KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman discuss their careers as mystery writers with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded October 28, 2004 while they were on tour for their stand-alone book, Double Homicide: Boston and Santa Fe.

Jonathan Kellerman, as of summer 2024, has written 39 novels in the Alex Delaware series, the most recent of which is The Ghost Orchid, along with nineteen other novels, seven of which were in collaboration with their son, Jesse Kellerman.

Faye Kellerman has written 27 novels in the Peter Decker and Rena Lazarus series, along with nine other novels, including one collaboration with their daughter, Aliza Kellerman. Photo: Jesse Kellerman.

Walter Mosley, author of the Easy Rawlins mysteries and several other works of fiction and non-fiction, in coversation with host Richard Wolinsky .recorded July 9, 2004 while he was on tour for the Easy Rawlins novel, Little Scarlet.

Walter Mosley is one of America’s leading black novelists and essayists. His first published book, the first Easy Rawlins novel, was Devil in a Blue Dress, made into a now classic film with Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle. There are now sixteen Easy Rawlins novels, eighteen novels in other series, twenty non-series novels and collections, two plays, two graphic novels, and has worked on several television series, including Star Trek Discovery and Justified: City Primeval.

Review of “Lifespan of a Fact” at Aurora Theatre through July 21, 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 July 4, 2024: Jonathan & Faye Kellerman – Walter Mosley appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Pam MacKinnon, Artistic Director of American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Pam McKinnon, has been Artistic Director of ACT — American Conservatory Theatre, since January 2018. A leading interpreter of the works of Edward Albee, she won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a play for a Revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 2013. She was also nominated for a Tony for her direction of Clybourne Park in 2012, as well as winning an Obie for an earlier off-broadway production of that play in 2011.

In this interview, she discusses, in depth, the upcoming season, as well as issues involving the area around the Strand Theatre, how the pandemic impacted ACT, and the differences between working in San Francisco and London as a director. Complete Interview.

Pride Month Special Interview: David Sedaris, noted humorist, essayist, and diarist, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios, June 28, 2008 while he was on tour for his collection of essays, “When You Are Engulfed in Flames.”

In this first of four interviews, he talks about his entry into the world of radio and as a print essayist, along with a deep dive into the fact checking expertise of the folks at The New Yorker magazine.

Complete Interview.

Review of “Mother Road” by Octavio Solis, at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre through July 21, 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 June 27, 2024: Pam MacKinnon – David Sedaris appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Helen Benedict, author of the novel “The Good Deed,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Helen Benedict is the author of eight novels, including “Wolf Season” and “Sand Queen,” and five books of non-fiction.Her previous book, “Map of Hope and Sorrow,” co-written by Eyad Awwadawnon, is partly an oral history of refugees coming to Greece after escaping from their home countries. Helen Benedict s a Professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism. “The Good Deed” is a novel based on her research, which was later turned into the non-fiction book.

In the interview, she discusses the origins of her book, the research on which the novel was based, and other elements of life among the refugees in Samos prior to the pandemic. Recorded May 4, 2024.

Complete Interview.

Pride Month Special Interview: Joseph Hansen (1923-2004) was a pioneer of private eye fiction, whose main character, Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator, was the first gay protagonist in the detective field published by a mainstream house. The first Brandstetter novel, Fadeout, was published in 1970. At the time of publication, being gay was illegal in 49 of the 50 states.

Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff had a chance to interview Joseph Hansen on June 14th, 1990 following the publication of the eleventh novel, The Boy Who Was Buried This Morning. It turned into a career retrospective.

There were twelve Brandstetter novels in all, culminating in 1991’s A Country of Old Men. Successful at the time, they’d fallen out of print since Hansen’s death, and have now been reissued by Syndicate Books and distributed by Soho Press.

Priot to  the Brandstetter books, Joseph Hansen published gay-centric novels in various small presses under a pseudonym. Two gothic novels under the pseudonym Rose Brock. There were also autobiographical novels and short story collections among his output. Despite the acclaim his books received, none of Joseph Hansen’s work has ever been adapted for film or television.

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]

The post June 20, 2024: Helen Benedict – Joseph Hansen appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Colm Tóibín discusses his latest novel, “Long Island,” which follows characters from his earlier best-seller, “Brooklyn” twenty years later. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Colm Tóibín was born in Enniscorthy, Ireland, in 1955. He is the author of 11 novels including The Master, Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary, Nora Webster, House of Names and The Magician. His work has been shortlisted for The Booker Prize three times, has won the Costa Novel Award and the IMPAC Award. He has also published two collections of stories and many works of non-fiction. Special thanks to the folks at BookShop West Portal in San Francisco for their assistance.

Complete Interview.

Ayodele Nzinga, the Poet Laureate of Oakland  and the director of the play “Pac and Biggie Are Dead” by Biko Eisen-Martin, which is running at BAM House in Oakland through June 30, 2024, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky

Ayodele Nzinga, known as “Wordslinger,” is the lead curator of BAM House (formerly the Flight Deck and Piano Fight Oakland), YBCA Creative Corps fellow, director of BAMD Fest, an international biennial arts festival in 2025, and creator and director of Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc. She has written a book of poetry, “Incandescent,” and is also an actor and playwright.

“Pac and Biggie Are Dead” focuses on two deceased rap artists who were central to the art form, Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. in a place that might be heaven as they ponder their past and their present, in a non-linear work that attempts to put their art in the context of the African American experience.

Review of “Company” at the Orpheum Theater through June 23, 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 13, 2024: Colm Tóibín – Ayodele Nzinga appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Maureen Gosling, filmmaker and film editor, discusses the films of noted documentary director Les Blank (1935-2013), which whom she collaborated for several years, along with her own career, in this interview with host Richard Wolinsky.  A Retrospective of the films of Les Blank can be seen at Pacific Film Archive June 7 to July 27, 2024.

Les Blank is best known for “Burden of Dreams,” an award winning documentary detailing the efforts of German director Werner Herzog in making his film “Fitzcarraldo” in the Peruvian jungle. Les Blank’s work, though, focuses on the music and culture of the New Orleans and Louisiana, and the American South, with forays into the lives of several musicians, including rock legend Leon Russell.

Maureen Gosling worked as a sound recordist and editor (and co-filmmaker) on several of Les Blank’s films. Among her own films are There Ain’t No Mouse Music: The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records and The Nine Lives of Barbara Dane.

Complete 45-minute Interview.

Paul Auster (1947-2024), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded October 2, 2002 while on tour for his novel “The Book of Illusions.” Second of two parts. This segment of the interview has never aired.

Paul Auster, who died on April 30th, 2024 was a world-renowned novelist, memoirist, and film-maker whose works were translated into forty languages.

His career as a writer began with a well-received memoir, The invention of Solitude in 1982, and took off in 1987 with the publication of three connected novellas titled The New York Trilogy. His fame and success grew over the following years. He moved into film-making with the screenplays for two movies directed by Wayne Wang, Smoke and Blue in the Face, and then wrote and directed his own film, Lulu on the Bridge.

Review of “The Lehman Trilogy” at ACT Toni Rembe Theatre through June 23, 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 6, 2024: Maureen Gosling, The Films of Les Blank; Paul Auster Part Two appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Aya de Leon, the Interim Program Director of the Tenth Annual Bay Area Book Festival, June 1-2 in various locations in Berkeley, talks about this year’s festival with host Richard Wolinsky.

Aya de Leon is the Poet Laureate of the City of Berkeley. She is a novelist and poet who currently teaches creative writing at U.C. Berkeley. She is the author of ten books, the most recent of which are the adult novel, “That Dangerous Energy,” and the young adult novel, “Untraceable.” Originally a hip hop artist, Aya de Leon is also a noted local activist, and the acquiring editor of Fighting Chance Books, the climate justice fiction imprint of She Writes Press. She organizes with the Black Hive, the climate and environmental justice formation of the Movement for Black Lives. Complete Interview.

Paul Auster (1947-2024), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded October 2, 2002 while on tour for his novel “The Book of Illusions.”

Paul Auster, who died on April 30th, 2024 was a world-renowned novelist, memoirist, and film-maker whose works were translated into forty languages.

His career as a writer began with a well-received memoir, The invention of Solitude in 1982, and took off in 1987 with the publication of three connected novellas titled The New York Trilogy. His fame and success grew over the following years. He moved into film-making with the screenplays for two movies directed by Wayne Wang, Smoke and Blue in the Face, and then wrote and directed his own film, Lulu on the Bridge.

There are three Paul Auster interviews in the archives. In this first interview, he discusses his film work, goes into depth about both The Book of Illusions and his previous novel, Timbuktu, much of the interview centersd on Lulu on the Bridge and the two Wayne Wang collaborations. The second interview was conducted in  2008 for Man in the Dark, and finally in 2017 for his masterpiece, 4 3 2 1.

Currently, all three films, the two with Wayne Wang and Lulu on the Bridge, can be rented via Amazon. From time to time, all three show up on the Criterion app.

Review of “The Glass Menagerie” at San Francisco Playhouse through June 15, 2024.

Review of “Galileo, A Rock Musical” at Berkeley Rep Roda Theatre through June 23, 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 30, 2024: Aya de Leon – Paul Auster appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s Bookwaves/Artwaves is preempted by special fund drive programming.

The post Special Spring Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s Bookwaves/Artwaves is preempted by special fund drive programming.

The post Special Spring Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s Bookwaves/Artwaves is preempted by special fund drive programming.

The post Special Spring Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Joan Baez, legendary singer, songwriter and activist, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded while on remote tour for her book of poetry, “When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance.” Recorded April 26, 2024 via zencastr.

Joan Baez is an internationally renowned singer, songwriter and activist who burst on the folk music scene as a teenager in the late 1950s. She has two autobiographies, Daybreak, along with And A Voice to Sing With. There are over thirty albums, including her now classic “Diamonds and Rust” from 1975, she has appeared in numerous documentaries about music and activism, won the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys, and is the subject of a recent documentary, Joan Baez, I Am A Noise, which is on Hulu and can be rented on several apps.

Photos courtesy Joan Baez. Complete Interview.

Ty Burr, former film critic for the Boston Globe, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky discussing his book Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame, recorded in the KPFA studio, November 2012.

Ty Burr was film critic for the Boston Globe from 2002 to 2021, and he writes a popular culture newsletter,  Ty Burr’s Watchlist. formerly on Substack. In the interview he discusses the origins of Hollywood stardom, the nature of “branding,” and ideas about fame and why people want to be famous.

Review of A Strange Loop at ACT Toni Rembe Theatre through May 12, 2024.

Review of Blue Door at Aurora Theatre Company through May 19, 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 2, 2024: Joan Baez – Ty Burr appeared first on KPFA.