Writers Who Speak

Surely all writers speak? =)

At some point in their lives, anyway.
But today I am thinking about listening to writers read and talk about their work. I kinda specialize in this form of listening. I crave it -- hearing other writers' views on facing the demon blank page. Listening to how they go about crafting their magic. Hearing the stories they tell.

I have heard some mighty fine writers speak in my time and they've all given me something -- something of the process, something of the agony involved in ripping open the writing vein and bleeding the story onto the page.

Interestingly (or perhaps not...), I have also heard from a great number of writers whose often incredible prose does not easily make the translation to comfortable oral communication. I remember listening to one thriller writer who, when called upon to read a fragment of her work, read the entire excerpt in a monotone. No preamble or unnecessary chatter. Just a drone of words like the sound of a dyspeptic bagpipe.

Now, I love reading aloud. I do it almost every day, just for fun, mostly. And I love to be read to, to be spoken to, by someone who cares about the oral tradition of storytelling. And -- Man -- I love the words. But the words and the voice together sometimes make magic.

Here, in no particular order, are just a few of the writers I have heard weave their particular brand of magic:

Jack Whyte, Roddy Doyle, Alexander McCall-Smith, Diana Gabaldon, Ian Rankin, Bernard Cornwell, Marsha Skrypuch, Michael Slade, Anne Perry, Eric Walters, Bill Richardson, Robert Munsch, Shelley Hrdlitschka.

I may have to add a few as I ponder further. Who is on your list?