Tag Archives: Memoir

18Oct/24

James Pauley Jr.

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October 18, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 40 Interview: James Pauley Jr.

James Pauley Jr. returns to share his latest release, An Unconditional Friendship: Messages from a Colorful Granny and an Off-Color Gay Guy. It leads to discussions of serendipity, co-authoring something inspirational, and the true value of working together.

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James Pauley, Jr. was born and raised in a small town in southwestern Michigan. He received his bachelor’s degree from Albion College, with a double major in German and Spanish. Spending a semester each in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Heidelberg, Germany piqued his interest and a lifelong love of international travel. He began his career as a flight attendant in 1978, a job that he loved for forty-four years. Throughout his life, he’s worn many other hats as well: massage therapist, real estate agent, house flipper, painter, busboy, groundskeeper, delivery person, wine steward, waiter, babysitter, caterer, house cleaner, bartender, cake decorator, window washer, substitute teacher, janitor, and salesman. Pauley is the award-winning author of Bumpy Rides and Soft Landings and coauthor of An Unconditional Friendship with best-selling author Charlene Potterbaum. He lives with his spouse, Rich, in Indiana.

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April 5, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 14 Interview – James Pauley Jr.

James Pauley Jr. joins us to share his memoir, Bumpy Rides and Soft Landings, sparking conversation about not deleting pages from the story of your life and always sharing the authentic truth!

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James Pauley, Jr. was born and raised in a small town in southwestern Michigan. He received his bachelor’s degree from Albion College, with a double major in German and Spanish. Spending a semester each in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Heidelberg, Germany, piqued his interest and lifelong love of international travel. He began his career as a flight attendant in 1978, a job that he continues to enjoy. Throughout his life, he’s worn many other hats as well: massage therapist, real estate agent, house flipper, painter, busboy, groundskeeper, delivery person, wine steward, waiter, babysitter, caterer, house cleaner, bartender, cake decorator, window washer, substitute teacher, janitor, and salesman. He is the coauthor of Granny and the Gay Guy with best-selling author Charlene Potterbaum. He lives with his spouse, Rich, in Indiana.

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21Jun/24

Mark Olmsted

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June 21, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 24 Interview – Mark Olmsted

Mark Olmsted joins us to share his memoir Ink From the Pen. We discuss how caring for and losing his brother to HIV/AIDS while he himself was HIV+ took him down a dark path that included drug use and dealing. Being incarcerated gave him a second chance to get clean, and while doing so he turned to creativity as a form of healing that helped him survive the absurdity of prison.

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Mark Olmsted has been a writer since graduating from the NYU School of the Arts in 1980. After over a decade in Manhattan, he moved to California to pursue screenwriting and take care of his brother, who died of AIDS in 1991. Gay and HIV+ himself, Mark self-medicated through the worst of the plague years with crystal meth, which led to a conviction for drug-dealing in 2004 and nine months in prison, and his book, “Ink from the Pen.” This story was detailed in an in-depth article that appeared on GQ.com

He emerged into a life of recovery and activism, writing hundreds of essays for the Huffington Post and his personal blog. In 2011, he entered the Graduate Humanities programs in Mount St. Mary’s University, obtaining a Master’s Degree with a specialization in Creative Writing in 2013.

At present, he edits subtitles for a post-production house. He also does translation for French and script doctoring. Mark’s latest venture is writing children’s books with Marianne Hegg!

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17May/24

Terry Connell

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May 17, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 19 Interview – Terry Connell

Terry Connell returns to share his latest work, Lost Soles, a collection of images and essays inspired by the discarded shoes he saw while on long walks during the pandemic. We discuss the odd turns life takes, as well as the importance of being open to everything that comes your way.

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Terry has a degree in Elementary Education from Penn State University, and after a year of teaching he earned his Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Temple University. He worked as a therapist for a few years, until his partner Stephan died from AIDS complications. With his life at this turning point, he heard about an acupuncture clinic in Boston called AIDS Care Project (ACP). He moved to Boston in the middle of a blizzard, enrolled in the New England School of Acupuncture, and new he’d found his path. A month after graduation, he started working at ACP. After ten years, he opened a private office where he treats a variety of conditions. He published first published in 2011, his memoir titled Slaves to the Rhythm, and has continued with an award-winning collection of short stories, three screenplays, and the collection of essays in his latest work, Lost Soles.

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April 17, 2020


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Terry Connell as the guest on Episode 264 – There Are No Shoulds!

Terry Connell discusses his new collection of short stories entitled, A Little Chatter, and then shares some wellness ideas for the safe-at-home era.

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Terry has a degree in Elementary Education from Penn State University, and after a year of teaching he earned his Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Temple University. He worked as a therapist for a few years, until his partner Stephan died from AIDS complications. With his life at this turning point, he heard about an acupuncture clinic in Boston called AIDS Care Project (ACP). He moved to Boston in the middle of a blizzard, enrolled in the New England School of Acupuncture, and knew he’d found his path. A month after graduation, he started working at ACP. After ten years, he opened a private office where he treats a variety of conditions. He first published in 2011, his memoir titled Slaves to the Rhythm.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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29Mar/24

Mark S. King

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March 29, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 13 Interview – Mark S. King

Mark S. King joins us to share his memoir, My Fabulous Disease, sparking conversation about collecting decades of essays about his life into a memoir narrative and he shares a great lens through which he sees events!

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Mark S. King has been writing about gay life, sex, and survival since testing HIV positive in 1985. His blog, My Fabulous Disease, has been nominated seven times for a GLAAD Media Award, winning in 2020. King has also been named LGBTQ Journalist of the Year by NLGJA, the association of LGBTQ journalists. King lives in Atlanta with his husband, Michael.

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01Mar/24

Curtis Chin

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March 1, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 9 Interview – Curtis Chin

Curtis Chin joins us to share his memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. We discuss that the book is not only a love-letter to Detroit, but a culmination of his many paths in life coming together.

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A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant” will be published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023. His essay in Bon Appetit was just selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWFMLkHdHQU[/embedyt]

23Feb/24

Larry Duplechan

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February 23, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 8 Interview – Larry Duplechan

Larry Duplechan shares his memoir, Movies That Made Me Gay. We discuss the importance of film in queer lives, as well as why you should buy the book and host your own home film festival!

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Larry Duplechan is the author of five novels, including Blackbird (considered the first modern Black “coming-out” novel) and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Got ‘til it’s Gone; plus the movie memoir Movies That Made Me Gay. His hobbies include singing, playing the ukulele, reading show business biographies, and pursuing his ongoing quest to forestall the physical aging process and build truly outstanding pecs. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband of 47 years and a Chartreux cat named Mr. Blue.

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January 7, 2022

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Larry Duplechan as the guest on Season 7, Episode 1 – All Things Blackbird!

In this WROTE Reviews crossover episode we talk with Larry Duplechan about his novel Blackbird and its journey into becoming a film.

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Larry Duplechan is the author of five novels, including Blackbird (considered the first modern Black “coming-out” novel) and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Got ‘til it’s Gone. His hobbies include singing, playing the ukulele, reading show business biographies, and pursuing his ongoing quest to forestall the physical aging process and build truly outstanding pecs. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband of 38 years and a 17 pound Chartreux cat named Mr. Blue.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgdvjSVgEw[/embedyt]

10Nov/23

Judy Kiehart

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November 10, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 47 Interview – Judy Kiehart

Judy Kiehart introduces us to her memoir Calico Lane, and shares her journey through other people’s expectations on her life to where she arrived at the life that’s authentically her own.

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When Judy was little her mom told her, “Stop making things up.” She didn’t listen. In fact, she cannot remember a time when there wasn’t a story rambling around in her head leading her to scribble an idea into a notebook, a diary, or onto loose-leaf paper.

For a long time, the ideas remained scribbles. As the years passed, some of the ideas were crafted into short stories. Some of the short stories were adapted for the stage. Then, the scribbles became memory triggers for her latest journey: her memoir: Calico Lane.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRQx5ey1s1Y[/embedyt]

08Sep/23

MariNaomi

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September 8, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 38 Interview – MariNaomi

MariNaomi joins us to share their collage-memoir, I Thought You Loved Me. We dive into their art style and the unlooked-for surprises in an artist’s life!

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MariNaomi is the award-winning author and illustrator of almost 10 books. Their work has appeared in nearly 100 print publications and has been featured on websites such as The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Rumpus, LA Review of Books, Midnight Breakfast, SF Examiner, and BuzzFeed. Their comics have been translated into French, German, and Russian.
MariNaomi’s comics and paintings have been featured in the Smithsonian, the de Young Museum, the Cartoon Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum, and the Japanese American National Museum.
In 2011 and 2018, Mari toured with the literary roadshow Sister Spit. They are the founder and administrator of the Cartoonists of Color Database, the Queer Cartoonists Database, and the Disabled Cartoonists Database. They have taught classes for the California College of the Arts Comics MFA program, and was a guest editor for PEN Illustrated. They were cohost of the Ask Bi Grlz podcast with author Myriam Gurba.
MariNaomi lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with their partner and a menagerie of beloved rescue animals.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDDH6Mko2R4[/embedyt]

01Sep/23

Tate Barkley

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September 1, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 37 Interview – Tate Barkley

Tate Barkley shares his memoir Sunday Dinners, Moonshine, and Men, plus why people wanted to hear the ending, and reveals the trials in his life that lead him to learning to forgive.

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Tate Barkley carried the burden of shame for years, stemming from poverty, addiction, and the struggle of being a closeted gay man. Through Alcoholics Anonymous, he found sobriety and now seeks to inspire others by sharing his transformative journey. His memoir, releasing this month, unveils his troubled relationship with his father and his path to overcoming shame and a scarcity mindset. Tate reflects on his challenging childhood from rural North Carolina to poverty in Central Florida, and their move to 1970s Houston. He details his battle with repressed sexuality and escalating drinking, leading to rock bottom. Tate’s story resonates as he pursues self-acceptance and inner peace. A Houston-based attorney, speaker, author, and educator, Tate lives with his husband, Anson, and their dog, Emerson.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djhDlK8QCaI[/embedyt]

23Jun/23

Felice Cohen

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June 23, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 8, Episode 27: Felice Cohen + our “Matteo Lane: Hair Plugs & Heartache” review!

Felice Cohen joins us to share her memoir, Half-In: A Coming of Age Memoir of Forbidden Love, which leads us into a discussion of forbidden love and moving forward. We also dive into how she rewrites classic fairy tails with an LGBTQ+ twist with her The Fancy Tales. Then we review Matteo Lane: Hair Plugs and Heartache, and share what’s won our weeks!

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Known nationally and internationally as the woman who lived in one of the world’s smallest apartments, Felice Cohen is the award-winning author of the bestselling books Half In: A Coming-of-Age Memoir of Forbidden Love, 90 Lessons for Living Large in 90 Square Feet (…or More) (inspired by the YouTube video of her tiny NYC studio with over 25 million views) and What Papa Told Me, about her grandfather’s life before, during and after the Holocaust.

Felice also writes The Fancy Tales, a modern day take on the versions of the classic fairy tales we grew up with. These tales take place in New York City with the magic happening in Central Park, and contain a wholesomely presented and slightly sophisticated LGBTQ+ twist. Felice splits her time between NYC and Cape Cod.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilrsUV-k2N8[/embedyt]