Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the writers on today’s show have become friends of Michael’s and of Bookworm. We’ll hear from rock band Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper.

Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the writers on today’s show have become friends of Michael’s and of Bookworm. We’ll hear from rock band Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper.

Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the&nbsp;writers on today’s show have become friends of Michael’s and of Bookworm. We’ll hear from rock band Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper.

Friends of Michael

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist <a href="https://www.taolin.us">Tao Lin</a> (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547887/leave-society-by-tao-lin/">Leave Society</a>,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction.

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist Tao Lin (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “Leave Society,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction.

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist <a href="https://www.taolin.us" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tao Lin</a> (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547887/leave-society-by-tao-lin/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leave Society</a>,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction.&nbsp;

Tao Lin’s ‘Leave Society’ shifts the author’s perspective to love and kindness

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his <a href="http://muumuuhouse.com/about.html">Muumuu House</a> imprint after it was closed for more than ten years.

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his Muumuu House imprint after it was closed for more than ten years.

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his <a href="http://muumuuhouse.com/about.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muumuu House</a> imprint after it was closed for more than ten years.

Zac Smith’s ‘Everything is Totally Fine,’ the book that reopened Tao Lin’s Muumuu House

Nuruddin Farah "Secrets;" (Arcade)  An extraordinary conversation about the Somali author's language and family.  The sounds of a mother's speech patterns initiate a web of recollection-magic realism from a deep, personal wellspring.

Nuruddin Farah "Secrets;" (Arcade) An extraordinary conversation about the Somali author's language and family. The sounds of a mother's speech patterns initiate a web of recollection-magic realism from a deep, personal wellspring.

Nuruddin Farah

Kevin Killian "Poet; Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance" (Wesleyan/New England)  Jack Spicer was the maddest, loneliest and most inspired poet on the Berkeley arts scene.  His biographer makes sense of Spicer's techniques for rearranging the senses.

Kevin Killian "Poet; Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance" (Wesleyan/New England) Jack Spicer was the maddest, loneliest and most inspired poet on the Berkeley arts scene. His biographer makes sense of Spicer's techniques for rearranging the senses.

Kevin Killian

Irvine Welsh "Filth;" (Norton) From anarchism (Trainspotting) to fascism (Filth): Irvine Welsh on his gallery of outsiders.

Irvine Welsh

T.C. Boyle Stories
 (Viking)
T.C. Boyle describes the styles and attitudes that have earned him a trademark in the writing of short stories.

T.C. Boyle Stories (Viking) T.C. Boyle describes the styles and attitudes that have earned him a trademark in the writing of short stories.

T. C. Boyle

A. L. Kennedy "Original; Sin" (Knopf) The first American publication ofthis lively and quirky member of the new Scottish renaissance.  Talk aboutthe war between the sexes!  Better yet, talk about a powerful new voice.

A. L. Kennedy "Original; Sin" (Knopf) The first American publication ofthis lively and quirky member of the new Scottish renaissance. Talk aboutthe war between the sexes! Better yet, talk about a powerful new voice.

A. L. Kennedy

Re-imagining Shakespeare's life as a high-flying farce in Shakespeare in Love. We talk about gender, comedic structure and challenge of putting Shakespeare on the screen.

Re-imagining Shakespeare's life as a high-flying farce in Shakespeare in Love. We talk about gender, comedic structure and challenge of putting Shakespeare on the screen.

Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman: Shakespeare in Love

The new editor of the New Yorker on the techniques of the profile. How does one journalist master sports writing for his book on Ali, having won a Pulitzer for his anatomy of the new Russia?

The new editor of the New Yorker on the techniques of the profile. How does one journalist master sports writing for his book on Ali, having won a Pulitzer for his anatomy of the new Russia?

David Remnick: King of the World

A Man in Full (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
As a New Journalist, Tom Wolfe infiltrated sub-cultures: the Merry Pranksters,U.S. Astronauts, New York painters. In his novels, he aims for the bigpicture -- the whole cultural machine...

A Man in Full (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) As a New Journalist, Tom Wolfe infiltrated sub-cultures: the Merry Pranksters,U.S. Astronauts, New York painters. In his novels, he aims for the bigpicture -- the whole cultural machine...

A Man in Full (Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux)
As a New Journalist, Tom Wolfe infiltrated sub-cultures: the Merry Pranksters,U.S. Astronauts, New York painters. In his novels, he aims for the bigpicture -- the whole cultural machine...

Tom Wolfe

Cathleen Schine "The; Evolution of Jane" (Holt) A comedy of manners turns into a nightmare of subjectivity.  Cathleen Schine on moving from third-to-first person narration-that is, from manners to madness.

Cathleen Schine "The; Evolution of Jane" (Holt) A comedy of manners turns into a nightmare of subjectivity. Cathleen Schine on moving from third-to-first person narration-that is, from manners to madness.

Cathleen Schine

Charity (Doubleday) 
An extended metaphor describes Mark Richard's fiction: the world as a charity ward where the deformed, the anguished and the damned seek rescue--or is it redemption?

Charity (Doubleday) An extended metaphor describes Mark Richard's fiction: the world as a charity ward where the deformed, the anguished and the damned seek rescue--or is it redemption?

Charity (Doubleday) 
An extended metaphor describes Mark Richard's fiction: the world as a charity ward where the deformed, the anguished and the damned seek rescue--or is it redemption?

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