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.
Paul Auster (1947-2024), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded October 2, 2002 while on tour for his novel “The Book of Illusions.” Paul Auster, who died on April 30th, 2024 was a world-renowned novelist, memoirist, and film-maker whose works were translated into forty languages.
Helen Benedict, author of the novel “The Good Deed,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. The novel focuses on the life of refugees in the Greek island of Samos. In the interview, Helen Benedict, Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, also discusses the protests at Columbia as well as her view of journalism about the 2024 election.
Trina Robbins (1938-2024), who died of a stroke on April 10, 2024, discusses her memoir, “Last Girl Standing,” and her career in an interview recorded February 6, 2018. A legend in comic book circles, an artist at a time when hardly any women drew comics, Trina Robbins was an artist, author, and clothing designer.
Joan Baez, legendary singer, songwriter and activist, in connversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded while on remote tour for her book of poetry, “When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance.” Recorded April 26, 2024 via zencastr. Photo courtesy Joan Baez.
A conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel, “The Sympathizer,” which has now been adapted into a high-profile television miniseries. Recorded May 5, 2016 and originally posted June 21, 2016 Hosted by Richard Wolinsky
Don Winslow, author of “City in Ruins,” final volume of a modern gangster trilogy based on The Aenid, the Iliad and the Odyssey, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded via zencastr on April 10, 2024. In the interview, he talks about the thirty year journey to complete the trilogy, as well as upcoming adaptations of his work, and his current videos aimed at avoiding a fascist America, on X (Twitter).
Margot Livesey, author of the novel, “The Road from Belhaven,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Recorded March 19, 2024 at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California. Born in Scotland, Margot Livesey is the author of ten novels, including “The Missing World” and “Mercury.”
Susan Oxtoby, curator of a retrospective of filmmaker Agnes Varda (1928-2019) at BAMPFA through May 5th, discusses the career of the great Belgian-French director, focusing in on her most important films as well as a new documentary about Varda, “Viva Varda”. Photo of Susan Oxtoby and Agnes Varda in Berkeley, 2013, by Mariana Lopez, courtesy BAMPFA.
Roz Chast, New Yorker cartoonist, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. A regular cartoonist for the New Yorker since 1978, Roz Chast has developed a following for her quirky, strange and funny cartoons.. She talks about her career and and her book “Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York” in this interview recorded October 26, 2017 and first posted November 16, 2017.
Burton Lane, Broadway and Hollywood composer and sometime lyricist, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, August 17, 1992 in New York. Burton Lane wrote the music for the hit Broadway shows Finian’s Rainbow and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, as well as songs for several films in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, including Royal Wedding. Fifth in a series of interviews created for an unproduced radio documentary on George and Ira Gershwin. This interview has never seen the light of day until now. Photo: WNYC.
