Direct From Seattle on this edition of the worldwide podcast, Rick Flynn Presents, is award-winning author CLAUDIA ROWE appearing in promotion of her new book "Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care."

“An immersive, devastating look at foster children’s lives.” (Seattle Times)

A compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform.

​This book is a must-read for anyone interested in child welfare, social justice, and the transformative power of the best narrative nonfiction.
In Wards of the State, award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system.
Rowe brings her extensive experience and investigative prowess to this eye-opening work. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rowe has written for publications such as The New York Times and Mother Jones, and her reporting has influenced policy changes in Washington State. Her previous book, The Spider and the Fly, was a gripping true-crime memoir that showcased her ability to blend personal narrative with broader social issues.

Claudia Rowe is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Mother Jones, and the Huffington Post. The author of the crime memoir The Spider and the Fly: A Reporter, a Serial Killer, and the Meaning of Murder, Rowe lives in Seattle.

Contact her at: www.ClaudiaRoweJournalist.com

Purchase this book wherever books are sold.

Rick Flynn Presents, the worldwide podcast, rolls out the red carpet for an amazing author writing on an amazing topic in his brand-new book "Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts".

Samuel Jay Keyser explores in detail the way repetition works in poetry, music, and painting. He argues, for example, that the same cognitive function underlies both how poets write rhyme in metrical verse and the way songwriters like Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (“Satin Doll”) and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (“My Funny Valentine”) construct their iconic melodies. Furthermore, the repetition found in these tunes can also be found in such classical compositions as Mozart's Rondo alla Turca and his German Dances, as well as in galant music in general.

Artists have exploited repetition throughout the ages. The reason why is straightforward: the brain finds the detection of repetition innately pleasurable. Play It Again, Sam offers experimental evidence to support this claim.

Samuel Jay Keyser was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 7, 1935. He grew up in Washington, DC and attended George Washington, Oxford and Yale University, where he received his PhD in linguistics in 1962. Keyser has taught at Brandeis University, University College, London, the University of Massachusetts and MIT where he joined the faculty in July of 1977 and from which he retired in 1998. He is currently Special Assistant to the Chancellor at MIT, a position he has held since his retirement. Contact him through his Facebook page "Samuel Jay Keyser." and buy the book wherever books are sold.

This week on RICK FLYNN PRESENTS, the worldwide podcast, we welcome author, attorney and advocate STEVEN SCOTT EICHENBLATT.

Pretend They Are Dead is a gripping memoir of survival, trauma, and resilience-told with raw honesty, filmic detail, and defiant humor. Steven grew up rejected: Two men claimed to be his father but neither proved to be a dad. Determined not to repeat the past, he becomes an unwavering presence in the lives of his own five children. His story will both shock and inspire.

Steven Scott Eichenblatt is a graduate of Florida State University and the University of Florida College of Law. A practicing attorney with Page and Eichenblatt, and father of five, he has spent over thirty years advocating for children as a pro bono guardian ad litem and representing families of first responders killed on 9/11. He lives with his wife, Melissa Ross, in Orlando, Florida.