KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

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, Bluesman, and the New York Times bestsellers, House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, Gone So Long and his memoir, Townie, 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 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

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Ben Fountain, whose latest book, “Beautiful Country, Burn Again: Democracy, Rebellion and Revolution” details the 2016 presidential campaign through essays, some of which were previously published in a different form in The Guardian, is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky.

Ben Fountain is primarily a fiction writer, the author of the best-selling novel, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” and the story collection, “Brief Encounters with Che Guevara.”

In this interview, he discusses elements of the 2016 election, including how the Democrats have chosen to abandon the New Deal, Trump’s success as a demagogue, the failure of the press during the election, along with the arc of his career as a writer.

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Gary Shteyngart, whose latest novel is “Lake Success,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Gary Shteyngart is the author of several novels, including “Absurdistan” and “Super Sad True Love Story,” along with a memoir, “Little Failure.” His latest book features a hedge fund manager on a road trip across America in 2016, and explains and satirizes the lives of the very rich. Gary Shteyngart took that road trip via Greyhound himself, and notes in the interview that virtually everything that happens to his character, Barry Cohen, happened to him.

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Rupert Everett, writer, director and lead actor of the film “The Happy Prince” about the last years of Oscar Wilde, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Rupert Everett’s film career took off with lead roles in the British films “Another Country” and “Dance with a Stranger” in the mid 1980s before his career took a nosedive when he came out as gay. He resurfaced in the late 1990s as a Hollywood star in the film “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” a period that lasted a short time before roles again dried up. Shortly afterward, he began working on a screenplay about Oscar Wilde’s final years, which finally has reached the screen as “The Happy Prince. The film stars Rupert Everett, who also served as director and screenwriter.

In this interview, he discusses his career, coming out as a gay actor, his work on “The Happy Prince,” and his thoughts on today’s world of social media.

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David Sedaris, whose latest collection of essays is titled “Calypso,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

David Sedaris has a national following based first on his contributions to the NPR radio show “This American Life,” and later with essays collected in such books as “Barrel Fever,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls.” His latest collection, “Calypso,” follows on the heels of the publication of his diaries from 1977 to 2002, and while often comedic, also deals with darker issues such as the death of his sister Tiffany, and politics in America today.

In this wide ranging discussion recorded in late June, 2018, he talks about gay parades, his father’s obsession with Trump, his own obsession with garbage collection and fitbit steps, and how he creates and molds his essays.

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