Around Cincinnati

Jane Durrell introduces listeners to a fascinating author from Cincinnati. Vivian Kline is 83 years old, a widow, mother of three and grandmother of six. She was once and artist known for her enameling, and has written three books. Her newest, Love in the 40’s When Mail Came Twice a Day, is a deeply personal look at love. After 67 years in storage, she found a box of love letters from when she was 19 and her soon-to-be husband Danny was 26. They lived 80 miles apart and phone calls were prohibitively expensive, so they wrote letters… not only proclaiming their love for one another, but with references to life during those war years.

After more than 15 years of providing the music for salsa dancing on Mad Frog Mondays, Cincinnati band Tropicoso is ending this energetic tradition at the end of January. While a new, monthly event will start up in March, Band leader Nicholas Radina is in the studio with Brian O’Donnell to discuss the reasons behind this decision, and what dancers can look forward to starting March 8.

Perennial New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini has departed from her acclaimed Elk Creek Quilt series to write about Mary Todd Lincoln’s closest confidant, Elizabeth Keckley, in her newest novel Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker. She spends a few minutes talking with Barbara Gray about her new book and the current interest in the times of Abraham Lincoln.

Jim Stump welcomes in Kim Popa, the co-founder/artistic & executive director of Pones, Inc., the contemporary dance company that often performs in non-traditional spaces. They discuss the history of the group and some of their upcoming performances.

Self-proclaimed Renaissance man, Rick Sowash, is a classical music composer, author, public speaker, and guard at the Cincinnati Art Museum. While his previous books have been for a pre-teen audience, his newest, The Boy Who Would be Famous, is an autobiography of his early life. He joins Jane Durrell to discuss his varied interests and why he has penned this book at this time in his life.