A podcast posted every Sunday featuring extended interviews and discussions from Bookwaves, Art-Waves, and Bookwaves Artwaves Hour programs on KPFA, and newly digitized and edited archive interviews from the pre-digital Probabilities series dating back to 1977. Literature, theater, film, the visual arts: in-depth interviews from a progressive and artistic viewpoint, with long-time KPFA/Pacifica host Richard Wolinsky.
John Lanchester, whose most recent novel is “The Wall,” is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky. John Lanchester is a novelist and essayist who has written for The London Review of Books, the Guardian and other publications. Recorded March 18, 2019; first posted May 7, 2019. Photo: Faber & Faber.
Octavia Butler (1947-2006) in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded in 1983. Octavia Butler, who died in 2006 at the age of 58, was one of the giants of modern science fiction. Winner of multiple awards for her short fiction and novels, her work explored issues involving gender, race, and power and featured protagonists often at odds with their societies. First posted May 20, 2017.
Sue Grafton died on December 28, 2017 at the age of seventy-seven. Best known as the author of a series of mysteries featuring the detective Kinsey Millhone, Sue Grafton was at the forefront of the Sisters in Crime movement — women authors who wrote crime fiction – starting with her first mystery, A is for Alibi in 1982, and continuing the alphabet through Y is for Yesterday. The final book in the series, Z is for Zero, was never written. On April 17, 1989, on a book tour for F is for Fugitive, and again on April 13, 1992, for I Is for Innocent, Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff spoke with Sue Grafton about the history of her career and her writing process. This program is taken from those two interviews. Originally posted January 9, 2018.
Noel Casler is a stand-up comic whose earlier career as a celebrity handler led him to work for six years on “Celebrity Apprentice.” In this interview recorded December 4, 2020 and originally posted two days later, he discusses what it was like to work with Donald Trump, and who Donald Trump was during those television years. Hosted by Richard Wollinsky.
Francine Prose, author of “1974, A Personal History” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.
The author of twenty novels and ten books of non fiction, Francine Prose is best known for such novels as “Lovers at the Chameleon Club, 1932,” “The Vixen,” “Household Saints” and “Mister Monkey.” This latest book, “1974” is a memoir about her time in San Francisco in the mid-1970s and her friendship with Anthony Russo, who. along with Daniel Ellsberg, was an activist responsible for revealing the Pentagon Papers to the world.
Author, satirist and musician Kinky Friedman (1944-2024) died in June, 2024 at the age of 79. In this wide-ranging interview recorded in September 1994, he talks about his double careers and lets loose his opinions about country music and Garth Brooks in this interview with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff.
Noted playwright Naomi Iizuka discusses her translation and adaptation of Shakespeare’s history play, Richard II, a play written in verse, into a theatrical piece in which the language is comprehensible to a modern audience while maintaining the essence of the story, the characterization, and the poetry. She goes on to talk about her work in television, and her work as a professor of theatre. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
Josh Costello, the Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre in Berkeley since 2019, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, discussing the state of Bay Area theatre today, including Aurora, and several other issues, along with looks at the past season and the upcoming one.
Erik Larson, best selling author of “The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded at Book Passage Bookstre on May 31, 2024.
The great Irish novelist and playwright Edna O’Brien died at the age of 93 on July 27, 2024 after a long illness. Her novels changed the face of Irish literature, starting with “The Country Girls,” which was banned in Ireland after its publication in 1960. This interview was conducted in 2000 while she was on tour for her novel, “Wild Decembers,” third in a thematic trilogy. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
