What's it like to hang out with the U.S. president? Journalist Michael Lewis found out when he shadowed Barack Obama for 8 months, even playing in one of Obama's pick-up basketball games.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Jan Harold Brunvand reviews some of his favorite urban legends for Steve Paulson and explains that they always happened to a friend of a friend.
Jonah Raskin is the author of “American Scream.” He talks about why Allen Ginsburg’s “Howl” became an anthem for a generation
Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard discusses his six-volume autobiographical novel, "My Struggle."
You could also listen to an extended interview with Karl Ove Knausgaard.
Marti Leimbach is an autism activist and successful novelist. She talks about her own experiences trying to get help for her autistic son.
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.
Mike Tidwell is a freelance journalist who thinks he’s found the biggest environmental catastrophe in America. In this pre-Katrina interview, Tidwell talks about the time he spent with shrimpers in the bayou country and what they taught him about the devastating price we’re paying for the way we control floods on the Mississippi River.
Singer/songwriter Lisa Germano played violin for rock artist John Mellencamp. Her own album, “Geek the Girl” contains a song, “The Psychopath,” based on her experiences with an obsessed fan.
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