Write Now Podcast at the Writers' Colony

A native Arkansan, Clay Turner earned a B.A. in political science with a minor in Spanish at Arkansas State University as well as a Master’s at the University of Arkansas. After studying abroad in Spain, Clay realized he wanted to write a book that captured the contrast of the gay experience between the American South and Europe. He attended the New York Write to Pitch Conference in 2024 and Thril...

Keith Kahn-Harris is a London writer and sociologist, widely published in both academic and non-academic circles. Author and co-author of eight books, Harris's work is featured in scholarly articles, essays, videos, and podcasts (see kahn-harris.org). In this podcast, Keith discusses what prompted him to write about British metal icon Ozzy Osbourne and why traditional publisher Harper North p...

River Valley Literary Society's President Kelly Schluterman discusses the underlying motivation in writing her second novel, Soul and Spirit,  as well as her ongoing work with Ft. Smith's creative writers through RVLS.

WCDH interviews Commissioner Brandon Chase Goldsmith, PhD. about his abridgement of his stage play THE WESTERN DISTRICT: 14 MONTHS AND 20 DAYS THAT DEFINED FORT SMITH’S FUTURE. Goldsmith is a writer, producer and co-director for The Western District feature length documentary, play, book, and various other films. He is CEO of BCG Creative Solutions where he designs social media videos and televisi...

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, the 2009-2013 Kansas Poet Laureate, is a writer, teacher, facilitator, coach, and consultant who explores how the spoken, written, and sung word can help us live more vibrant lives. For over thirty years she has facilitated community writing workshops for many writers and special populations, including people living with serious illness. She also offers online classes priva...

Esmé Weijun Wang, a New York Times-bestselling and award-winning author of The Collected Schizophrenias and The Border of Paradise, shares her personal journey after being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and several physical conditions like fibromyalgia. Her innovative approaches to sustain her own writing inspired her to create The Unexpected Shape Writing Academy, a program specifically...

Lyndsey Ellis is a writer, editor, and teaching artist who crafts speculative fiction and longform essays that explore regional history as well as intergenerational dynamics in the Midwest. She is author of Bone Broth , a story about Justine Holmes—widow, former activist, and funeral thief, who is mourning her husband's death during the aftermath of the Ferguson unrest in St. Louis, Missouri....

Lisa Braxton shares poignant moments behind writing her memoir, Dancing Between the Raindrops . She is author of The Talking Drum (set in 1971 Massachusetts), a novel that explores the profound impact gentrification has on community and cross-cultural tensions, as well as the modern immigrant experience. The Talking Drum was awarded a gold medal in the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards, the o...

Celebrating Writers' Colony's 25th year at the 2025 Gala and fundraiser with Authors' Row, hosted by the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Retired Navy Officer David Newcomer goes behind the scenes of his debut memoir, MAIL CALL, a remembrance of his father's war experiences and the domestic front during the Pacific Theater during WWII.

Creative nonfiction writer and storyteller Phyllis Unterschuetz discusses co-authoring Longing: Stories of Racial Healing, a collection of true narratives about the journey of awakening to the effects of racism, as well as the challenges behind her second book, a memoir about finding the courage to tell her abortion story. Phyllis was recently awarded the “Telling True Stories” Fellowship from the...

Dr. Cathie English, Professor of English at Missouri State University and formerly an English and language arts high school teacher, shares the inspiration and meaning behind penning her tribute memoir, Dear Ruth: A Book of Grief. Dr. English's academic work has been published in Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies , English Journal , The Rural Educator , The Journal of Litera...

WCDH interviews Tiffany Mi on site during her residency about her poetry as well as her interest in collective memory and the archive. Tiffany is currently completing her Masters at Brown University. Her work has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Nimrod, Pithead Chapel, and elsewhere. At Writers' Colony, Tiffany worked on her debut collection of lyric essays that explore memory, language, and inh...

A ’Ja Lyons—writer, historian, poet, actress, and currently a Creative Nonfiction PhD student at Oklahoma State University—discusses her second book (to be taken from her dissertation), working title “House: A Memoir of a Home Built by Fragments.” "House" is a personal narrative about surviving incest and childhood sexual abuse that also includes the history of slave plantation homes as...

Tulsa journalist and essayist Liz Blood talks about working as a writer’s assistant to director Sterlin Harjo's “Reservation Dogs,” as well as her first TV credit for co-writing the season finale of a new FX Network's series coming out this fall, "The Lowdown." Liz recently completed the "My Time" writer’s residency at Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow, where she worked...