KPFA - Radio Wolinsky

Donald Spoto (1941-2023), noted biographer,  in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded June 18, 1997 while on tour for “Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman.” The legendary biographer Donald Spoto died on February 11th, 2023 at the age of 81. Among his works were biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Marlene Dietrich, Tennessee Williams, Lawrence Olivier, the House of Windsor, James Dean and several others. This is the first of three interviews about his subjects and about the art of biography. The second interview was conducted a year later for The Hidden Jesus: A New Life. The third and final interview was recorded in 2000 for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, A Life. Later biographies focused on Francis of Assisi, Alan Bates, Grace Kelly and the Redgraves. His final biography, published in 2016 focused on the life of actress Teresa Wright. Digitized, remastered and edited on April 1, 2023. This interview has not been heard since its original 1997 broadcast. The post Donald Spoto (1941-2023), “Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman,” 1997 appeared first on KPFA.

Rebecca Makkai, whose latest novel is “I Have Some Questions for You,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Rebecca Makkai is the author of three earlier novels, The Great Believers, The Hundred Year House and The Borrowers, and one collection of stories, Music for Wartime. This latest novel is a mystery of sorts that takes place in a New England boarding school and involves a murder that took place twenty years earlier, a murder in which an athletic coach was arrested and convicted, but likely isn’t the guilty party. In this fast-paced book, Rebecca Makkai takes on the Me Too movement, misogyny in high school, true crime podcasts, and hidden abuse. The interview was recorded on March 2, 2023 at Green Apple Books on the Park in san Francisco. Photos: Richard Wolinsky. The post Rebecca Makkai, “I Have Some Questions For You,” 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

John Sayles discusses his latest novel, “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade’s Journey,” along with his work as a writer and film-maker, with host Richard Wolinsky. John Sayles is best known for his work as a director, screenwriter and actor, though this is his sixth novel. Among the films he directed are Lone Star, Sunshine State, Eight Men Out, Matewan, The Brother from Another Planet, Baby It’s You and Passion Fish. His acting credits include small roles in several films, and he wrote the screenplay for the films he directed. His novel “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade’s Journey” follows the characters of Jamie, a Scotsman captured by the English after the Battle of Culloden, and Jenny, another captured refugee from Scotland, as they make their way to the New World, Jamie winding up in a Native American village and Jenny moving from the Caribbean to Quebec, both of them involved in the French and Indian Wars.  Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Recorded March 1, 2023 at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. Special thanks to Elaine Petrocelli and the staff at the bookstore. The post John Sayles, “Jamie MacGillivray, The Renegade’s Journey,” 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Joe Ngo, who plays the role of Chum, the father, in “Cambodian Rock Band,” by Lauren Yee, and won an Obie for his performance at the Signature Theatre in New York, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Joe Ngo is an actor and musician, and has been performing in “Cambodian Rock Band” since its origins at the Ground Floor, Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work in 2016 before moving on to Houston and New York. Previously he acted in regional theatre in both “King of the Yees” and “Viet Gone,” as well as other plays. In the interview, he discusses how “Cambodian Rock Band” evolved, his own development as a musician, his relationship to the material in the show — both his parents lived through the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields era in Cambodia before migrating to America — and his career as an actor.  Photos: Berkeley Rep; Joe Ngo. Recorded via zencastr due to ongoing Covid protocols on March 8, 2023.   The post Joe Ngo, actor/performer, “Cambodian Rock Band,” 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Robert Olen Butler, author of the novel “Perfume River,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios, October 25, 2016. Robert Olen Butler is the author of several novels and short story collections. His collection,  “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain” won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The author of sixteen novels and six collections of short stories, his best-known works focus on the legacy of Vietnam, either looking at the war itself or on its aftermath in Vietnam and in America. “Perfume River” tells the story of a Vietnam vet, struggling with his entry to old age, and with his older parents, one of whom has his own secrets from World War II, and with his brother, who ran to Canada rather than be conscripted. Robert Olen Butler also writes a series of thrillers set during World War I featuring reporter Christopher Marlowe Cobb, This interview with Robert Olen Butler was originally posted on January 26th 2017. Two novels have come out since this interview. Paris in the Dark, a Christopher Marlowe Cobb thriller in September 2018 and Late City, published in September 2021. Photos: Kelly Butler/Grove Atlantic. Robert Olen Butler website   The post Robert Olen Butler, “Perfume River,” 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

Paul Auster, author of several novels, screenplays, books of poetry and film director, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded on February 14, 2017 in the KPFA studios while on tour for his still most recent novel, 4 3 2 1. Paul Auster’s novel is an epic 850 page story of how circumstance changes us. Archie Ferguson takes four different directions in this novel: in one his family has become rich, in another they’re poor, in a third he loses his father in a fire, and in a fourth he remains middle class. With the same genes, each Archie grows up differently. Born in New Jersey in 1947 (as is Paul Auster), Archie is precocious, a writer … the book shows how different developments lead to different outcomes: whether you go left, right, or straight ahead, something might happen that will change your life.  In the interview, Paul Auster also talks about his film-making career and about how his life relates to this novel. As of February, 2023, 4 3 2 1 remains Paul Auster’s most recent novel to date. Since that publication, there have been five non-fiction works, most recently Bloodbath Nation, an 89 page essay with photographs on gun culture in The United States, published in January 2023, Burning Boy, a biography of the poet and author of The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane, published in October 2021, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Groundwork, a collection of autobiographical writings, published in May 2020, and Talking to Strangers, a collection of other writings, published in 2019, and A Life in Words, a dialogue between Paul Auster and the Danish philosopher I. B. Siegumfeldt, published in October 2017. This podcast was first posted on April 1, 2017. The post Paul Auster, “4 3 2 1”, 2017 appeared first on KPFA.

Luis Alfaro, playwright, whose latest play is “The Travelers,” at the Magic Theatre in Fort Mason, San Francisco, February 15 – March 5, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Luis Alfaro is a Los Angeles-based Chicano activist and playwright, on the faculty at USC, whose plays have been performed throughout the United States and who is a former playwright in residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, discusses his life and career in this full hour interview. Among his previous works are “Oedipus el Rey” and “Bruja,” both of which were performed at the Magic. “The Travelers” is set in the small town of Grangeville, near Fresno, in a monastery, into which stumbles a man who has been shot. The interview was recorded via zencastr on February 7, 2023. The post Luis Alfaro, playwright, “The Travelers,” 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Fay Weldon (1931-2023) who died on January 4th, 2023 at the age of 91, published 31 novels during her lifetime, including The Life and Loves of a She Devil, one of four novels which later became films. She was also a playwright, short story writer, television writer and non-fiction author. Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky interviewed her in the KPFA studios in March 1990 while she was on tour for her now classic novel, The Cloning of Joanna May. Fay Weldon’s career continued for the next thirty years after the interview with several novels, including a sequel to She-Devil, more plays, more short stories and several works of non-fiction. We had a second chance to interview Fay Weldon two years later while she was on tour for her novel, Life Force. That interview will air later this year. This interview was digitized, remastered, and edited in February, 2023 by Richard Wolinsky. First time on the air in over thirty years. The post Fay Weldon (1931-2023) I, “The Cloning of Joanna May,” 1990 appeared first on KPFA.

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 creative writing. “A Dangerous Business” takes us to Monterey, California in the early 1850s as Eliza Ripple, newly widowed and still only eighteen, winds up at a house of prostitution in order to survive and have a life of her own. The book follows her as she meets a friend who works out of a similar house for women, and the two embark on the trail of a murderer of women. Recorded January 20, 2023.   The post Jane Smiley, “A Dangerous Business,” 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

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 film editor at the Village Voice, and has taught at Harvard University and NYU. His first book, David Lynch: The Man from Another Place, was published in 2015. His new book, Tale of Cinema about the South Korean director Hong Sangsoo, focuses on all of Hong’s work through the lens of the 2005 film of the same name. Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive, BAMPFA is having a retrospective of seven of Hong Sangsoo’s films from February 3rd through February 18th, including Tale of Cinema on opening night. Most of Hong’s films are available for rental through Apple and Amazon streaming, and ten can be found on the free library app, Kanopy, including two from the BAM/PFA retrospective. Photos courtesy Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) The post Dennis Lim: “Tale of Cinema,” the films of Hong Sangsoo appeared first on KPFA.