KCRW's Bookworm

Matthea Harvey

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:11:39 EDT

Modern Life (Graywolf Press)
Like dangerous toys or perilous amusement park rides, Matthea Harvey's poems careen into the unknown...

Brad Gooch

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:58:21 EDT

Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor (Little, Brown)
While we take a mini-tour of Flannery O'Connor's life and writing, biographer Brad Gooch describes his difficulties in gaining access to the author's inner life.

Matthew Dickman

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:28:27 EDT

All-American Poem (American Poetry Review)
Kate Tufts Discovery Award-winner Matthew Dickman writes emotional and accessible poetry...

Geoff Dyer

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:58:03 EDT

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi (Pantheon)
Geoff Dyer on the secrets that structure his new novel (which might, on the surface, seem like two novellas)....

Mary Gaitskill

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:48:35 EDT

Donât Cry (Pantheon)
The extraordinary levels of empathy and sadness in Mary Gaitskillâs new stories provide the basis for this intense discussion of the emotional subtexts of her fiction.

An Oulipo Mini-Anthology

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:42:47 EDT

Jacques Roubaud, Ian Monk, Daniel Levin Becker, Marcel BÃ©nabou, Anne F. GarrÃ©ta and HervÃ© Le Tellier
When members of the Oulipo convened in New York, Bookworm was there to record this mini-anthology of the transcendentally witty, sometimes hilarious goings-on.

Jacques Roubaud

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:56:10 EDT

The Loop (Dalkey Archive)

Jacques Roubaud describes the mesh of image and memory that makes up his fascinating, newly translated, unclassifiable book.

John Ashbery

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:30:00 EDT

...on his translation of Pierre Martory's The Landscapist (The Sheep Meadow Press)

As John Ashbery remembers his early years in Paris, he reflects on French poetry and about the very special case of his long-time friend, Pierre Martory.

Gary Indiana

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:50:07 EDT

The Shanghai Gesture (Two Dollar Radio)

Out of fantasias of the past (Fu Manchu novels, exotic Hollywood films, documents of "friendly" imperialism from the twenties to the forties), Gary Indiana concocts the nightmare present of The Shanghai Gesture..

Elizabeth Alexander

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:10:31 EDT

Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obamaâs Presidential Inauguration (Graywolf); American Sublime (Graywolf)

When Elizabeth Alexander presented Barack Obama's inaugural poem, few of us had considered that in the history of the United States there had been only three previous inaugural poets...