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| Plus, podcasts from and about the books Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico; Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion; The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, and more | ![]() |

Marfa
Mondays Podcasting Project 2012-2013: Welcome and IntroductionAll about the new monthly podcasting project about Marfa, Texas and Environs. Read more at the main Marfa Mondays page. Posted on January 16, 2012. *About 15 1/2 minutes. |
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A
Conversation with Sara Mansfield Taber, author of Born Under
an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's DaughterC.M. Mayo talks with Sara Mansfield Taber, author of the memoir Born Under an Assumed Name. For Taber, growing up in Taiwan, Japan, Washington DC, the Netherlands, and Borneo was tough as well as exotic, and she found the experience even more unsettling because, as she learned at fifteen, she was the daughter of a covert CIA agent. In this lyrical memoir, Taber captures the painful journey as she and her adored father struggle to understand who they are and what it means to be an American. The conversation ranges from her father's work in Asia, including his daring rescue of over a thousand Vietnamese after the fall of Vietnam to the Vietcong, and his disenchantment with the agency while working in Germany; Taber's childhood in Taiwan, highschool years in Washington DC during the Vietnam War; her previous books, including Bread of Three Rivers and Dusk on the Campo; other travel writers, reading as a writer; writing practice, and teaching writing. Recorded in December 2011. *About 53 minutes. |
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Ten
Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Writing WorkshopEverything I wish I'd known, ayyy, 20 + years ago. *About 8 1/2 minutes. |
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Conversation with Solveig Eggerz, author of the novel Seal
WomanC.M. Mayo talks with Solveig Eggerz, author of the fiercely poetic novel Seal Woman. Inspired by the Icelandic fairytale of the seal woman and the true story of some 300 German war widows brought to Iceland to marry and work on the remote farms, Seal Woman has been widely praised and translated into both Hebrew and Icelandic. The conversation ranges from the author's unusual background (from Iceland to England to Germany to Alexandria, Virginia), Iceland's book culture, fairytales, advice for writers, and more. Recorded in November 2011. *About 1 hour 7 minutes. |
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How
to Break a Writing BlockC.M. Mayo on the power on the five minute writing exercise. The end of this podcast offers an exercise so get out your pen and paper. (For more exercises, visit "Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises.) *About 11 minutes. Please note that on iTunes the timing is only 7 minutes, so if you're doing the writing exercise, best to listen on podomatic (the button to the left). |
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Techniques
of Fiction: The Number One Technique in the Supersonic OverviewFrom C.M. Mayo's "Techniques of Fiction" workshop: the number one technique. An explanation with examples, plus a nuggest of advice from Chekhov. (For C.M. Mayo's upcoming workshops, and for many other resources for writers, click here.)*About 8 minutes |
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Traveler in Mexico: A Rendezvous with Writer Rosemary SullivanA reading of C.M. Mayo's article originally published in Inside Mexico, March 2009, with the author of Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and House in Marseilles. *About 10 minutes |
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![]() C.M. Mayo reads an excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the other Mexico, from the chapter about the Jesuit Conquest and Mission San Ignacio. *About 28 minutes |
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The Arc of Writerly ActionFrom a panel discussion on writing historical fiction at the American Independent Writers Association Conference, held at the Writer's Center (near Washington DC), June 2011.*About 8 and a half minutes |
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Presentación
de El úlitmo príncipe del Imperio Mexicano,
la novela basada en la historia real, por C.M. Mayo, traducido
por Agustín Cadena26 de mayo, 2011, Ciudad de México, Palacio Nacional. Con la participación del Dr. Javier Garcíadiego, Carlos González Manterola, Eduardo Turrent, y el novelista Carlos Pascual. *Apróximadamente una hora y 25 minutos |
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On
Decluttering Your Writing: The Interior Decoration AnalogyC.M. Mayo offers a bit of advice for writers. From the series on creative writing at the Madam Mayo blog.*About 7 minutes |
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Banquet of Mexican LiteratureC.M. Mayo reads the prologue from her collection of 24 Mexican writers, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion.*About 13 minutes |
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PEN
Writers Aloud: C.M. Mayo and The Last Prince of the Mexican EmpireC.M. Mayo reads from and discusses her novel based on the true story. Recorded January 19, 2011 in the Biblioteca, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.*About one hour and 30 minutes |
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"Hell,
I Knew It Was Paradise"C.M. Mayo reads an excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions, 2007) from the chapter "The Sea is Cortes," about a visit to the East Cape for an interview with Bob Van Wormer and the story of Baja California's spectacular sportfishing industry.*About 16 minutes |
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Haunted
Historical Fiction: The Curious Coincidences Concerning Senator
Claiborne Pell's MansionC.M. Mayo reads her blog post for "Hist Fic Chick" Blog, October 15, 2010, about writing The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. How thin in the veil between our world and the next?*About 7 minutes |
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12
Tips to Help You Hang in There and Finish Your NovelC.M. Mayo reads the blog post based on a talk for the Writer's Center's First Friday lecture series in Leesburg, VA. *About 12 minutes. |
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El
último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano: Lectura
de un extracto del primer capítulo, "La consentida
de Rosedale"C.M. Mayo lee un extracto de la novela El último príncipe del Imperio mexicano, traducida por el novelista y poeta Agustín Cadena (Random House-Mondadori, septiembre 2010). *Apróximadamente 9 minutos >>Más podcasts en español |
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The Writing
Life: A Report from the FieldA panel discussion at the Artlantic Festival at the Writers Center, May 22, 2010, with Yours Truly, David Taylor, Alan Elsner, Kevin Quirk, and moderator Jessie Seigal. *About one hour and 16 minutes |
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C.M.
Mayo at the Library of CongressA presentation of the the novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, and an overview of the author's research in the various archives in the Library of Congress, among them, the papers of the Iturbide family, the Emperor Iturbide, and the circa 1920 copies of a substantial portion of the Kaiser Maximilian von Mexiko archive in Vienna. The lecture was sponsored by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, which is the center for the study of the cultures and societies of Latin America, the Caribbean, the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish Borderlands, and other areas with Spanish and Portuguese influence. Recorded live July 20, 2009. *About one hour |
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C.M.
Mayo at the Historical Society of Washington DCA presentation of the the novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, with special emphasis on Washington DC history (notably Georgetown and Rosedale, the historical estate in Cleveland Park) and an overview of the author's research in the Historical Society of Washington DC. Recorded live October 18, 2009. *About an hour and 20 minutes |
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Elsewhere on the Web The Poet and the Poem Grace Cavalieri inteviews poets C.M. Mayo and Francisco Aragon. Recorded Fall 2008 at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Click here to go direct to the C.M. Mayo interview (direct MP3 download). >>More interviews. BookCast An interview by Sam Clay with novelists Pam Jenoff and C.M. Mayo about writing historical fiction. September 2009. >>More interviews. National Public Radio John Ydstie interviews C.M. Mayo |
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