Tolstoy: A Russian Life
Rosamund Bartlett talks about the life and legacy of Leo Tolstoy. At the time of his death, he was the most famous man in Russia, with a growing international following, and more revered than the tsar....
View ArticleWhy Isn't the Sky Blue?
What is the color of honey, and "faces pale with fear"? If you're Homer--one of the most influential poets in human history--that color is green. And the sea is "wine-dark," just like oxen...though...
View ArticleThe Open Utopia
Stephen Duncombe, associate professor at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, talks about his project to create a web-based, open source edition of Sir Thomas More's Utopia.
View ArticleMonte Irvin and Recollections on Negro League Baseball
Hall-of-famer Monte Irvin talks about his time in baseball during a round table discussion led by host Walter James Miller.Miller was an American literary critic, professor, writer, and host of WNYC's...
View ArticlePhilip Roth and Fans Return to Newark for his 80th
Philip Roth fans and scholars from across the country are descending on Newark this week for several activities honoring the city's most famous literary son on the occasion of his 80th birthday.Among...
View ArticleBus Tour Brings Philip Roth's Newark to Life
It’s a curious way to celebrate a famous writer’s 80th birthday: go back to the city of his youth and read excerpts from his books.For Philip Roth and Newark though, it is a natural fit, given how...
View ArticleAlice Munro Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
On Thursday morning, the Swedish Academy named Canadian Alice Munro as the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.Not a stylist nor a writer of experimental fiction, Munro is a self described old...
View ArticleKurt Vonnegut and L.J. Davis and the Novelist's Relationship to Community
This May 1, 1978 interview was the third one Vonnegut had with Walter James Miller for WNYC’s “Writers’ Almanac.” This time, however, Vonnegut shared the microphone with journalist/novelist L. J....
View ArticleKurt Vonnegut on Jailbird, His Watergate Novel
This last of four interviews of Vonnegut by Walter James Miller took place on October 1, 1979, and it’s the crown jewel of the set. Vonnegut had just published his “Watergate novel,”Jailbird, in which...
View ArticleNicholas Pileggi, The Mafia in New York City
In a one-hour talk that has the easy-going feel of a conversation in a diner, Nicholas Pileggi provides an account of how the Mafia came to power in New York City. Pileggi, born February 22, 1933, may...
View ArticleJames Joyce's Ulysses: 'Obscene, Lewd, and Lascivious'
The book that literary critics now consider the most important novel in the English language was once illegal to own, sell, advertise or purchase in most of the English-speaking world. James Joyce’s...
View ArticleAUDIO | Dubliners: A Quartet
James Joyce's eye for detail and his ear for colloquial speech make the "dear, dirty Dublin" of his celebrated short story collection ripe for a dramatic aural experience. Below, download or listen on...
View ArticleDubliners: A Quartet - Part 1: Araby
Part one of the four-part audio play by award-winning playwright Arthur Yorinks, inspired by the stories of James Joyce's Dubliners.The play was performed by an ensemble of noted actors and singers and...
View ArticleVideo: Neil Gaiman's Definitive Victor in the Battle of Sandman Versus Thor
The Leonard Lopate Show Book club received an outstanding number of questions for fantasy writer Neil Gaiman. In this video, he addresses a few of those queries, including which universe he'd rather...
View ArticleA Guided Tour Through a Century of Literature
Celebrating the 100-year-anniversary of the seminal Best American Short Stories series, author Lorrie Moore and series editor Heidi Pitlor have compiled 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories. A...
View ArticleWhat A New Trove of Ernest Hemingway's Letters Reveals About the Writer
Declan Kiely, Curator and Department Head of Literary and Historical Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum, offers an inside look at the exhibit, “Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars," which...
View ArticleThe Transformation of Truth, U.S. Retaliates Against Russia, Modern Nuclear...
Coming up on today's show:The most fundamental change in 2016 has been the redefinition of truth in the minds of Americans. According Jay Rosen, NYU professor and author of PressThink, a blog about...
View ArticleThe Inspiration Behind “The Handmaid’s Tale”
It's a funny thing: all at once, on November 9th of last year, old novels with dystopian themes suddenly seemed very relevant and had huge sales upticks. One of them, Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s...
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