In Conversation

(First aired: January 15, 2023) Poets Sheila Bender and Joanne Clarkson discuss how their writing of poetry helps them and their readers cope with loss, with Clarkson reading from her 2022 book, Hospice House and Shelia Bender from her 2022 book Since Then. Hosted by Phil Andrus on Cats in Our Laps.

(First airdate: July 7, 2020) Sheila Bender and Charlie Fleishman talk about their years together hosting, editing and producing In Conversation.

(First airdate: June 23, 2020) Sheila Bender talks to Eugene, Oregon writer Richard Weeks about the value of his writing group and his memoir collections that include stories from several decades of his life.

(First airdate: June 9, 2020) Sheila Bender connects via phone with Portland poet Peg Edera about love as a spiritual path and her collection, Love Is Deeper Than Distance: Poems of Love, Death, a Little Sex, ALS, Dementia and the Widow’s Life Thereafter.

(First airdate: May 26, 2020) Port Townsend poet Gerry McFarland comes to the KPTZ studio to talk about his writing poetry, serving on a literary magazine board, and putting together his first full-length collection, The Making.

(First airdate: May 12, 2020) Portland author Philip Kenney visits Sheila Bender via phone to discuss how spirituality informs creativity and creativity informs spirituality.

(First airdate: April 28, 2020) Sheila Bender speaks with Bellingham author Brenda Miller about the third edition of her seminal co-authored work Tell It Slant and about writing the lyric essay.

(First airdate: April 14, 2020) Sheila Bender talks to Seattle-area author William Kenower about his work inspiring writers to sit down and write despite their fears.

(First airdate: March 31, 2020) Sheila interviews Los Angeles novelist Robin Page via phone to discuss her novel Small Silent Things, the story of a woman of color transplanted from the Midwest to Los Angeles and her friendship with Simon, a survivor of Rwandan genocide.

(First airdate: March 17, 2020) Sheila Bender speaks via phone with Everett, Washington writer Sue Pace about her fiction writing and her published collection, Driving Sharon Crazy, about to be produced for Audible.com.