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

WEB EXCLUSIVE! Michael Silverblatt felt challenged when Sapphire's
publisher mentioned that The Kid "might not be your kind of thing..."

WEB EXCLUSIVE! Michael Silverblatt felt challenged when Sapphire's publisher mentioned that The Kid "might not be your kind of thing..."

UpClose: Sapphire

Dora Malech explores the violence of relationships...

Dora Malech explores the violence of relationships...

Dora Malech: Say So

Oncologist and novelist Chris Adrian talks about how his need to tell and hear stories has helped him through his difficult work with children.

Oncologist and novelist Chris Adrian talks about how his need to tell and hear stories has helped him through his difficult work with children.

Chris Adrian: The Great Night

John Sayles on how a writer gathers knowledge, the language, the unusual perspectives and the humanity to illuminate the whole arc of our history...

John Sayles on how a writer gathers knowledge, the language, the unusual perspectives and the humanity to illuminate the whole arc of our history...

John Sayles: A Moment in the Sun

Novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer celebrates his first published essay in the New Yorker. He tells us how his amateur interest in jazz led him to write a book...

Novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer celebrates his first published essay in the New Yorker. He tells us how his amateur interest in jazz led him to write a book...

Geoff Dyer: Otherwise Known as the Human Condition

Radiance (Counterpoint) 
Mark Perdue, a physics professor who we first met in Louis B. Jones' Particles of Luck, is at the farther fringe of a complete nervous breakdown..

Radiance (Counterpoint) Mark Perdue, a physics professor who we first met in Louis B. Jones' Particles of Luck, is at the farther fringe of a complete nervous breakdown..

Radiance (Counterpoint) 
Mark Perdue, a physics professor who we first met in Louis B. Jones' Particles of Luck, is at the farther fringe of a complete nervous breakdown..

Louis B. Jones: Radiance

The occasion of a Los Angeles theater festival offers playwright John Steppling (Phantom Luck) the chance to talk about theater in general and what's wrong with it.

The occasion of a Los Angeles theater festival offers playwright John Steppling (Phantom Luck) the chance to talk about theater in general and what's wrong with it.

John Steppling on theater, 'Fever Dreams'

Ann Patchett has written a book you can't put down. State of Wonder is a version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, set in South America in the heart of the jungle...

Ann Patchett has written a book you can't put down. State of Wonder is a version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, set in South America in the heart of the jungle...

Ann Patchett: State of Wonder

My New American Life is the immigrant story told in a new way. Francine Prose's touching and funny character, Lula, is used to suffering -- she comes from Albania...

My New American Life is the immigrant story told in a new way. Francine Prose's touching and funny character, Lula, is used to suffering -- she comes from Albania...

Francine Prose: My New American Life

The Finkler Question is the winner of this year's Booker Prize, an amazing novel in that it's many things at once: comic, melancholic, philosophical and paradoxical.

The Finkler Question is the winner of this year's Booker Prize, an amazing novel in that it's many things at once: comic, melancholic, philosophical and paradoxical.

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