Michael Oberman has interviewed over 300 musical greats, including Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and Joni Mitchell, and now Liz interviews Oberman for KFAI! Rock magic and madness ensue.
After the break, Dave is joined by Patricia Hoolihan to discuss her new work, Hands and Hearts Together: Daily Meditations for Caregivers. The realities of caregiving and the profundity of hope and encouragement illuminate the conversation.
In the first half of the hour, Annie interviews author, former MN state representative, and mental illness advocate Mindy Greiling about her nonfiction book Fix What You Can. Greiling’s work is based largely on her experience with her son’s schizoaffective disorder, and the conversation includes the collaborative writing process with him, as well as her work as a lawmaker and National Alliance on Mental Illness board member striving to decriminalize mental illness in Minnesota and build better lives for those living with a mental illness.
In the second half of the hour, Josh and Ian whip out good ol’ James Joyce for a celebration of Twelfth Night, including a reading!
First, Dave talks to Cynthia Miller-Idriss about polarization and extremism in the American Right, the topic of both her latest book Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right and her research as a sociologist at American University in Washington DC.
After the break, Annie connects with fellow Duluthian Margi Preus over her Enchantment Lake children’s novels, writing Minnesota as the nuanced experience it is, a healthy love of the outdoors and environment, and character work for kids’ books.
What do 90.3 KFAI and the Jason Bourne thrillers have in common? Minnesota, now that NYT-Bestselling suspense author (and Minnesotan) Brian Freeman is the official successor to Robert Ludlum in penning the Bourne saga. Longtime KFAI host Ian Graham Leask catches up with Freeman live on air, and the pair discuss keeping the Bourne saga going with a spectrum of *thrilling* projects, the trajectory of Freeman’s career, connecting widely with readers over COVID-era virtual events, and more.
In the second half of the hour, Annie and Liz take a guest’s no-show as a serendipitous opportunity to catch up about their creative endeavors, including Liz’s soon-to-launch Broadway history podcast and the beginning of musicals about social issues, Annie’s renewed proliferation of book review drafts (and refusal to write a slam review), how a WO!R show gets made, reading unpublished memoirs, and the value of creating a consistent personal writing schedule.
First, Dave Fettig and Adrian S Potter discuss Potter’s new poetry collection, Everything Wrong Feels Right, plus setting in writing, Potter’s scientific background, his writing process, and more.
Next, Annie Harvieux and Tiffany McDaniel use McDaniel’s latest novel, Betty, as a means to look at telling family stories through creative writing, the challenges of bringing true stories of child abuse to light, and how Cherokee versus white Christian traditions of gender dynamics play out in the novel’s multiracial family.
First, Josh is joined by Michael Amram, and they get political while discussing Amram’s new book Vote for America, covering the United States electoral system, its history, its flaws, and the overall limits of American democracy.
In the second half of the hour, Annie and Carolyn Holbrook dive into what makes a teacher that will inspire the next generation, anti-Blackness and class shaming in America, cultivating a creative practice in the face of serious depression, and combining creativity with community.
Dave Fettig talks with Lara Mimosa Montes, author of THRESHOLES, a poetry collection from Coffee House Press. She is a writer based in Minneapolis and New York. Her poems have appeared in many magazines and journals, and she is a 2018 McKnight Writing Fellow and CantoMundo Fellow. She holds a PhD in English from The Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Dave also speaks with Reid Forgrave, author of Love, Zac: Small-Town Football and the Life and Death of an American Boy. Forgrave lives in Minneapolis and writes for the Star Tribune, as well as GQ, The New York Times, and Mother Jones, among other publications. The article in which he first wrote about Zac Easter is included in Best American Sports Writing 2018.
On tonight’s show, Josh interviews Harold Holzer about his latest work of nonfiction, Presidents vs. the Press.
In the second half, Annie talks to Vanessa Veselka about her new novel, The Great Offshore Grounds, and its treatment of income and healthcare inequality issues.
