1888: The How, The Why

Howchi Kilburn is a long-term practitioner of meditation, Tai-Chi, yoga, psychotherapy, immersion in nature, and playing with his grandkids. A Northern California denizen, inspired by the non-fiction writings of Marija Gimbutas, The Living Goddess, and Riane Eisler, Sacred Pleasure, he has been writing stories based on their descriptions of human life in ancient times. He is the author of Monking Around and Another Butterfly.Another ButterflyAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning,

Lesley Wheeler, Poetry Editor of Shenandoah, is the author of five poetry collections, including The State She's In; The Receptionist and Other Tales, finalist for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award; and Heterotopia, winner of the Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize. Unbecoming, her first novel, appeared in 2020, and her most recent scholarly book is Voicing American Poetry: Sound and Performance from the 1920s to the Present. Her work has received support from the Fulbright Foundation, Bread Loaf, Sewanee Writers Workshop, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Wheeler's poems and essays appear in Kenyon Review Online, Poetry, American Poetry Review, Guernica, and other journals.Poetry's Possible WorldsTinderbox Editions, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past For

A student of ancient Hebrew language and culture, Siegfried Johnson in 1990 earned a graduate degree in biblical Hebrew from the University of Michigan, after which he left Ann Arbor to enter ministry in the United Methodist Church, currently serving as Senior Pastor at Christ of the Hills in beautiful Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. He has continued to nurture his love for Hebrew studies by leading over thirty tours to the Holy Land and throughout the Mediterranean world, since 2010 serving as a Director of Travel Ministries for Educational Opportunities Tours, a faith-based travel company headquartered in Lakeland, Florida.Dancing with DavidAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonpr

Estela González, author of Arribada (2022), holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in Latin American literature. As a binational and bilingual writer, she tells stories in English and Spanish about race, class, gender, and environmental justice. Growing up in Mexico, Estela regularly visited her family in Mazatlán, where decades-long intensive development has led to the demise of beaches and sea turtle colonies. Her research and support of fishermen protecting sea turtles in the Sea of Cortés deepen her reflections on environmental justice, race relations, and sexuality.Her work is featured in the Barcelona Review, the Cobalt Review, Connotation Press, Cronopio, Flash Frontier, Flyway Magazine, Kudzu House, Label Me Latina, La Colmena, Luvina, the Fem, and the Revista Mexicana de Literatura Contemporánea, as well as in outstanding collections such as Best of Solstice Literary Magazine, Feminine Rising (Cynren Press, 2019), and Under the Volcano. Arribada was a 2017 finalist for the Feminist Press’s Louise

Richard Paik lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts. A Thing or Two About the Game is his debut novel. Five seasons coaching girls’ softball served as inspiration, while providing insight into the tribulations and rewards of this benign activity. He is currently at work on his next book, a collection of linked stories, none of which are about softball.A Thing or Two About the GameAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to

Iwanna Twainbee attended St. Petersburg Missouri Community College where she mainly smoked cigars and got drunk with her friends. Mark Twain appeared during her seances, and, fortunately, he became her guru.She is a heavy reader of literature and usually buys her books from brick and mortar independent bookstores. To sort the good from the bad she sticks to authors whose names provoke a tickle of recognition, and she focuses on novels still on the shelves fifty years after first publication.She is gender fluid, moment-by-moment, but in connection with this book she has been and is all female.Eternal Questions: A Maybe Interesting List: A Maybe Interesting ListAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to

Natasha Nelson is a single mother of two beloved children, living in the desert wilds of the Southwest. She grew up on Whidbey Island in Washington, a small Island in the Puget Sound most people have never even heard of. The ocean has always been a treasured part of her life, every adventure on its shores scattered throughout her memory like bits of sea glass winking from the beach. It is the one place she feels most at home, where she is free to be both wild and peaceful at once.Winter & George: A Path Across the SeaAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by

Growing up in Minnesota, Steve A. Erickson enjoyed playing baseball and drawing. When I realized that not being able to hit a curveball would probably keep me out of the major leagues, I followed my creative inclination and enrolled at Drake University. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, I worked more than forty years in the advertising industry, first as an art director and then as a creative director.Recently retired, I now live near my three sons in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with my dog Alex. As a boy, I was always intrigued by what might really be happening behind a closed refrigerator door. So, I decided to combine my creative talents and youthful curiosity by writing and illustrating “A Very Chilling Mystery” for my six grandchildren. I hope this book will inspire young readers to open the door to the possibilities of their own imagination.A Very Chilling MysteryAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcas

Leah Thomas is an eco-communicator, aka an environmentalist with a love for writing + creativity, based in Ventura, CA. She’s passionate about advocating for and exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism. You could say she’s tryna make the world a little more equal for everyone and a little nicer to our home planet.She is the founder of eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlleah and The Intersectional Environmentalist Platform, which is a resource + media hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice + inclusivity within environmental education + movements.Her articles on this topic have appeared in Vogue, Elle, The Good Trade, and Youth to the People and she has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, Domino, GOOP and numerous podcasts. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Chapman University and worked for the National Park Service and Patagonia headquarters before pursuing environmentalism full time. Learn more about Leah and her mission in this BuzzFeed vi

Jackson (Kanahashi) Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Book Prize in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES & OTHER EXPERIMENTS (Noemi Press, 2021), AMNESIA OF JUNE BUGS (7.13 Books, 2022), DREAM POP ORIGAMI (Unsolicited Press, 2022), the digital novella, DUKKHA, MY LOVE, & the newsletter, MIXTAPE. Born & raised in Traverse City, Michigan until the age of fourteen, he spent his adult life in SoCal, the Pacific Northwest, & the Midwest with stints in Argentina & Burkina Faso. Jackson has a BA in comp lit from Oberlin College, a MFA from the University of Notre Dame where he was the Fiction Fellow & the Sparks Prize winner, a MA in English, & a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from USC where he worked with Aimee Bender, Viet Thanh Nguyen, & TC Boyle. His stories & essays have appeared in the New York Times, Tin House, Ploughshares, Columbia Journal, Guernica, Longreads, Antioch Review, TriQuarterly, Fiction, Witness, Boston Review, Ken

Kathy Weyer is an author, artist, and animal lover. She was awarded first prize by the Palm Springs Writers Guild for both the fiction and memoir contests, and she has been published in several magazines. Kathy is on the board of directors for the Friends of the Palm Springs Library and the Palm Springs Writers Guild. Kathy lives in Palm Springs with her husband of 40 years and their rescued pets. She is the author of Stitches and its sequels, Canvas and Pages of the Heritage Art Park series. Through her fiction, Kathy shines a light on women’s issues, the foster/child welfare system, domestic violence, grief, and bereavement.PagesAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a publ

Born and raised in Minnesota, Warren W. Van Overbeke attended Cardinal Stritch University, the American Military University, and Michigan State University, attaining degrees in Business, International Relations, and Equine Management. He is a United States Air Force Veteran, and wounded warrior from the war in Afghanistan. Warren lives in Benona Township, Michigan.Tholocco’s WakeAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access

At age 9, Rick Rosenberg moved from the big city to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, aka the "Secret City." It was around then he had his first experience with the literary world, publishing a short story in Grit Magazine. He attended the University of Tennessee/Knoxville where he earned a Bachelors in Communications. Since then, he's lived in multiple cities and has won accolades for both copywriting and screenwriting. He has one child adopted from Vietnam, and he currently lives in Maplewood, NJ. Jewbilly is his first novel.JewbillyAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders

Lance Hillsinger was a child protective services (cps) social worker for thirty-four years. The first five years were with Los Angeles County; the rest were with San Luis Obispo County. Hillsinger had held various assignments in cps. His longest and the most enjoyable assignment was that of a "court worker." As a court worker, Hillsinger personally filed over 600 petitions with the juvenile court, participated in hundreds of court-ordered mediations, and testified in court on numerous occasions.Build a Better Bridge: Social Policy for The 21st CenturyWestwood Books Publishing, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amp

Dustin Grinnell is a writer based in Boston. His creative nonfiction and fiction combine medicine and the humanities and have appeared in many popular and literary publications, including Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, New Scientist, Tendon Magazine, VICE, and Salon. He’s the author of The Genius Dilemma, Without Limits, and The Empathy Academy. He’s written about the therapeutic power of books for The Boston Globe, Writer’s Digest, and Hektoen International. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Solstice MFA Program, an MS in physiology from Penn State, and a BA in psychobiology from Wheaton College (MA).The Empathy Academy Atmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a pu

Brett Shapiro is an American writer and the best-selling author of L’Intruso – a memoir published in Italy (Feltrinelli) that was later produced into an award-winning film and theatrical production. He is also the author of two children’s books, one of which was the recipient of Austria’s prestigious National Book Award. Several of his short stories have been performed in theatres throughout Italy, where he lived for 25 years, and his essays and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers in Italy and the United States. While in Italy, he made many guest appearances on Italian television, including as commentator for 60 Minutes, and was a regular guest lecturer at the University of Siena. Brett is a veteran writer for the United Nations and currently lives by the beach in Florida.Those Around HimIndependently Published, 2019A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, d

Angie Sage is an English author of children's literature, including the best selling Septimus Heap series, the TodHunter Moon trilogy, and the Araminta Spookie series. She attended the Art School in Leicester, studying Illustration and Graphic Design. After college she developed her passion and began writing and illustrating toddler books. Her debut novel was the first book in the Septimus Heap series: Magyk, published in March 2005, immediately becoming an international bestseller after it appeared at number one on the New York Times Best Sellers List.Without These Books is a thank-you-inspired Video/Podcast. Each episode celebrates authors, books, and characters that changed us as writers, readers, and as people. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast. Watch on our YouTube channel or at pastforward.org.Angie Sage selected King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green for her episode of Without These Books.

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M. Brown now calls the North Carolina coast home. In 2020, she and her husband, Bruce, rode a tandem bicycle across the United States from Astoria, Oregon to Washington DC, successfully raising money for Toys for Tots.Sunflowers Beneath the SnowAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Amy Kim Kibuishi has been drawing and writing in earnest since she was ten years old. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a degree in Cartooning and is the creator of Sorcerers & Secretaries, a graphic novel duology. The first volume was a YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens selection. She was also a contributor to the acclaimed Flight anthology series edited by Kazu Kibuishi, and adapted a story for Goosebumps: Terror Trips by R.L. Stine. Amy lives near Seattle with her husband, Kazu, and their two crafty children.Without These Books is a thank-you-inspired Video/Podcast. Each episode celebrates authors, books, and characters that changed us as writers, readers, and as people. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast. Watch on our YouTube channel or at withoutbooks.org.Without Books®, a division of Heritage Future, is an author-centric book initiative. Our resources support authors. We also provide access to millions of books.Amy Kim Kibuishi selected A Wrinkle in Time by Madelein

Barbara Reyelts worked as the News Director for both the NBC and CBS affiliate stations, and for the International Center for Journalists, under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan. Her awards include several Emmys, the Mitchell Charnley Award from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association, The Silver Circle honor from the National Academy of Television, and induction into the Minnesota Broadcast Hall of Fame. August 11, 2017 is named Barbara Reyelts Day in Minnesota. Dying to LiveAtmosphere Press, 2022A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to s