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

Knockemstiff (Doubleday) Knockemstiff, Ohio, inspires Donald Ray Pollock to explore the miseries and ferocities of small-town life.

Knockemstiff (Doubleday)Knockemstiff, Ohio, inspires Donald Ray Pollock to explore the miseries and ferocities of small-town life.

Knockemstiff (Doubleday) Knockemstiff, Ohio, inspires Donald Ray Pollock to explore the miseries and ferocities of small-town life.

Donald Ray Pollock (national)

Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!  (Pantheon) A sneak preview of the new Art Spiegelman book, which collects Art's early underground commix and includes his next autobiographical sequence...

Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! (Pantheon)A sneak preview of the new Art Spiegelman book, which collects Art's early underground commix and includes his next autobiographical sequence...

Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&amp;*!&nbsp; (Pantheon) A sneak preview of the new Art Spiegelman book, which collects Art's early underground commix and includes his next autobiographical sequence...

Art Spiegelman (local)

A wonderful young novelist, Andrew Sean Greer, writes about enormous and basic truths that his characters choose to conceal...

A wonderful young novelist, Andrew Sean Greer, writes about enormous and basic truths that his characters choose to conceal...

Andrew Sean Greer: The Story of a Marriage

In this new novel, Salman Rushdie explores Renaissance Florence and the reign of Akbar in India, in order to describe a world on the verge of discovering that all its beliefs are incorrect...

In this new novel, Salman Rushdie explores Renaissance Florence and the reign of Akbar in India, in order to describe a world on the verge of discovering that all its beliefs are incorrect...

Salman Rushdie: The Enchantress of Florence

The Drop Edge of Yonder (Two Dollar Radio) Where has Rudy Wurlitzer been for the last fifteen years? The mental traveler takes another vision quest, this time into the Old American
West...

The Drop Edge of Yonder (Two Dollar Radio)Where has Rudy Wurlitzer been for the last fifteen years? The mental traveler takes another vision quest, this time into the Old American West...

The Drop Edge of Yonder (Two Dollar Radio) Where has Rudy Wurlitzer been for the last fifteen years? The mental traveler takes another vision quest, this time into the Old American
West...

Rudolph Wurlitzer

Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories (Knopf) Tobias Wolff has re-written his famous stories many times—even
after they've been published...

Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories (Knopf)Tobias Wolff has re-written his famous stories many times—even after they've been published...

Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories (Knopf) Tobias Wolff has re-written his famous stories many times—even
after they've been published...

Tobias Wolff

Firefly under the Tongue: Selected Poems (New Directions) Coral Bracho, a major Mexican poet, writes ecstatic visionary
poetry that has been translated into English for the first time. Our
program marks another first—she has never before agreed to an
interview...

Firefly under the Tongue: Selected Poems (New Directions)Coral Bracho, a major Mexican poet, writes ecstatic visionary poetry that has been translated into English for the first time. Our program marks another first—she has never before agreed to an interview...

Firefly under the Tongue: Selected Poems (New Directions) Coral Bracho, a major Mexican poet, writes ecstatic visionary
poetry that has been translated into English for the first time. Our
program marks another first—she has never before agreed to an
interview...

Coral Bracho and translator Forrest Gander

Fall of Frost (Viking) Brian Hall takes on a fictional life of
our great Robert Frost, giving language to the poet's inner life.

Fall of Frost (Viking)Brian Hall takes on a fictional life of our great Robert Frost, giving language to the poet's inner life.

Fall of Frost (Viking) Brian Hall takes on a fictional life of
our great Robert Frost, giving language to the poet's inner life.

Brian Hall

All the Sad Young Literary Men (Viking) Keith Gessen, one of the founding editors of the hip,
intellectual journal n+1, has written his first novel. It's about the
struggles of young people to break into the world of their aspirations,
in this case, the literary intelligentsia of New York City...

All the Sad Young Literary Men (Viking)Keith Gessen, one of the founding editors of the hip, intellectual journal n+1, has written his first novel. It's about the struggles of young people to break into the world of their aspirations, in this case, the literary intelligentsia of New York City...

All the Sad Young Literary Men (Viking) Keith Gessen, one of the founding editors of the hip,
intellectual journal n+1, has written his first novel. It's about the
struggles of young people to break into the world of their aspirations,
in this case, the literary intelligentsia of New York City...

Keith Gessen

Sway (Little, Brown) Zachary Lazar's novel is about the Rolling Stones, Charles Manson, Kenneth Anger and the dark side of the Sixties. In this conversation, we try to gauge how much "sympathy for the devil" the era generated—from sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll to satanic ritual murders.

Sway (Little, Brown)Zachary Lazar's novel is about the Rolling Stones, Charles Manson, Kenneth Anger and the dark side of the Sixties. In this conversation, we try to gauge how much "sympathy for the devil" the era generated—from sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll to satanic ritual murders.

Sway (Little, Brown) Zachary Lazar's novel is about the Rolling Stones, Charles Manson, Kenneth Anger and the dark side of the Sixties. In this conversation, we try to gauge how much "sympathy for the devil" the era generated—from sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll to satanic ritual murders.

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