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In this podcast, Nalini talks to award-wining author Heather Mateus Sappenfield whose latest novel, River Between Hearts, is a heartwarming middle school novel suitable for adults.
Heather Mateus Sappenfield’s writing explores the adventures that fill life, often set in the Rocky Mountain landscape that has been her lifelong home. She explores the many selves each of us become in our varied roles throughout the day (some we like, some we do not). Her writing often delves into the interior adventure of juggling those multiple selves. She believes that taking chances daily—whether internal or external, mild or extreme—are what makes us grow and feel alive. Her own exploits are many and diverse.
Heather says her most grueling adventures come in the writing of stories. She has earnt accolades and won awards for her work, from gritty YA texts to audiobooks. Reviewers say her work is “…finely observed…painstakingly crafted…Every element … fitted in a way that rewards even an unpracticed eye turned to the hidden stitchery of fiction.”
Her writing recognitions include the Danahy Fiction Prize, the Arthur Edelstein Prize, and the V Press LC Book Compilation Prize. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize six times, for a Reading the West Award, and for a SOVAS Award, Heather’s novels received acclaim. She won a Ben Franklin Awards silver medal, an AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award, and was a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Award, the Kraken Prize, and the Colorado Book Awards.
This conversation
In this podcast conversation, Heather Mateus Sappenfield and Nalini discuss The River Between Hearts and Heather’s previous books. Michael Crouch won a Sova Award for his narration of Heather’s collection of short stories Lyrics for Rock Stars. Also, we discuss Life at the speed of us, which is a surprising novel combining quantum mechanics and grief. And then there’s The View From Who I Was, another acclaimed novel from Heather Mateus Sappenfield, which explores teen suicide via a story of healing.
Find Heather Mateus Sappenfield:
Find Heather on her website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
