Bookworm

Longtime friend and editor, Alan Howard, hosts the last episode of Bookworm. He reflects on Michael's impact on writers and readers. The episode features interviews with rock band Sparks, Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper. Topics include creating theme music, the enduring value of Lulu's character, thoughts on a book and the writing process, the meeting with Susan Sontag, the power of music in adolescence, living and writing in France, and a reflection on friendship, community, and literary achievement.

Alan Howard, close friend of Michael Silverblatt’s and Bookworm editor for 30 years, hosts a conversation on grief and loss with Marilynne Robinson, Joan Didion, Jim Krusoe, Steve Erickson, Dave Eggers, and Mary Ruefle. The topics covered include reviving literary fiction and poetry, the parallels between novels and America, the themes in Dave Eggers' new novel, exploring Mary Rufel's poem 'Dense', the techniques used in 'Dunstom' poems, and the essence of poems and literary accomplishment in dealing with grief and loss.

Poetry-focused episode featuring poets Pattiann Rogers, John Ashbery, Coral Bracho, Forrest Gander, and Lucille Clifton. They discuss personal journeys into poetry, the transformative power of Walt Whitman's work, Mexican poet Coral Bracho's unique poetry, themes of love and the natural world, finding one's unique voice in poetry, and the language of poetry and American identity.

Prolific author Dave Eggers, founder of McSweeney's, co-founder of 826 National, and other significant projects, first met Micheal Silverblatt in 2000, upon the publication of his first book –– a critically acclaimed memoir whose title he calls, "obnoxious." They formed a friendship over 22 years of conversation. This episode, the third in a series to examine what novelist Russell Banks called the Story of America, is guest-hosted by Eggers. We’ll hear excerpts of Bookworm shows that discuss this story from E.L. Doctorow, Valeria Luiselli, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Gore Vidal.

Prolific author Dave Eggers, founder of McSweeney's, co-founder of 826 National, and other significant projects, first met Micheal Silverblatt in 2000, upon the publication of his first book –– a critically acclaimed memoir whose title he calls, "obnoxious." They formed a friendship over 22 years of conversation. In this episode, Eggers picks up the thread through what novelist Russell Banks called the Story of America. We’ll hear from Edward P. Jones, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, and Marilynne Robinson as they speak about slavery, race, and history.

Claudia Rankine, award-winning poet and author of Citizen: An American Lyric, a book-length poem about the pernicious racism of American daily life, hosts the first of a three-part episode on the story of America, as told through literary fiction. Over the decades Michael Silverblatt spoke with hundreds of writers about America — its foundation, its history, its challenges, and its culture. This episode reveals the story of America as the story of race. We’ll hear from David Foster Wallace, Russell Banks, Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, William H. Gass, Joan Didion, and Claudia Rankine herself.

Guest host Mary Corey, teacher of American history at UCLA and author of "The World Through a Monocle" about The New Yorker Magazine, teaches a course on American popular culture that explores the blurry lines between perceived high culture and what we think of as popular culture. In this episode, Corey takes us through excerpts of Bookworm conversations with lauded boho rocker Patti Smith, writer and brilliant wit Fran Lebowitz, and outré filmmaker John Waters. Each of these rebel artists has left a mark on our national culture and all of them are serious readers, making up a confederacy of Bookworms.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually since 1901 to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, “In the field of literature produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction.” Michael Silverblatt spoke with eight Nobel Prize laureates. In part 1 of the Laureates show, we heard from four of them. In this second part, we’ll be hearing excerpts from: Kazuo Ishiguro, Mario Vargas Llosa, Doris Lessing, Czesław Miłosz, and Robert Hass speaking about Milosz.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually since 1901 to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, “In the field of literature produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction.” Michael Silverblatt spoke with eight Nobel Prize laureates. In part 1 of The Nobel Laureates, we’ll be hearing from four of them: Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka, Orhan Pamuk, and Seamus Heaney.

Host Michael Silverblatt reflects on the arc of Bookworm's existence, highlighting diverse authors and discussing the importance of truth in biographies. Interviews with Gore Vidal and Maya Angelou provide insights into American history and the significance of familial relationships. The speaker also discusses the power of book series and expresses gratitude towards guests.