© 2026 WYSO
Our Community. Our Nation. Our World.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Best of the Book Nook: 'When Katie Wakes: A Memoir' by Connie May Fowler

When Katie Wakes: A Memoir by Connie May Fowler

Best-selling author Connie May Fowler stopped by WYSO 20 years ago for an interview with Vick Mickunas. She was on a book tour promoting her memoir "When Katie Wakes."

(Original recording made in 2002)

Connie May Fowler is a best-selling author of novels. Early in her career she caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey who then proceeded to adapt one of Fowler's books into a motion picture. When Fowler came out to our studios 20 years ago to do a live interview she was on a book tour to publicize a very different book, her memoir "When Katie Wakes."

Fowler had done a very brave thing; she wrote about the cycle of abuse within her family.Her mother had been abused. Then Fowler went on to enter into an abusive relationship, too. This is her story of how she survived that abuse, at one point the man she was living with tried to strangle her, and how she was able to break free from that relationship and also from the pattern that had long been a part of her family history. Incredibly, after all that she has still been able to maintain her sense of humor.

The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.

Vick Mickunas is the host of Book Nook on WYSO, which he created in 1994. He has conducted more than 1,700 author interviews, from Studs Terkel to Lee Child to John Glenn.