Saturday, November 24, 2012

Interview with Maria Mazziotti Gillan

A week ago, on my “Radio Once More” program, I interviewed the poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan.

We spoke about her latest book of poetry, The Place I Call Home, published in September by New York Quarterly Books.

Ms. Gillan, who has written fifteen books of poetry, is the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Binghamton University-State University of New York, and is the Founder and Executive Director of The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey. Gillan, who grew up in Paterson, is also the editor of the Paterson Literary Review.

Her web address is:  http://www.mariagillan.com/

Here, as well, is the amazon link for The Place I Call Home:


One of the subjects we discussed, during the interview, was the radio programs which were a part of her childhood. As part of the interview, she read a radio-related poem, “I Grew Up with Tom Mix"; the poem is from her new book.

The interview, which can be heard at the following link, is approximately forty-five minutes long.


(Audio of interview, copyright “Radio Once More,” www.radiooncemore.com)

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Interview with writer Janis Johnson, about Hometowns, and "The Artist's Eye"

I’ve posted previously about California-based writer, and communications consultant, Janis Johnson.

During her career as a journalist, she was on the staff of The Washington Post, was a correspondent for USA Today, and wrote for other major U.S. newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Johnson has appeared on my weekly radio program, on the Internet station “Radio Once More,” on a few occasions. Her 2010 book, which features the artwork of her late father, Vernon P. Johnson, is titled The Artist’s Eye: Vernon P. Johnson’s Watercolors of 1950s Small Town America.

Here is one of the interviews with Johnson. The conversation (which is approximately thirty-five minutes long) took place in May of this year, and we talked about the subject of hometowns—including, of course, her hometown of Mount Vernon, Ohio. Most of her father’s watercolors, in The Artist’s Eye, are of Mount Vernon.

http://029b257.netsolhost.com/images/Janis_Johnson_May_2012.mp3

For additional information about The Artist’s Eye, please click on this link:


Here, too, is the book’s amazon.com page:


Lastly, here is the link for the book’s publisher, the Knox County Historical Society, in Ohio:



(Audio of interview, copyright "Radio Once More," www.radiooncemore.com)