The new National Geographic Kids book, Angry Birds Playground Animals: An Around-the-World Habitat Adventure is visually stunning, packed with fascinating facts, and would make a great educational and entertaining gift for young children. Becky Baines edited the book and Iowan Jill Esbaum wrote the text. Tune in to kruufm.com Friday, Dec. 7 at 1 PM CST or Monday, Dec. 10 at 8 AM CST to hear Becky explain the collaborative, creative process involved in producing high quality nonfiction for children.

Michelle Edwards and Room for the Baby

Michelle Edwards will talk about juggling writing projects on KRUU Friday, November 30th at 1 PM and Monday, Dec. 3 at 8 AM. Listen via live streaming here. Then visit Rosie Witherspoon’s At Home Store on the Fairfield, Iowa town square during the Art Walk on Friday, Dec. 7th for Michelle’s book signing. She’ll read from her two new books, Room for the Baby and A Knitter’s Home Companion, against a backdrop of Rosie’s gorgeous yarns and colorful, carefully selected toys. (Read about Michelle’s book of gem-like essays, knitting patterns, and recipes in my earlier post here.)

Susie Hathaway, Safe Strength Training for Osteoporosis Prevention

Susie Hathaway helps women over 50 stay active and strong. Certified as a personal trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine, she’s an active volunteer for the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Her newsletter and exercise-advice blog provide tips on how to stay healthy, strong, and independent during the second half of your life. Susie recently wrote, produced, and released a home-exercise DVD called Susie Hathaway’s Safe Strength Training for Osteoporosis Prevention.

This Thanksgiving season, I have many reasons to be thankful. For example, as producer and host of “Writers Voices” on KRUU 100.1 FM, I chat with fascinating people, like Iowa City author Michelle Edwards. Here’s an excerpt from her book, A Knitter’s Home Companion: “Loops, wrote Elizabeth Zimmermann. Knitting is about loops. Loops to the end of time. Making them, I have knit myself a life.”

Hear Michelle discuss knitting, writing, and life Friday, Nov. 30th at 1 PM CST or Monday, Dec. 3rd at 8 AM CST via live stream on kruufm.com. You can also meet Michelle in person Friday, Dec. 7th in the At Home Store on the Fairfield, Iowa town square during the December Art Walk.

Award-Winning Essayist Eula Biss

Eula Biss and her former teacher Marilyn Robinson are speaking Wednesday, October 24th at 7 PM in Iowa City’s Englert Theater. Eula discusses video essays, creative nonfiction, and her work-in-progress nonfiction book about the vaccination controversy in a “Writers Voices” show that will be broadcast today at 8 AM via live streaming on kruufm.com. Eula’s book Notes from No Man’s Land, received the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. Her work has also been recognized by a Pushcart Prize, a Jaffe Writers’ Award, and a 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library. She teaches writing at Northwestern University. Her essays have recently appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Best Creative Nonfiction and the Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Nonfiction as well as in The Believer, Gulf Coast, Columbia, Ninth Letter, the North American Review, the Bellingham Review, the Seneca Review, and Harper’s. Eula holds a BA in nonfiction writing from Hampshire College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa.

Heather Alexander, Assistant Editor, Dial Books for Young Readers

Heather Alexander, Assistant Editor for Dial Books for Young Readers, acquires books for all age ranges, from picture books through young adult novels, and ushers them through the publication process. She edits the wildly popular Charlie and Lola picture books and also edited Jeanne Ryan‘s thought-provoking debut YA novel Nerve, in which a naive teen girl gets enmeshed in a deadly anonymous online game of dares. Heather will discuss what’s new in books for children and teens on “Writers Voices” on KRUU100.1FM Friday, Oct. 19 at 1 PM CST. Tune in via live stream tomorrow at kruufm.com.

Philip Goldberg with Cheryl Fusco Johnson at KRUU

Many people ask Philip Goldberg, author of American Veda: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West, how he became a religious-issues blogger for The Huffington Post. During our Writers Voices radio interview today, Philip explained what happened. Waiting at a bookstore to begin giving a book talk, he was thinking about how few people were there to hear him speak. A woman came into the store looking for something she thought she’d left behind. She noticed Philip standing by a sign advertising the topic of his talk and said, “You should be a blogger for The Huffington Post. My daughter’s an editor there.” Was this a lucky break? Or was it a just reward for the many years Philip spent researching spirituality and honing his writing and speaking skills through repeated practice?