Home Podcasts QWERTY: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life
QWERTY: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life

QWERTY: A Podcast for Writers on How to Live the Writing Life

Marion Roach Smith 170 Episodes Jul 24, 2026

Author Marion Roach Smith interviews writers across all genres to uncover their creative processes and the real challenges of the writing life. The podcast explores practical steps anyone can take to become a better storyteller, offering insights from experienced authors. Each episode delves into the habits, routines, and mindsets that support a sustainable writing practice. Listeners gain actionable advice and inspiration to navigate their own writing journeys.

Episodes

Ep. 169 Nicole Walker
Ep. 169 Nicole Walker Jul 24, 2026 1688 Nicole Walker is the author of several books, including, “Processed Meats: Essays on Food, Flesh and Navigating Disaster” and “The After-Normal: Brief, Alphabetical Essays on a Changing Planet.” She edits the “Crux” series at the University of Georgia Press, is the nonfiction editor at the journal “Diagram” and teaches creative writing at Northern Arizona University.. Her new book is How to Plant
Ep. 168 Hillary Plattner
Ep. 168 Hillary Plattner Jul 10, 2026 1690 Hilary Plattner is a writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Her debut memoir, The Momma Puzzle, was shortlisted for the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards, and named a finalist for the Wandering Aengus and Trail to Table Book Awards. She holds an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University and has taught writing at The New School. Previously, she founded and directed Brooklyn Writers
Ep. 167 Jed Alexander
Ep. 167 Jed Alexander Jun 26, 2026 1474 Jed Alexander is the author of The Fairy Tale Color Collection, a series of children’s books that begins with the wordless 2018 book Red, the follow-up 2022 book, Gold, and the third book in that series, Olive. His clients have included SpongeBob Comics, Cricket Magazine, Writer's Digest and The Children's Book Council. His new book is The Black Market, a Middle Grade book which he wrote a
Ep. 166 Davin Malasarn
Ep. 166 Davin Malasarn Jun 12, 2026 1846 Davin Malasarn is a writer an author whose work has appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Rosebud, Opium Magazine, SmokeLong Quarterly and other journals in print and online. His debut novel, The Outer Country, is just out from One World/Random House. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin you
Ep. 165 Scott Eden
Ep. 165 Scott Eden May 29, 2026 1491 Writer and author Scott Eden is an investigative reporter whose work has focused on crime, corruption, injustice, business, science, technology, and the dark side of sports. His work has appeared in Wired, GQ, ESPN The Magazine, The Atavist Inc., and The Believer’s best-of collection Read Hard. The author of Touchdown Jesus: Faith and Fandom at Notre Dame. His new book is A Killing in Cannabis: A
Ep. 164 Marion Winik
Ep. 164 Marion Winik May 15, 2026 1888 Marion Winik is a writer and author whose memoir, First Comes Love, was originally published 30 years ago, featured on the Oprah Winfrey show and loved by reviewers and readers everywhere. Perhaps the words most often used for it were "pioneering" and "groundbreaking." The Kirkus review said of it, “Romance, comedy, tragedy, terrible truth, and extraordinary love, as straight woman
Ep. 163 Huda Al-Marashi
Ep. 163 Huda Al-Marashi Apr 17, 2026 1710 Writer and author Huda Al-Marashi writes for both children and adults. She is a coauthor of the middle grade novel Grounded, which won the Walter Dean Myers Honor award, and the author of the memoir First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story. Her other writing has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and al Jazeera. She is a fellow and mentor with the Highlig
Ep. 162 Matti Friedman
Ep. 162 Matti Friedman Mar 27, 2026 1890 Award-winning journalist and author, Matti Friedman has worked as a reporter in Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. A former Associated Press correspondent, his work has appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, the Atlantic, and elsewhere. He's currently writes from Israel for The Free Press. The author of five nonfiction books that have been transl
Ep. 161 Shelley Noble
Ep. 161 Shelley Noble Mar 13, 2026 1553 Shelley Noble is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Well-known for her gripping historical novel, The Tiffany Girls, in which the author unearths the previously little-known true story of the women artists responsible for much of Tiffany’s glasswork, as well as for her historical mysteries, Shelley Noble is a former professor, dancer and choreographer. Her new historical novel coul
Ep. 160 Antonio Michael Downing
Ep. 160 Antonio Michael Downing Feb 27, 2026 1536 Antonio Michael Downing is the author of the memoir Saga Boy, My Memoir of Blackness and Becoming, in which he show us how he had become, like his father and grandfather before him, a Saga boy, a Trinidadian playboy and almost loses everything of value himself until he rescues himself and becames the musician and writer he was born to be. In his new book, a novel entitled Black Cherokee, we meet t
Ep. 159 The Kansals
Ep. 159 The Kansals Feb 13, 2026 1745 Father and son, Ruchin and Neil Kansal, are co-authors of the new book, The Kansal Clunker: The Car That Rebuilt Us, just out from Khoeler Books. It is getting rave reviews, including one from Kirkus proclaiming it “"An endearing and thought-provoking road odyssey." And it is just that – and odyssey, and more, that received a number one rating as a new release on Amazon in family travel gu
Ep. 158 Tarpley Hitt
Ep. 158 Tarpley Hitt Jan 30, 2026 1899 Writer and author Tarpley Hitt is a New York journalist and an editor and contributor at The Drift magazine. She has previously reported on culture and money for The Daily Beast and Gawker. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Bookforum, The Paris Review, The Guardian, Air Mail, Deseret Magazine, and Miami New Times. Her debut book is Barbieland, The Unauthorized History, just out from Sim

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