Beyond the Page: The Best of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference Podcast
1) Ocean Vuong "The Emperor of Gladness"
In this episode – recorded live at the 2025 Writers Conference – I have an intimate conversation, in front of 1500 people, with the novelist and poet Ocean Vuong. When he was two years old, in 1990, O...Show More
2) Dr. Vivek Murphy, From the Heart
During his tenure as the Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy became, in effect, our national healer. In a soft but strong voice, he spoke about the country’s maladies like addiction...Show More
3) Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood—author of more than 60 books in almost every conceivable genre, recipient of more than 100 literary prizes—is a global icon. Like Kafka and Orwell before her, she and her writing have ...Show More
4) Niall Ferguson and Evan Osnos on Kissinger
No U.S. secretary of state ever achieved such celebrity while in office as Henry Kissinger; immersed in the philosophy of Kant and the diplomacy of Metternich, he was hailed as one of the most importa...Show More
5) Jonathan Eig on Martin Luther King, Jr.
In this episode, recorded live at the 2024 conference, biographer Jonathan Eig talks about his book on Martin Luther King, Jr., the first major biography of the civil rights leader in decades. Eig res...Show More
6) The Radical Honesty of Judy Blume
In this episode of Beyond the Page, lucky listener, you get to hear the great Judy Blume, the author of twenty-five books for young readers and four novels for adults that all-told have sold more than...Show More
7) Dennis Lehane: Confessions of a Novelist Turned TV Showrunner
In this episode, recorded live at the 2024 Writers Conference, I sit down with bestselling crime novelist and TV writer/producer DENNIS LEHANE for a lively, wide-ranging conversation about how he appr...Show More
8) John Vaillant: Fire Weather
We were already editing this episode when the L.A. fires broke out on January 7, 2025. In fact, our editor Dean Grinsfelder had to evacuate as the flames moved in. So did my 91-year-old dad, and so di...Show More
9) Kristin Hannah in conversation with Jenny Emery Davidson
In this episode, recorded live at the 2024 Sun Valley Writers' Conference, novelist Kristin Hannah talks to Jenny Emery Davidson, the executive director of The Community Library in Ketchum, Idaho, abo...Show More
10) Ancient Wisdom and the Enduring Power of Community
In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? In this episode, one of Ameriica’s leading rabbis, and the au...Show More