Episodes

2008 Season

  • All Over the Map

    Episode 1

    Richard Price, Colin Harrison, Susan Choi, Charles Bock

    We "travel" across the world with some of the country's best novelists. This episode features fiction that takes us to the Lower East Side of New York, a midwestern college campus, the bustling stock exchange of Shanghai, and the neon streets of Las Vegas.

  • You Always Remember the First Time

    Episode 2

    Sloane Crosley, Keith Gessen, Julie Klam, Ceridwen Dovey

    Four first-time authors -- two novelists and two memoirists -- talk to us about their maiden voyages and the decision to write fact or fiction.

  • The Horror! The Horror!

    Episode 2

    David Hajdu, David Gilmour, Louis Masur, Mary Roach

    Four brave nonfiction writers discuss their subjects, which range from the surprising to the taboo: creative parenting techniques, censorship, sex research, and racial violence.

  • Inside Out

    Episode 4

    Elizabeth Strout, Eward Hirsch, Meg Wolitzer, Mark Sarvas

    Three novelists and a poet talk about the rich, expertly written inner lives of their latest characters -- men and women grappling with hard decisions, stalled careers, uncontainable grief, and redemptive love.

  • Found In Translation

    Episode 5

    Simon Winchester, Aleksandar Hemon, Rabih Alameddine, Nam Le

    Four writers -- all born outside the U.S. -- discuss the riveting, global stories in their latest books, the strengths and beauty of the English language, and whether any writer can (or even should) try to represent an entire culture.

  • National Obsessions

    Episode 6

    Carl Hiaasen, Benjamin Nugent, Ellen Hawley, Dana Jennings

    We look ahead to summer with four guests who have written about subjects that may be even more synonymous with America now than baseball and apple pie: golf, talk radio, country music, and the culture of nerds.