This is speaking of faiths unheard cuts. I'm Christa Tippett. You're listening to my

unedited conversation with Mary DeRio Russell. She's a retired paleo anthropologist and the

author of four novels, including The Sparrow and Children of God. This unedited interview

does contain some plot details about those novels. I spoke with her on January 14, 2009,

from the studios of American Public Media in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was in the studios of WCP

and in Cleveland, Ohio. This interview was included in our program The Novelest as God.

Download the MP3 of that produced show at speakingoffaith.org.

And you should get a level on the left, too, because that's going to happen.

Hello, friends in Minnesota Public Radio. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, it's Christa.

Hello, this is Thrilling. We listen to your show on WAMU on

Internet Radio on Sunday mornings. Oh, great. Well, it's thrilling for me, too. I'm so happy to

have you at the other end of the microphone. I've been I've been talking to you, but you weren't

hearing me. No, no, just just now. We're talking to Jeff. And don't tell me anything. Why,

why do you listen on WAMU? Did you live in Washington at one point? No, we have an internet

radio and I kind of just look for you. Yeah, yeah, they're good in Colorado Public Radio

and WCPN and WKSU. We're just just PBS hogs. Yeah, MPR hogs.

You know, we're not on WCPN, but we're on the Kent State Station.

We have been for, I don't know, maybe the last year. We're fairly, fairly recent then.

Um, yes, so I picked up this barrow off a table at a bookstore and I just then have devoured

everything you've done. Like fantastic. So you got offered that whole thing about, oh my

God, it's about Jesuits and space. Oh, no, I love Jesuits. I mean, the Jesuits and space

completely hooked me from there. Yeah, I mean anything. I had more trouble with everything

...