In Episode 70 of Rewrite Radio , acclaimed author M.T. Anderson explores the sacred and the strange through riveting tales of stolen religious artifacts—from Nepal to Cambodia to the tomb of Saint Nicholas. With wit and insight, he examines the power of objects, cultural identity, and why returning sacred art matters. M. T. Anderson writes widely, for both children and adults, including the 2024 Newbery Honor Book, Elf Dog and Owl Head and The Pox Party , a Gothic novel of the American Revolutio...
May 23, 2025•52 min
On this episode of Rewrite Radio , Rachel Pieh Jones joins us to explore how writing cultivates the humility, curiosity, and delight necessary to create a sense of home when nowhere, or everywhere, feels like home. Jones is a prolific author whose essays have appeared in publications such as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, and 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘯. Jones has also published several books, including 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 (2019), a tribute to healt...
May 13, 2025•40 min
In Episode #68 of Rewrite Radio , Rebecca Sheir shares how folktales entertain, inspire, and unite us in this noisy, high-tech world, and act as a bridge between cultures and communities. Rebecca Sheir is the author of the Circle Round books, The Tale of the Unwelcome Guest, A Taste of Honey, The Lion’s Whisker, and The Great Ball Game, and the host, writer, and producer of the Circle Round storytelling podcast. Sheir’s Circle Round books and the accompanying podcast share folktales with childre...
Apr 29, 2025•39 min•Ep. 68
In Episode #67 of Rewrite Radio , Virginia Stem Owens muses on the difficulties, disappointments, and goodness of real communities. She encourages her audience to seek genuine “local habitations” over abstract “airy nothings.” This talk was recorded live at the 1994 Festival of Faith & Writing. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Apr 11, 2023•30 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #66, Thomas Lynch discusses faith, poetry, and their transformative powers. He asks us to see others as pilgrims on various roads of belief—all searching after a common table. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jan 31, 2023•35 min
In episode #65 of Rewrite Radio , Newbery Medal winner Clare Vanderpool shares how stories transform us and how to maintain our most honest selves. She also sings a few yodel-ay-hee’s from her book Moon Over Manifest . Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jan 18, 2023•53 min
In episode #64 of Rewrite Radio , Jennifer Trafton teaches her listeners and students that play is at the heart of creativity. She draws on her experiences as a child and in the classroom to invite writers to play so that the idea brings something new to the world. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jul 29, 2022•50 min
In episode #63 of Rewrite Radio , Sefi Atta and Diane Glancy offer their own thoughts on writing across the borders of religion, culture, language and more. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jul 29, 2022•42 min
In episode #62 of Rewrite Radio , Jeff Zentner tells how he invited his characters to live inside his head for months in order to let them tell their own stories. He encourages listeners to write who fascinates them and that the story threads will follow. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jul 29, 2022•41 min
In Rewrite Radio episode #61, Brady Udall offers his thoughts on teaching how to write a novel as opposed to short story or poetry. He distinguishes the long-lived popularity of novels in today’s society and reminds us that the novel’s endurance lies in its messy, magnificent sprawl. This episode was recorded live at the 2010 Festival of Faith & Writing.
Jul 07, 2022•46 min
In Rewrite Radio episode #60, Dr. Anbara Salam teaches us more about the human interest in cults, how they are represented, and how they reveal our deepest vulnerabilities and anxieties.
Jul 07, 2022•34 min
In episode #59 of Rewrite Radio , author and minister Gloria Pinkney retells stories of how God answered her prayers through a reoccurring bumper sticker, through a yellow tow truck outside the LaGuardia Airport, and through many other signs. Listen as she encourages others to take time for God and ask Him questions.
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr
In episode #58 of Rewrite Radio , Mitali Perkins offers five truths about fiction. Listen as she thinks of stories as windows and mirrors that teach us to make things right. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jun 16, 2022•54 min
In episode #57 of Rewrite Radio , Helena María Viramontes shares her thoughts on prayer, compassion, and love to form a deeper connection with others. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jun 16, 2022•28 min
In Rewrite Radio episode #56, Doris Betts reads from her novel, Souls Raised from the Dead, at the 1994 Festival of Faith & Writing. This particular chapter involves a quick-witted conversation between the two grandmothers of the main character, Mary Grace, who is currently in the hospital. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Jun 16, 2022•22 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #55, writer, speaker, and traveler Daniel Taylor discusses the healing power of stories and the way stories make us a different person.Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
May 27, 2022•1 hr 9 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #54, journalist Emma Green opens up her reporter’s notebook from her time spent living in Jerusalem, looking at the broader themes that animate global religion.Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
May 27, 2022•26 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #53, Luis Alberto Urrea shares his journey as a faithful writer—from a Tijuana garbage dump to Devil’s Highway. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
May 27, 2022•57 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #52, Eugene Peterson and Scott Hoezee discuss teaching, preaching, and conversation at the 2010 Festival of Faith & Writing.Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
May 02, 2022•57 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #51, National Book Award winner Carlos Eire muses on the ethics of false memory, the power of images, and the story of thousands of children who, like him, were airlifted from Castro's Cuba, without their parents, in the early 1960's.Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
May 02, 2022•51 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #50, Jen Hatmaker and Jennifer Holberg discuss the truths that humor conveys, the need for good friends, and the problems facing evangelicals.Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
May 02, 2022•1 hr 1 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #49, writer Lee Smith talks about and reads from her novel Saving Grace. Smith lets us into the stories behind her novels, her experiences with southern churches, and her fascination with all forms of ecstatic religion. Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Apr 13, 2022•34 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #48, Walter Wangerin, Jr. begins his Festival talk by comparing hard rain on a roof to the sound of applause and praise, and he says that he found it his job to seek God in the common things and know that the whole earth is filled with God's glory. He also dives into the whole process of writing–from observation to idea to final product.Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 7 min
In Rewrite Radio Episode #47, CCFW co-director Jennifer Holberg interviews some who have been there since the beginning of Festival: Henry J. Baron, Donald Hettinga, and Gary D. Schmidt. This episode shares the journey of the Festival’s past 30 years–its speakers, triumphs, difficulties–all driven by the idea for a place where writers of faith can learn from, appreciate, support, and affirm one another.Theme music is Modern Attempt by TrackTribe and June 11 by Andrew Starr.
Apr 13, 2022•47 min
Episode 46 of Rewrite Radio features a collection of excerpts from our second season of the podcast, curated and edited together by CCFW media producerJon Brown and program coordinator Natalie Rowland. Join us as we journey through past Festival sessions in an exploration of stories as service.Speakers in order of appearance in this episode:Gene Luen Yang (2014)Richard Rodriguez (2010)Li-Young Lee & Nick Samaras (2004)Marie Howe (2018)Kwame Alexander & Nate Marshall (2018)Jacqueline Wood...
Oct 05, 2020•22 min
On this episode of Rewrite Radio, we go back to the first night of Festival 1998 and Nobel-prize-winning writer Elie Wiesel, who offers powerful and prophetic words as applicable today as they were then. The author of over 60 books, Elie Wiesel was born in what is now Romania. At 15, he was deported to Auschwitz. By the time of liberation in 1945, Wiesel had lost his mother, his father, and his younger sister. After the war, he became a journalist and out of an interview, he was persuaded to wri...
Jul 17, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Today on Rewrite Radio, we bring you Nikki Grimes, speaking at Festival 2018 about the potential story and poetry have to teach us empathy. Drawing examples from her own work, Grimes talks about the way that words can connect people across time and across cultures.The 2017 recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for a “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children,” Nikki Grimes has written many award-winning books for children and young adults, including Bronx Masquerade, ...
Jul 03, 2019•47 min
Today’s episode, a recording from the very first Festival in 1990 and it features Will Campbell. Campbell, a Baptist minister, is perhaps best known for his involvement in the Civil Rights movement, first through the National Council of Churches and then through the Committee of Southern Churchmen, through which he published Katallagete, the New Testament Greek for “be reconciled.” He was on the front lines of integration efforts: one of the four people who escorted the black students who integr...
Jun 05, 2019•1 hr 3 min
In this session of Rewrite Radio, we listen back to a conversation with writer Yann Martel from Festival 2008. Interviewed by Otto Selles, a French professor and poet, Martel lets us into the stories behind his stories, the quirks of his freewheeling curiosity, and the ideas at play in his art and mind.Yann Martel is the author of four novels: The Life of Pi, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2002, as well as The High Mountains of Portugal, Beatrice and Virgil, and Self. He has also published a ...
May 22, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Marilynne Robinson is the author of four novels: Housekeeping, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for the best first novel published in 1980; Gilead, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction; Home, the winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction; and, most recently, Lila. Robinson has also written books of non-fiction, including Mother Country, The Death of Adam, Absence of Mind, When I Was a Child I Read Book, and The Givenness of Things. Her essays have appeared in such publicat...
May 08, 2019•1 hr 4 min
