• Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize Winning Novelist discussing “The Hours” & “Specimen Days,” 2005
    May 11 2026
    Michael Cunningham in the KPFA studios, 2010. Photo: Richard Wolinsky. Michael Cunningham in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded while on the book tour for “Specimen Days,” recorded in the KPFA studios, June 24, 2005. Michael Cunningham is a celebrated author of eight novels, along with several short stories, and two produced screenplays to date. His novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1999, was adapted into an award winning film in 2003. As with several interviews recorded during the presidency of George W. Bush, talk turned to the rise of fascism in America and the dangers of corporatism and rampant Capitalism. His novel Nightfall came out in 2010, followed by The Snow Queen in 2014 and Day in 2023. He was also a part of the writers room for the first season of the TV series Masters of Sex and the Netflix season of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.The film discussed in the interview, “Good Grief” starring Julia Roberts, was never made. This interview comes from the Bookwaves archives and has never before been posted or aired in its entirety and is the first of three Bookwaves conversations. The post Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize Winning Novelist discussing “The Hours” & “Specimen Days,” 2005 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 Std. und 24 Min.
  • Probabilities Archive: Ian Watson (1943-2026), Surrealist British Science Fiction Author
    May 3 2026
    Ian Watson. Photo: Glenn Hall. Wikipedia Commons Ian Watson (1943-2026), unconventional British science fiction and fantasy writer, who died on April 13, 2026 at the age of 82, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff for the Probabilities radio program, recorded in Oakland at Westercon 40 on July 2, 1987. Ian Watson (1943-2026) who died on April 13, 2026 at the age of 82, was an unconventional author whose works brimmed with ideas and philosophical turnings. Author of over thirty one novels, not including several written in the world created by the Warhammer 40,000 game, there were also eleven collections of short stories, plus a catalogue of poems. An avowed socialist, he also stood in elections as a Labour Party candidate in the days before Tony Blair. His novel, The Power, discussed in the interview, was published later in 1987, and can now be found, along with many of his novels, as Kindle book through Amazon. In early 1990, Ian Watson received a call from the assistant to legendary film-maker Stanley Kubrick to work on a science fiction film based on a story about a robot boy written by Brian Aldiss. For the next several months, he and Kubrick hammered out a screenplay treatment until Kubrick, in December of that year, said it was what he wanted, barring some changes, but shortly thereafter began work on what would be his final film, Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick died on March f7, 1999 at the age of seventy. Shortly afterward, Steven Spielberg, using Watson’s treatment, wrote a screenplay which became his film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. You can find Ian Watson’s essay about his work with Kubrick by going to this link. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited on May 2, 2026. Sound quality (speed) is variable. The post Probabilities Archive: Ian Watson (1943-2026), Surrealist British Science Fiction Author appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 Std. und 23 Min.
  • Margaret Atwood, The Maddaddam Trilogy, 2013
    Apr 26 2026
    Margaret Atwood, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios OCtober 3, 2013 while on tour for the novel “Maddaddam.” These days, the great Canadian author Margaret Atwood is best known for her books The Handmaid’s Tale and its 2019 sequel, The Testaments, both of which have become acclaimed television series and miniseries, respectively. But along with several other novels, story and essay collections, there’s a somewhat satirical dystopian speculative fiction series, known collectively as the Maddadam trilogy, consisting of Oryx and Crake, the Year of the Flood and Maddaddam. I interviewed Margaret Atwood for each book in the series, and this interview, the most recent interview to date, concerned that third novel, Maddaddam. This is the last of eight interviews with Margaret Atwood conducted between the years 1989 and 2013, and has not aired in over a decade. The post Margaret Atwood, The Maddaddam Trilogy, 2013 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 Std. und 13 Min.
  • George Saunders, “Vigil,” 2026
    Apr 21 2026
    George Saunders, whose latest novel is Vigil, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. George Saunders is the highly acclaimed author of several short story collections, including “Tenth of December,” and “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline,” and others, along with political commentary that has appeared in The New Yorker and other magazines. He won the 2017 Booker Prize for his earlier novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo.” This latest novel, Vigil, takes place in the in-between time before death, when an elderly oil oligarch lies dying, and an angel of mercy, a ghost, named Jill, is on hand to comfort him. The question at hand concerns forgiveness, accountability, grace and several other issues that become involved when someone whose actions were deleterious to humankind and the planet is forced to examine their actions on earth. Justification, remorse, sin? What does it mean, and how do we, the living, deal with these issues when there are so many bad actors doing damage these days on the world and national stages. Recorded by computer on April 15, 2026. The post George Saunders, “Vigil,” 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 Std. und 52 Min.
  • Patrick Dooley, Artistic Director, Shotgun Players in Berkeley
    Apr 12 2026
    Patrick Dooley, Artistic Director of Shotgun Players theatre company, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Patrick Dooley founded Shotgun Players in 1992, which originally produced plays in the basement of LaVal’s Pizza Parlor in Berkeley, California. Surviving with multiple venues over the years, Shotgun bought the Ashby Stage in 2004, where the company has resided ever since. Origijnally from rural Virginia, Patrick came to Berkeley to visit his brother, wound up being invited to act in a play at LaVal’s, and within a short time decided to create a theatre company, which has now lasted over thirty years. Surviving the pandemic, and with a very loyal audience, Shotgun has continued to sell out many of its shows, creating a uniquely Berkeley community theatre. In the interview, he discusses his own history with theatre the origins of Shotgun Players (including what the name means) , his views on such issues as the age of the audience and the subscription model, as well as the rest of the 2026 theatrical season. The post Patrick Dooley, Artistic Director, Shotgun Players in Berkeley appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 Std. und 53 Min.
  • Encore Podcast: Joseph Kanon, Author of Spy Thrillers, 2017
    Apr 5 2026
    Joseph Kanon, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded June 17, 2017 during the book tour for the spy thriller “Defectors.” Over the course of the last thirty years, Joseph Kanon has established himself as one of the best spy novelists around, in the vein of John Le Carre, Alan Furst, Graham Greene and Eric Ambler. His latest novel, “Defectors,” is about what happens after a Soviet mole defects to Russia. What is their life like? What happens then? Set in the early 1960s, “Defectors,” through copious research, sets up what life must have been like for people like Kim Philby and other Russian spies forced to leave the West to survive. Joseph Kanon’s most recent novel, “Shanghai” was published in 2024. The post Encore Podcast: Joseph Kanon, Author of Spy Thrillers, 2017 appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 Std. und 38 Min.
  • Tracy Kidder (1945-2026), Pulitzer Prize Winning Non-Fiction Author
    Mar 29 2026
    Tracy Kidder (1945-2026), Pulitzer Prize winning author of literary non-fiction, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studios during the book tour for “Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness, ” which focuses on the extraordinary true story of Deo, a young man who arrives in America from Burundi in search of a new life. Tracy Kidder, who died of lung cancer on March 24, 2026 at the age of eighty, was best known for his literary journalism, for turning non-fiction narratives into literary masterpieces. The author of eleven books, he won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1982 for The Soul of A New Machine, which looked at the tech environment during the birth of the modern computer. His 1990 book, Among Schoolchildren, a close look at American education, focusing on twenty students in a Massachusetts elementary school, won several literary awards. In the years after the interview, Tracy Kidder went on to write three more non-fiction books. His final book to date, Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People was published in 2023. Paul Farmer, the subject of Tracy Kidder’s 2003 book “Mountains Beyond Mountains”, died in February, 2022. The post Tracy Kidder (1945-2026), Pulitzer Prize Winning Non-Fiction Author appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 Std. und 25 Min.
  • Probabilities Archive: E. Hoffman Price (1898-1988), Science Fiction & Fantasy Pulp Magazine Author
    Mar 23 2026
    E. Hoffman Price (1898-1988), fantasy and science fiction author who published in various pulp magazines from the 1920s into the 1950s, in conversation with Probabiliaties hosts Richard Wolinsky, Richard A. Lupoff and Lawrence Davidson, recorded in early 1979 at Price’s home in Redwood City, California. E. Hoffman Price, who was born 1898 and died shortly before his 90th birthday in 1988, wrote fantasy and science fiction stories for the pulp magazines of the first half of the twentieth century, along with some non-fiction. Mostly forgotten today, though several of his stories are available in small press editions, his claim to fame is a single collaboration with the great horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, titled “Through the Gates of the Silver Key,” a sequel to Lovecraft’s story, “The Silver Key.” A contributor to Weird Tales, he was also friends with two other writers from the magazine, Seabury Quinn and Clark Ashton Smith, as well as with the longtime editor of Weird Tales, Farnsworth Wright. He also knew Otis Adelbert Kline, famous in his day for writing imitations of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In the interview, Price talks about his writing career, his friendships with H.P. Lovecraft, horror writer Seabury Queen, adventure writer Otis Adelbert Kline, and horror master Clark Ashton Smith, as well as colorful tales of whore houses and the publishing industry that existed a century ago. The Probabilities radio show first went on the air on KPFA in 1977. Within a year, my co-host Lawrence Davidson was on the trail for old pulp writers and editors, egged on by science fiction and fantasy author Richard A. Lupoff, who officially joined the show a couple of years later. This interview, following on the heels of interviews with pulp science fiction author Stanton A. Coblentz and editor Charles Hornig, was conducted at Price’s house in Redwood City, California, most likely in the spring of 1979. Accompanying Dick, Lawrence and myself were Dick’s wife Pat Lupoff and science fiction fanzine editor Jim Purviance. Over two hours were recorded on multiple tapes, and parts of the transcription can be found in the book Space Ships Ray Guns Martian Octopods: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends. The interview was digitized and then remastered using AI technology first, and then edited for clarity and coherence. Some outtakes exist which I can forward by email via richard@kpfa.org. The unpublished memoir Price discusses in the interview, Book of the Dead: Friends of Yesteryear, Fictioneers and Others was eventually published posthumously, in 2001. The interview opens with a question by Richard A. Lupoff. Several collections of stories by E. Hoffman Price were published in 2017 by Wildside Press, and are available both digitally and in print. The interview was digitized, remastered and edited in March 2026. This interview was first heard in a very truncated version in 1979 and has not been heard until now. The post Probabilities Archive: E. Hoffman Price (1898-1988), Science Fiction & Fantasy Pulp Magazine Author appeared first on KPFA.
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    2 Std. und 19 Min.