Marrie Stone interviews Amy Dickinson, author of The Mighty Queens of Freeville and T.C. Boyle, author of The Women.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: March 4, 2009)

Here’s a place to get free audio books and to volunteer to read, as well.

For a good laugh on a Sunday, click here.

Here’s an announcement from the event organizers. I’m on a panel on writing fiction, which takes place in the morning.

3rd Annual Literary Orange

Now in its 3rd year, Literary Orange, a premier Orange County literary event, comes to UCI for the first time on Saturday, April 4, 8-5 pm, at the UCI Student Center. Presented by the UCI Libraries and the OC Public Libraries, Literary Orange is an exciting day of substantive interactions with outstanding writers and fellow book lovers. Attendees have the opportunity to hear from an array of exceptional authors, have their books signed, ask questions, and learn about the writing process.

The event features keynote speakers Stephen Cannell, best-selling author and TV producer; Ron Carlson, award-winning author and UCI fiction program director; and Sandra Tsing Loh, writer, performer and radio commentator. Over 40 authors will participate on panels covering fiction, non-fiction, journalism, mystery, poetry, science fiction, romance, children’s books, horror, food, graphic novels, memoir, and young adult.

Tickets are $75; $35 for students with I.D. (walk-in registration $85/$45). Admission includes all keynote and panel sessions, book sales and signings; as well as a continental breakfast, sit-down lunch, and afternoon snacks. Limited seating; registration is first come, first served. Information and registration forms are available online at www.literaryorange.org, or at all UCI Libraries and OC Public Libraries. For further information, or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please call (949) 824.4651.

For those without html capabilities, information about the event can also be found in the Events and News section of the UCI Libraries Partners & Friends web site.

After reading “Looking In,” the essay I posted yesterday, one of my students asked me via email if I hadn’t been afraid of writing it for fear of being judged, of exposing such a personal time in my life. She was even nervous to ask that question and said she would have never asked me in person.

I welcomed her question, but told her no, I wasn’t afraid of others judging me, that it was a long time ago that I was writing about, before I remarried, before I had my son. No one’s perfect, I said, and some of us are less perfect than others, so no, I wasn’t afraid of what people would think of me. If we writers aren’t writing the truth, then what are we writing?

That said, there are essays I will probably never write because they could expose more than the people I’d write about would want exposed. Those are experiences I may one day fictionalize, But essays, no.

I did worry a little about publishing “Looking In,” worried that those I was writing about would become unhappy with me. In the end, I figured that the person who looked worse of all was me, and if I was willing to put me on the page, than everyone else would be fine. I was wrong, though, and I know that there is at least one person unhappy with me because of writing it.

Marrie Stone interviews Debra Gwartney, author of Live Through This: A Mother’s Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love and Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want.

Download audio.

(Broadcast date: February 18, 2009)