About this podcast
The Writing Table is a podcast for writers and book lovers. Whether you're a seasoned writer or curious about the writing life, pull up a chair. Hear from authors from every stage-from New York Times list-makers to debuts. You'll get a behind-the-scenes view of your favorite books-from writing the ugly first drafts to the final editorial processes.
Check out interviews with Phillipa Gregory, Jennifer Weiner, Lemony Snicket, Laurie Frankel, and so many others. Come on in-there's always room at the writing table.
Hosted by Kris Clink, author of Goodbye, Lark Lovejoy and Sissie Klein is Completely Normal. Kris’s novels are set in middle America where front porches offer the best views, books are treasured, and there’s always room to pull up an extra chair at dinner. A native Texan, she’s now at home in Kansas with her husband, two spoiled pups, and the gorgeous cardinals who visit her back deck.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 370 episodes
- Kathleen Basi and Trust Falls · 20 min · Season 7 Episode 27Author, composer, and speaker Kathleen Basi writes character-driven contemporary women’s fiction about ordinary people living, loving, and doing the best they can to find beauty…
- Literary Agent Tina Schwartz · 24 min · Season 7 Episode 26Tina Schwartz is an author, public speaker, and literary agent, and founder of The Purcell Agency. She has a B.A. in Marketing Communications with an Advertising Emphasis from…
- Seth Fleisher: The Farther Shore · 22 min · Season 7 Episode 25Seth Fleisher is an American author whose work has appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review, Pearl, the Journal of Anthropological Research, and elsewhere. Based in Berkeley…
- Kathleen Fox on Evie Walters Takes the Wheel · 21 min · Season 7 Episode 24Kathleen Fox is a former teacher, school librarian, and corporate trainer. She developed games, children’s books, and music for the school library market, and founded a local art…
- Jonathan Edward Durham's Winterset Hollow · 21 min · Season 7 Episode 23Jonathan Edward Durham (@thisone0verhere) was born in Eastern Pennsylvania where he read voraciously through his youth and beyond. He studied literature at William and Mary while…
- Sara Z. Carson's Dark Messiah · 19 min · Season 7 Episode 22Sara Z. Carson is a public relations professional who lives with her family in Brooklyn. Dark Messiah is her first book. Learn more at sarahzcarsonauthor.com Intro reel, Writing…
- Laleh Khadivi's Female Life on Planet Earth · 25 min · Season 7 Episode 21Laleh Khadivi is the author of The Kurdish Trilogy. She is the recipient of a Whiting Award, a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, a Pushcart Prize and a grant…
- Charlotte Lillie Balough: Capsized · 31 min · Season 7 Episode 20Charlotte Lillie Balogh is an author, a screenwriter, and a comic book writer born and raised outside Boston. She self-published her first book at sixteen years old and later…
- Hank Phillippi Ryan: Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger · 30 min · Season 7 Episode 19USA Today bestselling author HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN is the author of 17 thrillers, including her newest, the instant USA today bestseller ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS, which just won the…
- Rebecca Stafford: The Ending You Deserve · 19 min · Season 7 Episode 18Rebecca Stafford is a YA author, poet, and writing teacher. Her debut novel, Rabbit and Juliet, was named a Best YA Book of 2024 by both Kirkus Reviews and School Library…
- JT Ellison: You Know Why · 29 min · Season 7 Episode 17J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of the literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also…
- Leslye Penelope: The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass · 31 min · Season 7 Episode 16Leslye Penelope has been writing since she could hold a pen and loves getting lost in the worlds in her head. She also writes award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance as L…
- Jess Row's Storyknife · 16 min · Season 7 Episode 15Jess Row is the author of the novel Your Face in Mine, the essay collection White Flights: Race, Fiction, and the American Imagination, and two collections of short stories, The…
- Chris Bohjalian on The Amateur · 30 min · Season 7 Episode 14Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 26 books ranging from literary fiction, historical fiction, thrillers, and (on occasion) ghost stories. His work…
- Lisa Roe on Sisters, Roughing It, & Her New Novel, Big & Lily · 16 min · Season 7 Episode 13Lisa Roe graduated from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and spent many years as an advertising creative director and copywriter in New…
- Victoria Lavine: Behind the RomCom · 22 min · Season 7 Episode 11Victoria Lavine’s love of romance novels started in high school with a crate of old bodice rippers and a wink from her local librarian. Now, she writes her own Happily Ever…
- Debut Author Sarah Flocken · 22 min · Season 7 Episode 10Sarah Flocken is an upmarket fiction author. She is also a public relations professional, comedian, improviser, and pun contest host (yes, it’s a thing). Sarah’s poetry, essays…
- David Ellis: Balancing Character & Plot to Keep Readers Turning Pages · 29 min · Season 7 Episode 9David Ellis is a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling books co-authored with James Patterson. His novels have been…
- Brianna LaBuskes on Historicals, Thrillers, and Crime Scene Clean-up · 22 min · Season 7 Episode 12Brianna Labuskes is the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Amazon Charts best-selling author of psychological thrillers and historical fiction. Her books have been…
- Amy Archer on Writing Nemesis Mine · 20 min · Season 7 Episode 9Amy Archer is from Doncaster, South Yorkshire. She has loved writing since becoming her grandad’s pen-pal at the age of six. Growing up on the boundary of various cricket pitches…
- Brooke Fast's Debut: To Cage A Wild Bird · 19 min · Season 7 Episode 8Brooke Fast is a lover of dystopian, fantasy, and all things romance. When she’s not writing new worlds, you can find her curled up on the couch with her husband and their pups…
- Cleo Ballard's This is a Lie · 21 min · Season 7 Episode 7Writing domestic suspense under the pseudonym Cleo Ballard, Nan Fischer also writes young adult novels, such as When Elephants Fly and The Speed of Falling Objects. Additional…
- Stephanie Mack's Twenty Something Else · 18 min · Season 7 Episode 6Stephanie Mack is an author, speaker, and podcast host with a passion for the art of great storytelling. Her novels blend women’s fiction and romantic elements with meaningful…
- Kate Khavari's Botanist's Guide Mysteries · 22 min · Season 7 Episode 6Kate Khavari is the USA Today bestselling author of fiction ranging from historical mysteries to high fantasy epics. She has her parents to thank for her fascination for…
- Dr. Cristina LePort: Cardiology to Cryogenic Thrillers · 18 min · Season 7 Episode 5What does it take to fold a lifelong career in cardiology into one as a successful thriller writer? Dr. Cristina LePort, accomplished cardiologist and Amazon bestselling author…
- Jasper Craven: God Forgives, Brother's Don't · 23 min · Season 7 Episode 4Jasper Craven is an investigative journalist covering the military and veterans’ issues. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, Politico, The Intercept, The Boston Globe, and The…
- Eloisa James & The Last Lady B · 20 min · Season 7 Episode 3Eloisa has published over 30 historical romances, many of which have hit the bestseller lists. She also wrote a bestselling memoir, Paris in Love, as well as a contemporary…
- Andrew Forrester: How The Story Goes · 19 min · Season 7 Episode 2Debut novelist Andrew Forrester is a writer and former English teacher whose work has appeared in McSweeney's and Parents magazine. He holds a PhD in nineteenth-century British…
- Debut Novelist Kate Clark Stone: Last Sunday in May · 21 min · Season 7 Episode 1Kate Clark Stone’s fiction features strong and vulnerable heroines, a lot of heart, and endless love for flyover states. Kate attended her first Indianapolis 500 at six years old…
- Jennifer Chiaverini on her Elm Creek Series, Historical Fiction, and Quilting · 21 min · Season 6 Episode 63Jennifer Chiaverini is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-six novels, including critically acclaimed historical fiction and the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. In…
- Sally Kilpatrick on Wuthering Heights, the Romance Genre, and her latest, Little Miss Petty · 25 min · Season 6 Episode 62Sally Kilpatrick discusses how growing up in a rural area and being raised by a librarian informed her decision to become a novelist. She illustrates how the novel, Wuthering…
- Wildlife Researcher Alice Henderson on Writing Thrillers · 24 min · Season 6 Episode 61Alice Henderson discusses the challenges of writing thrillers set in nature, her adventures in plotting, and how listeners can contribute their own regional climactic…
- Shea Serrano, In time for March Madness: Expensive Basketball · 24 min · Season 6 Episode 60Shea Serrano is an American author, journalist, humorist, and former teacher. He is best known for his work with the sports and pop culture websites, The Ringer and Grantland, as…
- Jessi Cole Jackson's Romantasy Debut: Ruinous Creatures · 19 min · Season 6 Episode 59Jessi Cole Jackson grew up in rural Michigan surrounded by lakes, cornfields, and hard-working pragmatists who would never call themselves artists, despite woodworking, sewing…
- Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney: Bringing the Seventies to Life in Lake Effect · 26 min · Season 6 Episode 58What does an author do when her debut novel becomes an instant bestseller? Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney went right back to work on her next one, and her next-also instant hits. In…
- Lisa Unger on Writing Thrillers and Channeling Inspiration *Plus a preview of her latest novel, Served Him Right* · 24 min · Season 6 Episode 58Regarded as a master of suspense, Lisa Unger stops by the Writing Table to talk to Kris about her writing career and how she channels inspiration into suspense-packed novels…
- Nick Petrie Talks Thrillers, Tree Climbers, Cocaine Bear-Plus a Sneak Peek at The Dark Time · 20 min · Season 6 Episode 57Inspiration doesn't always find authors at their desk, and it doesn't give a darn about deadlines. Where does a creative go when the muse is silent? Nick Petrie's back at the…
- Linda Rhodes: Breaking the Barnyard Barrier · 18 min · Season 6 Episode 56Linda Rhodes began her career as a dairy cow veterinarian after she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania summa cum laude in 1978. After several years in dairy practice…
- Kate White on Her Time at Cosmopolitan, Writing Thrillers in Uruguay, & Her Latest Novel, I Came Back for You · 27 min · Season 6 Episode 55Kate White is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eleven psychological thrillers. In addition to writing stand-alone psychological thrillers, Kate is the…
- Joshilyn Jackson on Sisters, Nailing Your Authorial Voice, and Men in Kilts · 33 min · Season 6 Episode 54New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson’s books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s Novel of the Year award, three times been the…
- Hays Blinckman and Tiny Little Earthquakes · 19 min · Season 6 Episode 53Hays Trott Blinckmann is a writer, journalist, teacher, and recovering painter. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of…
- Sofia Robleda: Embracing the Past · 20 min · Season 6 Episode 52Sofia Robleda is a Mexican writer who spent her childhood and adolescence in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. She completed her undergraduate and doctorate degrees in…
- Wendy Walker's New Thriller: Blade · 23 min · Season 6 Episode 51How does an ice skater move forward when her Olympic hopes are dashed? This isn't the logline for a novel, but Wendy Walker's true story. Wendy Walker is the author of the…
- Kaira Rouda: We Were Never Friends · 26 min · Season 6 Episode 50Kaira Rouda is an award–winning, USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author of contemporary fiction that explores what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives…
- Kristine Delano: The Lies We Trade · 22 min · Season 6 Episode 49Kristine Delano spent over twenty years navigating a career on Wall Street before trading her panoramic city view for her standing writer's desk where she crafts thriller novels…
- Amy Meyerson: The Water Lies · 24 min · Season 6 Episode 48Amy Meyerson is the acclaimed author of the internationally bestselling The Bookshop of Yesterdays, The Imperfects, and The Love Scribe. Her books have been translated into…
- Book Publicist & Debut Novelist Jessica Cozzi · 22 min · Season 6 Episode 47Jessica L. Cozzi crafts swoon-worthy romances for teens to show that there is always love in the world, if you’re willing to find it. She is a publicist at William Morrow, an…
- Jacqueline Mitchard & The Bird Watcher · 25 min · Season 6 Episode 46Jacqueline Mitchard is the New York Times bestselling author of 23 novels for adults and teenagers, and the recipient of Great Britain’s Talkabout prize, The Bram Stoker and…
- Brooke Warner on Hybrid Publishing and the Memoir Genre · 26 min · Season 6 Episode 45Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press, an imprint of The Stable Book Group. She is a memoir coach and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What's Your…
- Christina Kovac: Watch Us Fall · 18 min · Season 6 Episode 44Christina Kovac sits down with Kris to talk about living and writing in and around her Georgetown, DC home. Christina writes psychological suspense/thrillers set in Washington…
