Marrie Stone interviews Sonia Faleiro, author of Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars, and David Bezmozgis, author of The Free World.

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(Broadcast date: May 16, 2012)

Monday morning, back at the memoir. I’m in tweaking/restructuring mode. And what music did I just turn on? Why, the Godfather, of course. What music do you use to trigger your mojo? I wrote about this last June, too, when I was in first draft mode–well, new draft mode anyway. I’d already wrote a draft that Sally sent out to editors who said, Like/love the writing but what’s the story? I had to find the story in my massive hutch full of bizarre to interesting to sad family stories. When my brother was diagnosed as terminal and I found I was still pissed off at him, I had to forgive him fast. The book is about how you forgive the unforgivable. I didn’t have a focus until that point.

It’s nonfiction day on “Writers on Writing” with a psychobiography author and a memoirist. William Todd Schultz, author of Tiny Terror: Why Truman Capote (Almost) Wrote Answered Prayers (Oxford) and Hope Edelman, co-author (along with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez) of Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son (Free Press) discuss their books and the art and craft of writing with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett.

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(Broadcast date: May 23, 2012)

If you’d like to see the photos from our May 15 Salon with James Brown, Dinah Lenney, and Claire Bidwell Smith, click here. (I’ve been trying to post them here, to no avail.)

One of the many reasons I love doing the show is because of what my guests bring to me. Thank you, Hope Edelman, for mentioning this video on the show yesterday.

Our next Pen on Fire Writers Salon is around the corner. This time we’re hosting an evening with writers of fiction (novels / short stories). 

On Tuesday night, June 5, Pam Houston (Cowboys are My Weakness, Contents May Have Shifted), Stacy Bierlein (A Vacation on the Island of Ex-boyfriends) and Eric Puchner (Model Home) will be my guests. We’ll talk about writing fiction (autobiographical and otherwise), craft and the business of writing fiction.  We’ll also have nibbles and sips. Laguna Beach Books will be on hand selling books, which you can get signed as you chat with the authors.

Our events have gladly been selling out, so if you’re interested, visit the Salon page now to reserve your seat. That night, should you find you can’t be with us, you can give (or sell) your seat to a friend.

Hope to see you on June 5, if not before.