Joan Didion, who died last week at the age of 87, helped shape a highly personal brand of nonfiction that came to be known as the New Journalism. Her early essay collections "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" (1968) and "The White Album" (1979) influenced generations of writers. Her later memoirs, "The Year of Magical Thinking" and "Blue Nights," chronicled the deaths of her husband and daughter. In 2011 Didion talked with Steve Paulson about illness and growing old in the wake of the death of her daughter, Quintana.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
As a child, Michael Ondaatje took a long ocean voyage from Sri Lanka to England. This is the seed of his novel "The Cat's Table." He talks with Jim Fleming about the fine line between fiction and memoir.
Norman George wrote and stars in “Poe Alone” - a play set during the writer’s last public lecture.
Robert Kurson talks about his new book, “Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II.”
Kenneth Helphand tells Jim Fleming how a photo of a French soldier tending a rose bush in a trench during WWI resulted in his book.
Celtic historian John Matthews tells Steve Paulson that Merlin probably was a real person and that wizards are related to our ancient shamans.
MiRi Park is the defending 2004 U.S. and World air guitar champion. She performs for us and tells Steve Paulson what made her the champ.
Lorrie Moore has a new collection of short stories. She tells Steve Paulson that life is filled with absurdity; ghost stories are great fodder for fiction; and North America now owns the short story.
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