KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Bookwaves/Artwaves – February 9, 2023: Jane Smiley – Fay Weldon

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Jane Smiley, whose latest novel is “A Dangerous Business,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. The author of seventeen adult fiction novels, two short story collections, five non-fiction works plus several young adult novels, Jane Smiley is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “A Thousand Acres,” and more recently The Last Hundred Years Trilogy. She current teaches ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – February 2, 2023: Wil Haygood – Dennis Lim

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Artwaves Wil Haygood, author of Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Colorization looks at the history of Hollywood from the perspective of the African American community, from protests over the showing of the racist silent film, “Birth of a Nation,” to the first great Black director, Oscar Micheaux, through the...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – January 26, 2023: Dennis Lim – Russell Banks

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Artwaves A scene from the film “Tale of Cinema.” Dennis Lim, film critic and Artistic Director of the New York Film Festival and author of “Tale of Cinema,” an examination of the work of South Korean film-maker Hong Sang-soo, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Dennis Lim was previously the the director of programming of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Before that he was ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – January 19, 2023: Jack O’Brien

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues Jack O’Brien, theatre director and author of Jack in the Box, or How to Goddamn Direct, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Jack O’Brien has won three Tony Awards and has been nominated seven times. The former artistic director of The Old Globe in San Diego, from 1981 to 2007, he’s one of the premier directors working in America today. Among his Broadway shows are The Full Monty, H...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – January 12, 2023: Suzy McKee Charnas – Frank Galati

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Suzy McKee Charnas, in the 1980s. Suzy McKee Charnas (1939-2023), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded over Halloween Weekend, 1981 at the World Fantasy Convention in the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. Suzy McKee Charnas, who died on January 2nd, 2023 at the age of 83, was a novelist and short story writer focusing on fantasy and science fiction. Over a career that...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – January 5, 2023: Vanessa Veselka – Robert B. Parker

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Vanessa Veselka, whose latest novel is “The Great Offshore Grounds,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. “The Great Offshore Grounds” is an epic novel about two sisters on a quest to find themselves during the upheavals of the current era. It’s a detailed examination of feminism, of lives lived on the edge, and of life in the parts of America we hear little about. V...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – December 29, 2022: Shelley Singer – Philip Pullman

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Shelley Singer (1939-2022), mystery author of six Jake Samson mysteries and four Barrett Lake mysteries, and former book reviewer on KPFA, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded on November 19, 1986 at her East Bay home. Mystery and suspense novelist Shelley Singer died of heart failure on November 10, 2022 at the age of 83. The author of six ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – December 22, 2022: Helen Benedict

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Eyad and Helen. Photos: Ehab Onan Helen Benedict, co-author (with Eyad Awwadawnon) of “Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Helen Benedict is the author of seven novels, including “Wolf Season” and “Sand Queen,” and five books of non-fiction. Her latest book, “Map of Hope and Sorrow,” co-written by Eyad Awwadawnon...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – December 1, 2022: Derek Goldman – William Gibson

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Artwaves Derek Goldman, co-playwright (with Clark Young) and director of “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski,” starring David Straithairn, playing at Berkeley Rep’s Peets Theatre through December 18th, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Recorded by zencastr on November 16, 2022. “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski,” tells the story of holocaust witness Jan Karski, ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 24, 2022: Isaac Asimov – Ray Bradbury

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in New York City on August 10, 1983. Isaac Asimov, who died at the age of 72 in 1992, was considered, along with Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein, one of the three great masters of American science fiction in the 20th century. Isaac Asimov began sending in stories and getting published in science fic...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 17, 2022: Emma Rice – Julie Powell

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Artwaves Photo: Steve Tanner Emma Rice, whose latest production, an adaptation of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” plays at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre November 18th through January 1st, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Emma Rice was formerly the Artistic Director of Kneehigh Theatre, which brought several shows to Berkeley Rep, including Brief Encounter, and The Wild Br...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 10, 2022: Richard Powers – Lisa Ramirez (part two)

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Richard Powers, author of “Bewilderment,” just out in trade paperback, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded via zencastr on September 27, 2021. Richard Powers is one of America’s most distinguished novelists. In 2006, his novel The Echo Maker, won the National Book Award and was a finmalist for the Pulitzer, and his most recent novel, The Overstory, was short-lis...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 3, 2022: George Saunders – Lisa Ramirez (part one)

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves George Saunders, author of the short story collection, Liberation Day, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. George Saunders is the highly acclaimed author of several short story collections, including “Tenth of December,”  and “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline,” and others, along with political commentary that has appeared in The New Yorker and other magazines. He won the 201...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – October 27, 2022: Jesse Green – Clive Barker

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Jesse Green, New York Times theatre critic, and co-author of “Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) was the daughter of composer Richard Rodgers, and is best known as the composer of the hit musical “Once Upon a Mattress” and the novel, “Freaky Friday,” which has been adapted into variou...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – October 20, 2022: Vauhini Vara – Bill Irwin

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Vauhini Vara, author of the novel,  “The Immortal King Rao,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Recorded via zencastr September 8, 2022. Vauhini Vara studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop, worked as tech reporter at The Wall Street Journal and wrote for the business section of The New Yorker. She is a contributing writer at Wired. Her upcoming collection of short s...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – September 22, 2022

Bookwaves/Artwaves presents in-depth interviews with authors of fiction and narrative non-fiction, delving deeply into political and social issues, literary technique, and the life of the author, along with interviews devoted to theatre and film, and archive interviews from Bookwaves and Probabilities. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – September 22, 2022 appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves: Peter Straub and Stephen King

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Masters of Horror and Suspense Peter Straub (1993-2022), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded april 4, 1993 while on tour for his novel, “The Throat,” third in a thematic trilogy that included “Koko” and “Mystery.” Peter Straub, who died on September 4th, 2022 at the age of 79, was a master of horror and supernatural fiction whose work erased any dis...

Bookwaves/Artwaves, September 15, 2022: Peter Straub and Stephen King

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Masters of Horror and Suspense Peter Straub (1993-2022), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded April 4, 1993 while on tour for his novel, “The Throat,” third in a thematic trilogy that included “Koko” and “Mystery.” Peter Straub, who died on September 4th, 2022 at the age of 79, was a master of horror and supernatural fiction whose work erased any dis...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – September 8, 2022: Roz Chast – Patricia Marx

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves  Roz Chast, New Yorker cartoonist. Recorded October 26, 2017 while she was on tour with “Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York.” Hosted by 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 started out in the National Lampoon and Village Voice but has since become a...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – September 1, 2022: Mary Roach – Stuart Woods

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves  Mary Roach discusses her latest book, “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law,” out this week in trade paperback, with host Richard Wolinsky. The author of several non-fiction works that examine specific areas of life that are rarely covered elsewhere, Mary Roach brings a sharp eye and excellent research skills to explain how things work, how they don’t work, and the various thi...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 25, 2022: Joyce Carol Oates, “Blonde,” 2000

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves  Joyce Carol Oates, author of “Blonde,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded May 3, 2000 in the KPFA studios. ​​​​​Joyce Carol Oates is one of American’s greatest writers, and one of its most prolific. Over a career that spans nearly sixty years, according to Wikipedia she’s written 58 novels, and according to Good Reads, has had 116 books p...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 18, 2022: Salman Rushdie – Hershey Felder

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves  Salman Rushdie discusses his latest novel to date, “Quichotte,” in this interview with host Richard Wolinsky. By the time this interview was conducted, on September 20, 2019, it felt as if the fatwa and the years of hiding due to the publication of The Satanic Verses were all in the past. Salman Rushdie was in San Francisco that day and was scheduled to come to the KPFA st...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 11, 2022: Paul Rudnick

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves  Paul Rudnick, author of the novel “Playing the Palace,” and the teleplay for the HBO film “Coastal Elites,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Playwright, screenwriter and novelist Paul Rudnick’s latest novel, “Playing the Palace,” is the story of a gay man living in New York who falls in love with a gay Prince of Wales, and what ensues. His recent film, “Coastal ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 4, 2022: Christopher Moore

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Christopher Moore, author of “Razzmatazz,” “Noir,” and other novels of comic fantasy and horror, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Christopher Moore has eighteen novels to his credit, including Practical Demonkeeping, Bloodsucking Fiends, Fool and Secondhand Souls, many of which take place in San Francisco, where he now lives. Razzmatazz, his latest novel, is a fo...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – July 28, 2022 – Fund Drive Pre-emption

Bookwaves/Artwaves – July 21, 2022 – Fund Drive Pre-emption

Bookwaves/Artwaves – July 14, 2022: Susan Faludi – James Salter

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Susan Faludi talks with host Richard Wolinsky about her book, In The Darkroom, winner of the 2016 Kirkus Prize and a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. This encore podcast was first posted on October 5, 2016. In The Darkroom remains Susan Faludi’s most recent book to date. In The Darkroom is about a search for identity … specifically the identity of her father, who moved...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – July 7, 2022: Peter Brook – Tess Gerritsen

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Artwaves Peter Brook and Richard Wolinsky. Peter Brook (1925-2022), visionary director, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Peter Brook was one of the greatest theatrical directors of the twentieth century. Artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company for twenty years from 1962-1982, he transformed how the English speaking world looked at the plays of William Shakespeare. He...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 30, 2022: David Sedaris

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves David Sedaris, whose latest collection of essays is titled “Happy Go Lucky,” is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky. Recorded June 9, 2022 at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California. David Sedaris is author of thirteen books, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, A Carnival of Snackery, The Best of Me, Calypso, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls and others. He has been a c...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 9, 2022: Christine Dwyer – Flynn Berry

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Artwaves Christine Dwyer, who plays “Mother,” along with characters in the ensemble, in the current production of the musical “Ragtime” at TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Arts, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Ragtime is based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, and concerns the changes in music, women’s rights, and the experience of Black Americans at the turn of the 20...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 2, 2022: Jasson Minadakis – KJ Sanchez

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Artwaves Jasson Minadakis, Artistic Director of Marin Theatre Company and director of “The Sound Inside,” by Adam Rapp, which runs May 26 – June 19, 2022, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. In his fifteenth year as Artistic Director at Marin, Jasson Minadakis has directed numerous plays both here and elsewhere. In this interview recorded outdoors due to Covid restrictions, h...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 26, 2022

Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 19, 2022

Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 12, 2022: Pre-Empted

Bookwaves/Artwaves – May 5, 2022: Don Winslow – David Thomson

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Don Winslow, author of “City on Fire,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera on April 27, 2022. Don Winslow is the author of 21 novels, many of which focus on crime and the criminal underworld, including The Cartel, The Force, Savages (which became an Oliver Stone film), and The Border. His latest novel, “City on Fire,” te...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 28, 2022: A.O. Scott

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves A conversation with A.O. Scott, co-chief film critic of the New York Times and author of Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty and Truth, Hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Encore podcast originally posted on April 7, 2016. A.O. Scott is one of America’s foremost film critics. Since 2002, he’s shared the chief movie review slot at the New York T...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 21, 2022: Ursula K. LeGuin – Gene Wolfe

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Two Science Fiction Masters Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018), who broke the artificial wall between science fiction and literature, died on January 22nd, 2018 at the age of 88. An essayist and poet along with being a fiction writer, she transcended all genres with the quality of her prose and the allegorical nature of her work. Best known for her novels The Left Hand of Darkness, which ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 14, 2022: Jane Smiley – Brian Garfield

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Jane Smiley, whose latest novel is “Perestroika in Paris,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. The author of sixteen adult fiction novels, two short story collections, five non-fiction works plus several young adult novels, Jane Smiley is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “A Thousand Acres,” and more recently The Last Hundred Years Trilogy. She current teaches cr...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 7, 2022: Robert Macfarlane – Miranda July

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Robert Macfarlane, whose latest book is “Ghostways: Two Journeys in Unquiet Places,” written in collaboration with artist Stanley Donwood and writer Dan Richards, is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. This short book examines two strange areas in England, Orford Ness, a spit of sand in the southeast of England, not far from Cambridge, which was used as a weapons testing ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 31, 2022: Margo Hall – Jan Hunter

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Today’s program is devoted to the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Named after the noted playwright (A Raisin in the Sun), the company was formed in 1981 by Stanley E. Williams and Quentin Easter,  the Lorraine Hansberry had established itself as the premier African American theatre company in the Bay Area within a few short years, and over the next decades pro...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 24, 2022: Wayne Wang – Susan Oxtoby

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archives Wayne Wang, director of such films as “Chan is Missing,” “The Joy Luck Club” and “Smoke,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. In this second of two parts , the noted filmmaker discusses his move toward the mainstream, from independently-minded studio films like The Joy Luck Club and Smoke to such movies as Anywhere But Here and Maid ...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 17, 2022: Paul Gordon – Wayne Wang

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Paul Gordon, composer/lyricist for the musical adaptation of “Sense & Sensibility,” and other works, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Paul Gordon was a pop music songwriter when he decided to create a musical adaptation of Jane Eyre, which arrived in Broadway in December 2000 and ran for six months. Since then, he’s written the music and lyrics for several shows,...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 10, 2022: Fund Drive Pre-Emption

Bookwaves/Artwaves is pre-empted today for the Fund Drive, and returns at this time on March 17, 2021 with new interviews with filmmaker Wayne Wang and composer/lyricist Paul Gordon.   Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links Note: Most in-person events still require proof of full vaccination for all audience members over 12 and masks. Many venues will require proof of boosters. Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closure...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 3, 2022: Fund Drive Pre-Eemption

Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 3, 2022: Fund Drive

Bookwaves/Artwaves is pre-empted today for special fund drive programming. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – March 3, 2022: Fund Drive appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves – February 24, 2022: Fund Drive Pre-Emption

Bookwaves/Artwaves – Feb. 24, 2022: Fund Drive Pre-Emption

Bookwaves/Artwaves is pre-empted today for special fund drive programming. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – Feb. 24, 2022: Fund Drive Pre-Emption appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves – February 17, 2022: Wil Haygood – Bill English

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Wil Haygood, author of Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Colorization looks at the history of Hollywood from the perspective of the African American community, from protests over the showing of the racist silent film, “Birth of a Nation,” to the first great Black director, Oscar Micheaux, through the...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – February 10, 2022: : Joseph Hansen – Janis Ian

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Joseph Hansen (1923-2004) was a pioneer of private eye fiction, whose main character, Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator, was the first gay protagonist in the detective field published by a mainstream house. The first Brandstetter novel, Fadeout, was published in 1970. At the time of publication, being gay was illegal in 49 of the 50 states. Richard Wolinsky and R...

Bookwaves/Artwaves – February 3, 2022: Art Spiegelman – Octavia Butler

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues   Bookwaves Art Spiegelman, co-editorr of the series “Little Lit,” and author of “MAUS” and “MAUS II”, in conversation with  Richard A. Lupoff, aired originally on December 7, 2000. On the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, the McMinn County Board of Education voted 10-0 to ban Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel memoir of his father’s experiences during the Holocaust, MAUS, from county ...