By KPFA
4.6
55 ratings
The podcast currently has 490 episodes available.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Alice McDermott, whose latest novel, just out in trade paperback, is “Absolution,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.
Alice McDermott is the author of eight other novels, including Charming Billy, which won the National Book Award in 1998, That Night, which was a National Book Award finalist, and was twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist. She is also author of one non-fiction work, “What About the Baby?”
“Absolution” concerns the young wife of a Naval officer in Saigon in the spring and summer of 1963, who years later looks back on that time, from the vantage point of old age. The book has been popping up on several best of the year lists.
Complete Interview
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
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Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
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The post November 21, 2024: Alice McDermott, “Absolution” appeared first on KPFA.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Richard Powers discusses his latest novel, “Playground” with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios October 31, 2024.
Richard Powers won the Pulitzer Prize i 2019 for “The Overstory,” and the National Book Award in 2006 for “The Echo Maker.” He is also the author of “The Time Of Our Singing,” “Orfeo,” and “Bewilderment.” He has been a Booker Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist multiple times.
“Playground” brings together the history of Silicon Valley and the growth of A.I. with a look at deep ocean diving and the notion of floating cities in a story that circles back on itself, and was possibly written by an artificial intelligence.
Anne Hillerman discusses her latest novel, “Lost Birds,” and her career as a writer with host Richard Wolinsky, in unaired excerpts from her recent interview.
Anne Hillerman has written nine books in a series of mysteries featuring the native detectives Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, created by her father, the legendary novelist, the late Tony Hillerman (1925-2008).
Review of “Kimberly Akimbo at BroadwaySF Curran Theatre through December 1, 2024
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Live Theater Companies
Misc. Listings:
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
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The post November 14, 2024: Richard Powers, “Playground” appeared first on KPFA.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Anne Hillerman discusses her latest novel, “Lost Birds,” and her career as a writer with host Richard Wolinsky.
Anne Hillerman has written nine books in a series of mysteries featuring the native detectives Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, created by her father, the legendary novelist, the late Tony Hillerman (1925-2008).
Previously a writer of travel books focusing on Santa Fe and environs, she began working on these novels following the death of her father and chose to increase the role of a minor character, Bernadette Manuelito, from Tony Hillerman’s books to one of primary protagonist. That change was later emulated in the “Dark Winds” television series.
Complete Interview
Caleb Carr (1955-2024), author of The Alienist and other works, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios October 15, 1997. Digitized, remastered and edited in September 2024, this interview has not been heard in over a quarter century.
Caleb Carr, who died on May 23, 2024 at the age of 68, was a military historian, a novelist, and a writer who examined the nature of violence in his fiction and non-fiction. He was perhaps best known for his best-selling novel The Alienist, which recently became a two-season streaming series. Over all, he wrote 11 books, several articles and reviews, worked on both seasons of the television series and two exorcist films. He was the son of Lucien Carr, a key member of the group that included Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Lucien Carr went to prison for manslaughter for killing the sexual predator who had abused him as a youth. Kerouac helped him dispose of the knife.
This interview was recorded in the KPFA studios on October 15, 1997 while Caleb Carr was on tour for The Angel of Darkness, the sequel to The Alienist. While he never came back directly to the character of Lasso Kreisler, the protagonist of The Alienist, Caleb Carr’s final novel, a contemporary mystery, Surrender, New York, featured as its protagonist an expert on the life and work of Kreisler. His next book following The Angel of Darkness was Killing Time, a dystopian science fiction novel.
Complete Interview
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Live Theater Companies
Misc. Listings:
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
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The post November 7, 2024: Anne Hillerman – Caleb Carr appeared first on KPFA.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Noel Casler, blogger and You Tube influencer, developed a large following based on his violation of an NDA, revealing information about Donald Trump gleaned from his six years working on the Celebrity Apprentice program. In this interview recorded by computer on December 4, 2020 and posted on December 6, 2020, he talks about his work and his perceptions of Donald Trump and MAGA.
Noel Casler spent two decades working behind the scenes at live events as a celebrity handler, with such stars as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and many others. But it was in 2015, having experienced Donald Trump on multiple occasions, that he decided to forgo his career and speak on the record about what he knew, first with the Clinton campaign (which chose not to follow up because of hubris and overconfidence) and later on Twitter, where he has amassed close to 300,000 followers.
In this hour-long interview, he discusses his background, the difference between the fictional businessman created for the two Apprentice TV shows, and the real Donald Trump, and goes into some depth about Ivanka Trump, who was his primary charge during the last three years of Apprentice live finales. He also discusses the role producer Mark Burnett played in the Trump make-over, as well as the role of Jeff Zucker in that endeavor, in charge at NBC at the time (and later at CNN).
Noel Casler Twitter Feed
“Noel’s Notes,” Noel Casler on Substack.
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Live Theater Companies
Misc. Listings:
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
.
The post October 31, 2024. Noel Casler: Donald Trump and The Apprentice appeared first on KPFA.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Kinky Friedman, who died at the age of 79 on June 27, 2024, was a noted country western musician (Kinky Friedman & The Texas Jewboys) author of 18 novels, most of them mysteries featuring a detective named Kinky Friedman, and political activist who ran for Governor of Texas in 2006, columnist for the Texas Monthly.
This interview was recorded on September 20, 1994 with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff while on tour for the Kinky Friedman mystery, “Armadillos and Old Lace.” In the interview he talks about the death of country music, his view of the people of Texas, and how he became a novelist.
Digitized, remastered and edited in September 2024 by Richard Wolinsky, this interview has not been heard in over twenty years. Complete Interview.
David Grann, whose latest book is “The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded June 14, 2023 at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, California.
David Grann is a long-time staff writer for The New Yorker. Earlier books include Killers of the Flower Moon, soon to be a film directed by Martin Scorsese, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, a collection of essays, and The Lost City of Z.
The Wager tells the story of the HMS Wager, one of a handful of British ships sent around Cape Horn to harass the Spanish fleet in the Pacific, which went aground near the Strait of Magellan, and of the crew members who survived (and didn’t) during the following year, and of the aftermath back in England.
In the interview, David Grann also discusses the origins of Killers of the Flower Moon, and the relationship between all three of his books. Photos: Richard Wolinsky.
Complete David Grann interview
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Live Theater Companies
Misc. Listings:
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
.
The post October 24, 2024: Kinky Friedman – David Grann appeared first on KPFA.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
John Scalzi, noted science fiction/fantasy author, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, during the promotion period for his latest novel, “Starter Villain.” .
John Scalzi has written over thirty books, five of which are non-fiction, plus short stories, essays, chapbooks and audio books. His specialty is the comic science fiction/fantasy novel, often dealing with common tropes in films and television, figuring out how they would work in real life (Kaiju monsters, Star Trek red shirts, etc). His best known works include the Old Man’s War series, and several of his stories have been nominated and won various awards.
His latest novel, “Starter Villain,” looks at James Bond type supervillains and how they might operate in the real world. The book also serves as a satire on the egotism and hubris of the very rich.
John Scalzi has also written for television, and several of his stories have been adopted for the “Love, Death and Robots” series on Netflix. He has raised money for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and has been a strong supporter of feminist causes. Complete 65-minute Interview.
John Scalzi’s blog, “Whatever’
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Live Theater Companies
Misc. Listings:
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
.
The post October 17, 2024: John Scalzi, Science Fiction Master appeared first on KPFA.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Tim O’Brien, whose latest novel, a contemporary satire, is “America Fantastica,” just out this month in trade paperback, in coversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded at Book Passage on November 6, 2023.
The author of ten previous novels, winner of the National Book Award in 1978 for Going After Cacciato, and acclaimed for his linked collection of stories about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien took a 20-year break from writing to help raise his late-in-life children. He returned with a non-fiction book about those years, Dad’s Maybe Years, and has now come out with a satirical novel, America Fantastica.
This new book, written before and during the Covid pandemic, focuses on the nature of lying, and how America has fallen into a pandemic of lying. A satire set in California, Texas and Minnesota, and focuses on a former journalist who made a career of lying, and on other assorted liars.
In the interview, Tim O’Brien discusses this new book, and also discusses his feelings about war, about Vietnam, and about being a writer. Complete Interview
Review of “Choir Boy” at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage, extended to October 26, 2024.
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Live Theater Companies
Misc. Listings:
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
.
The post October 10, 2024: Tim O’Brien, Author of “America Fantastica” and Chronicler of the Vietnam War appeared first on KPFA.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Francine Prose, author of “1974, A Personal History” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.
The author of twenty novels and ten books of non fiction, Francine Prose is best known for such novels as “Lovers at the Chameleon Club, 1932,” “The Vixen,” “Household Saints” and “Mister Monkey,” and non-fiction such as “Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, The Afterlife,” Francine Prose has also written two short story collections , and a picture book. Two of her novels have become films, and one, “The Glorious Ones,” became a Broadway musical.
In this book, she recalls her time hanging out with Anthony Russo, who along with Daniel Ellsberg, was responsible for The Pentagon Papers, in San Francisco in 1974 and then a few months later, in New York, capturing the vibe of what it was like to live in that time and place, and differences between then and now.
Complete Interview.
Josh Costello, the Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre in Berkeley since 2019, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Second of two parts.
Before taking on the role of Artistic Director at Aurora, Josh Costello was the founding Artistic Director of Impact Theatre and Artistic Director of Explanded Programs at Marin Theatre Company. He directed several plays at Aurora prior to becoming Artistic Director, and was Director of “Eureka Day,” which is opening on Broadway in a few months.
Recorded August 22. 2024 in the KPFA studios. Complete Interview.
Review of “Private Lives” by Noel Coward, directed by KJ Sanchez, at ACT Tony Rembe (Geary) Theater through October 6, 2024.
Review of “Mexodus” at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre through October 20, 2024.
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Live Theater Companies
Misc. Listings:
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
.
The post October 3, 2024: Francine Prose, Reflections on 1974 and the Pentagon Papers appeared first on KPFA.
Today’s episode of Bookwaves/Artwaves is preempted for a fall 2024 fund drive special.
The post Special Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.
Today’s episode of Bookwaves/Artwaves is preempted by a fall 2024 fund drive special.
The post Special Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.
The podcast currently has 490 episodes available.
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