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.
Tayari Jones, whose latest novel is “An American Marriage,” is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. “An American Marriage” deals with a marriage torn apart by the unjust arrest and imprisonment of the husband after an accusation by a white woman at a motel, and how both spouses deal with the following few years. “An American Marriage” is a 2018 Oprah’s Book Club Selection.
Norman Mailer (1923-2007) was one of the most important writers to come out of World War II. After forging a career as a novelist, he turned to narrative non-fiction with such classics as “Armies of the Night” and “Of a Fire on the Moon.” This podcast is taken from two interviews, the first on November 6, 1995, with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff during Mailer’s tour for his biography of Pablo Picasso, and the second, a solo interview by Richard A. Lupoff, on May 19, 1998, came during Mailer’s tour for his collection “Time of our Time.”
Isaac Butler and Dan Kois, authors of “The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. The book is an oral history of the play by Tony Kushner, looking at not only its history, but how Angels in America fits into the fabric of the American saga and theatrical history. SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers for the play and film.
Michael David Lukas, author of “The Oracle of Stamboul,” whose most recent novel is “The Last Watchman of Old Cairo,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.
Tony Kushner, playwright, “Angels in America” and other works, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in San Francisco, March 17, 2006. “Angels in America” is currently running at Berkeley Rep through July 22, 2018.
Cherilyn Parsons is the founder and director of the fourth annual Bay Area Book Festival, the weekend of April 28-29, 2018 (with a film series beginning April 25th). The Berkeley Civic Center MLK Park holds the main stage, with fifteen venues for events within walking distance. She is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.
Andrew Sean Greer, whose latest novel is “Less,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.
Andrew Sean Greer is the author of several acclaimed novels, including “The Confessions of Max Tivoli” and “The Story of a Marriage.” His latest novel, “Less,” tells the story of a middle-aged writer turning fifty, his relationships with an older famed poet and a younger man, and a trip around the world.
Ariel Levy, author of the memoir “The Rules Do Not Apply” in coversation with Richard Wolinsky. A staff writer for the New Yorker magazine since 2008, Ariel Levy first began her tenure focusing on issues involving sexuality and gender. She’s since expanded her reach, with stories about Silvio Berlusconi, Mike Huckabee, the hip drug ayuhuaska and the photographer Catherine Opie. While on assignment in Mongolia, she developed a miscarriage and, within two weeks, saw her relationship go south. Her memoir talks about both events, her career in journalism, and coping with loss.
Steven Saylor, whose latest novel in the Gordianus the Finder “Roma Sub Rosa” series, “The Throne of Caesar,” deals with the events of the Ides of March, 44 B.C. He talks about the book, his research on ancient Rome and his life as a writer, along with the comparison of the fall of the Roman Republic to the rise of Donald Trump in this discussion with host Richard Wolinsky.
Peter Carey, whose latest novel is “A Long Way from Home,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Two-time winner of the prestigious Booker Prize, Peter Carey is Australia’s most distinguished author. Among his works are Oscar and Lucinda, The True History of the Kelly Gang, Jack Maggs and Parrott and Olivier in America. A Long Way From Home delves into the story of racism in Australia and the oppression of the indigenous aboriginal peoples who inhabited the continent for two centuries before the white man and colonialism arrived.
