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Kazuo Ishiguro,
"When We Were Orphans", December 14 2000
Kazuo Ishiguro
"When We Were Orphans", December 14 2000
Ishiguro pits a child’s naive dream of becoming a master detective against the larger mysteries of adultery, death and war. A revealing conversation about the protective bubble placed around childhood--and how difficult it can be to burst it.
Real Audio: When We Were Orphans
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Wayne Johnson,
"The Colony of Unrequited Dreames; The Divine Ryans", October 14 1999
Wayne Johnson
"The Colony of Unrequited Dreames; The Divine Ryans", October 14 1999
In each of these novels a secret is revealed--a secret history in one, a family in the other. But why has this Canadian novelist, of the quality of Robertson Davies or Margaret Atwood, remained a secret to Americans?
Real Audio: The Colony of Unrequited Dreames; The Divine Ryans
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Thom Jones,
"Cold Snap", October 24 1996
Thom Jones
"Cold Snap", October 24 1996
More than a decade passed between the author’s stint at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and the publication of his first book. How does a writer endure the hard times?
Real Audio: Cold Snap
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A.L. Kennedy,
"Original Bliss", February 25 1999
A.L. Kennedy
"Original Bliss", February 25 1999
Original Bliss is the first American publication of this lively and quirky member of the new Scottish renaissance. Talk about the war between the sexes! Better yet, talk about a powerful new voice.
Real Audio: Original Bliss
A.L. Kennedy Bio and Cross Links
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Maxine Hong Kingston,
"The Fifth Book of Peace", March 4 1994
Maxine Hong Kingston
"The Fifth Book of Peace", March 4 1994
A fire at home destroys her manuscript and reminds Maxine Hong Kingston of the firebombing of Vietnam. She extends the analogy of private loss and public tragedy to arrive at a novel whose purpose is to promote personal serenity and global peace.
Real Audio: The Fifth Book of Peace
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Matthew Klam,
"Sam the Cat and Other Stories", March 29 2001
Matthew Klam
"Sam the Cat and Other Stories", March 29 2001
Matthew Klam discusses the sexcapades of the stud muffins and alley cats of his post-moral stories, truly the most audacious chronicle of sexual discomfort since the stories of John O’Hara.
Real Audio: Sam the Cat and Other Stories
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Ron Koertge,
"Geography of the Forehead", March 14 2002
Ron Koertge
"Geography of the Forehead", March 14 2002
In the sweet mayhem of Ron Koertge’s hilarious poems, a surreal vision collides with the sadness of daily life. Koertge talks about his transformation from a smarty pantspoet into a gentler, wisecracker.
Real Audio: Geography of the Forehead
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Ursula Le Guin,
"The Telling", March 08 2001
Ursula Le Guin
"The Telling", March 08 2001
Ursula Le Guin believes that science fiction writers create new worlds in order to understand this one. We discuss the death of literacy and the use of religious fanaticism to limit civil rights in her world of the future.
Real Audio: The Telling
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Elmore Leonard,
"Mr. Paradise", February 5 2004
Elmore Leonard
"Mr. Paradise", February 5 2004
Raffish characters, extreme events and lewd jokes are signatures of the widely praised Elmore Leonard style. Have they become definitive of our national character, as well?
Real Audio: Mr. Paradise
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Doris Lessing,
"The Grandmothers", April 1 2004
Doris Lessing
"The Grandmothers", April 1 2004
One of our most sage and canny living writers discusses the real stories behind her fiction. Her themes? Her prophesies? Her social criticism? Only ways to get the story on paper.
Real Audio: The Grandmothers
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Jonathan Lethem,
"Motherless Brooklyn", November 18 1999
Jonathan Lethem
"Motherless Brooklyn", November 18 1999
The western, the hard-boiled mystery, the sci-fi epic--these are the screens behind which Jonathan Lethem’s oedipal dramas loom.
Real Audio: Motherless Brooklyn
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Mario Llosa,
"The Feast of the Goat", January 24 2002
Mario Llosa
"The Feast of the Goat", January 24 2002
In this brilliant novel about the Trujillo regime, the Dominican Republic stands for all tyrannized nations and the 1960’s stand for any period of political domination and unrest. In this conversation, we explore the use of fact in novel-writing, in particular the facts of South American dictatorships’ uses of torture and coercion. In his quest for the dark true memoryof violation, Vargas Llosa rejects the myth-making of a Garcia Marquez.
Real Audio: The Feast of the Goat
Mario Llosa Bio and Cross Links
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