Writer's Voice Radio Turns Pages

A diverse collection of authors and booksellers are turning up on the radio waves in a new venture called Writer's Voice Radio, a weekly program produced by Science Interchange in cooperation with A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books and KALW-FM Radio, both of San Francisco. Launched in mid-April, the 30-minute program, now on KALW on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, features guest authors reading and discussing their latest books; a literary calendar highlighting upcoming author appearances in the Bay Area; and a brief interview with a bookseller from a local independent bookstore, who recommends new titles.

Neal Sofman, host of Writer's Voice Radio.

Neal Sofman, owner of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, hosts the show, which begins with his introduction to the author, followed by a recording of the author's recent reading and Q&A at A Clean Well-Lighted Place's Opera Plaza store. Sofman then mentions the week's four or five selected events at Bay Area bookstores. For the final five minutes, Sofman introduces a bookseller from one of 30 participating local independent bookstores and asks him or her to recommend and annotate three titles. (A list of participating stores is available at writersvoiceradio.com/bookstores.html.)

Underwritten by one of a roster of major publishers, each program includes two brief promotions of a specific author and book, unrelated to the other content of the program.

The project emerged, Sofman told BTW, from a fortuitous exchange between Wendy Sheanin, the in-store events manager at A Clean Well-Lighted Place and now editor of WVR, and staff at the NPR-affiliated KALW during a pledge drive. Sofman, Sheanin, and program staff at KALW met and brainstormed in the fall 2003, and by April 2004, Writer's Voice Radio was a reality.

"The focus is on emerging authors," said Sofman. "Occasionally we throw in an established author, but ideally we are helping to promote authors who deserve a larger audience. We host over 250 authors a year at our store; we have to select from those and the show's producer has to be available to record a particular show."

Science Interchange, the nonprofit corporation that creates EarthNews, produces WVR in part because of its mission to "build communication skills and outreach efforts of nonprofits to take advantage effectively of new technologies."

Sheanin told BTW that this project "was a terrific fit for both of us -- the store and the station. Our mission, to bring literary voices to a larger audience, is advanced by [WVR]. The feedback from customers and other booksellers has been great. A few weeks ago the station added a second time slot to air the show. We are on from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday and now 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday. We have listeners phoning in and coming into the store asking for some of the titles mentioned. We know that the show has generated tremendous excitement in the bookselling community. Publishers have been very supportive also."

Sofman and Sheanin found publishers immediately receptive when they approached them with the concept during a trip to New York City last year. "Everyone is pinched by the recession," Sofman said, "and this is a marvelous way for them to promote books inexpensively. While publicists are struggling, underwriting a show on a very popular local radio station is a low cost way to introduce an author. We didn't want to pitch the idea to superstars -- they don't need our help."

But a number of very popular authors have been featured on WVR. "T.C. Boyle was our first author," Sofman said. "We knew he'd be fabulous. Walter Mosley was terrific. Alexander McCall Smith -- we had a feeling about him and he turned out to be the world's most charming human -- although I had to miss his appearance. Mostly we feature authors who are not yet household names, but will be."

Past shows have featured names such as Justin Cronin, Steve Almond, and Alison Smith, rising stars as well as the authors of recent Book Sense Picks.

For complete lists of scheduled authors, recommended titles, archived shows, and more, visit writersvoiceradio.com/. --Nomi Schwartz