novelists
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Kitty Weeks, Welcome to the Big Time!
So many things to like about this one… I think my favorite fact about Capability “Kitty” Weeks (other than the fact that her name is Capability) is that she drives her own car. So awesome. And of course, it’s also great that she’s paving the way for women journalists everywhere and investigating a murder, too. Continue reading
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The History of Literature Episode 40 – Radha Vatsal, Author of “A Front Page Affair”
Host Jacke Wilson is joined by special guest Radha Vatsal, author of the historical mystery A Front Page Affair. Radha starts by talking about her own adventure leaving India to study in America at the age of 16, which eventually led to an interest in the action film heroines and female journalists at the start of the Continue reading
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Catherine Walston: The Beautiful Inspiration for “The End of the Affair”
As we discussed on the podcast, Graham Greene’s masterpiece The End of the Affair had a real-life basis: Greene’s affair with Catherine Walston, an American beauty whose “zeal for Catholicism was matched only by her insatiable lust.” (Quite a description!) And of course, the Hollywood versions of Sarah (the character inspired by Walston) do justice Continue reading
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Graham Greene and…the Dalai Lama?
Hmm…I’m not sure I’m buying what Pico Iyer is selling here… Q: What is it about Graham Greene? If you put the Dalai Lama on one end of a continuum, Leonard Cohen would be somewhere nearby and Graham Greene would be way over on the other end. A: Continue reading
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To Catch a Spy: Graham Greene’s Deathbed Revelation
It’s one of the great mysteries of Graham Greene’s life, and it may have cost him the Nobel Prize. I alluded to it in the podcast that Mike and I did on Greene’s life and works. Part of it isn’t a mystery at all, of course. We know that Greene worked for Britain’s foreign intelligence Continue reading
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Graham Greene and the Lolita Controversy
We talked for an hour, and yet we still barely scratched the surface of Graham Greene’s incredible life. Here’s one we didn’t get to: his role in bringing Lolita to the literary world’s attention – and inadvertently triggering the ban (which probably helped sales in the long run). Maria Popova has more: When Lolita was first published Continue reading
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The History of Literature Episode 38 – Great Literary Duos (Part Two)
When are two artists or characters more than the sum of their parts? How is that magic created? And what does it mean for the rest of us? Part two of a conversation with host Jacke Wilson and his guest, the President of the Literature Supporters Club, on great literary duos. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Continue reading
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Sneak Preview: What Goes With Rushdie?
Okay, time for an update! We have another podcast episode posting tomorrow morning. I’ll be joined by the President of the Literature Supporters Club to discuss great literary duos. Don’t miss it! We’ll also be discussing this question from brilliant listener EF, a college-level instructor: I’ve just inherited a ten-week World Literature course, with Salman Rushdie’s Continue reading
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On the Pleasures of Finding a New Author: Elena Ferrante
Hello, everyone! Today is a day for celebration. It’s rare for this crusty old salt to find a new author who can make him feel like he’s twenty again, with all the world of books still out there, waiting for him to discover the fresh and new and exciting. It used to happen every month, Continue reading
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The History of Literature Episode 35 – A Conversation with Ronica Dhar
In this episode, Jacke welcomes special guest Ronica Dhar, who presents Five Books (or actually Four Books and a Movie) To Lower Your Blood Pressure. Highlights include a poem by Ronica’s former teacher and mentor, letters to a samurai written by a zen master who invented a type of pickle, and a fourteenth-century Kashmiri mystic who wrestled with Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 