It’s a beautiful morning
Beautiful morning
Dressed up in summer and tied with a bow
Let’s be courageous and face tiny dangers
Let’s climb those fences
With signs that say “don’t”
~ Simple Things, Amy Kuney

This week I'll be interviewing singer-songwriter Amy Kuney. She's currently based out of Los Angeles and her album Bird's Eye View just came out last month. Amy has come a long way from the cinder-block home in Honduras she grew up in as a teen with her missionary parents - the quiet and simple life she lived there provided a fertile ground for her musical creativity. Amy's talents are the kind that catch the eye of established performers and inspire them to take her on tour with them. (She recently got back from a tour in Iceland with Damien Rice.) I personally love how her quirky/clever lyrics always catch me by surprise.

Poet Dorianne Laux rumbles into the haunted studio (via phone call) and shakes things up with her unstoppable verse.

Dorianne Laux was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1952. She worked as a sanatorium cook, a gas station manager, a maid, and a donut holer before receiving a B.A. in English from Mills College in 1988.

Laux is the author of Facts About the Moon (W. W. Norton 2005), which was the recipient of the Oregon Book Award, chosen by Ai, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Her other collections include Smoke (BOA Editions, 2000); What We Carry (1994), finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Awake (1990), which was nominated for the San Francisco Bay Area Book Critics Award for Poetry.

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored 22 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences.

Join Monica and Caroline on Writers' Voices Friday July 25 at 1 pm as Kathy reveals the secrets behind the Train of Thought method of how best to turn your thoughts and dreams into a clear,
compelling, readable manuscript.

For information on this and Kathi's other books, please see www.kathimacias.com.

James Moore interviews Yashar Vasef on Planet Erstwild.

Yashar was born in Tehran after the Islamic revolution. During the infamous 1988 'war of the cities' (Baghdad/Tehran) in which Tehran was bombarded by Russian and American missiles supplied to Iraq, his parents fled Iran in hopes of a brighter future for their children. So they ended up in Istanbul, Turkey as refugees of war and about two years later received asylum in the United States of America.

They moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles, most recently settling in Iowa City, where Yashar attended high school and the university. He studied Political Science and International Studies (w/ emphasis on Islamic studies) at the University of Iowa. He's been holding events with the Persian Student Organization on campus to break down cultural barriers between Iran and the United States. He recently embarked on a trip to Iran by himself, his first trip back 'home' since leaving as a child. James speaks with him at length about his impressions and experiences.

[Click on pictues to go to link of Yashar's photos and comments of his Tehran trip]