have these panels where they feature a select...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Aaron Becker. Born in Baltimore, Aaron moved to California to attend Pomona College where he scored his first illustration job designing t-shirts for his water polo team. Since then, he's traveled around the world, from Kenya to Japan, Sweden to Tahiti, looking for good things to eat and feeding his imagination. He now lives with his...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Archer Mayor. Archer is the author of the highly acclaimed Vermont-based series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as "the best police procedurals being written in America." He has won the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction — which is the first time a crime fiction...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing RJ Barker. Now, according to the bio that either he or his publicist submitted when we set up this interview, RJ Barker is a softly-spoken Yorkshireman with flowing locks. He lives in the frozen north with his wife and son, and divides his time between writing and looking after his son. According to the about page on his blog, RJ Bar...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing NoNieqa Ramos. Now if you're a die-hard word nerd and fan of the show, you probably remember NoNieqa from her previous interview with us (Episode 202). I had such a blast talking with her that when I heard she had a new book coming out, I knew I had to have her back on the show. I mean, how often do I get to geek out about the litera...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Cadwell Turnbull. His novel, The Lesson is a work of speculative fiction is about what happens when a spaceship arrives at the US Virgin Islands with a race of super-advanced aliens on a research mission on board. This story grapples with the tensions between these newcomers and the local Virgin Islanders and explores various themes,...

Hey there word nerds! Today, we're doing another one of our live-from-a-conference interviews, this time from RWA annual conference, which is the big event that the Romance Writers of America put on each year. I had the pleasure of speaking at this event a few years ago in San Diego, and this year because it's back in New York, I'm delighted to be attending it once again. For this episode, I have...

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Todd Herman, who I am honored to count as one of my mentors. I first met Todd about five years ago, when he gave a talk at an entrepreneurship event, and right away I could tell that he was speaking my language. You see, Todd is a performance coach who specializes in the mental game. He works with ambitious entrepreneurs, athletes, a...