Category: Interviews

NYT, Indie, & USAToday Bestselling author (and Season 6 guest) Hannah Whitten, my first Season 14 guest!

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I had so much fun catching up with Hannah Whitten, a New York Times, Indie, and USAToday bestselling author (and Season 6 Tightwires guest!) ahead of the release of her horror debut RELIQUARY!

Topics of discussion included: Biology class, Hannah’s favorite horror films, ocean research, a creepy cake recipe, & themes of grief, hollowness, anger, and “missing yourself.”

**All spoilers in the final scene!**

RELIQUARY will be released August 11, 2026, and is available for preorder here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hannah-f-whitten/reliquary/9781668655740/

View our full conversation here:

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!

Fiction Writer Nicolle Lioncourt, my next Season 13 guest!

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This week on Tightwires, Kate and I are speaking to Nicolle Lioncourt, another one of our fiction finalists.

We can’t wait for you to read Nicolle’s story in the anthology, which is now available for purchase here: https://hibatahir.com/purchase-the-tightwires-anthology-here/

Check out our conversation with Nicolle here: https://youtu.be/lVAMaVDaqes

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!

Fiction prize winner Mariya Kurbatova, my next Season 13 guest!

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This week on Tightwires, Kate and I speak to Mariya Kurbatova, inaugural fiction prize winner selected by our fiction judge, NYT and Sunday Times Bestselling author Hannah Whitten!

Hannah wrote:

“Do You Believe In Life After Love is atmospheric in a way that swallows you, despite its brief length. The characters were strong and three-dimensional, their struggles and beliefs easily laid out for the reader with an ease that made you know them immediately. The prose is excellent, visceral and immediate, and the twist at the end is done masterfully. It’s truly an excellent short story.”

We can’t wait for you to read Mariya’s story in the anthology, which is now available for purchase here:

Purchase The Tightwires Anthology Here

Check out our conversation with Mariya here: https://youtu.be/lVAMaVDaqes

Interested in being a future featured guest? Let me know!

What did art & writing offer us in 2025? [Part 2!]

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That’s a wrap on an absolutely incredible year of Tightwires! I felt so bad asking this question all year long, but everyone in both parts delivered. So grateful to live and write and be in community with these brilliant and generous souls. It was impossible to condense these any further; it easily could have been much longer. I hope you’ll watch the full interviews!

This one compiles interviews from Seasons 10-12, including Maggie Dewane, Eduardo Martínez-Leyva, Mandy Shunnarah, Hillfolk Shop, Pearl’s Books, Two Friends Books, Marlin Barton, Mariah Rigg, Daniella Toosie-Watson, Jihyun Yun, Carey Salerno, Ayana Gray, and Patrick Joseph Caoile.