KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

A special KPFA 71st Birthday edition featuring two popular programs from the recent past.

Links from the program: Shotgun Players; Other Minds; Book Passage; Books Inc.

Bookwaves

Margaret Atwood, interviewed February 22, 1989 in San Francisco, focusing on her two most recent novels, The Handmaid’s Tale and Cat’s Eye. In the interview she also discusses her early career as a writer, feminism, her views on being a Canadian writer, and other topics. She was interviewed by Richard Wolinsky, along with novelists Richard A. Lupoff and Lisa Goldstein.

The interview was digitized, remastered and re-edited in 2018 by Richard Wolinsky. An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Creative Commons.

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 16, 2020: E.L. Doctorow; Margaret Atwood appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves

John Lanchester, whose latest novel is “The Wall,” now out in trade paper, is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

The Wall takes place in a very possible future in which the world’s beaches have disappeared as the planet has warmed and oceans have grown. Taking place in an unnamed country, which is clearly England, a wall has been built not only to protect the land from the rising seas, but to keep out refugees fleeing no longer inhabitable countries. The protagonist is a young man who must guard the wall, and if it’s breached, he is forced out of the country. John Lanchester is a novelist and essayist who has written for The London Review of Books, the Guardian and other publications. An extended version can be heard as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

Arts-Waves

Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020), who died on January 31st, 2020 at the age of 92, was the best-selling author of 51 books, most of them suspense novels featuring women in jeopardy, with four theatrical films and over thirty other books adapted for television. Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff interviewed  Mary Higgins Clark for the Probablitiles radio program on May 24, 1989 while she was on tour for her 13th novel “While My Pretty One Sleeps.” The interview was conducted in her San Francisco hotel room.

Digitized, re-mastered, and re-edited by Richard Wolinsky in April, 2020.

Extended  40-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast.

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 9, 2020: John Lanchester, Mary Higgins Clark appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves

Colum McCann, whose latest novel is Apeirogon, is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. This is the story of two men, Rami Elhanan, an Israeli, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, best of friends, who have been traveling the world attempting to bring about peace in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Apeirogon is only tangentially a novel. These are real people and this reads more like augmented non-fiction.

Colum McCann is the National Book Award winning author of “Let the Great World Spin,” “Zoli,” “Thirteen Ways of Looking” and other books. 41- minute complete interview.

Arts-Waves

Terrence McNally (1938-2020) died on March 24, 2020 of complications from COVID-19. A prolific playwright and librettist, among his works are Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune, The Ritz, Lips Together Teeth Apart, Lisbon Traviata and Master Class. Among his musicals are Ragtime, Anastasia, A Man of No Importance, and The Rink.

In this interview conducted by Richard Wolinsky on March 18, 2004, he discusses his history as a playwright as well as his process as a librettist, and his work as an activist writer, most notably for gay causes. 49-minute complete interview

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 2, 2020: Colum McCann; Terrence McNally appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves:

Lisa See, whose latest novel is “The Island of Sea Women,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

The author of several historical and mystery novels, and a memoir, Lisa See’s novels usually focus on the relationship of two women, mother-daughter, sisters, best friends, and how they cope with their lives over the years. “The Island of Sea Women” takes place on South Korea’s Jeju island, where gender roles were traditionally reversed, with the women divers serving as breadwinners, while the men stay home and raise the children.

In the interview, Lisa See discusses her focus on relationships, on the nature of forgiveness, and of the violent history of Jeju Island, and its relationship to United States foreign policy.

Extended 41-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast

Arts-Waves

Clive Cussler (1931-2020). Clive Cussler, who died at the age of 88 on February 24th, 2020, was an adventure writer in the tradition of the pulp magazines, and an underwater explorer. Most of his novels featured Dirk Pitt, a – to quote Wikipedia – a larger than life hero reminiscent of Doc Savage – and I might add, Indiana Jones, and involved sunken treasure, hidden artifacts, outrageous villains, and convoluted plots.

Over the course of a career that began in 1965 when he switched over from advertising to write, he published 25 Dirk Pitt novels, 17 novels in the NUMA files series, 14 novels in the Oregon Files series, 11 Isaac Bell adventures set in the early 20th Century, 12 Fargo adventures focusing on a treasure-hunting couple, five books of non-fiction, and two children’s books. Two of his books became films, Raise the Titanic and Sahara.

Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky interviewed Clive Cussler on May 24th, 1994 while he was on tour for his most recent book, Inca Gold. Though well into his sixties, he was still in the early part of his writing career, having written only Dirk Pitt novels, of which Inca Gold was the 12th. He would wind up with a library of 86 titles, with one published in early March 2020 and another coming out in May,2020. There are probably more waiting their turn.

While Inca Gold was only his 12th book, all Dirk Pitt novels to that point, he would go on to write another 74 books, most of them novels in various later series. The final Dirk Pitt solo novel, Celtic Empire, was published in 2019, which also saw The Titanic Secret, which featured both Pitt and Isaac Bell, each operating a century apart. Wrath of Poseidon, a Fargo adventure, is scheduled to be published this May, and Journey of the Pharoahs, a NUMA files novel, was published on March 10th of this year.

He did wind up selling another Dirk Pitt novel to Hollywood, Sahara, in 2005, with Matthew McConnaughy as Pitt, also featuring Penelope Cruz and William H. Macy. It turned out to be one of Hollywood’s most expensive flops to date, and Clive Cussler never sold another book to the movies.

Complete 42-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast.

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 26, 2020: Lisa See – Clive Cussler appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves.

Lidia Yuknavitch discusses her collection of short stories, “Verge.” The author of novels, essays, a memoir and short stories, Lidia Yuknavitch details life of people on the margins of society. Her new collection is culled from several years of her work, and much of the book was rewritten or written for the publication. She is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky, recorded at KPFA, February 7, 2020.

Arts-Waves.

Stephen Sondheim at 90. The legendary composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim celebrates his ninetieth birthday on March 22, 2020. Lyricist for West Side Story; composer/llyricist for Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George and other shows, he has perhaps made the greatest mark on musical theater since the days of Rodgers and Hammerstein. In this interview recorded in November 2011 at his townhouse in New York City for “Look! I Made a Hat!: the second volume of his collection of essays, he discusses his later works and his career with host Richard Wolinsky.

Photo of Stephen Sondheim by Richard Wolinsky, copyright 2010.

The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 19, 2020: Lidia Yuknavitch – Sondheim at 90 appeared first on KPFA.