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A Novel Idea Non-fiction to pulp fiction, host Suzanne M. Lang explores the world of books featuring conversations with writers, academics, and readers. We all have a story to tell. It's A Novel Idea.
A Novel Idea

Podcast Directory
A Novel Idea

A Novel Idea

From KRCB-FM

Non-fiction to pulp fiction, host Suzanne M. Lang explores the world of books featuring conversations with writers, academics, and readers. We all have a story to tell. It's A Novel Idea.

Most Recent Episodes

Donnaldson Brown and Samuel W. Gailey on A Novel Idea (Aired: March 5, 2023)

Absorbing literary fiction comes from Donnaldson Brown with her decades spanning epic novel Because I Loved You and Samuel W. Gailey with Come Away from Her, his bold mystery set in the cold of Eastern Pennsylvania. Both authors are in conversation with Suzanne M. Lang on A Novel Idea, heard first and fifth Sundays at 10:00 am PT on KRCB 104.9 Sonoma County's NPR station. Click the icon below to listen.

Donnaldson Brown and Samuel W. Gailey on A Novel Idea (Aired: March 5, 2023)

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Candi Milo and Loren Niemi on A Novel Idea (Aired: February 5, 2023)

Actor, singer, and Warner Brothers voice artist for many animated characters, Candi Milo, tells the story of her unusual upbringing in her memoir Surviving the Odd. Her father was entertainer Tony Milo, and when he gave up show business to run a half-way house for mentally ill and emotionally disturbed adults and bring his family into the house, the course of her childhood was changed forever. The book is funny, irreverent, and heartbreaking. Candi joins Suzanne Lang in conversation. Also featured is award winning storyteller Loren Niemi with his memoir A Breviary for the Lost, Poems from the During and After. Click the icon below to listen.

Candi Milo and Loren Niemi on A Novel Idea (Aired: February 5, 2023)

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Marylee MacDonald and Elisa Stancil Levine on A Novel Idea (Aired: January 29, 2023)

What happens in our youth ripples through our entire lives. Authors Marylee MacDonald and Elisa Stancil Levine join Suzanne M. Lang in conversation on their memoirs of resilience and courage. MacDonald's Surrender, a Memoir of Nature, Nurture, and Love explores the double circumstance of her being adopted as an infant and then her giving up her first child to adoption; she eventually reunites with both her birth mother and her son. Stancil Levine's This or Something Better, a Memoir of Resilience starts with the firestorm of 2017 that had her fleeing Sonoma Mountain and takes us to her troubled youth along the American River. Click the icon below to listen.

Marylee MacDonald and Elisa Stancil Levine on A Novel Idea (Aired: January 29, 2023)

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Shugri Salh and Hemu Aggarwal on A Novel Idea (Aired: Sunday, January 1, 2022)

Shugri Salh was born in the Somalia desert and lived with her grandmother as a desert nomad herding goats before landing in an orphanage and the streets of Mogadishu during the Somali Civil War, and eventually making her way to North America. The Last Nomad, Coming of Age in the Somali Desert is her eye-opening memoir, and she joins Suzanne Lang in conversation. Also featured is Hemu Aggarwal with her book The Forbidden Letters, a True Story. Hemu is an artist and graphic designer whose discovery of century old love letters written by her parents, set her on a mission to translate them into English from Gujarati. They represent an intimate look into the lives of two young people in an arranged marriage, very much in love but subject to customs and taboos challenged. It's A Novel Idea, every first, third, and fifth Sundays at 10am on KRCB 104.9 FM, streaming at krcb.org. Click the icon below to listen.

Shugri Salh and Hemu Aggarwal on A Novel Idea (Aired: Sunday, January 1, 2022)

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Brennan Matthews and Brad Herzog on A Novel Idea (Aired: December 4, 2022) (2)

Road trips seem to be uniquely American and Suzanne Lang talks with two authors about their unique takes on traveling the country. Miles to Go, an African Family in Search of America Along Route 66 is Brennen Matthews' travelogue of his family's emersion into America on its "Mother Road." Brad Herzog goes a different direction with Detour 2020, a Cross-country Drive through America's Wrong Turns, trying to get a bead on just what that year brought to us. It's A Novel Idea, first and fifth Sundays at 10 a.m. PT, on KRCB 104.9 FM - Sonoma County's NPR station. Streaming and podcasting at krcb.org. Click the icon below to listen.

Brennan Matthews and Brad Herzog on A Novel Idea (Aired: December 4, 2022) (2)

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Lissa Bachner and Amy Turner on A Novel Idea (Aired: November 6th, 2022)

Suzanne Lang talks with equestrian Lissa Bachner. When Lissa became blind, it was the healing partnership with her horse Milo that physically guided her to become a show jumping champion and emotionally provided Lissa the love and confidence she needed to define herself outside of blindness. The book is Milo's Eyes, How a Blind Equestrian and Her Seeing Eye Horse Rescued Each Other. Suzanne also talks with Amy Turner about her memoir On the Ledge. Nearly being killed when a truck ran over her while crossing a street, triggered the deeper trauma of her childhood self, living in the shadow of her suicidal Dad. When she was just 4 years old the media captured him standing high on the ledge of a hotel window, about to jump. He lived a long life, but it took her own near-death trauma to finally understand and shake her lifelong insecurity brought on by his suicide attempt. Click the icon below to listen.

Lissa Bachner and Amy Turner on A Novel Idea (Aired: November 6th, 2022)

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A Novel Idea goes Way out West (Aired: October 30, 2022)

Way out West. Biographer of scrappy women, Theresa Kaminski talks about her book Queen of the West, The Life and Times of Dale Evans. Then, author and long-time archivist for the Levi Strauss Company, Lynn Downey, brings her book American Dude Ranch: A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West. A Novel Idea with Suzanne Lang, Sunday, October 30th at 10 a.m. KRCB 104.9, streaming at krcb.org. Click the icon below to listen.

A Novel Idea goes Way out West (Aired: October 30, 2022)

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Jori Lewis and Judith Berlowitz on A Novel Idea (Aired: October 2, 2022)

Jori Lewis visits with her book Slaves for Peanuts, A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop that Changed History, a lyrical revelation that weaves together the natural and human history which altered West Africa and ensured that slavery would persist well into the 20th century. Also featured is Judith Berlowitz with her historical fiction, Home So Far Away. It's an epic story set during the Spanish Civil War. Suzanne Lang hosts A Novel Idea, first and fifth Sundays at 10am. Streaming and podcasting at krcb.org. Click the icon below to listen.

Jori Lewis and Judith Berlowitz on A Novel Idea (Aired: October 2, 2022)

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Keri Blankenship and Dr. Dianna Grayer on A Novel Idea (Aired: September 4, 2022)

Keri Blankenship did not let her worst moments define her. Her book is Corrections in Ink, a Memoir, a candid self-portrait of her journey to elite figure skater and decline to heroin addiction and incarceration, then her transformation to award winning journalist, who works as an investigative reporter for the non-profit Marshall Project —focused on the criminal justice system. Keri joins Suzanne Lang in conversation. Also featured is KRCB's Dr. Dianna Grayer and her artistic collaborator Anianela Montefalcon with their book Keenah's First Speech, Our Blackness Will Never Fade. It's A Novel Idea on KRCB 104.9 and streaming at krcb.org. Click the icon below to listen.

Keri Blankenship and Dr. Dianna Grayer on A Novel Idea (Aired: September 4, 2022)

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Marston Hefner and Schuyler M. Wood on A Novel Idea (Aired: August 7, 2022)

Marston Hefner is a young writer who plays with language and sentiment, with some of his pieces having a sort of absurdity that upon closer reading push through on an emotional level. Hefner joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation. Suzanne also talks with Schuyler M. Wood on his first installment of The Tranquility Trilogy, A Crisis at Tranquility! It's A Novel Idea, Sunday, August 7th, 10:00 am PST on KRCB 104.9. Streaming at krcb.org. Click the icon below to listen.

Marston Hefner and Schuyler M. Wood on A Novel Idea (Aired: August 7, 2022)

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A Novel Idea

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