The National Writers Series Podcast
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Erin French and "Big Heart Little Stove: Bringing Home Meals & Moments From the Lost Kitchen"
10 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Erin French joined the National Writers Series at the City Opera House on November 8, 2023 with guest host Cara McDonald. Erin French is the owner and...
Heather Cox Richardson and "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America"
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Heather Cox Richardson joined the National Writers Series at Lars Hockstad Auditorium on October 17, 2023 with guest host Neal Rubin. Heather Cox Rich...
V.E. Schwab and "The Fragile Threads of Power"
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The National Writers Series was pleased to welcome V.E. Schwab to Lars Hockstad Auditorium on October 7, 2023 with guest host Beth Milligan. VICTORIA ...
Ken Follett and "The Armor of Light"
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Follett joined the National Writers Series at the Alluvion on October 1st, 2023 with guest host Pat Livingston. Ken Follett is one of the world’...
Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, "American Gun: the True Story of the AR-15"
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson joined the National Writers Series onstage at the City Opera House on September 19, 2023 with guest host Benjamin ...
Ed Yong and "An Immense World"
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The National Writers series was thrilled to host award-winning science writer Ed Yong at the City Opera House on September 12, 2023 with guest host Ed...
Jack Driscoll and "Twenty Stories"
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The National Writers Series was honored to host Jack Driscoll at the Alluvion on August 27, 2023 with guest host Brittany Cavallaro. Jack Driscoll is...
Ann Patchett and "Tom Lake"
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ann Patchett joined the National Writers Series onstage at the City Opera House on August 12, 2023 with guest host Erin Anderson Whiting. Ann Patchett...
Chasten Buttigieg and "I Have Something to Tell You (YA)"
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Readers of all ages will love this Young Adult adaptation of the moving, hopeful, and refreshingly candid memoir by Chasten Buttigieg about growing up...
Bonnie Garmus and "Lessons in Chemistry"
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meet Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry, whose debut book immediately hit the New York Times Bestselling list. Lessons in Chemistry follows...
Jeannette Walls Discusses "Hang the Moon"
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meet Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, her unforgettable childhood memoir that sold more than 5 million c...
Ross Gay Discusses His New Book of Essays, "Inciting Joy"
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The National Writers Series is pleased to partner with Interlochen Center for the Arts for An Evening with Ross Gay. NWS will livestream the event fro...
Dan Egan, author of “The Devil’s Element, Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance”
31 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On March 10, New York Times Bestselling Author Dan Egan visited the City Opera House in Traverse City. He presented his new book, “The Devil’s Ele...
Alvin Hall's "Driving the Green Book"
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With "DRIVING THE GREEN BOOK: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance" join award-winning broadcaster Alvin Hall on a jou...
Nina Totenberg, author of "Dinners with Ruth"
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrated NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg delivers an extraordinary memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and life-affirming relationships, i...
Keith Gave and Tim Rappleye, authors of "A Miracle of Their Own"
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sports journalists Keith Gave and Tim Rappleye teamed up to write A Miracle of Their Own: A Team, A Stunning Gold Medal and Newfound Dreams for A...
Anna Quindlen, Author of "Write for Your Life"
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On December 13th, the National Writers Series welcomed Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Anna Quindlen to help answer some very important qu...
Author Alice Wong's book "Year of the Tiger"
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alice Wong's book, Year of the Tiger, highlights her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer. She w...
Margo Price, Author of "Maybe We'll Make It" (2022)
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On October 20th, 2022, Grammy-nominated musician, singer, songwriter, performer, Live Aid board member and author Margo Price joined the National Writ...
Jerry Dennis ("The Living Great Lakes"), Dave Dempsey ("Great Lakes for Sale") and Senator Debbie Stabenow (August 2022)
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On August 25th, 2022, two of Michigan’s greatest environmental authors—Dave Dempsey and Jerry Dennis—joined us on the NWS stage to talk about pr...
Anthony Doerr, Author of "Cloud Cuckoo Land" and "All the Light We Cannot See" (2021)
26 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most popular videos on our YouTube channel over the past year is our conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony Doerr, guest h...
Janet Evanovich, Author of "Wicked Business" and the Stephanie Plum Series (2012)
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Do you remember where you were almost exactly a decade ago? If you were in the audience for our evening with #1 NYT Bestselling author Janet Evanovich...
Michael Schur, Author of "How to Be Perfect" (2022)
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This winter, we were joined by Michael Schur—the creator of TV's "The Good Place" and the co-creator of "Parks and Recreation" among other projects—...
Emily Henry, Author of "People We Meet On Vacation" and "Beach Read" (2021)
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today is the first day of summer, so we thought we'd bring you one of the summer-y-est NWS events we've ever hosted! Author Emily Henry joined the Nat...
Paul Holes, Author of "Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases" (2022)
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In May 2022, retired cold-case investigator and true-crime icon Paul Holes joined the National Writers Series for a conversation about his new memoir ...
George Saunders, Author of "A Swim in a Pond in the Rain" and "Lincoln in the Bardo" (2022)
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Critically acclaimed author George Saunders joined the National Writers Series for a conversation about his book "A Swim in a Pond in the Rain" with f...
Brad Meltzer, Author of "The Lightning Rod" (2022)
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As part of the Winter/Spring 2022 Season, bestselling author Brad Meltzer joined the National Writers Series in early April (which explains the mentio...
Temple Grandin, Author of "Emergence: Labeled Autistic" and "The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum" (2013)
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since April is National Autism Awareness Month, we thought we'd look back on our 2013 conversation with bestselling author, autism advocate, and...
Brad Thor, Author of "Near Dark," "Spymaster," "The Last Patriot" And More (2020)
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week the NWS welcomes bestselling suspense/thriller novelist Brad Meltzer to the NWS stage!. In advance of that, we thought we'd take a look back...
Eric Fair, Author of "Consequence: A Memoir" (2017)
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Northern Express published a list of 2022's Fascinating People: Northerners You Need to Know. On that list was United States Marine Corps M...
Sarah Chayes, Author of "Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security" (2015)
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With Eastern Europe looking at another conflict region opening up between Russia and Ukraine, we're looking back to a conversation with a person who's...
Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, Co-Author of "When Breath Becomes Air" (2016)
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This Friday (Feb. 4), we're talking about morals, ethics, and philosophy with Michael Schur, so we thought for this week's podcast we'd look back to a...
Michael Paterniti, Author of "The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese" (2013)
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2013, Michael Paterniti joined the NWS on the stage of the Traverse City Opera House for a conversation with NWS co-founder Doug Stanton. According...
Karin Slaughter, author of "Blindsighted," "Unseen" and "Cop Town" (2014)
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This NWS Podcast episode celebrates the birthday week of critically-acclaimed master of suspense Karin Slaughter. Slaughter’s first novel Blin...
Debbie Macomber (2015)
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For our last episode of the year, we wanted to bring you our conversation with author Debbie Macomber from 2015. Her work includes fiction, nonfiction...
Peter and Elmore Leonard (2009)
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's been quite a while since this audio featuring Peter and Elmore Leonard has been publicly available and easily accessible, so let's look all the w...
Beth Macy, Author of "Dopesick" (2018)
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you are a Hulu subscriber, you've undoubtedly seen promos for their new series Dopesick starring Michael Keaton. That show premiered a couple of we...
Ben Sidran, author of "There Was a Fire: Jews, Music and the American Dream" (2015)
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What do Steve Miller, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and Diana Ross have in common? They all worked with legendary musician Ben Sidran. Sidran sat down w...
Vince Gilligan, "Breaking Bad" (2012)
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On September 29th, 2013, the final episode of TV's legendary series "Breaking Bad" aired on AMC. We thought we'd take this opportunity to look back on...
AJ Baime and Bryce Hoffman (2014)
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fall is a great time for a road trip (Tunnel of Trees, anyone?) and since A.J. Baime and Bryce Hoffman joined the NWS around this time in September 20...
Tess Gerritsen, Author of "The Surgeon" featuring Rizzoli & Isles (2015)
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
September 1st is the publish date of "The Surgeon" in 2001. It's perhaps better known as the very first novel featuring detective Jane Rizzoli and med...
Maggie Stiefvater, Author of "Shiver" and "Raven Boys" (2012)
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Since we have a superstar Young Adult author scheduled to join the NWS in the Fall 2021 Season (Friends of the NWS know who we're talking about!), we ...
Martha Teichner, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent and author of "When Harry Met Minnie" (2021)
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've been spending a lot of time outside over the past few weeks and months, some of it wandering the Teichner Preserve on Lime Lake. We thought that...
Benjamin Busch, author of "Dust to Dust" (2012)
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Busch is probably best known for his acting career: He played the character of officer Tony Colicchio in the HBO series “The Wire” and ha...
Colum McCann, author of “Let the Great World Spin” (2013)
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Colum McCann’s stunning novel, “Let the Great World Spin” (winner of the National Book Award for fiction) debuted right around this time of year...
Emily Giffin, author of "Something Borrowed" and "The One and Only" (2014)
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With Emily Henry joining the NWS on June 24, we thought we'd take this week's podcast episode back to 2014 to hear from another Emily whose work trave...
Sara Paretsky, creator of V.I. Warshawski (2013)
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Before there was Lisbeth Salander or Stephanie Plum, there was V.I. Warshawski. Today we celebrate the birthday of author Sara Paretsky, who joined th...
Sebastian Junger, Author of "The Perfect Storm" (2011)
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're celebrating a double anniversary this week! Not only did author, journalist, and filmmaker Sebastian Junger join the National Writers Series for...
Nathaniel Philbrick, Author of "Mayflower" (2013)
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For this week's podcast, we celebrate the release of Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower - a book nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and released right arou...
Jason Matthews, Author of "Red Sparrow" (2013)
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week's podcast episode is a little different from our other entries. Sadly, former NWS guest author Jason Matthews passed away last week at age 6...
Gillian Flynn, Author of "Gone Girl" (2013)
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week's episode sees us looking back to April 2013 when we welcomed bestselling author Gillian Flynn to the NWS Stage. Flynn joined us for a discu...
"Living Legend" Nikki Giovanni, author of "Chasing Utopia" (2013)
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
April is National Poetry Month, and we're celebrating with this week’s episode featuring one of America’s most celebrated modern poets: Nikki Giov...
Diane Rehm, NPR Host and author of "When My Time Comes" (2021)
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most beloved NPR hosts of all time, Diane Rehm, joined the National Writers Series in February 2021 to discuss her book, When My Time Comes...
Mitch Albom, author of "Have a Little Faith" and "Tuesdays With Morrie" (2011)
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For this week's podcast, we're looking back to one of our first National Writers Series conversations ever, featuring author and Detroit Free Press co...