Martin Cruz Smith (1942-2025, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studio December 9, 2004 while on tour for his Renko novel “Wolves Eat Dogs.” set partially in the area around Chernobyl. The great noir and detective author Martin Cruz Smith died of Parkinsons Disease on July 11, 2025 at the age of 82.  He’s best known for the best-selling novel, and first in the Arkady Renko series, “Gorky Park.”

Howard Browne (1908-1999) was a novelist, pulp magazine editor, radio writer, screenwriter and author of dozens of television episodes in the 1950s. He discusses his long career, with anecdotes from life in the depression, ’40s radio, and his work in Hollywood. This is the only radio interview he ever gave, hosted by Richard A. Lupoff, dating to the mid to late 1980s. First posted August 1, 2018 following digitization and remastering.

Edmund White (1940-2025) in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA Studios, September 20, 2012 while on tour for the novel “Jack Holmes and His Friend.” Edmund White, who died on June 3, 2025 at the age of 85, was often called the Grandfather of gay literature. Equally at home writing novels, biographies, plays, memoirs, essays and various hybrids, he was a pioneer in the LBGT world. Third of four interviews. Photo: David Shankbone.

Joseph Heller, author of “Catch-22” and its sequel, “Closing Time,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded in San Francisco on October 17, 1994. In this interview, not heard in two decades, Heller talks about both books, the film based on “Catch-22” and some of the themes of his works. First posted May 21, 2019.