KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Katya Cengel, whose latest book is "Exiled: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to California and Back" is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. She discusses the plight of Southeast Asian refugees, from their lives under the genocidal watch of the Khmer Rouge to their difficult times in the United States, to the fear and possibility of deportation under ICE.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

Ray Bradbury, the legendary author who passed away in 2012, sat down for an interview with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff in 1992 at his home in Los Angeles. That interview has been digitized and re-edited by Richard Wolinsky.

[caption id="attachment_303554" align="alignleft" width="346"] Justine Bateman & Richard Wolinsky[/caption]

Justine Bateman, actress and director, author of "Fame: The Hijacking of Reality," in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Justine Bateman jump-started her career at the age of sixteen with the role of Mallory in the hit television show "Family Ties." She went on to other television shows, films and stage presentations before turning to directing and getting university degrees after she turned forty. Her book "Fame" details, from personal experience, what it's like to be famous at an early age, how one deals with fame, and how a member of the public deals with a famous person. She details the ups and downs of fame, from the first time fans take notice to the later times, when nobody takes notice. Her latest projects involve film direction and creating content in new forms of media.

Special thanks to Green Apple Books [1] in San Francisco, where the interview was recorded.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

[1] https://www.greenapplebooks.com/

[caption id="attachment_301569" align="alignleft" width="175"] Photo: Lesley Howle[/caption]

Octavia Butler died at the age of 58 in 2006. At the time of her death, she’d published 16 books, with another volume of uncollected stories published posthumously. The author of several acclaimed science fiction and fantasy novels, most notably Kindred and The Parable of the Sower, her reputation has only grown in the twelve years since her death.

While a collection of interviews was published in 2009, very few audio conversations exist today. Richard Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky conducted two of those conversations. The first, early in her career in 1983, was uploaded as a Radio Wolinsky podcast in May, 2017. The interview, recorded in NoTvember 1998, came on the heels of the publication of “Parable of the Talents,” a sequel to “Parable of the Sower.”   There’s little question from this interview that not only was she a great writer, but she also predicted the politics of today in a way that seems utterly uncanny. There’s a reason people are going back to her books, and her reputation continues to soar.

An extended version can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/from-the-archive-octavia-butler-1947-2006-1998/

Jeffrey Eugenides, whose latest book is a collection of short stories, “Fresh Complaint,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Jeffrey Eugenides won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel “Middlesex.” In the following decade, he’s released one novel, “The Marriage Plot,” and “Fresh Complaint,” this new collection of stories. In this wide ranging interview he discusses some of the stories in the new book, as well as their relation to his own life, and touches on the creation of both the earlier two novels.

Extended Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/jeffrey-eugenides-fresh-complaint/

Esi Edugyan, author of the novel, "Washington Black," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

From Wikipedia:

< Born and raised in Calgary [1], Alberta, to Ghanaian [2] immigrant parents, Edugyan studied creative writing at the University of Victoria [3], where she was mentored by Jack Hodgins [4]. She also earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars [5]. Her debut novel [6], The Second Life of Samuel Tyne [7], was published in 2004 and was shortlisted for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award [8] in 2005.

Despite favorable reviews for her first novel, Edugyan had difficulty securing a publisher for her second fiction manuscript. She spent some time as a writer-in-residence in Stuttgart [9], Germany. This period inspired her to drop her unsold manuscript and write another novel, Half-Blood Blues [10], about a mixed-race [11] jazz [12] musician in World War II [13]-era Europe who is abducted by the Nazis [14] as a "Rhineland Bastard [15]".  Published in 2011, Half-Blood Blues was announced as a shortlisted nominee for that year's Man Booker Prize.>

Washington Black tells the story of a young slave in Barbados in the 1840s who is taken under the wing of the abolitionist brother of his master. The novel follows his adventures as he wends his way through the world.

Recorded at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, California. Special thanks to Elaine Petrocelli.

An extended 34-minute edit of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky [16] podcast.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Victoria

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hodgins

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Hopkins_Writing_Seminars

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debut_novel

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Life_of_Samuel_Tyne

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurston-Wright_Legacy_Award

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Blood_Blues

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-race

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz

[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazis

[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhineland_Bastard

[16] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/esi-edugyan-washington-black/

Helen Benedict, whose latest novel is “Wolf Season,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

A journalist as well as novelist, Helen Benedict focuses on the effects of war, both on civilian and military populations. Her latest novel, “Wolf Season,” takes place in a small town near Albany, New York, where Iraq war veterans and Iraqi refugees both live and work, and what happens when a natural disaster forces them to interact. How does PTSD and trauma affect those who lived or fought in a war zone, and how does that trauma scar them afterward?

Extended 42-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/helen-benedict-wolf-season/

Helen Benedict, whose latest novel is “Wolf Season,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

A journalist as well as novelist, Helen Benedict focuses on the effects of war, both on civilian and military populations. Her latest novel, “Wolf Season,” takes place in a small town near Albany, New York, where Iraq war veterans and Iraqi refugees both live and work, and what happens when a natural disaster forces them to interact. How does PTSD and trauma affect those who lived or fought in a war zone, and how does that trauma scar them afterward?

Extended 42-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/helen-benedict-wolf-season/

Andre Dubus III, whose latest novel is "Gone So Long," in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Gone So Long focuses on an ex-con in Boston, sent to prison for killing his wife, who drives to Florida to visit the daughter he never knew, and on the daughter herself and how that violence affected her life and the lives of those around her.

Andre Dubus III is the author of seven books: The Cage Keeper and Other Stories [1], Bluesman [2], and the New York Times bestsellers, House of Sand and Fog [3], The Garden of Last Days,  [4]Gone So Long [5] and his memoir, Townie [6], a #4 New York Times bestseller and a New York Times "Editors Choice". His work has been included in The Best American Essays of 1994 and The Best Spiritual Writing of 1999, and his novel, House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award, a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. Dirty Love [7], was published in the fall of 2013 and was listed as a New York Times “Notable Book”, a New York Times Editors’Choice”, a 2013 “Notable Fiction” choice from The Washington Post, and a Kirkus “Starred Best Book of 2013”.

As a narrator of his audio books, he has won an Audiofile “Best Voices of the Year” award for his 2011 memoir, Townie, (Blackstone Audiobooks), a 2013 “Earphones” award for Dirty Love, (Audible), and is a 2014 Finalist for an “Audie Award” for his short story collection, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories, (Blackstone Audiobooks).

Andre Dubus website [8]

An extended 44-minute version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [9]

[1] http://www.andredubusiii.com/cagekeeper.html

[2] http://www.andredubusiii.com/bluesman.html

[3] http://www.andredubusiii.com/houseofsandandfog.html

[4] http://www.andredubusiii.com/gardenoflastdays.html

[5] http://andredubus.com/gonesolong.html

[6] http://www.andredubusiii.com/townie.html

[7] http://andredubus.com/dirtylove.html

[8] http://andredubus.com/index.html

[9] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/andre-dubus-iii/

Andre Dubus III, whose latest novel is "Gone So Long," in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Gone So Long focuses on an ex-con in Boston, sent to prison for killing his wife, who drives to Florida to visit the daughter he never knew, and on the daughter herself and how that violence affected her life and the lives of those around her.

Andre Dubus III is the author of seven books: The Cage Keeper and Other Stories [1], Bluesman [2], and the New York Times bestsellers, House of Sand and Fog [3], The Garden of Last Days,  [4]Gone So Long [5] and his memoir, Townie [6], a #4 New York Times bestseller and a New York Times "Editors Choice". His work has been included in The Best American Essays of 1994 and The Best Spiritual Writing of 1999, and his novel, House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award, a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. Dirty Love [7], was published in the fall of 2013 and was listed as a New York Times “Notable Book”, a New York Times Editors’Choice”, a 2013 “Notable Fiction” choice from The Washington Post, and a Kirkus “Starred Best Book of 2013”.

As a narrator of his audio books, he has won an Audiofile “Best Voices of the Year” award for his 2011 memoir, Townie, (Blackstone Audiobooks), a 2013 “Earphones” award for Dirty Love, (Audible), and is a 2014 Finalist for an “Audie Award” for his short story collection, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories, (Blackstone Audiobooks).

Andre Dubus website [8]

An extended 44-minute version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [9]

[1] http://www.andredubusiii.com/cagekeeper.html

[2] http://www.andredubusiii.com/bluesman.html

[3] http://www.andredubusiii.com/houseofsandandfog.html

[4] http://www.andredubusiii.com/gardenoflastdays.html

[5] http://andredubus.com/gonesolong.html

[6] http://www.andredubusiii.com/townie.html

[7] http://andredubus.com/dirtylove.html

[8] http://andredubus.com/index.html

[9] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/andre-dubus-iii/