KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Walter Mosley in conversation with Richard Woinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded October 25, 1992 in the KPFA studios while on tour for the novel, “White Butterfly.”

Today, Walter Mosley is one of America’s leading authors. He is best known for his series of mystery novels featuring the characters of Easy Rawlins and Mouse, now numbering fifteen, seventeen novels in other series, sixteen other novels, a collection of short stories, six works of non-fiction, plus screenplays and teleplays.

But on October 25th, 1992, he was at the beginning of his career when Probabilities co-hosts Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky spoke with Walter Mosley in the KPFA studios about his latest Easy Rawlings novel, White Butterfly, his third book and the third in the series following Devil in a Blue Dress and A Red Death.

Black Betty would follow White Butterfly in 1994. The most recent Easy Rawlins novel is Blood Grove, published in 2021. Devil in a Blue Dress became a film released in 1995 using the screenplay discussed in the interview, directed by Carl Franklin and starring Denzel Washington. Mouse was played by Don Cheadle in a career breakout role. Thus far, that’s the only Easy Rawlins film. In 2022, Samuel L. Jackson starred in a TV miniseries titled The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray, based on Walter Mosley’s book, and primarily written by Walter Mosley. At present, an adaptation of his novel The Man in My Basement is in pre-production. The next Easy Rawlins novel, Farewell Amethystine will be published in June 2024.

This interview was digitized, remastered and edited on February 10, 2024 by Richard Wolinsky. It has not aired in thirty years. This is the first of five interviews, to date, with Walter Mosley. Complete Interview.  front photo Larry D. Moore,CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Jack O’Brien, theatre director and author of Jack in the Box, or How to Goddamn Direct, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Jack O’Brien has won three Tony Awards and has been nominated seven times. The former artistic director of The Old Globe in San Diego, from 1981 to 2007, he’s one of the premier directors working in America today. Among his Broadway shows are The Full Monty, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Catch Me If You Can and The Coast of Utopia. He directed the much lauded 2018 revival of Carousel on Broadway. Most recently, in 2021, he directed Hairspray in London.

The interview focuses on what a director does, along with his own history becoming a director, and anecdotes about his work. Complete Interview

Review of “My Home on the Moon” at San Francisco Playhouse through February 24, 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 – February 15, 2024: Walter Mosley – Jack O’Brien appeared first on KPFA.

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Kate Wilhelm (1928-2018), award-winning science fiction and detective novelist, in conversation with Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios, August 5, 1996. while on tour for her novel, “Malice Prepense,” (later renamed “For The Defense”).

Jesse Green, New York Times theatre critic, and co-author of “Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

In this excerpt from an interview recorded on September 8, 2022, Jesse Green discusses Mary Rodgers’ greatest feature, working on theatre reviews, the current state of Broadway theatre, and his view on the new Editor in Chief of the New York Times. Complete 48-minute interview.

Review of  “Cult of Love” at Berkeley Rep Roda Theatre through March 3, 2024.

Review of “MJ The Musical” at BroadwaySF Orpheum Theatre through February 25, 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 – February 8, 2024: Kate Wilhelm (1928-2018) appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Bushman, a film by David Schickele

Film director Rob Nillson, Activist and Environmentalist Gail Schickele, and Film Archivist Jon Shibata in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded January 25, 2024 at Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive.

Released in 1971 but filmed in 1968, the film “Bushman” is a masterpiece detailing the story of a Nigerian educator in San Francisco. The film vanished following its showing at various film festivals, and has now been digitized and restored, and will be shown at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley on February 4th and 24th, with a theatrical release coming across the country from Kino/Lorber and Milestone Films.

This discussion with Gail Schickele, wife of the late director David Schickele (1937-1999), his friend, colleague and collaborator director Rob Nillson, and BAMPFA film archivist John Shibata focuses first on “Bushman” and David Schickele, how the film came about and what happened during and after the filming, and later with the film’s restoration, and a look at Rob Nillson’s career as film-maker.

Special thanks to AJ Fox and Susan Oxtoby of Pacific Film Archive.

Inside photo: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.

Review of  “How I Learned What I Learned” at TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts through February 3, 2024.

Review of “Babes In Ho-lland” at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage through February 10, 2024.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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 – February 1, 2024: The Story of “Bushman” appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Jane Smiley, whose latest novel is “A Dangerous Business,” now out in trade paperback, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

The author of seventeen adult fiction novels, two short story collections, five non-fiction works plus several young adult novels, Jane Smiley is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “A Thousand Acres,” and more recently The Last Hundred Years Trilogy. She current teaches creative writing.

“A Dangerous Business” takes us to Monterey, California in the early 1850s as Eliza Ripple, newly widowed and still only eighteen, winds up at a house of prostitution in order to survive and have a life of her own. The book follows her as she meets a friend who works out of a similar house for women, and the two embark on the trail of a murderer of women. Recorded January 20, 2023. Her next book, :Luck, will be published in Spring, 2024.

Complete 35-minute Interview

Harlan Coben in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, discussing his novel, Fool Me Once, which is now a Netflix miniseries. Recorded March 26, 2016 at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California.

Harlan Coben is the best-selling author of 28 fast-paced novels of suspense. His novel, Fool Me Once, features a protagonist suffering from PTSD. Eight of his novels feature an amateur detective in the sports field named Myron Bolitor. He also has a young adult series featuring that character’s nephew, and a children’s book titled The Magical Fantastical Fridge. His novel Tell No One became an acclaimed French film. Complete Interview.

Review of “The Wiz” at BroadwaySF Golden Gate Theatre through February 11, 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 – January 25, 2024: Jane Smiley – Harlan Coben appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Science fiction and fantasy author and political activist Terry Bisson (1942-2024), who died on January 10, 2024 at the age of 81, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded January 2, 2013 following the paperback reprint of the novel, “Any Day Now.”

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his short story,”Bears Discover Fire,” Terry Bisson wrote seven stand-alone novels, several collaborations in different mediums, six collections of short stories, six film novelizations and three works of non-fiction. Along with his books and short stories, he wrote Locus Magazine’s This Month in History series for two decades. In his later years, he was a frequent host of the popular SF in SF series of interviews and readings in San Francisco.

His other works include a biography of Mumia Abu-Jabal, titled “On a Move,” and a wide variety of novels from the Star Wars series to the completion of a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In the interview, he discusses his political work as well as his work as a writer and editor. Complete Interview.

Roger Ebert (1942-2013) in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded while on tour for “The Great Movies II,” conducted in the KPFA studios on March 3, 2005.

Roger Ebert, who died of cancer on April 4, 2013, was probably America’s best known film critic. Film critic for the Chicago Sun Times from 1967 until his death, his television career began on PBS in 1975, co-hosted with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune. Through several iterations, Ebert and Siskel worked together until Siskel’s death in 1999. Roger Ebert continued on TV with several co-hosts until he paired with Richard Roeper until retiring from television in 2007.

Along the way, Roger Ebert wrote several books, including his four book Great movies series, a best selling memoir, Life Itself, various yearly guides, and several collections of his reviews. His website, rogerebert.com,  is still a leading compendium of new and old reviews.

In this interview, he talks about his latest book, about new restorations, and about his sojourn into political commentary.

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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – January 18, 2024: Terry Bisson – Roger Ebert appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Helen Benedict, co-author (with Eyad Awwadawnon) of “Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Helen Benedict is the author of seven novels, including “Wolf Season” and “Sand Queen,” and five books of non-fiction. Her latest book, “Map of Hope and Sorrow,” co-written by Eyad Awwadawnon, a Syrian refugee who was planning to get a law degree in Damascus, is partly an oral history of refugees coming to Greece after escaping from their home countries. Helen Benedict teaches journalism at Columbia University,.

In the interview, she discusses how she first came to meet Eyad, and then takes a look at the stories of the refugees in the book, focusing on stories that didn’t quite make it into the book, and then looks at the harsh terrain of life in the camps.

Bay Area Theatre 2023: Best of the Year

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 – January 11, 2024: Helen Benedict appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Amos Oz (1939-2018), author of “A Tale of Love and Darkness” and other books, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in San Francisco in December 7, 2004, while he was on tour for his memoir, “A Tale of Love and Darkness”. Encore podcast originally posted on January 13, 2019.

Amos Oz, the noted Israeli novelist, short story writer, essayist and peace activist, and perennial Nobel Prize candidate, died on December 28th, 2018 at the age of 79. The author of forty books, he was a firm believer in the two-state solution who felt, over the previous decade, that the hope for peace appears to be slipping away. Today, it’s gotten worse of course.

Today his greatest work is considered to be the memoir of his family, set against the background of the rise of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the formation of the state of Israel, and culminating in the suicide of his mother. A Tale of Love and Darkness, was published in Israel in 2002 and two years later in the United States.

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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – January 4, 2024: Martin Amis – Amos Oz appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Anne Rice died of a stroke on December 11, 2021. This career-ranging interview was recorded on December 2, 2016 at Books Inc. in Opera Plaza in San Francisco, while she was on tour for her latest novel, “Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis.”

Anne Rice achieved success in 1976 with her novel “Interview with the Vampire,” which spawned a series of novels titled “The Vampire Chronicles” and became a world-wide phenomenon. Along the way, she also wrote several other novels including the Mayfair Witches trilogy, Cry to Heaven, a series of books under pseudonyms, and the screenplay for “Interview with the Vampire” was turned into a successful film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

By 2003, she’d written ten novels in the Vampire Chronicles and took a break, writing novels on the life of Jesus, on angels, and on werewolves. In 2014, she returned to her vampire hero, Lestat, with Prince Lestat. Prince Lestat and the Realm of Atlantis was the second in this latest series.

Since the interview was recorded, Anne Rice published one more Lestat novel, Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat in 2018, which is her last solo novel to date, though it’s possible there are more to come. There are two novels written in collaboration with her son, novelist Christopher Rice, sequels to her 1989 novel Ramses the Damned. The Passion of Cleopatra was released in 2017 and The Reign of Osiris in 2022. Two seasons of a television adaptation of Interview with the Vampire and one season of The Mayfair Witches can be found on the AMC+ app.

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 Bookwaves/Artwaves : Anne Rice (1941-2021), 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Alice McDermott, whose latest novel is “Absolution,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded December 12, 2023 via zencastr.

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.

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 – December 21, 2023: Alice McDermott appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves presents in-depth interviews with authors of fiction and narrative non-fiction, delving deeply into political and social issues, literary technique, and the life of the author, along with interviews devoted to theatre and film, and archive interviews from Bookwaves and Probabilities. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

The post Special Fund Drive Programming – December 14, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.