Bookworm

The heroine of Alice Notley's noir epic poem is named Ines. This is short for "inessential," which is what Notley says the poet is, and, really, what we all are.

Knausgaard’s third volume focuses on childhood. He says what he knows of people he knows from books. He continues in this tradition of telling with the written word.

Reflecting on his autobiographical novels, Knausgaard says literature should be about life; in writing, he attempts to find meaning within the banality of the everyday.

An exciting first for Bookworm, recently married literary-couple Michael Carroll and Edmund White join us for a double-interview.

László Krasznahorkai, an award-winning Hungarian novelist known for his dense and lyrical prose, dives into his latest work, Seiobo There Below. He explores the connection between heaven and hell through the eyes of a Taoist goddess, framing human life as an expression of yearning rather than strict belief. Krasznahorkai emphasizes beauty as the central hero of his narrative, reflecting on art's role in restoration and human aspiration. His unique writing process involves composing in his head, influenced by rituals and his experiences with Japanese culture.

Intellectual, accessible, and provocative literary conversations.

Sjón places classic epics side-by-side with Icelandic sagas of past centuries. We discuss how literature comes from literature and one story gives birth to the next.

We are never prepared to discover our parents are fallible; Simpson's protagonist investigates his parents' lives but most of what he uncovers he doesn't wish to know.

VanderMeer's trilogy chronicles expeditions orchestrated by a government agency called the Southern Reach into a dangerous landscape where reality and unreality blur.

For Jeff Jackson, starting a novel is an invocation. There's an idea that telling our stories is cathartic but sometimes what you've really done is turn up the volume.