KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

[caption id="attachment_270324" align="alignleft" width="307"] Richard Wolinsky and Andrew Sean Greer at KPFA[/caption]

Andrew Sean Greer, discusses his latest novel, "Less," with host Richard Wolinsky.

“Less,” just won this year's Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Still in hardcover, the book will be republished in paperback on May 22nd, 2018. This interview was recorded August 10th, 2017.

Andrew Sean Greer is the author of several acclaimed novels, including "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" and "The Story of a Marriage." His latest novel, "Less," tells the story of a middle-aged writer turning fifty, his relationships with an older famed poet and a younger man, and a trip around the world intended to not only escape his current situation but gain an understanding of his work and his inner life. A comic novel about being gay, about relationships, and about the nature of travel and life of a writer.

Andrew Sean Greer webpage [1]

Extended Radio Wolinsky podcast [2]

[1] https://andrewgreer.com/

[2] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/andrew-sean-greer-less/

Ariel Levy, author of the memoir "The Rules Do Not Apply" in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. A paperback edition of the book was published on April 3, 2018.

A staff writer for the New Yorker magazine since 2008, Ariel Levy first began her tenure focusing on issues involving sexuality and gender. She's since expanded her reach, with stories about Silvio Berlusconi, Mike Huckabee, the hip drug ayuhuaska and the photographer Catherine Opie.

While on assignment in Mongolia, she developed a miscarriage and, within two weeks, saw her relationship go south. Her memoir talks about both events, her career in journalism, and coping with loss.

Ariel Levy website [1]

Ariel Levy New Yorker articles [2]

 

[1] http://www.ariellevy.net/news.php

[2] http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/ariel-levy

Steven Saylor, whose latest novel, part of his Roma Sub Rosa series, is "The Throne of Caesar," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

The author of several historical mysteries set in ancient Rome, Steven Saylor's latest novel takes his detective protagonist, Gordianus the Finder, to the days leading to the assassination of Julius Caesar. In the novel, Gordianus has just been appointed by Caesar to the Roman Senate, and has been tasked by Caesar and by Cicero, to discover if there's any plot afoot to kill the dictator before he leaves to conquer Parthia. Along the way, Steven Saylor takes us into the life and culture of Rome at the time, from how to buy a toga to what foods are eaten at feasts.

In this discussion, he talks about some of the facts he discovered along the way, his life as a writer, and the relationship of the fall of the Roman Republic to what might, or might not, be happening in America today.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/steven-saylor-the-throne-of-caesar/

Peter Carey, whose latest novel is "A Long Way from Home," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Two-time winner of the prestigious Booker Prize, Peter Carey is Australia's most distinguished author. Among his works are Oscar and Lucinda, The True History of the Kelly Gang, Jack Maggs and Parrott and Olivier in America. A Long Way From Home delves into the story of racism in Australia and the oppression of the indigenous aboriginal peoples who inhabited the continent for two centuries before the white man and colonialism arrived. The novel does this by focusing on the Redex, an auto trial which featured a voyage around Australia starting in Sydney.

In the interview, he discusses the reasons behind the novel, why it took so long to write about the native Australians, and the relationship between his own life and his fiction.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/peter-carey-a-long-way-from-home/

[caption id="attachment_283861" align="alignleft" width="307"] Richard Wolinsky and Joyce Maynard in the KPFA studios.[/caption]

Joyce Maynard, whose latest book is a memoir, “The Best of Us,” is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

The author of several novels and multiple memoirs, Joyce Maynard’s latest book deals with her unexpected relationship and marriage in her late fifties, followed shortly thereafter with her husband’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. It’s both a love story and a harrowing tale of coping with a fatal disease.

In this interview, she discusses “The Best of Us,” talks about her twenty-year old memoir, “At Home in the World” and her affair with J.D. Salinger, and the making of the film of her novel “Labor Day."

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/joyce-maynard/

Tim Kreider, cartoonist and author of the essay collection "I Wrote This Book Because I Love You" in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Tim Kreider gained a reputation as a cartoonist in the style of B. Kliban before turning political following the stolen election of 2000 and 9/11. His series, "The Pain -- When Will It End?" ran for twelve years in the Baltimore City Paper and other alternative weeklies. Currently he writes for The New York Times and other newspapers and magazines.

His latest collection of essays deals with the personal and the political, and examines such topics as the war on terror, atheism, the circus and other themes.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/tim-kreider/

Trina Robbins, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

A legend in comic book circles, an artist at a time when hardly any women drew comics, Trina Robbins discusses her latest book, a memoir, "Last Girl Standing," which deals with her life as an artist, author, and clothing designer. She was the first woman to edit a comic book created by women, "It Ain't Me Babe," the first woman to draw "Wonder Woman," and the single most influential historian chronicling the women who created comics and cartoons.

In this interview, she also talks about her other recent books including a history of women drawing comics during World War II, a graphic novel version of a short story collection originally written by her father in Yiddish, and a graphic novel based on a work by British author Sax Rohmer. Trina Robbins was clothing designer for Los Angeles rock and roll bands in the 1960s and for the Warhol factory in New York. She also was a regular contributor to "Wimmens Comix," a series of comic books created by women from the 1970s through 1990s.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/trina-robbins-last-girl-standing/

Douglas Preston, author of “The Lost City of the Monkey God”, now out in trade paper, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Douglas Preston has written several works of fiction and non-fiction, including a best-selling series of thrillers co-written with Lincoln Child (the Agent Pendergast series). In his latest work of non-fiction, Preston delves into the story of a lost city in Honduras, in Mosquitia, and a civilization that vanished after the Spanish came to the Americas.

His story involves con men and crooks who spent decades looking for the city, then turns to a documentarian who became obsessed and eventually took state of the art equipment to discover whether such a city exists. In fact, he found two, and Douglas Preston was there. Still later, in 2015, Preston went on an expedition into the jungle to see what remains of the ruins, and while there contracted a rare and often fatal tropical disease which is currently in remission.

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

Douglas Preston website [2]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/douglas-preston-lost-city-monkey-god/

[2] http://www.prestonchild.com/authors/preston/Author-Bios-Douglas-Preston;art63,97

Ursula K. Le Guin, who broke the artificial wall between science fiction and literature, died on January 22nd, 2018 at the age of 88. An essayist and poet along with being a fiction writer, she transcended all genres with the quality of her prose and the allegorical nature of her work.

Best known for her novels The Left Hand of Darkness, which dealt with gender; The Dispossessed, which dealt with a utopian civilization; her series of novels in the fantasy realm of Earthsea; and her short stories, especially "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," Ursula K. Le Guin broke ground in several directions over the course of her writing life.

But she started in science fiction fantasy. On September 29th, 2000, Richard Wolinsky and his then co-host Richard A. Lupoff spoke with Ursula K. Le Guin about her career as a writer and about her latest novel, a political and social science fiction allegory, "The Telling."

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/ursula-k-le-guin-1928-2018/

Nathan Englander, whose latest novel is "Dinner at the Center of the Earth" in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

An acclaimed fiction writer, Nathan Englander's second novel concerns the ongoing crisis between Palestinians and Israels in the story of a prisoner, a former Mossad agent, now being held in an Israeli prison. No one knows he is there. Based on the story of "Prisoner X," the novel deals with the nature of identity, politics, and empathy.

In this interview, he also discusses his earlier short story collection, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank," which delves into Jewish identity and history.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/nathan-englander/