Radio Wolinsky

The Probabilities Archive: Walter Tevis (1928-1984)

Walter Tevis, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, Richard A. Lupoff and Lawrence Davidson, recorded for the Probabilities KPFA radio program.

Walter Tevis, who died in 1984 at the age of 56, only wrote six novels. The first was The Hustler, which was adapted into a classic film with Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. The second, The Man Who Fell to Earth, was adapted into another classic movie starring David Bowie. Later came two science fiction novels, Mockingbird in 1980 and Steps of the Sun in 1983. Also in 1983 was The Queens Gambit, which is now a Netflix miniseries, and his final novel, The Color of Money, a sequel to the Hustler with a different plot than the Scorcese film, came out the year of his death 1984. This interview was recorded in the stairwell of Codys Bookstore in Berkeley in October 1981 on the publication of his only short story collection, Far From Home.

Transcript of the interview, from Brick magazine.