Bookworm

Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the writers on today’s show have become friends of Michael’s and of Bookworm. We’ll hear from rock band Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael), Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Ann Beattie, Susan Sontag, and Dennis Cooper.

Transcribed - Published: 20 September 2023

Close friend of Michael Silverblatt’s and Bookworm editor for 30 years, Alan Howard guest hosts this episode on grief and loss. When the two met more than 33 years ago, Michael’s first words were, “What are you reading?” It was a question that brought Howard back to literature. Over the years, Michael did the same for thousands of listeners. With Bookworm, he was determined to return literary fiction and poetry to the center of the zeitgeist. In the process, he faced the realities of loss and grief. In conversation after conversation with writers he was forging collegial friendships with, loss itself was a frequent topic of those friendships and conversations. We’ll hear from Marilynne Robinson, Joan Didion, Jim Krusoe, Steve Erickson, Dave Eggers, and Mary Ruefle.

Transcribed - Published: 13 September 2023

Poet, author, and co-founder of The Song Cave, Alan Felsenthal guest hosts this episode’s focus on poetry. As a close friend and mentee of Michael Silverblatt’s, Felsenthal recalls Michael’s revelation that he had trouble finding his way into poetry until he had several formative experiences, including one he described in 2019 during a Walt Whitman tribute. We’ll hear from that tribute with poet Pattiann Rogers reading Whitman. We’ll also hear from poets John Ashbery, Coral Bracho, Forrest Gander, and Lucille Clifton.

Transcribed - Published: 8 September 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 30 August 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 23 August 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 16 August 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 August 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 2 August 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 2 August 2023

This episode takes us through the arc of Bookworm’s existence: Michael started the program with worries about the future of literature, found hope in the up-and-coming new writers, and proceeded to highlight authors of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and geographies.

Transcribed - Published: 26 July 2023

Los Angeles-based author Michelle Huneven joins Evan Kleiman to discuss her latest book, “Search.” In this engaging and funny literary fiction novel, main character Dana Potowski writes a memoir that describes the steps of her Unitarian Universalist Church congregation’s year-long search for its new minister and the challenges they encounter.

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2022

Natalia Molina tells the story of Nayarit, her grandmother’s Mexican restaurant, a space that became a cherished hub for immigrants and the LGBTQ community in Echo Park. 

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2022

Editor/poet Emily Skillings and poet/critic John Yau speak about an iconic poet of the 21st century, John Ashbery, and his posthumous book, “Parallel Movement of the Hands: Five Unfinished Longer Works.”

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2022

Rita Dove’s new book of poetry, “Playlist for the Apocalypse,” goes in many different historical and personal directions.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2022

The debut novel of Robert Jones, Jr., “The Prophets,” is lyrical prose about the dimensionality and interiority of people.

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2022

Paul Tran says that poetry can live on a page. This show discusses the abundant life in their debut poetry book, “All the Flowers Kneeling.” Tran joins guest host Shawn Sullivan to explore the book’s four sections as well as its notes.

Transcribed - Published: 31 March 2022

Writer Tobias Wolff speaks about a dark book that remains loving, Harry Crews 1978 classic “A Childhood: The Biography of a Place.” Wolff wrote the foreword to its Penguin Classics re-release, which joins a number of Crews’ works in the series. 

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2022

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist Tao Lin (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “Leave Society,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction. 

Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2022

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his Muumuu House imprint after it was closed for more than ten years.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2022

A distinguished writer of books in various forms — poetry, essay, memoir — Sarah Manguso embarks on her first novel with “Very Cold People,” a striking work about what it means to be human. She discusses how she came to be the person and writer she seems to be now, and why it was necessary to write fiction to make the kind of book about Massachusetts she wanted to make. This deeply moving novel portrays being overwhelmed by the small moments of life, and documents the experience of being a criticized child.

Transcribed - Published: 24 February 2022

At the beginning of Sheila Heti’s new book, “Pure Colour,” God looks at a first-draft world he should get around to changing. The reader meets protagonist Mira, who bonds with a woman named Annie. Then Mira’s father dies, and his soul enters her; astonishingly, their combined selves become a leaf on a tree. Annie longs to bring Mira out of leaf form. Annie is what Mira calls a fixer. “Pure Colour” is a singular book that needs to be accepted rather than interpreted. Sheila Heti speaks about how she couldn’t think or write in the same way she did before the death of her own father.  

Transcribed - Published: 17 February 2022

Journalist and author Tom Bissell’s new short fiction collection, “Creative Types: and Other Stories,” is about people trying to solve the problem of being themselves. Seven short stories describe the kinds of lives lived in Los Angeles with thoroughness, audacity, and complexity. 

Transcribed - Published: 10 February 2022

Tessa Hadley’s new book, “Free Love” (Harper), is set in 1967 London at the beginning of the counterculture movement that swept the world. The protagonist, Phyllis, steps out of one sense of herself into another. She is a conservative mother of two until she crosses paths with the younger Nicky. 

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2022

Canadian-American author Antoine Wilson discusses the work he put into writing entertaining pages for his new short book, “Mouth to Mouth” (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster), and the propulsive story is not finished until the very last sentence. 

Transcribed - Published: 27 January 2022

“Punks: New & Selected Poems” is expansive poetry from John Keene, one of our time’s most notable writers. Seven sections offer different perspectives on what poetry can be: queer and Black, and much more than that. He joins Bookworm to discuss the difference between his prose and poetry.

Transcribed - Published: 20 January 2022

After the deaths of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and her daughter, Quintana, Joan Didion wrote "Blue Nights," the most personal and poetic book of her career. From 2011, she talks about aging, death, and the act of complete surrender that this devastating book required.

Transcribed - Published: 13 January 2022

Honoree Fanonne Jeffers discusses writing about the full range of a community, its sexuality and gender, in her first fiction novel, “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois.”

Transcribed - Published: 6 January 2022

Master poet Honoree Fanonne Jeffers discusses her fiction debut, “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois.”

Transcribed - Published: 30 December 2021

Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes (Knopf) A collection of lyrics from the first half of Stephen Sondheim's career, along with insights into the art of songwriting for the theater. In this 2010 conversation, he explains why a song that may be "perfect" can be wrong for its dramatic moment in a show. This famous perfectionist reveals how much can go wrong.

Transcribed - Published: 23 December 2021

Dave Eggers further discusses his new book, “The Every.”

Transcribed - Published: 16 December 2021

“The Every” is the new book by Dave Eggers, a follow-up to his book “The Circle.”

Transcribed - Published: 9 December 2021

Every bookstore is haunted, and Louise Erdrich’s new book, “The Sentence,” is about one.

Transcribed - Published: 2 December 2021

“Martita, I Remember You/Martita, te recuerdo” is a bilingual new book by Sandra Cisneros.

Transcribed - Published: 25 November 2021

Idiosyncratic short story writer Diane Williams discusses her new book, “How High? – That High.”

Transcribed - Published: 18 November 2021

Mary Gaitskill’s "The Devil’s Treasure” features sections from her previous novels and an unfinished novel, commentary, illustrations, and a story inspired by a dream her younger self had.

Transcribed - Published: 11 November 2021

Teresa K. Miller discusses “Borderline Fortune,” which won her the National Poetry Series, when she was about ready to give up on herself.

Transcribed - Published: 4 November 2021

Atsuro Riley says he wrote “Heard-Hoard” with a kind of pacing he could feel in his body.

Transcribed - Published: 28 October 2021

Jackie Kay’s “Bessie Smith: A Poet's Biography of a Blues Legend” is a terrific mixture of memoir and biography.

Transcribed - Published: 21 October 2021

Rabih Alameddine speaks about being in love with the characters in his new novel, “The Wrong End of the Telescope."

Transcribed - Published: 7 October 2021

Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Richard Powers discusses his new novel, “Bewilderment,” which has been longlisted for the Booker Prize and National Book Award.

Transcribed - Published: 23 September 2021

Santa Claus, James Turrell, “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,” John Wayne Gacy, and, most of all, George Miles: these are parts of Dennis Cooper‘s discussion of his new book, “I Wished.”

Transcribed - Published: 16 September 2021

Alice McDermott discusses the madness in fiction and her new book, “What About the Baby?: Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction.”

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2021

Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks discuss the small and significant differences between their original material and the final movie, “Annette.”

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2021

Rikki Ducornet speaks about writing in dreamtime for her new sci-fi book, “Trafik.”

Transcribed - Published: 5 August 2021

Part two of two, a continuation of Yaa Gyasi’s discussion about the extraordinary explorations of her books “Homegoing” and “Transcendent Kingdom.”

Transcribed - Published: 29 July 2021

Part one of two in which Yaa Gyasi discusses the myriad complexities of her novels “Transcendent Kingdom” and “Homegoing.”

Transcribed - Published: 22 July 2021

Jack Skelley speaks about his new book, “Dennis Wilson and Charlie Manson,” and the bad Beach Boy’s intersection with a serial killer.

Transcribed - Published: 15 July 2021

Editor/poet Emily Skillings and poet/critic John Yau speak about an iconic poet of the 21st century, John Ashbery, and his posthumous book, “Parallel Movement of the Hands: Five Unfinished Longer Works.”

Transcribed - Published: 8 July 2021

Amy Gerstler's new book of poetry, “Index of Women,” is the product of a heart the world broke.

Transcribed - Published: 1 July 2021

Joshua Cohen speaks about “The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor And Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family,” his new book that’s funny and tragic at the same time.

Transcribed - Published: 24 June 2021