This week, The Write Question creator and former host Chérie Newman returns to Montana Public Radio to talk with current host Lauren Korn about her debut memoir, Other People’s Pets: Critters, Careers, and Capitalism in Yellowstone Country (Bitterroot Mountain Publishing).
When most of her freelance income disappears during the recent world-wide shut down, Chérie falls back on an old skill: pet sitting. But she soon realizes that everything has changed. The town of Bozeman, Montana, where she has on-and-off lived for decades, has changed. She has changed. A side-hustle that used to be simple has become complicated. Chérie’s début memoir is about pet-sitting, yes; and about growth in Montana, yes; but, being a memoir, Other People’s Pets is so much about Chérie: her childhood, her comforts, her discomforts—the person she’s become, the person she knows herself to be.
About Chérie:
Chérie Newman is a writer, musician, audio producer, and editor. For twelve years she worked at Montana Public Radio, where she created hundreds of programs, news stories, and podcasts. She has recorded interviews in studios located in Bozeman, Missoula, Spokane, Billings, Burbank, and Los Angeles, as well as in coat closets, farm fields, libraries, and hotel rooms all across the states of Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Her articles, profiles, essays, and book reviews have been published online and in print magazines, newspapers, literary journals, and newsletters. She writes blog posts for MagpieAudioProductions.com and cheriewrites.com. Chérie Newman lives in Bozeman, Montana, when she’s not hiking or riding her bike, Flash, somewhere else.
Chérie Newman recommends:
The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro (HarperCollins)
True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America and American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God & Public Lands in the West by Betsy Gaines Quammen (Torrey House Press)
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins)
No Two Persons: A Novel by Erica Bauermeister (St. Martin’s Press)
The Lost Journals of Sacajawea: A Novel by Debra Magpie Earling (Milkweed Editions)
You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy (Celadon Books)
Someone Else’s Shoes: A Novel by Jojo Moyes (Pamela Dorman Books)
Properties of Thirst: A Novel by Marianne Wiggins (Simon & Schuster)
Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains by Lucas Bessire (Princeton University Press)
Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding by Daniel E. Lieberman (Vintage Books)
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Random House)
The Wonder of Birds: What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future by Jim Robbins (Penguin Random House)
The Book of Boundaries: Set the Limits That Will Set You Free by Melissa Urban (Dial Press)
Lauren Korn recommends:
Other People’s Pets: Critters, Careers, and Capitalism in Yellowstone Country by Chérie Newman (Bitterroot Mountain Publishing)
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land (Legacy Lit; Hachette Book Group)
True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America by Betsy Gaines Quammen (Torrey House Press)
Crazy Mountain by Elise Atchison (Sowilo Press)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; Jake Birch, co-producer and editor; and Chris Moyles, sound engineer. This episode is supported by Montana Book Co., located in downtown Helena, Montana, since 1978, offering new books for all ages, vinyl records, and community activism. For delivery in Helena and shipping online, visit mtbookco.com.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss. Our music was written and recorded by John Floridis.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
