Lannan Foundation

Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) has invested in his beliefs and started up a press. he publishes the popular lit-magMcSweeney’s and a whole line of books by authors he admires. We explore and evaluate this unusual inventory.

Real Audio: McSweeney's Books

Dave Eggers Bio and Cross Links

Erdrich mixes elements of her German and Native American ancestry to create a collage of history, mythology and good old-fashioned storytelling. In this conversation, we focus on the importance of spiritual diversity in her fiction.

Real Audio: The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

Louise Erdrich Bio and Cross Links

Mexico’s foremost living writer talks about the male and female perspectives in his work. His famous character Artemio Cruz was, he claims, a critique of machismo. It is a woman, Laura Diaz, who presides over his new novel, an epic about the 20th century.

Real Audio: The Years with Laura Diaz

Carlos Fuentes Bio and Cross Links

Amy Gerstler regards her poetry as a sort of spell to ward off danger. Her new book deals with the tragedies that cannot be evaded by magic.

Real Audio: Medicine

Ron Hansen’t reconstruction of Hitler’s affair with Geli Raubal gives us a glimpse of a creepy, hypothetical menage-a-trois: the novelist in bed with innocence and monstrosity.

Real Audio: Hitler's Niece

The author of High Fidelity and About a Boy has made a shift: the gifted comic novelist has adopted a woman’s voice to examine marriage, fidelity, happiness adn finally, moral goodness.

Real Audio: How to Be Good