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 Updike was considered one of the great chroniclers of middle class American life. Novelist, short story writer, literary critic, poet and essayist, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction — for the novels Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest – Updike was considered one of America’s greatest literary masters. He was interviewed by Richard Wolinsky on June 9, 2006.
Clive Cussler (1931-2020) The best-selling author of the Dirk Pitt series, and several other adventure novels, died at the age of 88 on Feb. 24, 2020. This interview was recorded in 1994 on the publication of his novel, “Inca Gold” for the Probabilities radio series, he is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky & Richard A. Lupoff.
Tope Folarin, author of the novel “A Particular Kind of Black Man” is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. This first novel, by an up and coming Nigerian American writer, blends memoir and fiction in the tale of the son of Africans who grew up in white Utah and Texas, finding himself ethnically displaced and looking to find his roots.
Andrew Altschul discusses his latest novel, The Gringa, with host Richard Wolinsky. The Gringa tells the story of an American activist who goes to Peru in the early 1990s and becomes involved with a radical group who is eventually charged and incarcerated with terrorist crimes, based loosely on the real-life story of Lori Berenso
From the Probabilities Archive: Michael Crichton, recorded December 5, 1990, while on tour for his novel “Jurassic Park,” interviewed by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff in the KPFA studios; extended version.
E.L. Doctorow (1931-2015). A look at the life and career of E.L. Doctorow, author of Ragtime, The Book of Daniel, The March, Loon Lake and other novels, one of America’s greatest writers, who died on July 21, 2015. Interview One: Recorded May 12, 2004, while on tour for his collection, Sweet Land Stories. Interview Two: Recorded Sept/Oct 2009, while on tour for his novel Homer & Langley.
Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020) died January 31, 2020 at the age of 92. Best-selling author of 51 novels, many of which were adapted into theatrical and made-for-television films, she was interviewed by Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff on May 24, 1989 in San Francisco. From the Probabilities archive.
Colum McCann, whose latest novel is Apeirogon, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Apeirogon is the story of two men, Rami Elhanan, an Israeli, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, best of friends, who have been traveling the world attempting to bring about peace in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Apeirogon is only tangentially a novel. These are real people and this reads more like augmented non-fiction.
Terrence McNally, who died on March 24, 2020 of complications from Covid-19, was one of America’s most successful and influential playwrights and librettists. In this 2004 interview, he discusses his techniques and his personal history with Richard Wolinsky.
Lidia Yuknavitch discusses her collection of short stories, “Verge.” The author of novels, essays, a memoir and short stories, Lidia Yuknavitch details life of people on the margins of society. In conversation with Richard Wolinsky.
