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The Origins of “Braiding Sweetgrass”
Episode 739
Robin Wall Kimmerer is an unlikely literary star. A botanist by training—a specialist in moss—she spent much of her career at the State University of…
3 years ago
Tessa Hadley on What Decades of Failure Taught Her About Writing
Episode 738
The New Yorker first published a short story by Tessa Hadley in 2002. Titled “Lost and Found,” it described a friendship between two women who had be…
3 years ago
Talking to Conservatives about Climate Change
Episode 737
Even in a summer of record-breaking heat and disasters, Republican Presidential candidates have ignored or mocked climate change. But some conservati…
3 years ago
The Novelist Esmeralda Santiago on Learning to Write After a Stroke
Episode 736
The author Esmeralda Santiago has been writing about Puerto Rico and questions of immigration and identity since the early nineties. But, in 2008, sh…
3 years ago
Will the End of Affirmative Action Lead to the End of Legacy Admissions?
Episode 735
The practice of legacy admissions—preferential consideration of the children of alumni—has emerged as a national flash point since the Supreme Court …
3 years ago
James McBride on His New Novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store”
Episode 734
James McBride’s new novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” centers on the discovery of a skeleton at the bottom of a well in a small town in Penn…
3 years ago
Emily Nussbaum on the Culture Wars in Country Music
Episode 733
Last month, the country singer Jason Aldean released a music video for “Try That in a Small Town,” a song that initially received little attention. B…
3 years ago
A Trip to the Boundary Waters
Episode 732
Alex Kotlowitz is known as a chronicler of Chicago, and of lives marred by urban poverty and violence. His books set in the city include “An American…
3 years ago
Regina Spektor on “Home, Before and After”
Episode 731
Twenty years ago, Regina Spektor was yet another aspiring musician in New York, lugging around a backpack full of self-produced CDs and playing at li…
3 years, 1 month ago
Colson Whitehead on “Crook Manifesto”
Episode 730
Colson Whitehead is one of the most lauded writers working today. His 2016 novel “The Underground Railroad” won the National Book Award and the Pulit…
3 years, 1 month ago