Translator Peter Filkins talks about H.G. Adler’s PANORAMA. Set in the vanished world of pre-war Bohemia, it follows the young Joseph from childhood in Prague to adulthood in the concentration camps. Filkins also talks about Adler’s THE JOURNEY. And we preview next week’s show.
Psychologist Gail Hornstein talks about her book, AGNES’ JACKET: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness in this extended excerpt from our 2009 interview. And Millicent Monks talks about her memoir, SONGS OF THREE ISLANDS: A Story of Mental Illness in an Iconic American Family. It’s about how she coped with a mother and a daughter who are mentally ill. Monks is the great-grandniece of Andrew Carnegie.
Jane Brox talks about her book, BRILLIANT: The Evolution of Artificial Light. And in view of the shooting in Arizona that injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, WV airs a 2008 interview with neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor about MY STROKE OF INSIGHT, her memoir of recovering from a stroke. It affected the left side of her brain–the same side injured in Rep. Giffords.
We hear clips from seven of the top ten shows of 2010, including journalists David Grann, Hampton Sides, and Eric Pooley; novelists Isabel Allende and Sadie Jones; poet Philip Schultz and short story writer Marisa Silver. Also, links to the full interviews with the remaining three picks.
Composer Roger Ames talks about writing music for voice and about his latest projects, including “Laudate Dominum” and a musical adaptation of How Green Was My Valley. Also Aaron Lansky of the Yiddish Book Center talks about his memoir, OUTWITTING HISTORY in a 2006 encore interview.
William Powers talks about bringing balance into our digital lives. His book is HAMLET’S BLACKBERRY. And Joanne Cantor talks about how to declutter the digital domain in her book, CONQUER CYBER OVERLOAD.
Marvin Kitman talks about his article in November’s Harper’s magazine, Murdoch Triumphant. Peter Lehner tells us about the BP Gulf Oil disaster — what allowed it to happen, and what to do about it now. His book is IN DEEP WATER. And we get tips on eating during the holidays from food psychologist Brian Wansink.
Two new works of fiction explore the chiaroscuro of the human heart and the dappled shadow it casts on those we love. We talk with best-selling author Scott Spencer about MAN IN THE WOODS and with Dori Ostermiller about her quasi-autobiographical debut novel, OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY WORLD.
This week we feature an encore episode with Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about her story collection THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK. And poet Honor Moore reads from and tells us about POEMS FROM THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT. Please follow the link to access more information about the episode.
By the time this episode airs, the mid term elections will be over. If the pollsters and pundits are right, the Democrats will have lost control of one or both houses of Congress and our legislative branch will have lurched violently to the right.
Futurist James Howard Kunstler talks about THE WITCH OF HEBRON, his latest novel about a postindustrial, post collapse, America. And John Michael Greer spells out how we get to — and get through — the long emergency. His book is THE ECOTECHNIC FUTURE.
John Michael Greer’s book THE ECOTECHNIC FUTURE is a closely reasoned, completely secular treatment of what he calls the Long Descent as our industrial civilization limps to a close. But his faith as a Druid — he’s an Archdruid and blogs at The Archdruid Report — is what spurred him to examine The Long Decline and how human society can optimally deal with it to create a future technology based on ecological principles and respect for the Earth. In this Web Extra, he explains to Writers Voice host Francesca Rheannon the connections between his faith and his science.
Host Francesca Rheannon interviewed him for Writers Voice. You can hear the rest of the interview here.