WPR: To the Best of our Knowledge - Literature

Ryan Boudinot on "Blueprints of the Afterlife"

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Ryan Boudinot talks to Jim Fleming about his post-apocalyptic novel, "Blueprints of the Afterlife."

Mark Leyner on "The Sugar Frosted Nutsack"

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Mark Leyner talks to Jim Fleming about his mind-bending, synapse-shattering new novel, "The Sugar Frosted Nutsack."

Helen DeWitt on "Lightning Rods"

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Helen DeWitt tells Anne Strainchamps about her novel, "Lightning Rods," which focuses on a bizarre solution to sexual harrassment in the workplace.

Etgar Keret on "Suddenly, a Knock on the Door"

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Etgar Keret tells Steve Paulson how his writing career began after a traumatic event.

Alison Bechdel on Are You My Mother?

Wisconsin Public Radio — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Alison Bechdel calls her comic book memoir Are You My Mother? “a comic drama.” The New York Times Book Review calls it “as complicated, brainy, inventive and satisfying as the finest prose memoirs.” Here’s Steve Paulson’s NEW and UNCUT interview with Bechdel.

Life in Death, Death in Life

Wisconsin Public Radio — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Every spring in Japan, people crowd under blooming cherry trees. They're signs of spring, and remembrances of life's transience.Master gardener Sadafumi Uchiyama says the blossoms are the quintessential representation of the Japanese principle of mono no aware... beauty in the intertwining of life and death.

Jens Lapidus on "Easy Money"

Wisconsin Public Radio — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Looking for a spring read? If you've got a taste for Scandinavian crime fiction, Jens Lapidus's "Easy Money" might satisfy. In this NEW and UNCUT interview, Lapidus tells Steve Paulson that he sees himself as the anti-Stieg Larsson. A movie based on the novel is due to be released this summer. Enjoy!

Life with LBJ

Wisconsin Public Radio — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Robert Caro's been studying Lyndon Johnson for decades. The fourth volume of his "Years of Lyndon Johnson" is out, and when Caro stopped by the studio recently, Jim asked just what makes LBJ so interesting... Listen in on the NEW and UNCUT interview here!

Terry Tempest Williams on "When Women Were Birds"

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 6 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Terry Tempest Williams has spent much of her life trying to understand her mother - both a private woman and a trickster. Her memoir is also an exploration of silence and finding one's voice.

Terry Tempest Williams on Thoreau

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 6 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Terry Tempest Williams adores Thoreau. She says his passion for social justice and his love of nature are intimately connected.

"Walden" Reading

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 6 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Have you every actually read Thoreau's "Walden"? If not, you've really missed something. Here's the next best thing: excerpts from the book, set to music.

Christopher Schaberg on "The Textual Life of Airports"

Wisconsin Public Radio — Sun, 6 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Christopher Schaberg talks about looking at the airport through the lens of literature.

David George Haskell on the Forest Unseen