Michael Cunningham, author of UNSAYABLE: A LIFE IN WRITING

Julie Orringer is the author of four books of fiction: the NYT bestselling novel The Invisible Bridge; the story collection How to Breathe Underwater; The Flight Portfolio, the inspiration for the Netflix series Transatlantic, which aired in 2023; and, most recently, luna, phoenix, queen. Julie’s stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Granta Book of the American Short Story and The Scribner Anthology of American Short Fiction. She is the winner of numerous prizes and fellowships including from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Julie joins Marrie to talk through so many issues and struggles that writers confront and how she works through them. From practical matters — like getting the work done — to craft techniques —like managing time in fiction and how she uses her famous notebooks (more of Julie’s notebook pages for this novel can be found on Facebook here) — they talk about it all. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded on October 9, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

Matthew Carnicelli is president of Carnicelli Literary Management and specializes in idea-driven nonfiction and quality fiction. He began his publishing career at Dutton, where as an editor he worked with many great writers of fiction, history, and current events, including Vice President Al Gore. At Contemporary Books and McGraw-Hill, he became enthralled with strong health writing and business and sports books. He became an agent in 2004 to have more control over the depth of his work with clients and to focus only in areas that interested him intellectually and creatively. Over the past 15 years, he has represented many notable authors. Matthew is a graduate of Washington University, with a B.A. in English literature and political science, and received an M.A. from the University of Toronto in English literature. He has taught college-level nonfiction writing, and he’s quite simply one of my favorite people, and agents. For a more indepth bio, visit his website, Carnicellilit.com.

Sophie, Standing There is Meg Mason’s fourth published novel, out in the States just last week and already Reese Witherspoon’s October Book Club Pick. Her last novel, Sorrow and Bliss, became an international bestseller after it was published in 2020. It won the British Book Industry Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize.

Rachel Khong, author of My Dear You. Her debut novel, Goodbye, Vitamin, won the 2017 California Book Award for First Fiction, and was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for First Fiction. Her second novel, Real Americans, was published by Knopf in April 2024, and was an instant New York Times bestseller. Her most recent book is a story collection, My Dear You, published by Knopf in April of this year.

Virginia Evans and the story behind the story of her runaway debut novel, The Correspondent, is one of those that helps us writers keep getting out of bed in the morning and back to the page. It’s an anomaly on every level. But it’s embedded with the lessons we talk about every day on this show — perseverance, resilience, and immunity from rejection, the importance of writing the story only you can tell and writing for writing’s sake and not publication’s sake. In many ways, The Correspondent breaks some conventional writing rules. But in its breaking, its tapped into something universal, relatable, and loved by well over 2 million readers and counting. When The Correspondent came out in April of 2025, it was not an instant NYT bestseller. It gained momentum by word-of-mouth, by wonderful booksellers, book clubs, and maybe some Ann Patchett pixie dust. The book had been out for eight months before hitting the NYT bestseller list, where it’s been for 41 weeks and counting. Usually it’s Oprah who boosts a book with her book club picks. This time, Oprah ran to catch up to The Correspondence success. It’s now being turned into a film starring Jane Fonda. It also won the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction and the 2026 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. Beyond the publication story is the book itself and what it has to teach us writers. This may be Virginia’s debut, but it’s hardly the first book she’s written. She joins Marrie Stone to talk about it. We find out what she’s learned – especially from some of the wonderful professors she’s had along the way like Claire Keegan. We talk about the pleasures and perils of the epistolary novel, tackling voice from a bunch of different and challenging perspectives, managing time in fiction, writing your fears, and more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interview on our website. (Recorded on September 2, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)