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blast from the past
 
StoryCorps founder and producer, David Isay, has taken 50 of the most compelling interviews and condensed them into a new book: Listening Is An Act of Love. This long-time journalist and writer had plenty to say to tonic's Kopana about the book and the
National Day of Listening


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and more...



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In The Cellar

tŏn'ĭk
an invigorating, refreshing, or restorative agent or influence



writer Marilyn Johnson talked to tonic's Kopana about Librarians and how they can lead us into a new technological century



 

 
 accomplished Kentucky writer
Erik Reece talked with Tonic's Kopana about his latest: American Gospel, and so much more. An interview not to be missed!






 Journalist Madeline Scherb spent two years writing her first book, A Taste of Heaven, and tonic's Kopana gets the tasty inside scoop.





award-winning Creek writer and musician
Joy Harjo talks to tonic's Kopana about her
life, her art, and being a Jill-of-all-trades



joyharjo.com

NPR's Cokie Roberts' latest Ladies of Liberty is rich in history, humor, and insight. Roberts talks with tonic's Kopana about the women who shaped the book and America, The Obamas, Libraries, and much more



Rita Mae's in the house
This polite southerner is as full of humor as her writing. Top mystery writer, poet, activist, big-time equine enthusiast, the wildly opinionated, extremely smart, and very funny, Rita Mae Brown is so enthusiastic it takes three episodes to absorb it all - she shares her views on just about everything from Hillary to horses!

                    
     part 1              part 2  
 
     
           part 3





visit Rita Mae's website



 
Photo: Fred Armitage
 Get Spooked
Sci-Fi master novelist William Gibson stopped by the tonic studios to talk to Kopana about his latest masterpiece
Spook Country




But, wait, there's more... we've included more of Gibson's engaging conversation - click here for Part 2

Steely Dan Show Biz Kids; U.S. 27 Runnin' Outta Gas; Stealin Horses Turnaround; Lucinda Williams Essence; Drive By Truckers Perfect Timing

 
Author Yann Martel did something unusual - he had a global competition for the artist who would illustrate his Man Booker Prize winning Life of Pi. In this extraordinary interview with tonic's Kopana, the author and the winning illustrator Tomislav Torjanac talk about Pi and the making of this exquisite book.



Click here to listen as Martel reads a passage from Life of Pi
Music: Robert Plant Ship of Fools; Lyle Lovett If I Had a Boat
Richard "Groove" Holmes
Groove's Groove; Keb Mo God Tryin' to Get Your Attention; Greg Ellis Form #8



 You heard John Wray's new novel
"Lowboy" reviewed on All Things
Considered. Now hear Wray talk
about his own work with
tonic's
Tiffany Reisz
.


Kentucky's 2009-2010 Poet Laureate
Gurney Norman


KY Arts Council (KAC)has launched a Kentucky Poet Laureate Web site which includes a biographical sketch of Norman, a selected short story, his engagement calendar and a brief history of the Kentucky Poet Laureate position, including past Kentucky poets laureate." tonic salutes Mr. Norman!

Author Robert Olmstead talks with tonic's Jeff Spradling about his latest novel Far Bright Star, his characters, and their horses
   
robertolmsteadbooks.com

 A descendant of frontiersman Jim Bridger,
Bobby Bridger

is famous for his musical Ballad of the West. Here
tonic's Jeff Spradling chats with Bridger about how he came to be the modern day spokesman for Buffalo Bill.

 

Frontier Nursing Service

writer Marie Bartlett takes a new look at one of Kentucky's most earnest institutions. She talks to tonic's Kopana about the fascinating women behind the FNS success.



onceawriter.com




Join tonic's Tiffany Reisz
for an engaging interview with
Chris Bohjalian

the bestselling author of Midwives, an Oprah Book Club Pick, and the new novel Skeletons at the Feast.


Part 1         Part 2
 


poet and KY native
Kristie Kachler
won a call from ELandF Gallery to be Lexington's Bus Riding Poet for an afternoon. Find out more about this inventive idea from Kachler herself.

 

elandfgallery.blogspot.com

Is Jim Butcher really Harry Dresden?

 
 Bestselling author Jim Butcher talked to tonic's Kopana about his latest in The Dresden Files series Turn Coat



Author C.E. Morgan talks
with tonic's Tiffany Reisz
about her debut novel, drafted
in only two weeks, and
how the story captured
her imagination.


 

author Gin Phillips wins Barnes and Noble's Discover Award and makes a few discoveries of her own along the way

 


Essayist, translator, lexicographer, commentator - he has many titles. In this interview with
tonic's Greg Davis,
Ilan Stavans

discusses his latest, Resurrecting Hebrew.


 

 
StoryCorps founder and producer, David Isay, has taken 50 of the most compelling interviews and condensed them into a new book: Listening Is An Act of Love. This long-time journalist and writer had plenty to say to tonic's Kopana about the book and the
National Day of Listening


 
 Can science and religion ever get along?
That's the question author Michael Dowd
wants to answer in Thank God for Evolution, a
new take on the religion/science debate.

       
Hear his interview with tonic's Josh James.
Read the first 50 pages of his book here.


 
Interviewed by Publishers Weekly and The Romantic Times for her expertise on Romantic Fiction, Lexington's own love guru
Gina Scalera
sits down with Tiffany Reisz to talk love, romance, books, and what to read when you have Spring Fever.




 
No, it's not a slam to the Caucasians among us. It's a proudly heralded anthem for author Janis Owens' latest: a cookbook for the Cracker in us all



janisowens.com


photo by: Curt Richter 

writer Bailey White had a chat with tonic's Kopana about her new book Nothing with Strings, living in the South, becoming a writer, and the election  

Bailey on NPR


On the heels of her first bestselling novel,
Lesley Kagen
introduces her second
Land of a Hundred Wonders
set in a fictional small Kentucky town. 

 

Gwyn Hyman Rubio

Best-selling, award-winning author Rubio (Icy Sparks,  The Woodman's Daughter) gives Kopana one of the most honest and insightful interviews tonic has had to date.

A Wasted Life - Tom Petty; Coyote - Mark Knopfler; Mongoose Walk - SMV



Need a ticket to
Girl Island?


Memoirist Cathy Alter told tonic's Kopana how magazines saved her from herself...and how they offer men an inside look at women






  Stamping Grounds
Join tonic's Mike Graves,
Georgia Green Stamper,
and a host of others for a two-part discussion about the author and WUKY commentator's roots and how they led her to explore the history that shaped them.

      
      Part 1              Part 2

georgiagreenstamper.com

 
tonic's Greg Davis speaks with author
Tony Horwitz
about his many voyages into the past.



Author, educator, and environmentalist Bill McKibben discusses climate change, growth, and what it all means with tonic's Greg Davis.


 



 
 Wild Regions

Hear tonic's Greg Davis chat with
Kate Buckley
about her book A Wild Region.


 
Said to be David Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, and Dorothy Parker rolled into one,
Sloane Crosley tells tonic's Kopana that would make her the best person ever.
In fact, Crosley's so smart, funny, and wildly creative she's available here in two parts!

                     
     Part 1                   Part 2

sloanecrosley.com

PART ONE: Jerry Douglas - Ride the Wild Turkey; Rufus Wainwright - Do I Disappoint You; Ben Harper - Burn to Shine

PART TWO: Eric Johnson - Soulful Terrain; 3rd Force - Bridge of Dreams; LAGQ - The Cat Cow Reel




 tonic's Tiffany Reisz struggled through the bestselling The Lovely Bones, cringed during portions of Lucky, and now she's set to conquer
Alice Sebold
's
2007 novel The Almost Moon.



 
Hillary Jordan,
author of
Mudbound,
talks with
tonic's Tiffany Reisz
about the book and what drew
her to the "darkness" of the South.





Carolyn Jourdan was a rising star Senate counsel in D.C. until a family emergency called from her East Tennessee mountain home. Listen to this hysterically funny, smart "uber-hick" tell tonic's Kopana about her journey. Oh, and if it sounds odd to you, just pretend Carolyn has called from a parallel universe. It will add to the experience.

 
carolynjourdan.com


 
Martie Majoros, research editor for The Old Farmer's Almanac's All-Season Garden Guide, took time out of her busy spring schedule to instruct us on the finer points of the annual magazine's offerings on garden design, veggies, fruit, and cool patio building tips!


Lots of great information about the magazine and much, much more can be found at The Old Farmer's Almanac website:




In his new memoir Born Standing Up,
Steve Martin
waxes nostalgic for his stand-up days. tonic's Tiffany Reisz unpacks the story of the bunny-eared, banjo-playing wild man of comedy.

 

 
Acclaimed novelist and sometimes polemicist Mark Helprin
sometimes wishes he were more scared of the world. The writer opines to tonic's Greg Davis on war, love, and the state of modern literature.




www.markhelprin.com
Click here to listen as Morgan reads from Boone: A Biography



Bestselling author Robert Morgan dropped by the tonic studios to talk about his latest effort Boone: A Biography



robert-morgan.com

 
Music: Pat Metheny Map of the World
Barnett/Bell/Kosky/Spates East River of Shannon




He was no ordinary dog. Merle's Door author
Ted Kerasote

stopped in recently to talk about the biography
he wrote about his best friend


kerasote.com

An Address Book with 3000 Names

 
As the uniter of all things Beat, Allen Ginsberg became the Gandalf of the movement - creating, from his vast inner circle, a reservoir of rebellious artistic talent that would launch the counter-culture of the 50s and 60s. tonic's Tiffany Reisz tells the tale.











Hear Jack Kerouac read a selection from On the Road. With introduction by Joe Conkwright





Why Kerouac Matters

Joe Conkwright talks with New York Times reporter and author John Leland about his research on the Beats.

                                   





ON THE ROAD Turns 50

One long paragraph? On a scroll? Joe Conkwright asks Viking Press publisher Paul Slovak about the myth and lore surrounding Kerouac's most famous work.



tonic's Tiffany Reisz dives into the painful (and often funny) world of break-ups as she reviews a collection of essays from former Daily Show executive producer Ben Karlin called Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me.

 

 

God Bless You,
Mr. Vonnegut


The world became a little less interesting April 11th, 2007. tonic's Tiffany Reisz remembers the late Kurt Vonnegut
 


Irving comparative, Sara Gruen, was tonic's inaugural author to drop in for a spot of tea with Kopana. New York Times Bestseller, BookSense #1 novel, Quill Award General Fiction winner of 2006, and Entertainment Weekly nominee for Novel of the Year (2006), Gruen's third novel, Water For Elephants, is a spectacular international hit.
saragruen.com
 


 
tonic's Tiffany Reisz remembers
A Wrinkle in Time and its author,
Madeleine L'Engle,
who died in her Connecticut home in September.



   Bestselling author
Thrity Umrigar




dropped by the tonic studios and talked with Kopana about her latest release If Today Be Sweet,  colonial education, immigration, and being raised a Parsi - a small off-shoot of Zoroastrianism.





Seriously humorous author Brock Clarke talks about
writing a fictitious memoir as it climbs its way up the charts


 
Questioning God

In his latest book God: The Failed Hypothesis,
physics professor Victor Stenger joins a chorus of
nonbelievers who want to counter the rise of
fundamentalism with a dose of skepticism. 


 Prof. Stenger took some time
out from his tour to talk with

tonic's Josh James.

 
Anne Lamott Publisher Site
 
Grace, The Final Frontier

In her third book on faith, Grace (Eventually),
author Anne Lamott chronicles her disjointed
journey in Christianity.
tonic's Tiffany Reisz
has a review.



 
Christian in Japan

tonic's Tiffany Reisz delves into the work of Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo and finds an exploration of enduring religious questions.



"The Golden Rule" in Japanese  kanji symbols.



Vermont author Archer Mayor dropped in on tonic's Dr. Greg Davis. They had a lot to talk about. Like Davis, Mayor is a medical examiner...that is, when he's not a volunteer fireman, EMT, and part-time patrolman for the Bellow Falls Police Department. Before he took to writing fiction, Archer wrote history books and was the occasional scholarly editor. Listen to these two wildly smart and funny men share stories.                                       archermayor.com


         




Jackson, Mississippi physician
Darden North
likes to let his imagination get the best of him. The House Call author talks with
tonic's Kopana about his latest project, Points of Origin.



   

Writer and bookseller
Tiffany Reisz
explains why
Ian McEwan's Saturday isn't just the story of one day -- it's 24 hours in the life of the world. 




 
Kit Ehrman plants her latest mystery right in the heart of Kentucky - Churchill Downs. WUKY News' Kathleen Adams spoke with Ehrman earlier this month.


What's a little phone sex between friends?
tonic's Tiffany Reisz listens in on Nicholson Baker's
Vox
and files this report.




   It's About Imagination
Writer and bookseller Tiffany Reisz reviews Jennifer Egan's The Keep and explains why the New York Times Bestseller list ain't all that.



tonic's Kopana talked to author Steven Carter. Professor at Georgetown College and the author of critically acclaimed I Am Howard Hughes and more recently, Famous Writers School, Dr. Carter explains, among other things, why both books have writers as a central theme.




Michelle Slatalla arrived at the tonic studios with a big surprise - her mother...who just happened to be central to Slatalla's latest novel: The Town on Beaver Creek: The Story of a Lost KY Community The day quickly turned into something very different...and very special. Join Kopana for this trip down memory lane.



Success as a Romance novel writer opened the door for Nancy Martin to pursue her true passion- writing mysteries.  Listen in as this market-savvy, on-the-ball lady talks with tonic's Kopana.

                   
nancymartinmysteries

tonic's Tiffany Reisz has a crush on famed fictional detective Hercule Poirot and she isn't afraid to admit it. Here she muses on the legacy of Poirot's creator, beloved mystery writer Agatha Christie.


 

 
Tess Gerritsen said goodbye to her successful Honolulu medical practice in 1986. In this interview with tonic's Greg Davis, the doctor-cum-author explains what drew her into the world of fiction and how she came to discover her winning formula:





The steamy South is the setting for Karin Slaughter's life and work.  The Georgia native tells kopana how she develops her mystery and thriller novels, and shares a few stories from her childhood.


photo by Jerry Bauer
karin slaughter

For Wretched Writers Only
 
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, now in its 25th year, is a stinging indictment against "serious" writers who take themselves a little too... seriously. Take, for example, the 2007 grand prize winner:

"Gerald began--but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them "permanently" meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash--to pee."

Jim Gleeson
Madison, WI

Go, now, and give to the world your bad writing. bulwer-lytton.com

 
What's up with Christmas novels? Seriously. You know, those glitter-covered sapfests that clog book shelves every December.
Tonic's Tiffany Reisz recommends Haven Kimmel's
The Used World
,
a modern day retelling of the nativity story without the gimmicks.

Author Laura Moriarty dropped in for a spot of tea with tonic's Kopana and talked about The Rest of Her Life.



  

 

No one can fault Kentucky's State Treasurer for lack of vision. As tonic's Greg Davis reveals, Jonathan Miller wants to recapture religion and faith from the political extremes and harness them to create a common morality. 



 The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has captured the imagination of teens, twentysomethings, and adults of all ages. Why exactly? tonic's Tiffany Reisz explains.



A first for tonic; a first for writer
Lora Leigh
the Magical Christmas Cat is a holiday book for the feline inclined...and not at all what you might expect



loraleigh.com

 

on the burner
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