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

Little Buddha 
The experimental novelist of the sixties and seventies (Nog, Flats and Quake) discusses his screenwriting, from Two Lane Blacktop to Little Buddha, and the degeneration of experimental art goals in the nineties.

Little Buddha The experimental novelist of the sixties and seventies (Nog, Flats and Quake) discusses his screenwriting, from Two Lane Blacktop to Little Buddha, and the degeneration of experimental art goals in the nineties.

Little Buddha 
The experimental novelist of the sixties and seventies (Nog, Flats and Quake) discusses his screenwriting, from Two Lane Blacktop to Little Buddha, and the degeneration of experimental art goals in the nineties.

Rudolph Wurlitzer

The author traces his fiction-writing career from the artistic aspirations of Forgetting Elena to the sexual politics of The Beautiful Room is Empty.

The author traces his fiction-writing career from the artistic aspirations of Forgetting Elena to the sexual politics of The Beautiful Room is Empty.

Edmund White: Jean Genet (Part II)

Edmund White's biography reopens the questions of aesthetics and criminality in the life of French writer Jean Genet.

Edmund White's biography reopens the questions of aesthetics and criminality in the life of French writer Jean Genet.

Edmund White: Jean Genet (Part I)

The Dissolution of Nicholas Dee Matthew Stadler explores the role that obsession can play in developing the structure of a post-modern novel.

Matthew Stadler

Fima This sad-sack, Israeli Hamlet, is examined under the opposing lights of comedy and tragedy.

Amos Oz

Body and Soul Conroy, who suffered a major writer---s block, discusses his novel about a vastly successful pianist-composer.  Did writing about a successful artist break the block?

Body and Soul Conroy, who suffered a major writer---s block, discusses his novel about a vastly successful pianist-composer. Did writing about a successful artist break the block?

Frank Conroy

In A Country of Mothers The author talks about perversity and normality in her work.

A. M. Homes

The Road to Wellville 
(Viking)
Hypocrisy, health food, ordure and the morality of fiction are the subjects of today's discussion.

The Road to Wellville (Viking) Hypocrisy, health food, ordure and the morality of fiction are the subjects of today's discussion.

T. C. Boyle

Part II: The madman of contemporary fiction examines his influences: Beckett, Harold Bloom, Thomas Bernhart, J.D. Salinger, et al.

Gordon Lish

Zim Zum Part I: "Captain Fiction" talks abut the fiction he writes, the fiction he edits (at Alfred Knopf) and his career as a magazine editor (Esquire).

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