About The Writers' Block

The Writers' Block is a weekly reading series featuring stories, essays and poetry by all kinds of writers -- from accomplished beginners to established authors. The program includes all genres, fiction and non-fiction, poetry and a regular series of short plays produced in association with Bay Area theater group, PlayGround.

CREDITS

Producer: Mark Taylor
Production Assistant: Emmanuel Hapsis
Reading Panel: Catherine Huang, Marie K. Lee, Barbara Ludlum and Debbie Zambetti
Director of Operations: Monty Carlos
Engineers: Howard Gelman and Ceil Muller
Intern: Jeff Gilliland

The Writers' Block is a weekly podcast produced by KQED and distributed through NPR. We publish 52 episodes per year. To submit your work for consideration, please follow the guidelines below.

THE WRITERS' BLOCK GUIDELINES

Q: What kind of work is The Writers' Block looking for?

KQED.org's audience is made up primarily of 25-40 year olds, and our program is meant to appeal to a technically-savvy, younger listener. As such, the work should be fun, intelligent, and edgy. Segments run an average of 15 minutes when read aloud and range from 5-40 minutes. When selecting your work for The Writers' Block, please keep the length requirements as well as our audience in mind. In addition, your selection should provide as complete a listening experience as possible. We are partial to short stories or short, self-contained excerpts from books (no cliffhangers). We also like poem cycles -- collections of poems that fit together and explore a particular theme. We welcome all genres, fiction and non-fiction.

Q: What's the submission procedure?

Send a copy of your piece via email to:
Mark Taylor
Senior Interactive Producer || Arts & Culture
writersblock at kqed.org

You may also send hard copies via snail mail to:
Mark Taylor
Senior Interactive Producer || Arts & Culture
KQED Interactive
2601 Mariposa Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

If you send a book, please be sure to clearly mark the selection or selections you would like considered.

A panel of readers reviews each submission. This can take up to three months after your work enters our system. We notify authors of their status quarterly.