Winnie M Li is an American author and activist who has written for travel guidebooks, produced independent feature films, programmed for film festivals, and developed eco-tourism projects. Her first novel Dark Chapter was nominated for an Edgar Award and translated into ten languages, followed by the critically acclaimed Complicit. A survivor and advocate against gendered violence, she is an assistant professor of creative wriiting at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Her new novel is What We Left Unsaid, just out from Simon & Schuster. Listen in as she and I discuss what are we asking a writer to do when we ask her to write into a trauma, and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars, instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.
-------- Â
25:26
--------
25:26
Ep. 153 Kyle Austin Young
Writer and author Kyle Austin Young has a debut book that is for anyone who has ever dreamed of having a side-hustle, starting a business or following a dream. The book, Success is a Numbers Game: Achieve Bigger Goals by Changing the Odds, is just out from Hay House Business. Clear, practical, fun and a terrific read, this book will show you how to make your idea happen. The book includes a simple test for knowing which of our biggest goals to prioritize and which to quit immediately. Kyle Austin Young has written for the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, The Boston Globe, CNBC, Psychology Today, Forbes, and Business Insider. Among his many roles for many teams, Kyle is the Operations Manager here at The Memoir Project. His core principles have shaped everything we do. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars, instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.
-------- Â
35:32
--------
35:32
Ep. 152 Jon Kinally
Jon Kinally is a long-time writer for television who, along with his writing partner, Tracy Poust, has written for such TV shows as Will & Grace, Ugly Betty, 2 Broke Girls as well as many others. Over the years, they have received several Emmy nominations as well as a Writer’s Guild Award for Outstanding Writing in Episodic Comedy. Jon Kinnally has now turned his eye to memoir, and has just published his debut book, I’m, Prancing As Fast As I Can: My Journey From a Self-Loathing Closet Case to a Successful TV Writer With Some Self-Esteem just out from Permuted Press. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars, instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.
-------- Â
29:33
--------
29:33
Ep. 151 Khadijah VanBrakle
Khadijah VanBrackle's debut novel, Fatima Takes the Cake, brings us to the intersection of culture, gender and religion and throws in some baking, which is a very fun addition. Her new novel, My Perfect Family, gives us an intergenerational narrative that covers the complex relationships mothers and daughter and explores what it means to be a Black Muslin woman in America. As a Black Muslim woman in America and as the mother of five, she is a living example of the adage to write what you know. That debut novel was a 2024 NAACP Image Award finalist for Outstanding Youth/Teens literature, a School Library journal’s Teen Librarian Toolbox Favorite Young Adult Read of 2023 and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. In 2021, she was selected for the Highlights Foundation Muslim Storytellers Fellowship. Her new novel pormises to be award-winning, as well. Listen in as she and I discuss her themes of being a Black Muslim in America, that ever-popular topic of family secrets as well what it means to be a young person forging one’s own path. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars, instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.
-------- Â
28:27
--------
28:27
Ep. 150 J.E. Thomas
The author and writer J. E. Thomas is an award-winning freelance journalist, whose first bok, Control Freaks, was a People Magazine Summer Must-Read as a Best of the Best pick by the Black caucus of the American Library Association. Her new book is The AI Incident, just out from Levine Quierido, and distributed by Chronicle Books. Listen in as she and I discuss how to create a surprise opening to a book, how to write into what's coming next, as well as how to write into the difficult territory of foster care in America. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars, instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.
About QWERTY: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life
Welcome to Qwerty, the podcast for writers on how to live the writing life. Host Marion Roach Smith interviews the best writers in all genres to discover their process. Qwerty is by, about and for writers and explores the real challenges of writing and the steps anyone can take to become a better storyteller. Listen in for writing tips, publishing advice and encouragement on how to live the writing life.
Listen to QWERTY: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life, 99% Invisible and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
Ireland