KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

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.

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John Lanchester, whose latest novel is “The Wall,” 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.

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Cherilyn Parsons, the founder and executive director of the Bay Area Book Festival, talks about the festival with host Richard Wolinsky. The Bay Area Book Festival will be held May 4-5, 2019 throughout venues within walking distance in downtown Berkeley, and features such luminaries as Robert Reich, Joyce Carol Oates, Kim Stanley Robinson, Tayari Jones, Esi Edugyan, Jonathan Kellerman, and many other authors in over a hundred venues.

For more information on the Fair, go to https://www.baybookfest.org/

The complete interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

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Dave Eggers discusses his latest novel, “The Parade” with host Richard Wolinsky.

The author of several works of fiction and non-fiction, Dave Eggers is best known for the memoir “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also the founder of McSweeney’s publishing house in San Francisco, and is an acclaimed journalist who writes for The Guardian and elsewhere.

“The Parade” takes place in an unnamed country as two contractors work to complete a road leading from a formerly rebellious part of the country into the capital city.

In this wide-ranging interview, he also talks about Trump rallies and their surprisingly diverse audiences, and about his career as a writer and screenwriter.

Recorded in the green room at KQED in San Francisco. Thanks to KQED and McSweeney’s.

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George R.R. Martin, recorded in 1991, interviewed by Richard Wolinsky & Richard A. Lupoff.

As Game of Thrones enters its final season, we can look back on the career of George R.R. Martin, to the days before his fantasy series was published, when he was best known as a writer for television, though he’d already written novels and short stories.

In 1991, five years before the publication of Game of Thrones, and evidently before its conception, Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff and I had a chance to chat with George R. R. Martin. At the time, he’d just completed work writing for the television series, “Beauty and the Beast,” and most of his interest concerned television and its standards and practices. As you listen to the interview, you can discern elements that will play a role in the genesis of Game of Thrones.

Digitized and re-edited by Richard Wolinsky in 2014.

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