Franz Weinschenk

On this edition on Valley Writers Read, we hear five stories by one of the Central Valley's most acclaimed writers, Gary Soto. The program includes readings of four stories from his book A Summer Life including "The Bike", "The Haircut", "The Pie" and "The Nile". Gary also reads "My Time on Weldon Avenue" which is the foreword to a book published for Fresno City College's the Centennial Celebration.

This week on Valley Writers Read we hear two stories. First, Bob Hudgens tells us a story about how he author made a friendly connection with a person from a different culture in "Mulberries for Mohammed." Then in Jerry Fisher's "Lilli and Her German Soldier" we hear about a German soldier at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp falls in love and saves the life of a German Jewish girl.

Both Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller have shared the pain of losing a child to addiction. On this edition of Valley Writers Read, we hear them read their story, Griefland- An Intimate Portrait of Love, Loss and Unlikely Friendship.  They share the tragedy of their loss and how their grief helped build their friendship.

On this edition of Valley Writers Read, Christine Autrand Mitchell reads her story A Remarkable Tragedy, which tells how a family's life is changed by the sudden death of a father and son. Also this week, Howell Hurst reads Long Walk To the Showers, the story of a homeless man trying to rebuild his life.

On this edition of Valley Writers Read, Larry Warkentin reads his story, Are We There Yet?, a fictionalized tale about a group of Mennonites and their journey across the Atlantic to the New World.

This week on Valley Writers Read, we hear a story by Flora Beach Burlingame, called "A Teacher of the Freedmen." The story is a biography of the author's grandfather, John Stevenson, who volunteered to educate freed slaves after the Civil War.

On this edition of Valley Writers Read, we hear Jerry Fisher tell his story "Auf Wiedersehen, My Love" of a fictional World War II pilot who bails out over Germany, where he befriends a German woman and then is interned in a POW camp.

On this edition of Valley Writers Read, Margaret Garrett Irwin we hear Margaret Garret Irwin's story  "Margaret's War - Lots of Moving and Air Raids." You'll hear her recollections as a young girl growing up in London during World War II. Margaret recalls frightening air raids, the incendiary bomb and V2 rockets.

This week on Valley Writers Read, we will hear a story by local author Ed Miller, called "Lost Roads Going Nowhere." You'll hear the story of Slater, whose life is a downward spiral, with affairs, a divorce, addiction, prison and more.