Story Corps

Marylee MacDonald and Elisa Stancil Levine on A Novel Idea (Aired: January 29, 2023)

MAryLee picSurrender bkWhat happens in our youth ripples through our entire lives. Authors Marylee MacDonald and Elisa Stancil Levine join Suzanne M. Lang in conversation on their memoirs of resilience and courage.
 
MacDonald’s Surrender, a Memoir of Nature, Nurture, and Love explores the double circumstance of her being adopted as an infant and then her giving up her first child to adoption; she eventually reunites with both her birth mother and her son.
 
Levine picBetter bookStancil Levine’s This or Something Better, a Memoir of Resilience starts with the firestorm of 2017 that had her fleeing Sonoma Mountain and takes us to her troubled youth along the American River.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Novel Idea

June 02, 2023

Mary Jo McConahay and Kate McElwee on A Novel Idea (Aired: June 4, 2023)

Suzanne Lang talks with prize-winning journalist Mary Jo McConahay on her book Playing God, American Catholic Bishops and the Far Right, which reveals the big money, unholy alliances, and far right agendas held by a faction of American Catholic Bishops. Suzanne also talks with Kate McElwee,…
May 07, 2023

Dale Tafoya and Mark Shrager join Suzanne on A Novel Idea (Aired: May 7, 2023)

Baseball and horseracing are two sports that have been with us since before the Civil War and we still enjoy them in one way or another today. Suzanne Lang is joined by sportswriter Dale Tafoya to talk about Billy Ball: Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland A’s. Then, it's prolific…
April 27, 2023

Beth Ann Mathews and Skye Blaine on A Novel Idea (Aired: April 30th, 2023)

Suzanne M. Lang is joined by Beth Ann Mathews, Marine biologist and author of Deep Waters, A Memoir of Loss, Alaska Adventure, and Love Rekindled. When her active and energetic husband suffers a rare type of stroke, his idea of recovery -through sailing in the ocean waters off Alaska- challenges…
March 30, 2023

Author Joan Frank on A Novel Idea (Aired: April 2, 2023)

Joan Frank is simply a master of language and expression, and she has two new books to prove it: a novel, Juniper Street, and a book of essays, Late Work, a Literary Autobiography of Love, Loss, and What I Was Reading. Joan joins Suzanne Lang in a freewheeling conversation on her work and the…
March 03, 2023

Donnaldson Brown and Samuel W. Gailey on A Novel Idea (Aired: March 5, 2023)

Absorbing literary fiction comes from Donnaldson Brown with her decades spanning epic novel Because I Loved You and Samuel W. Gailey with Come Away from Her, his bold mystery set in the cold of Eastern Pennsylvania. Both authors are in conversation with Suzanne M. Lang on A Novel Idea, heard first…
February 03, 2023

Candi Milo and Loren Niemi on A Novel Idea (Aired: February 5, 2023)

Actor, singer, and Warner Brothers voice artist for many animated characters, Candi Milo, tells the story of her unusual upbringing in her memoir Surviving the Odd. Her father was entertainer Tony Milo, and when he gave up show business to run a half-way house for mentally ill and emotionally…
Mar 03, 2019

Michael Morey – March 3, 2019

Author and independent historian Michael Morey’s book, Fagen: An African American Renegade in the Philippine-American War, unpacks American…
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Dec 02, 2018

Thomas E. Cochrane – December 2, 2018

Oil makes the world go round and geologist Thomas E. Cochrane delivers candid and lively remembrances of his life and experience in the American…
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Oct 24, 2018

Susan Hand Shetterly – October 7, 2018

Seaweed. It plays a vital role in ocean ecology, and also in our health and diet, and in our local and global economies. Seaweed Chronicles: A World…
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Sep 30, 2018

Gregory Couch – October 1, 2018

Gregory Crouch joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation on his epic western history of California wealth and the Comstock Lode, bringing focus to one of…
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Aug 05, 2018

Jonah Raskin – August 5, 2018

Jonah Raskin has a large and ranging body of non-fiction books and articles and now has come out with a detective fiction of a different order, Dark…
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Jul 29, 2018

Bruce Holbert – July 30, 2018

San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore, the landmark independent bookstore founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, recently…
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Jul 01, 2018

Brad Herzog – July 1, 2018

A timely encore presentation of Rosemary Manchester in conversation with Brad Herzog, collaborator on Carolyn Goodman’s memoir, My Mantelpiece: a…
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Apr 01, 2018

Bruce Holbert – April 1, 2018

To celebrate the release of Bruce Holbert’s third novel, Whiskey, here is a reprise of two previous conversations between Bruce and Suzanne M Lang on…
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Nov 13, 2017

Jeffrey Miller – January 31, 2016

This episode of KRCB’s A Novel Idea is an “encore” presentation of a favorite broadcast, originally broadcast in 2010, featuring Andre Codrescu and…
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Nov 13, 2017

Eva Rutland – March 6, 2016

To honor Black History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8th) we present Rosemary Manchester with an encore presentation of a show featuring…
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Nov 13, 2017

Abby Geni, Lewis deSoto – April 3, 2016

Big Nature, Big California The Farallon Islands, remote and mysterious, is the setting of Abby Geni’s novel of nature and mystery, The Lightkeepers.…
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Nov 13, 2017

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas – May 1, 2016

Suzanne Lang speaks with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, who has spent a lifetime observing other creatures and other cultures, from her own backyard to…
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Nov 13, 2017

Wendy E. Simmons – July 4, 2016

Wendy E. Simmons is a world traveler. Not a novice. Not a pushover. Her trip to North Korea challenged every bit of her perceptions of herself and…
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Nov 13, 2017

Kenneth Wishnia – August 7, 2016

Mystery writer Kenneth Wishnia joins Suzanne Lang in conversation on his latest novel, The Fifth Servant, which is set in 1592 Prague, where a young…
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Nov 13, 2017

William Luvaas – September 4, 2016

William Luvaas, NEA grant recipient who has been recognized for his short stories and novels alike, joins Suzanne Lang in conversation on his third…
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Nov 13, 2017

Meg Waite Clayton – October 2, 2016

New York Time’s bestselling author Meg Waite Clayton joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation about The Race for Paris, Clayton’s compelling novel of…
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Nov 13, 2017

Heather Lyn Mann – April 3, 2017

15,000 nautical miles, six years, and a world of insight ….Heather Lyn Mann joins Suzanne Lang in conversation about Heather’s journey as expressed…
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Nov 13, 2017

Gary Soto, Gerald Haslam – May 7, 2017

Encore presentation of a 2013 broadcast features Suzanne Lang in conversation with author and poet Gary Soto and Rosemary Manchester talking with…
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Nov 13, 2017

Peter Afrasiabi – October 1, 2017

Top intellectual property and entertainment lawyer Peter Afrasiabi joins Suzanne Lang in conversation on his recent book Burning Bridges, America’s…
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Nov 13, 2017

J. Jaye Gold – October 29, 2017

J. Jaye Gold has been a hustler and gambler in his life, but sought a new way of being in his that lead him on a journey around the globe, and
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