The celebrated Irish novelist Colm Toibin talks about his admiration for the poet Elizabeth Bishop and the kinship he feels for her.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Music critic Bill Friskics-Warren is the author of “I’ll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence.” He talks with Anne Strainchamps about the spiritual aide of popular music.
Frank Rich tells Jim Fleming that the Broadway musicals of his childhood were all about dysfunctional families and helped him cope with his own difficult family situation.
Dave Soldier is a neurologist with an unusual hobby. He teaches elephants to play musical instruments.
Nalini Nadkarni has been called “the queen of canopy research,” in part because of her personal philosophy to bring together two groups - the trees and the general public. She does this by collaborating with dancers, rappers, artists, and prisoners, just to name only a few. She created the Big Canopy Database to help researchers around the world to store the rich trove of data she and others are uncovering.
Diana Athill was the editor of some of the most celebrated writers of our time, including John Updike, Simone de Beauvoir, and V.S. Naipaul.
“I learned virtually nothing about mortality when I was in medical school,” Dr. Atul Gawande says. “I was terrible at knowing how to have a successful conversation with people facing terminal illness.” Gawande, author of the bestselling “Being Mortal,” is now trying to get people talking about better ways to live out the final chapter.
Edward P. Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, "The Known World." His short story collection is called "All Aunt Hagar's Children."
Pages
