KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Robert Olen Butler, author of the novel "Perfume River," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Robert Olen Butler is the author of several novels and short story collections. His collection,  "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain" won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The author of sixteen novels and six collections of short stories, his best-known works focus on the legacy of Vietnam, either looking at the war itself or on its aftermath in Vietnam and in America. "Perfume River" tells the story of a Vietnam vet, struggling with his entry to old age, and with his older parents, one of whom has his own secrets from World War II, and with his brother, who ran to Canada rather than be conscripted. Robert Olen Butler also writes a series of thrillers set during World War I.

Robert Olen Butler website [1]

A 45-minute version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

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

Margot Livesey discusses her latest novel, “Mercury,” with host Richard Wolinsky.

Margot Livesey is known for writing literary psychological thrillers. Born and raised in Britain, she’s lived in the United States for several years, and “Mercury,” a tale of obsession and misunderstanding, is her first set in America.

In this interview, she talks about writing the book, about her career as a writer, and about her work as a teacher of writing.

Extended 41-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/margot-livesey/

[caption id="attachment_253192" align="alignleft" width="214"] Richard Wolinsky & Bill Irwin[/caption]

Bill Irwin, creator and performer of "On Beckett," at A.C.T.'s Strand Theatre through January 22, 2017, is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Bill Irwin won the Tony Award for his portrayal of George opposite Kathleen Turner’s Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." on Broadway. He performed as both Lucky and Vladimir in productions on Broadway of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," and performed in A.C.T.'s recent production of Beckett's "Endgame." A veteran of several TV shows and films,  currently he appears regularly on the TV shows "Law & Order: SVU" and "Sleepy Hollow," and will appear on a new FX series, "Legion."

A founder of the legendary Pickle Family Circus, he has also appeared in San Francisco and New York in the shows "Fool Moon" and "Old Hats."

Bill Irwin's interest in Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) goes back to college and his performances of Beckett not only include the mentioned plays but other works as well.

The interview was recorded January 9, 2017 in a dressing room at the Strand Theatre in San Francisco. Special thanks to Carey Perloff and Kevin Kopjak for making this possible.

 

Rabih Alameddine, author of “The Angel of History” is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Born in Kuwait and now living in San Francisco and Beirut, Rabih Alameddine is the atuhor of several novels, including “The Hakawati” and “An Unnecessary Woman.”  His latest novel deals with memory and forgetting, as a poet remembers his lover and others who died of AIDS during the ’80s in the context of both the real world and a fantasy dialogue between Satan and Death.

In this interview, Rabih Alameddine talks about his life as an immigrant, as an Arab, as a gay person, and its relationship to his art. He also discusses the recent election and how it breaks through the fantasy of America’s exceptionalism.

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

Anne Rice discusses her latest novel, “Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis” along with her entire career as a novelist with host Richard Wolinsky. Second of two parts; The first part aired Monday on Arts-Waves.

Anne Rice achieved success in 1976 with her novel “Interview with the Vampire,” which spawned a series of novels titled “The Vampire Chronicles” and became a world-wide phenomenon. Along the way, she also wrote several other novels including the Mayfair Witches trilogy, Cry to Heaven, a series of books under pseudonyms, and the screenplay for “Interview with the Vampire” was turned into a successful film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

In 2014, after an eight-year hiatus, she returned to the main character in her Vampire Chronicles series, Lestat, and here talks about the second book in this new series. She also talks about her career, including a failed musical of Lestat and the four films made from her books.

The interview was recorded at Books Inc., Opera Plaza, in San Francisco on Dec. 2, 2016. The entire interview is also heard as a Radio Wolinsky [1] podcast

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/anne-rice/

Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the novel “Here I Am” is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

In his latest novel, the author of “Everything is Illuminated” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” focuses on the question of what it means to be a secular Jew in America today in the story of an American family on the verge of crisis, set against the backdrop of turmoil in the Middle East. In this wide-ranging interview, he talks about the characters in his book, why he chose its various elements, and how he relates his own life and ideas to those in his book. “Here I Am” was named as one of the 100 notable books of 2016 by the New York Times.

He also discusses his other recent work, including an aborted HBO series and other recent projects.

An extended version of this interview airs as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

Jane Smiley, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel A Thousand Acres, discusses her latest work, The Last Hundred Years trilogy, which consists of three novels, Some Luck, Early Warning and Golden Age. She talks about the politics of the era, the characters she created, and the way the characters interact with major and minor events.  Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. These books are all now out in paperback..

 

Extended 36 minute edit:

[audio mp3="https://kpfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Jane-Smiley-2015-Bookwaves.mp3"][/audio]

Lynsey Addario ia a free-lance photographer whose work in war zones and elsewhere is seen in The New York Times, Time magazine, and National Geographic. Her memoir, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War details her experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur and Syria. She talks about her life and her career with host Richard Wolinsky.

Extended 45-minute web edit [1]

[1] http://bookwaves.homestead.com/Soundfiles/Lynsey_Addario.mp3

James Gleick, whose latest book is Time Travel, is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

The author of The Information, an all-encompassing exploration about how we give and receive information, returns with Time Travel, which focuses on the history of time travel in literature and physics, and on the various paradoxes and possibilities of the idea of time travel. In this interview, he talks about H.G. Wells and his time machine, about Robert Heinlein and the role of science fiction in talking about time, and of course on the physics of time, infinite realities and how and why we focus so clearly on the concept.

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

 

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/james-gleick-time-travel/

Marisa Silver, author of the novel Little Nothing is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Marisa Silver, who began her artistic career in her twenties as a film director (Permanent Record, He Said She Said), and then turned to novels (The God of War, Mary Coin), discusses her latest novel, Little Nothing, a fantasy set in Eastern Europe in the early years of the twentieth century, and involves a girl who changes form and identity as the world becomes modern. Marisa Silver is the daughter of noted film director Joan Micklin Silver.