Clearstory Radio

In the Studio – Jeffrey Stepakoff and The Power of Story

UPCOMING SHOW – AIR DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

Tune in to Clearstory Radio Wednesday at 12:00pm or Sunday at 6:00pm (CST) at 107.1 Nashville or streaming at Clearstory Radio for  a great visit with author, playwright, screenwriter and a very, spiritual man, Jeffrey Stepakoff. Raised near the Television to such wonderful influences as Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, and China Beach – Jeffrey decided that at ten or eleven years old the best thing he might become was a screenwriter so he began banging out some ideas on an old typewriter in the basement. We must tell you, the world is all the better for the fact that he was captured by story at an early age and never walked away from it.

We’ll also visit with a That Bookseller Around the Corner, feature a New Book Review, Best Hideaway Getaway, and talk a little bit about Writer’s Notebooks and Where They Write. All mixed in of course with those great Musical Interludes.

A Little More About Jeffrey

Jeffrey Stepakoff was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received a BA in Journalism. In 1988, the day after getting his MFA in Playwriting

from Carnegie Mellon, he drove to Hollywood where he began writing for film and television.

Jeffrey has “written by” or “story by” credits on thirty-six television episodes, has written for fourteen different series and has worked on seven primetime staffs, producing hundreds of hours of internationally-recognized television, including the Emmy-winning THE WONDER YEARS, SISTERS, WILD CARD, HYPERION BAY, THE MAGIC SCHOOL, C16: FBI, ROBIN’S HOODS, LAND’S END, FLIPPER, SONS & DAUGHTERS, MAJOR DAD, THE YAKOV SMIRNOFF SHOW, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, HAVE FAITH, SIMON& SIMON, and DAWSON’S CREEK where he was Co-Executive Producer.

Stepakoff has also created and developed pilots for many of the major studios and networks, including 20th Century, Paramount, MTM, Fox and ABC. And he has developed and written major motion pictures, including Disney’s TARZAN and BROTHER BEAR, and EM Entertainment’s LAPITCH, THE LITTLE SHOEMAKER, Croatia’s selection for the 1998 Academy Awards.

A few years ago, Stepakoff returned to Atlanta, where he lives with his wife and three young children, and began writing fiction. FIREWORKS OVER TOCCOA, first published by St. Martin’s Press in 2010, is his debut novel. A Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance “Okra” Pick and an ABA Indie Next List Notable, FIREWORKS is available in hardback, trade paperback, large print, audio and digital forms. The novel was also an Avant Premiere (featured pick) for France Loisirs (the French Book club). Stepakoff’s second novel, THE ORCHARD, also a SIBA Pick, was released in North America in July 2011. READER’S DIGEST will release their version in October 2011′s SELECT EDITIONS. Stepakoff’s fiction is available in eleven languages, as well as in editions for all the major bookclubs, including The Literary Guild, Doubleday and Book-of-the-Month Club.

Presently, he speaks around the country, teaches dramatic writing at Kennesaw State University, and is hard at work on his third novel for St. Martin’s Press. In his spare time, he builds forts in living room with sofa cushions.

Wang Ping and Kinship of Rivers Project

Caught me. Fresh out of the water and unknowingly thirsty for something different. Something with a purpose more grand than reality TV and airbrushed magazine images at check-out. The Somalian famine feature vs the Cereal aisle at my latest superstore. That’s where I was when

Ireceived this add to another facebook group. Added. One more project. One more sweet human I may never meet face to face or have the blessing of saying grace with in a list that is growing every longer. But this one, Wang Ping’s mind melody of people sharing thoughts and words like currents, snapshots and creativity that connects us through that power that runs through all of us. One river in China, one river in America and here across the many miles of water a way to meet.

Wang Ping’s vision is grand and glorious that entails a five-year plan of measurable goals. Oh, capture me indeed. A star-flung vision that has foundation, true meaning, long range plans and results.  This is no burning man art project baby but something meant to create a body of work that someone’s grandchildren could point to and say — look, this photo, this journal, this time – they were here and did this – together.

Add to this sudden surge of mine to say Yep, count me in is that I’m a water girl. Raised on a creek that eventually made it’s way through the southern trees to find it’s way to the motherlode resting place of the Mississippi, that great Gulf of Mexico. The same river that gave birth to the man we needed in Mark Twain. He gave us the all clear and safe passage we needed in the literary dust of rolling river boats, stories, and people making their way south to New Orleans.

Should you have an interest in a project that celebrates the way that the story of rivers, primarily The Mississippi of America and the Yangtze of China shape our lives with their currents, please visit and join in the celebration of the story that is after all, a part of  all of us.

“As you know, our mission is to create a sense of kinship among the people who live along the Mississippi and Yangtze rivers through exchanging gifts of art, poetry, stories, music, dance, and food. Our website http://www.kinshipofrivers.org and Kinship of Rivers Facebook Group which now has over 700 members from all over the world and is still growing daily, reflect the projects growth, as we continue to gather and post poems, stories, images, news and projects about the rivers.” Wang Ping

I encourage you to drop by the site or facebook site and share something amazing taking place.  A group of people dedicated to learning and discovering, celebrating and sharing our common humanity. The Kinship of River’s Project is also tagged with the Clearstory Radio site of the week and will be featured on the upcoming show on Wednesday, August 17 at high Noon.

Yes, Wang Ping and friends. Count me in, indeed. Hope to see you on the Mississippi in 2012!

Update

It’s Actually happened. 70,000 words off yesterday to Penguin for the new Praying for Strangers book. I opened my eyes this morning, red-streaked and bleary though they may be and thought -I have nothing to do. No pressing writing deadline. But of course – that isn’t exactly true. There’s the big dog to vet, a reading group guide for The Miracle of Mercy Land to write, and a wonderful interview scheduled for Clearstory with Mary Buckner today. Life goes on wonderfully. And if it couldn’t get any better – the Adorables are coming Friday. I don’t think I’m ready yet for the energy of an 8 and 3 year old bouncing around and calling Zaza – but it doesn’t matter. I can’t wait to put all other things on hold, call it Summertime, and go fishin.

Happy Memorial Day!

Writing from the hill today where the weather is Divine except for the fact that I’m not seeing enough of it except out the window. Whose idea was it to have a writing deadline on June 1rst during such a glorious weekend? I should be cooking out with Mr. Smarty Pants and Miss Fancy  however . . .

Here we go as I wrap the final lines for Praying for Strangers, kick off the Clearstory Radio show for this week and load last weeks show so that you can hear it now anytime at your convenience, and prepare for the new Website that will be surfacing in weeks to come.

Back to the words – hope you are eating good things with friends and family and enjoying the sunshine.

From the Hill

Have been in the middle of words. All manner of words. It has been my pleasure working the editors from Waterbrook (Random House) on The Miracle of Mercy Land who I swear are making certain that the story is the best that it possibly can be.  And it is so exciting to get early words from authors who are delving into the pages and loving Mercy and the mystical mess she’s in. And the cover is so wonderful it seriously makes me consider getting that Magnolia as a first tatoo. (On Sale September 7, 2010)

Praying for Strangers is also moving to the beat of its own drummer. Early covers are perfectly original. I’m recapturing stories from my year of a wild resoution that led me on an amazing journey to be published with Penguin in Spring of 2011.

Clearstory Radio is shifting into place where you can hear author interviews, literary news, and great words that inspire every Wednesday at noon on 107.1 fm Nashville or live and streaming at http://radiofreenashville.org

Thank you so much for dropping in on my world




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