KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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A.S. Byatt (1936-November 18, 2023), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky on ​​​​​January 27, 2003 while on tour for the novel, “A Whistling Woman.” This would be the first of two interviews, the second in 2010 for her novel The Children’s Book.

Born Antonia Drabble and sister to novelist Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt spent her early professional life as a teacher before becoming a full time writer in 1983. In 1978 she began the first of a tetralogy, The Virgin in the Garden, which continued with Still Life, Babel Tower, and finally A Whistling Woman.

Her 1990 novel, Possession, probably her best known work, won the Booker Prize. and was turned into a successful film by Neil LeBute. Her novella Morpho Eugenia was adapted into a film titled Angels and Insects in 1995.

Over the course of her career, she wrote ten novels, the last of which was Ragnarok: The End of the Gods in 2011, along with six short story collections, a two-novella collection titled Angels and Insects, and nine essays and biographies. Her final work was a short story collection, Medusa’s Ankles, published in 2021.

This wide-ranging interview focuses not only on her most recent novel, but on the build-up to the American invasion of Iraq, which would happen in March, 2003, her views on Umberto Eco’s works, genre fiction, and other issues.

Remastered and re-edited by Richard Wolinsky, November 18-19, 2023.

Review of “Guys and Dolls”at San Francisco Playhouse through January 13, 2023.

Review of “Harry Clarke” at Berkeley Rep Roda Theatre through December 23, 2023.

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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 30, 2023: A.S. Byatt (1936-2003) appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Jan Morris was a noted travel writer and historian, and a leading figure in the trans world. As James Morris, she accompanied Edmund Hillary on the first expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. Before and after her transition in 1964 to the time of her death, Jan Morris had published 18 travel books, six history books including a three volume history of the British Empire, eight memoirs including the best-selling Conundrum, two novels and twelve collections of essays. These interviews were originally aired together on November 25, 2021.

An interview recorded while Jan Morris was attending a conference in San Francisco, August 20, 1999.

Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff discuss her career, her feelings toward writing, the United States and other topics. Jan Morris’s book, Lincoln: A foreigner’s quest, discussed in the interview, was published in 2001.

Complete 38-minute podcast.

An interview recorded during the book tour for “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere,” recorded November 16, 2001 in the KPFA studios.

In this interview Jan Morris talks about the meaning of Trieste in her life, delves deeply into what she sees as the future of humankind over the following decades, and pretty much nails where we are today in 2021.

True to her word in the interview, “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere” was the last full-length book Jan Morris would write. Collections of new and old essays were published in 2004 and 2010, an illustrated essay on the Battleship Yamoto in 2018, and two volumes of late in life diaries were published, the first in 2018, “In My Mind’s Eye,” and posthumously in 2021, “Thinking Again.”

Complete 40-minute podcast.

Review of “1984” at Aurora Theatre through December 10, 2023.

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]

y.

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 23, 2023: Jan Morris (1926-2020) appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

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Tim O’Brien, whose latest novel, a contemporary satire, is “America Fantastica,” in conversation 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 “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage through December 30, 2023.

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]

y.

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 16, 2023: Tim O’Brien appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

​​​​​Kazuo Ishiguro, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded October 6, 2000 while he was on tour for his novel “When We Were Orphans.”

The winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro is recognized today as one of the world’s leading authors. Nominated four times, he won the Booker Prize in 1989 for The Remains of the Day, and was most recently nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for the 2022 film “Living.”

In this interview, he discusses his most recent book at that time, When We Were Orphans, and talks about how he became a writer and the relationship of his Japanese heritage to his life in Great Britain, where he’s lived since he was six years old. His most recent novel, a parable, is titled Klara and the Sun, and was published in 2021. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited in November 2023 and has never been heard in its entirety.

Along with Living, which can be seen on Netflix, Kazuo Ishiguro has written screenplays for The Saddest Music in the World, now on AMC plus. An Adaptation of Never Let Me Go can be found on Starz, and one of An Artist of the Floating World is on Amazon Prime. Both The White Countess, for which he wrote the screenplay, and his adaptation of the Remains of the Day can be rented on various apps. Complete 43-minute interview. Photo: Sara Danius

Mick Herron discusses his latest novel, “The Secret Hours,” and the Slough House series of of spy novels and stories with host Richard Wolinsky. Second of two parts.

Mick Herron has written eight books in the Slough House series of novels about a tiny corner of MI5 for rejects and misfits, people who have screwed up but not been fired. They are known collectively as “Slow Horses,” which is the title of the television series starring Gary Oldman as their boss, Jackson Lamb.

“The Secret Hours” is located in the same world as the series, but serves as a stand-alone novel about an inquiry into MI5’s past, set up by a conservative government out to rein in the Secret Service.

In the interview, Mick Herron discusses the origins of the book and of the Slough House series, as well as his career as a writer, and his writing process. Recorded via Zencastr September 22, 2023. Complete Interview.

Review of “Bulrusher” at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre through December 3, 2023.

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 – November 9, 2023: Kazuo Ishiguro – Mick Herron appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Ben Fountain, whose latest novel is “Devil Makes Three,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera.

Ben Fountain is the author of one previous novel, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” which won the  National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2012. His non-fiction book about the 2016 election, “Beautiful Country, Burn Again” was published in 2018. His earlier short stories were collected in “Brief Encounters with Che Guevara,” which won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 2007/

“Devil Makes Three” is a long dense novel set in Haiti in 1992, beginning with the coup that toppled the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and features four main characters: a young CIA agent on her first assignment, an American everyman who runs a dive shop, and a brother and sister from a wealthy family. The young American becomes a favorite of the leader of the coup, who is a scuba fanatic, and the story goes from there.

Complete 59-minute 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 – November 2, 2023: Ben Fountain appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Mick Herron discusses his latest novel, “The Secret Hours,” and the Slough House series of of spy novels and stories with host Richard Wolinsky.

Mick Herron has written eight books in the Slough House series of novels about a tiny corner of MI5 for rejects and misfits, people who have screwed up but not been fired. They are known collectively as “Slow Horses,” which is the title of the television series starring Gary Oldman as their boss, Jackson Lamb.

“The Secret Hours” is located in the same world as the series, but serves as a stand-alone novel about an inquiry into MI5’s past, set up by a conservative government out to rein in the Secret Service.

In the interview, Mick Herron discusses the origins of the book and of the Slough House series, as well as his career as a writer, and his writing process. Recorded via Zencastr September 22, 2023.

Complete 47-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast.

Vauhini Vara, author of the novel,  “The Immortal King Rao,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Recorded via zencastr September 8, 2022.

Vauhini Vara studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop, worked as tech reporter at The Wall Street Journal and wrote for the business section of The New Yorker. She is a contributing writer at Wired. Her upcoming collection of short stories, This is Salvaged, will be published in 2023.

The Immortal King Rao tells two stories, that of a fictional tech billionaire who grew up in humble beginnings in the 1950s in southern India and eventually came to the United States, and during the novel flashes forward a hundred years to a dystopia in which algorithms determine the success or failure of any individual.

Complete 45-minute 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 – October 26, 2023: Mick Herron – Vauhini Vara 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 Bookwaves/Artwaves – October 19, 2023: John Scalzi appeared first on KPFA.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Heather Cox Richardson discusses her latest book, “Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America,” with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded in Oakland October 4, 2023.

A Professor of History at Boston College, Heather Cox Richardson began four years ago a daily newsletter on Facebook, “Letters from an American.” Today, that newsletter has become a must-read for anyone interested in how current history relates to the historical record. She is the author of “How the South Won the Civil War” and several other books, with her specialty being the history of the Republican Party in the 19th Century.

“Democracy Awakening” is a look at how America’s politics changed into the current crisis in democracy, what that crisis looks like, and using history as a guide, helps us understand where to go in the future.

In this interview, Prof. Richardson discusses much of this, with side-journeys into the 19th Century and some current issues. Podcast version. Photos: Richard Wolinsky.

Review of “Nollywood Dreams” at San Francisco Playhouse through November 4, 2023.

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 – October 12, 2023: Heather Cox Richardson appeared first on KPFA.