Show Notes
IWAW loves a great mystery/thriller, and if you do, too, you should treat yourself to reading Laurie Dove’s 2025 novel, MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN There will be NO spoilers in this show! Sonja and Vanessa visit with Dove about the compelling issues underpinning this gripping story.
There are so many positive reviews of the novel, so here’s just a sample: “A beautifully written tale about the Indigenous girls who disappear twice, once in life and once in the news. Clever, elegant and utterly compelling, MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN is a brilliant exploration of identity and the struggle of being separated from one’s culture. Hypnotic and beguiling, I was hooked from the first sentence.”—Christina McDonald, USA Today bestselling author of These Still Black Waters.
In our interview, Dove talks about what sparked her desire to write MASK OF THE DEER WOMAN, why she felt compelled to turn to fiction, and how she understands the role of storytelling. Plus, this is only the first of the Carrie Starr novels, and Dove lets us in on when we can expect the next installment.
Along the way, Sonja defends The Book of Kells, and Vanessa wishes she could be in a book club with Starr.
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Clay Wirestone, award-winning opinion editor at the Kansas Reflector, was so generous to join us in studio for a great interview about his new book, Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters — Then and Now, published by the University Press of Kansas. In his impressive tour of Kansas journalism from the 1920s to the 1970s, Clay honors some truly remarkable women who helped build and sustain their communities through their writing. Clay shares wonderful details about Mamie Boyd of Mankato, Zula Bennington Greene of Topeka, Donna Burough Opat of Lindsborg, and Lucile Bluford, who edited the Kansas City Call. We talk about a time when newspapers were truly local, and the people writing them were deeply woven into the lives of their towns. These women wrote about their neighbors, their politics, and their daily lives, and much of that writing has been lost, buried in the archives of small towns, some of which are nearly ghost towns today. Clay's book brings their words back into the light. Kansas is remarkable for so many reasons, and its legacy of fearless local opinion writing is one of them. As an opinion writer himself, Clay isn't studying the craft from the outside. He explores these columnists with the insight of someone who knows exactly what it takes to put your opinions in print, week after week, for the community you call home.
Content Note: This episode discusses war, physical trauma and injury, PTSD, and suicide, as portrayed in the novel and in the historical record. Please take care while listening, and feel free to skip or pause as needed.