The Story Talks Back

TSTB pays a return visit to the remarkable Dani Shapiro -- author of eleven books, as well as host and creator of the hit podcast Family Secrets. Her most recent novel, Signal Fires, was named a best book of 2022 by Time Magazine, Washington Post, Amazon, and others, and is a national bestseller. The paperback edition of Signal Fires will publish in October, and Dani is currently working on a tele...

Over 20-plus years, Dani Shapiro made a name for herself as a best-selling author of deeply revealing and unforgettable memoirs -- including "Slow Motion," "Hourglass," "Devotion," and "Inheritance." But in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Shapiro discovered a forgotten manuscript for an unfinished novel in her office closet -- and her return to fiction, which had been her career focus early on...

In her early twenties, Yaffa Lerea found her calling, working at the heart of storytelling as a film and television editor. Starting her career at a post-production facility by day while taking a night course in film production at New York University, Lerea discovered her passion for editing. Since then she has been an editor on numerous films and TV series, including Ken Burns’ award-winning “Bas...

In a career of over 30 years, Yaffa Lerea has truly honed her craft as a story shaper through film editing. From her work on early episodes of MTV's "The Real World" to her efforts on Ken Burns' seminal "Baseball" documentaries, Lerea has become a sought-after video storyteller in her own right. But how did she get her start? It was all about being in the right place at the right time -- namely, a...

TSTB shares its full interview with acclaimed science writer, editor, and film producer Timothy Ferris. In this wide-ranging discussion, Ferris reflects on his early career with Rolling Stone magazine, his transition to science writing, his friendship with Stephen Hawking -- including his role in developing the physicist's classic "A Brief History of Time" -- his collaboration with Carl Sagan on t...

A founding writer and editor at Rolling Stone magazine, Timothy Ferris profiled rockers like Todd Rundgren and Sly Stone before finding his own groove in the world of science. Over the past 40 years, Ferris has written best sellers like "Coming of Age in the Milky Way" and "The Whole Shebang" and produced three groundbreaking PBS documentaries, including "The Creation of the Universe." He also was...

Born in London, Gered Mankowitz established his first photography studio in 1963, at age 17, as the British rock and blues movements were about to explode. He started working with the Rolling Stones soon after, touring the US with the then-fledgling band and producing several of their early album covers. Mankowitz quickly became a sought-after rock lensman, capturing timeless images of major stars...

In the 1960s and '70s, British photographer Gered Mankowitz worked with some of rock's greatest stars at the peak of their creative powers. In the mid-1960s, he served as the Rolling Stones' "official" photographer, and he took now-classic shots of Jimi Hendrix, Kate Bush, Free, Traffic, The Yardbirds, The Small Faces, and dozens of other artists. In this excerpt from our forthcoming full intervie...

TSTB shares an insightful and candid discussion with Garrett Hongo -- celebrated poet, memoirist, and audio writer. Born in Volcano, Hawai’i, Hongo grew up in Kahuku and in Los Angeles. His poetry collections are Yellow Light, The River of Heaven – which received the Lamont Poetry Prize and was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize – and Coral Road.  His most recent book is 2022’s The Perfect Sound: A...

A Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Guggenheim fellow, Garrett Hongo is one of the country's most respected writers of Asian descent, gifted at both verse and memoir. And, as an educator and scholar since the 1970s, he has witnessed both sides of the diversity movement and cultural awakening -- with Asian American authors gaining new visibility, but also facing resentment and outright prejudice....

In the 1970s, John Gardner was a star in the world of literary fiction, often mentioned in the same breath as Norman Mailer, John Updike, and Kurt Vonnegut. He won huge acclaim for his 1971 novel, Grendel, a post-modern retelling of the Beowulf legend. And in 1976, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for October Light, the story of two elderly Vermont siblings waging a war of wills insid...

At the age of 22, Glenn Gould burst onto the global music scene – an instant star, thanks to his virtuoso recording of a then-obscure Bach work, “The Goldberg Variations.” And from the beginning, Gould was not just a musician, but a character who might have stepped from the pages of a novel – cheerfully eccentric, an admitted hypochondriac who wore scarves in the summertime, and a loner who prefer...

Marking the 90th birthday of the late, great Canadian pianist and media artist Glenn Gould, we offer this preview of our forthcoming interview with Tim Page -- a journalist and radio host who became Glenn's close friend. Shortly before Gould's death at age 50, Page traveled north to take part in a discussion with him -- occasioned by the pianist's now classic 2nd version of Bach's "Goldberg Variat...

On September 14, 1982, the celebrated novelist and critic John Gardner died in a still-mysterious motorcycle crash on a remote Pennsylvania road. In the 11 years leading up to that moment, Gardner had seen his fame skyrocket — with the publication of his masterful short novel "Grendel" — and then decline again almost as rapidly. He had become a legendary teacher of creative writing, authoring two...

In this first interview of our third year, TSTB pays a return visit to the person who kicked things off for us in 2020 -- award-winning author Dean Sluyter. A grateful student of Eastern and Western sages in several traditions, Sluyter has completed numerous pilgrimages and retreats in India, Tibet, Nepal, and the West. He has also taught meditation since 1970, from maximum security prisons to the...

In our first interview of TSTB's third year, we return to the writer who got us started -- the wonderfully engaging author, meditation teacher, and dharma storyteller Dean Sluyter. In his latest book, "The Dharma Bum's Guide to Western Literature," Sluyter draws on over four decades of teaching -- and even more years of dharma studies -- to surface enlightenment lessons in everything from "Huckleb...

In this session, TSTB talks to legendary psychiatrist Dr. Bertrand Cramer. Born in 1934 in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Cramer moved to New York City at age 26 and graduated from the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. A pioneer in child and infant psychiatry, Dr. Cramer has maintained a private practice for the past 27 years. He has authored eight books, including "The Earliest Relationship" — co-writ...

Now 88 years old, Dr. Bertrand Cramer is one of the world's most respected child and adolescent psychiatrists. With his book "The Scripts Parents Write and the Roles Children Play," Dr. Cramer delivered breakthrough insights on the power of family stories to influence childhood development. He also collaborated with best-selling author and fellow psychiatrist T. Berry Brazelton on the now-classic...

TSTB talks to artist filmmaker Toby Amies. Based on the South Coast of England, Amies makes long and short films about the creative process in what he calls “a vain attempt to compensate for his inability to come to terms with time and its passage.” He is the director of the award-winning 2012 documentary “The Man Whose Mind Exploded,” and the widely praised 2022 film “in the Court of the Crimson...

Toby Amies' "In the Court of the Crimson King" is already being celebrated as a classic among rock music documentaries -- and it hasn't even been officially released. Amies spent months following legendary guitarist Robert Fripp and his latest incarnation of the extraordinary music collective known as King Crimson -- now more than five decades old. The film is a singularly personal and truly engro...

TSTB interviews Dr. Judith Ruskay Rabinor --- clinical psychologist, author, speaker, and writing coach. She is supervisor at The Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia and a consultant to The Renfrew Center Foundation. Dr. Rabinor is the author of "The Girl in the Red Boots: Making Peace with My Mother" … "A Starving Madness: Tales of Hunger, Hope and Healing" … and "Befriending Your Ex Aft...

Dr. Judith Rabinor is the author, most recently, of the powerful memoir "The Girl in the Red Boots: Making Peace with My Mother." As a psychotherapist practicing in New York City, Dr. Rabinor has made mother/daughter relationships one of her specialties -- but she still faced big challenges in coming to terms with the complex legacy of her own Mom. In this timely excerpt from our forthcoming full...

TSTB interviews Bianca Stone -- gifted poet, visual artist, creator of 'poetry comics, and educator. Her brand-new verse collection, What Is Otherwise Infinite, has been featured on NPR and in The New York Times and has been called "extraordinary" by The Washington Post. Stone is also the author of The Mobius Strip Club of Grief (2018) and Someone Else's Wedding Vows (2014), as well as A Little Ca...

Bianca Stone is a gifted poet, visual artist, and creator of 'poetry comics who affirms and celebrates life even as she acknowledges its dark, desperate moments. Her brand-new verse collection, What Is Otherwise Infinite, has been featured on NPR and hailed as "extraordinary" by The Washington Post. She is also the author of The Mobius Strip Club of Grief (2018) and Someone Else's Wedding Vows (20...

TSTB interviews the legendary Jack Rabid -- music writer and critic extraordinaire. Hailed as the “godfather of punk rock journalism,” Rabid is the founder, editor, and publisher of New York music magazine The Big Takeover, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020. His writing has appeared in Interview, the Village Voice, Creem, Spin, Paper, Trouser Press Record Guide, and Musichound, and he...