Interview with Speaker Rich Farrell
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker Rich Farrell and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write The Falling Woman: A Novel? RF: As a former pilot, I wanted to explore my fascination with flying in a story. But the more I tried to write my story,...
Interview with Speaker Cheryl Sonstein
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker Cheryl Sonstein and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Please tell us about Isabel. CS: The story that became Isabel was originally written for VAMP (an acronym for visual audio monologue performance.) VAMP is a monthly...
Interview with Speaker Joe Ide
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker Joe Ide and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write the book, Hi Five, with one of the main characters, Christiana, having multiple personalities? JI: I happened to watch Three Faces of Eve and Sybil in the...
Interview with Speaker Neal Griffin
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker Neal Griffin and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about your upcoming book, The Burden of Truth NG: The Burden of Truth tells the story of a young man named Omar Ortega, a fictional character, but during my twenty-seven...
Interview with Speaker Carl Vonderau
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker Carl Vonderau and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about Murderabilia, and how it synthesizes the seemingly contradictory parts of your life from private bank, to serial murders, to a Christian Science upbringing. CV: I...
Interview with Speaker David Putnam
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker David Putnam and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about the latest Bruno Johnson novel, The Heartless. How hard has it been to switch launching this book from in-person events to reaching readers through online efforts? ...
Interview with Speaker Matt Coyle
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker Matt Coyle and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about latest novel you are writing in the Rick Cahill Series. MC: Lost Tomorrows is the latest Rick Cahill book. In it, Rick finally learns the truth about his wife's...
Interview with Speaker Gill Sotu
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker Gill Sotu and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about the importance of the spoken word to you, and about finding your voice and how it relates to each of us GS: Spoken word is one of the freest forms of artistic...
Interview with Speaker John Vorhaus
Q & A with Summer Festival Speaker John Vorhaus and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: You’ve written several books for writers. Tell us about one of them, such as The Comic Toolbox. JV: The Comic Toolbox was a gift from the universe. It’s the first book I wrote and...
Interview with Author Brae Wyckoff
Q & A with author Brae Wyckoff and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Which writers have influenced you most? BW: CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, RA Salvatore I guess I need to have my author name changed to letters; BW Wyckoff. SDWF: What do you wish you’d known before...
Interview with Author Sally Pla
Q & A with author Sally Pla and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write Benji, the Bad Day, and Me? SP: Benji, the Bad Day, and Me is a little picture book about sibling rivalry, a fuzzy blanket, neurodiversity, and a plain old rotten day. It...
Interview with Author Amy Wallen
Q & A with author Amy Wallen and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Can you tell us a bit about what to expect at your SDWF workshop, “How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies: The Sweet and Savory Secrets to Writing”? Will there be pie?AW: First, YES there will be pie! The...
Interview with Author Virginia Loh-Hagan
Q & A with author Virginia Loh-Hagan and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write books for our children?VLH: As a former K-8 teacher, I was inspired by my students. I wanted to write books that I could use in the classroom and that young...
Interview with Author Jan Eliasberg
Q & A with author Jan Eliasberg and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about your inspiration for HANNAH’S WAR. What were the novel’s origins? JE: I was in the microfiche room of the New York Public Library doing research for another book—a highly...
Interview with Author Kirk Ellis
Q & A with author Kirk Ellis and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What books are on your nightstand?KE: The End of the Myth by Greg GrandinAmerican Dirt by Jeannie CumminsThe Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson SDWF: What were the...
Interview with Author Madonna Treadway
Q & A with author Madonna Treadway and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about your book, Six Healing Questions: A Gentle Path to Facing Childhood Loss of a Parent MT: Six Healing Questions: A Gentle Path to Facing Childhood Loss of a Parent is for adults...
Interview with Author George Galdorisi
Q & A with author George Galdorisi and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write The Coronado Conspiracy?GG: I worry about civilian control of the military and what might happen in that space. SDWF: Which writers have influenced you most?GG: My...
Interview with Nancy Johnson, Director of Teen Programming
Q & A with Nancy Johnson, San Diego Writers Festival Director of Teen Programmer SDWF: Tell us a little bit about the teen programming.NJ: Teen programming will be added at the San Diego Writers Festival this year, and we are so excited! Here is a sample:...
Interview with Author Elizabeth St. John
Q & A with author Elizabeth St. John and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write Written in Their Stars?ESJ: Written in their Stars is the third book in the Lydiard Chronicles, and was always planned to complete this particular series. What...
Interview with Author Mark C. Jackson
Q & A with author Mark C. Jackson and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about The Great Texas Dance, due for release in April 2020.MJ: The Great Texas Dance tells a tale of Zebadiah Creed’s continuing journey in understanding what friendship and loyalty...
Interview with Author RD Kardon
Q & A with author RD Kardon and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write Flygirl?RDK: I wrote the original pages that became FLYGIRL over 25 years ago, when I found myself in a toxic work environment similar to my heroine, Tris Miles. The work...
Interview with Author Chris Enss
Q & A with author Chris Enss and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: What inspired you to write No Place for a Woman: The Struggle for Suffrage in the Wild West?CE: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right...
Interview with Author Tammy Greenwood
Q & A with author Tammy Greenwood and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about your book, Keeping Lucy.TG: Keeping Lucy, which opens in 1969, is the story of Ginny Richardson, a young mother whose daughter, born with Down Syndrome, is whisked away shortly...
Interview with Author Huda Al-Marashi
Q & A with author Huda Al-Marashi and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Tell us about First Comes Marriage.HA: FIRST COMES MARRIAGE: MY NOT-SO TYPICAL AMERICAN LOVE STORY (Prometheus Books, November 2018) is an Iraqi-American perspective on immigration, love, and...
Interview with Author and Speaker Rabbi Steve Leder
Q & A with author and speaker Rabbi Steve Leder and San Diego Writers Festival SDWF: Your book More Beautiful Than Before: How Suffering Transforms Us has helped thousands of people. What inspired you to write it?SL: I had been a rabbi for 27 years before writing...
Author Interview with Tania Pryputniewicz
Q & A with author Tania Pryputniewicz and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.TP: My first poetry book, November Butterfly, was published in 2014 by Saddle Road Press. Ophelia, Nefertiti, Joan of Arc,...
Writing about Mental Health – What to Do When What You Find Out Freaks You Out by Madonna Treadway
Written by Madonna Treadway Studying the Research A few years ago, while doing research for my book 6 Healing Questions, A Gentle Path to Facing Childhood Loss of a Parent, I began studying the leading thinkers on grief and loss. I was hoping to find a clearly defined...
Author Interview with Andrea Moriarty
Q & A with author Andrea Moriarty and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece. AM: Radical Inclusion is a call to action for communities to embrace adults with disabilities by exhibiting the risk, humility,...
Author Interview with David Brin
Q & A with author David Brin and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.DB: This is the official writeup of my latest work: Partnering with UCSD's Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, noted...
Author Interview with Marcie Colleen
Q & A with author Marcie Colleen and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.MC: I am a children's author. I currently have several books out on the bookshelves. My most recent book is Penguinaut!, a...
Author Interview with Zoe Ghahremani
Q & A with author Zoe Ghahremani and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.ZG: Drawing from my bicultural life, I have written three English novels. Sky of Red Poppies was a One Book, One San Diego...
Author Interview with Stephen Silke
Q & A with author Stephen Silke and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.SS: My story "The Means of Production," published in Issue 51 of Fiction International, is written in the stylistic and tonal...
Author Interview with Jonathan Maberry
Q & A with author Jonathan Maberry and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.JM: I’m a high-output writer, so I generally have a number of new releases. 2018 ended with a hat trick — three novels released...
Author Interview with Sylvia Mendoza
Q & A with author Sylvia Mendoza and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.SM: My nonfiction The Book of Latina Women: 150 Vidas of Passion, Strength and Success is a collection of mini-biographies of 150...
Author Interview with Kelly Bargabos
Q & A with author Kelly Bargabos and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your book or written piece.KB: The memoir I’ve written about my brother, Bobby, Chasing the Merry-Go-Round: Holding on to Hope & Home When the World...
Author Interview with Margaret Dilloway
Q & A with author Margaret Dilloway and Susan J. Farese of SJF CommunicationsSJF: In a nutshell, tell us about your latest book.MD: My latest book, Summer of a Thousand Pies, is about a 12-year-old girl, Cady, who's sent to live with the aunt she didn’t even know...