Author Kathryn Hill is just about the nicest person in the world, but that doesn’t mean her characters can’t twist the proverbial knife. After wowing the crowd with her Spillers No. 5 reading, Kathryn tells us why she’s a huge Flannery O’Connor fan, how reading prose for Hayden’s Ferry Review helps her know what not to write, and why floral-themed footwear doesn’t prohibit her from treading on not-so-rosy territory. (Note: this episode is for mature audiences, only.)

 

Award-winning author and creative writing professor Aurelie Sheehan may be secretive by nature, but ply her with cake and she’ll dish with the best of ’em. After making the long haul from Tucson, Arizona to read her Spillers No. 5 short story, Aurelie tells us why the writing process is more about questions than answers, how she’s motivated by the intersection of imagination and memory, and why sometimes the truth simply isn’t good enough.

Author Ed Kearns packs punch into every sentence and creates characters who aren’t afraid to throw down. After his Spillers No. 5 reading, the man for whom writing is the greatest act of empathy expounds on the current state of the American male, why his writing is studied at none other than Cambridge University, and how he transforms his storytellers’ inner monologue into action. (Note: this episode is for mature audiences, only.)