KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Ariel Levy, author of the memoir "The Rules Do Not Apply" is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky.

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]

A slightly longer version of this interview aired on KPFA's Radio Wolinsky podcast.

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

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

Bill Pronzini, whose latest novel is “The Violated,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Bill Pronzini has written over eighty books, including several in the Nameless Detective series of noir novels, as well as many stand-alone novels, short story collections and anthologies. His most recent novel, “The Violated” is the story of how a series of rapes affects a small Northern California city. His next Nameless Detective novel, “End Game,” comes out in June 2017. He is also the author of several solo and collaborative detective novels set in the old West and featuring a character named Quincannon, and science fiction novels and short stories co-authored with Barry Malzberg. Bill Pronzini is also the author of three books in the “Gun in Cheek” series, which examines writing so bad it’s good — what he calls “alternative classics.”

In this career-spanning interview, Bill Pronzini discusses his two 2017 novels as well as his history as a working writer.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/bill-pronzini/

Paul Auster, whose latest novel is “4 3 2 1” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

The author of several novels, screenplays, books of poetry and film director, Paul Auster’s latest novel is an epic 850 page story of how circumstance changes us. Archie Ferguson takes four different directions in this novel: in one his family has become rich, in another they’re poor, in a third he loses his father in a fire, and in a fourth he remains middle class. With the same genes, each Archie grows up differently. Born in New Jersey in 1947 (as is Paul Auster), Archie is precocious, a writer … the book shows how different developments lead to different outcomes: whether you go left, right, or straight ahead, something might happen that will change your life.  In the interview, Paul Auster also talks about his film-making career and about how his life relates to this novel.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/paul-auster-4-3-2-1/

Otessa Moshfegh, whose short story collection, "Homesick for Another World," has just been published, is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky.

The author of the highly acclaimed novel, "Eileen," recently out in trade paperback, Otessa Moshfegh is the daughter of an Iranian father and Croatian mother, both forced out of Iran following the 1979 revolution. Her stories are filled with dark humor, focusing on how we feel about our bodies and our lives in this physical universe. Her vision is very idiosyncratic, and she's regarded as one of our up and coming authors.

Douglas Preston, author of “The Lost City of the Monkey God” 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

George Saunders, author of the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

George Saunders is the highly acclaimed author of several short story collections, including "Tenth of December," "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline," "In Persuasion Nation" and others, along with political commentary that recently appeared in The New Yorker and other magazines.

His latest novel takes place in the form of a fictional oral history from the perspective of several ghosts who survive after death in a Washington DC graveyard in 1862. Willie Lincoln, the favored son of Abraham Lincoln, has gotten sick and died, and during the course of the book, the President visits his son's tomb.

The book deals with the Civil War, with the relationship of blacks and whites in America, with beliefs about life and death, and with the relationship of history and memory. It has gotten rave reviews since publication.

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

[1] https://kpfa.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=256768&action=edit

Fund drive special with Mitch Jeserich. Subject: Jeff Sessions

Pamela Rotner Sakamoto, author of Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds, just out in trade paperback, discusses her true story of the Fukuhara family from Hiroshima and Seattle, split between the U.S. and Japan before, during and shortly after World War II. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

 

 

 

 

Extended 37-minute version of this interview

[audio mp3="https://kpfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Pamela_Rotner_Sakamoto.mp3"][/audio]

Maria Semple, author of the novel “Today Will be Different,” interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Author of the best-selling novel “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” Maria Semple’s latest novel is a comic look at a day in the life of a wife and mother, dealing with the kinds of issues we all deal with, and trying to be better.

Maria Semple has a long history in the entertainment field. Her father, Lorenzo Semple Jr. created the 1960’s Batman TV series and wrote the screenplay for several films, including Three Days of the Condor and The Parallax View. Maria Semple took after her father, and was in the writers’ room for several TV shows, including Ellen, Suddenly Susan (for which she was show runner), Beverly Hills 90210 and Arrested Development. “Today Will Be Different” is her third novel.

Maria Semple website [1]

An extended 42-minute version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast [2].

[1] http://www.mariasemple.com/

[2] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/maria-semple/

Cleve Jones, author of the memoir, "When We Rise," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded during a benefit for KPFA on January 25, 2017. Excerpts from the Q&A following Cleve's speech.

Cleve Jones is a ground-breaking LGBT  and labor activist who came on the scene as one of the core group of people supporting Harvey Milk in his run for San Francisco Supervisor. Cleve later began the NAMES Project, the AIDS quilt, which helped bring the horrors of the AIDS epidemic to national consciousness and helped propel the discovery of the HIV cocktail, which turned a fatal disease into one that's manageable.

Jones was portrayed by Emile Hirsch in Gus Van Sant’s Oscar-winning film, “MILK,” and was the historical consultant for the production. Jones led the 2009 National March for Equality in Washington, DC and served on the Advisory Board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which challenged California’s Proposition 8 in the US Supreme Court.

Cleve today is a labor organizer, working with hospitality workers’ union, UNITE HERE.  [1]

[1] http://www.unitehere.org/