January 2006
Author Elizabeth Kostova on the Ten-Year Journey to Overnight Sensation
Elizabeth Kostova’s engrossing debut novel, The Historian, is the culmination of ten years of research and a lifetime of imagining. She joins host Jan Nichols for a conversation about the meticulous crafting of this runaway best-seller.
Since Kostova’s girlhood, when her father entertained her with tales of Dracula, she has envisioned the story that would become The Historian. With her academic spirit and extraordinary talent, she’s spun an intricate tale of sprawling mystery and suspense. Kostova graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for Novel-in-Progress.
Acclaim for The Historian is intense and widespread, having already been translated into thirty-six languages. Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, raved, “Exotic locales, tantalizing history, a family legacy, and a love of the bloodthirsty; it’s hard to imagine that readers won’t be bitten, too.” And a starred Kirkus review warns, “Anne Rice beware, there’s a new Queen of the Night in town, and she’s taking no prisoners.”
So sink your teeth in and don’t resist the compulsion to hear Elizabeth Kostova in conversation on the creation of a world where scary things do go bump in the night.
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February 2006
Holy Cow Batman, a New Brand of Comic Book
Jim Ottaviani has mastered the art of unlikely associations. He writes comics (now known as graphic novels to the uninitiated) about science and scientists. Without benefit of cape, mask and tights, Ottaviani’s heroes routinely overcome impossible odds using the power of their scientific minds. With advanced degrees in both nuclear engineering and library science, Jim knows his subject well.
Ottaviani joins host Jan Nichols to discuss the connection between comics, creativity and science. The author of five books, all of Ottaviani’s work has received critical acclaim. His graphic novel Fallout, was one of Booklist’s Top Ten graphic novels for 2002, featuring J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard and their involvement with the science and politics of nuclear weapons. Suspended in Language, his biography of Niels Bohr, was noted as one of the year’s best by the Comics Journal.
While Ottaviani’s comics aren’t just for kids, his work has been very well received by middle schools, high schools and colleges, who use his graphic novels in the classroom as a teaching aid. As students get caught up in reading comics, they accidentally discover that science and scientists are cool. Join us for a fascinating look at the super-heroes of science and the writer who brings them to life.
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March 2006
Talk to Me! Radio Personality Lucy Ann Lance
What does it take to talk for a living? Start with a super-size personality that goes right through the mic and makes itself at home in the heads of everyone who happens to be listening. Add the ability to be up, out of the house and on-the-air by 6:00a.m. every week-day and you’ve got the goods to be Lucy Ann Lance.
Broadcast professional Lucy Ann Lance joins host Jan Nichols to discuss what it takes to create a connection with people on and off the air. A hometown girl and graduate of the University of Michigan, Lucy Ann began her broadcast career at WAAM in 1984 as Assistant News Director. She has filed stories with national news outlets and in addition to hosting “The Morning Show” on WAAM, she has also been the moderator of “Michigan Forum,” a public affairs program on PAX TV.
A popular emcee, Lucy Ann uses her talent to help a variety of charities raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Enjoy the opportunity to hear Ann Arbor’s very own “Oprah” suspend her role as the consummate interviewer to be interviewed herself. If people seem to tune-out when you start to talk, please join us for an insightful conversation on the creative process that allows one person to connect with another.
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April 2006
That’s News to Me! Crain’s Detroit Business Publisher Mary Kramer
Michigan’s own Mary Kramer will join host Jan Nichols for an inside look at a life in publishing. She’s been a reporter, a manager and now sits in the big chair at Crain’s, the metropolitan area’s premier business publication. From the facts that fill the news to the stories that drive the headlines, she discusses the art and science of publishing what people want to read.
If you’ve ever wondered what a publisher really does, this is your chance to find out. A news professional through and through, Mary Kramer covers the art and science of putting a publication on press week after week. If you think it’s all about the corner office and the cushy job, you don’t know Mary Kramer - yet.
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May 2006
WXYZ-TV’s Anchorman Erik Smith Straight from the Heart
Erik Smith has been giving Detroiters their morning "wake-up call" for over thirty years. In addition to anchoring Action News This Morning with Carolyn Clifford and Dave Rexroth, Erik hosts the multiple award-winning series From the Heart. His warm and homespun manner, make him a complete natural as host and narrator. Now, he is also the author of From the Heart, a big-hearted book of little stories that reveal the true spirit of metro Detroit’s community. Channel 7’s popular anchorman joins host Jan Nichols for a conversation about the kind of stories that might not make the news, but certainly take their place in the heart and mind.
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