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Hosted by Clara Sherley-Appel · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 57 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Host Clara Sherley-Appel interviews authors about their creative process, from the inspiration behind the books they write to specific choices they make.
Clara Sherley-Appel hosts Story Behind the Story, a arts show with 57 episodes published.
Charlie Jane Anders is an award-winning, best-selling author of speculative fiction based in the Bay Area. She is the winner of the 2017 Nebula, Locus, and Crawford awards; winner of the 2020 Locus Award; a co-creator of
Christopher Blackwell is an award-winning journalist currently incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center, where he is serving a 45-year prison sentence for taking another human’s life during a drug robbery (somet
Alka Joshi spent 10 years working on her debut novel, The Henna Artist, before it was published in March 2020, just before the world locked down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, a few months later, Reese Withe
In this episode of Story Behind the Story, host Clara Sherley-Appel talks to British novelist Kirsty Capes about her latest book, Daughters, which was recently released in the US following its debut in the UK in 2024 (un
In this episode of Story Behind the Story, host Clara Sherley-Appel talks to journalist John Gibler about his 2014 book, Torn from the World: A Guerrilla's Escape from a Secret Prison in Mexico. Torn from the World tells
Laura Spinney is the author of two novels and three non-fiction books, including Pale Rider, a historical exploration of the 1918 flu epidemic, which came out in 2017. In this interview, we discuss her latest book, Proto
Holly Goddard Jones is an author and educator best known for literary fiction. She was a recipient of The Fellowship of Southern Writers’ Hillsdale Prize for Excellence in Fiction and the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ A
Muriel Leung is a recipient of fellowships to Kundiman, VONA/Voices Workshop and the Community of Writers, and she has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her writing can be found in The Baffler, Cream City Review, Gu
Hilary Leicther's particular brand of surrealist fiction takes metaphors and makes them tangible. Her debut novel, Temporary, followed a nameless, archetypal temp worker from one gig to the next. As the jobs grow progres
Hanna Pylväinen has been writing fiction about the small Finnish fundamentalist sect she was raised in for years. In her 2012 debut novel, We Sinners, she follows a large, Midwestern family as they navigate their relatio
In 2014, hot on the heels of the success of his Magicians trilogy, Lev Grossman announced that he was writing a Arthurian epic. As the project took shape, world events kept intruding: Donald Trump ascended to the preside
For ten years, Tanzila "Taz" Ahmed organized an annual poem-a-day project during the month of Ramadan. She began the project as an alternative form of reflection to prayer, which she had struggled to connect with, shortl
Tedd Siegel retired from his career as an academic administrator in late 2019 after wrestling with extreme stress, burnout, and PTSD — caused, in part, by the conditions of work as it is formulated today. He wrote Signs
Novelist, screenwriter, and translator Katya Apekina returns to Story Behind the Story to talk about her latest novel, Mother Doll — an intergenerational ghost story, tying together a Russian revolutionary and her great-
Marcus Gazaway got his start as a writer right here on the central coast, when he joined the staff of CSU Monterey Bay’s student newspaper, The Otter Realm. Today, he works as a full-time author in Sarasota, Florida, whe
This month, host Clara Sherley-Appel talks to poet and educator Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo. A former Steinbeck Fellow and Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, Xochitl’s writing has been featured in the Academy
Sam Sax is a queer Jewish poet, writer, and educator. Their debut poetry collection, madness, won the National Poetry Series Competition when it came out, and their second collection, bury it, won the 2017 James Laughlin
Jenn Shapland's first book, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award and the Southern Book Prize, and it won the 2021 Lambda Literary Award, the Judy Grahn Award, and the Chri
Host Clara Sherley Appel speaks with Brett Christophers, author of Rentier Capitalism. A geographer based out of the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University, Brett's work focuses on various aspects
Cheryl Harawitz is an artist and retired social worker living in Alameda. A few years ago, she published her debut middle-grade novel, When the Magpie Calls, the story of a nine year old girl named Morgwyth with special
Charlie Jane Anders
Closing Keynote
1 appearance on this show
Alka Joshi
NYTimes Bestselling Author
1 appearance on this show
Laura Spinney
1 appearance on this show
Katya Apekina
Author of the Hilarious, Offbeat, Tragic, Cathartic Mother Doll
1 appearance on this show
Brett Christophers
Professor · Uppsala University
1 appearance on this show
Deborah Zalesne
City University of New York School of Law
1 appearance on this show
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Story Behind the Story is hosted by Clara Sherley-Appel. The show is categorised under arts (books) and has published 57 episodes.
Story Behind the Story has published 57 episodes.
Story Behind the Story regularly covers arts, books, fiction. It sits in the arts category, with a books focus.
Story Behind the Story is accessible for guests with genuine arts expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
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