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

Alice McDermott is a writer who believes in loading each facet of her work with resonance and significance, while composing an accessible, highly readable narrative.

Alice McDermott is a writer who believes in loading each facet of her work with resonance and significance, while composing an accessible, highly readable narrative.

Alice McDermott: After This

The Open Curtain (Coffee House) 
The mystery at the heart of The Open Curtain derives from a violent, concealed episode in Morman history.

The Open Curtain (Coffee House) The mystery at the heart of The Open Curtain derives from a violent, concealed episode in Morman history.

The Open Curtain (Coffee House) 
The mystery at the heart of The Open Curtain derives from a violent, concealed episode in Morman history.

Brian Evenson

What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (McSweeney's)
Autobiography, epic, documentary, novel--Dave Eggers explores the many facets of his 
protean new work.

What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (McSweeney's) Autobiography, epic, documentary, novel--Dave Eggers explores the many facets of his protean new work.

Dave Eggers

The Stories of Mary Gordon (Pantheon) 
Mary Gordon
makes distinctions. She writes only about characters who interest her,
people she would be willing to meet and spend time with.

The Stories of Mary Gordon (Pantheon) Mary Gordon makes distinctions. She writes only about characters who interest her, people she would be willing to meet and spend time with.

The Stories of Mary Gordon (Pantheon) 
Mary Gordon
makes distinctions. She writes only about characters who interest her,
people she would be willing to meet and spend time with.

Mary Gordon

The Lay of the Land (Knopf) is Richard Ford's third novel about Frank Bascomb, his sportswriter-turned-realtor.

The Lay of the Land (Knopf) is Richard Ford's third novel about Frank Bascomb, his sportswriter-turned-realtor.

Richard Ford

Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides (New York Review Books) 
Anne Carson's translations of four plays by Euripides are dynamic, intense and were written to be performed.

Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides (New York Review Books) Anne Carson's translations of four plays by Euripides are dynamic, intense and were written to be performed.

Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides (New York Review Books) 
Anne Carson's translations of four plays by Euripides are dynamic, intense and were written to be performed.

Anne Carson

Breath (Knopf) 
Philip Levine reminisces about his childhood--about how a working class boy came to poetry.

Breath (Knopf) Philip Levine reminisces about his childhood--about how a working class boy came to poetry.

Breath (Knopf) 
Philip Levine reminisces about his childhood--about how a working class boy came to poetry.

Philip Levine

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=kcrwcom-20&keyword=0374104387" target="_blank">The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice</a> (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) 
In this conversation about how America disappoints its prophets and betrays its promises, it's surprising to hear that Greil Marcus continues to maintain faith in the American dream and America's future. Whether the subject is "Twin Peak's" reflection of the Salem witch trials or the band Pere Ubu's rattle-trap prophecies, Marcus' vision is idealistic, even optimistic.

The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) In this conversation about how America disappoints its prophets and betrays its promises, it's surprising to hear that Greil Marcus continues to maintain faith in the American dream and America's future. Whether the subject is "Twin Peak's" reflection of the Salem witch trials or the band Pere Ubu's rattle-trap prophecies, Marcus' vision is idealistic, even optimistic.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=kcrwcom-20&amp;keyword=0374104387" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice</a> (Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux) 
In this conversation about how America disappoints its prophets and betrays its promises, it's surprising to hear that Greil Marcus continues to maintain faith in the American dream and America's future. Whether the subject is "Twin Peak's" reflection of the Salem witch trials or the band Pere Ubu's rattle-trap prophecies, Marcus' vision is idealistic, even optimistic.

Greil Marcus

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=kcrwcom-20&keyword=1400043921" target="_blank"></a>Jennifer Egan researched classic Gothic fiction to develop a style that would deepen the terrors at the core of her new novel...

Jennifer Egan researched classic Gothic fiction to develop a style that would deepen the terrors at the core of her new novel...

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=kcrwcom-20&amp;keyword=1400043921" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>Jennifer Egan researched classic Gothic fiction to develop a style that would deepen the terrors at the core of her new novel...

Jennifer Egan: The Keep

Author Chris Adrian, a pediatrician and theologian, imagines a future in which a
children's hospital becomes an ark that survives the flood at the end
of the world...

Author Chris Adrian, a pediatrician and theologian, imagines a future in which a children's hospital becomes an ark that survives the flood at the end of the world...

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