Kristen Schumm

Arizona writers gather at Burton Barr Central Library. The session was led by Kristen Schumm who is a Mesa resident and one of the NaNoWriMo community liaisons helping writers make their goal of 50,000 words this month.

In this fifth episode of Season 2, we celebrate writers all over Arizona who are participating in the annual NaNoWriMo.

We begin this episode with a portion of an interview by Lauren Gilger, co-host of The Show, which airs weekdays on KJZZ 91.5 FM from 9-11 a.m. She talked to Brandi Stewart from Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe about Erin Morgenstern's new novel "The Starless Sea." Morgenstern's freshman work, "The Night Circus" developed out of NaNoWriMo. 

Also, we talk to Mesa resident Kristen Schumm and Youngtown writer Theresa Munroe, who are participating once again in the signature novel writing contest of the year. Schumm is a local NaNoWriMo community liaison who hosts and leads many events to help writers make the goal of writing 50,000 words in a month.

Plus, we take a trip to the Just Read Local Author's Fair that was held Nov. 2, at Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix. The fair was the brainchild of Jeriann Thacker, adult services coordinator for the library.

Authors who exhibited at the fair that are featured in this episode include Shari Lopathian, Matthew Brenden Wood, Sean Ellis, Melissa Price, Darryl Dawson and Marcia Fine. We also talked to a range of attendees about why they decided to attend the fair. And at one of them is participating in NaNoWriMo.

You can find local events connected to the contest by searching on social media. 

If you have suggestions for a future episode or a comment on this episode, please email [email protected].

Thanks for listening! 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Rica Duhamell's name and the name of the town of Youngtown.