Interviews, Discussions & Literary News
July & August 2009
Please help us gather links to news items, interviews and discussions in English, on the printed page or on the web. Send links to news [at] belletrista.com. Thank you!
August 31
NEWS: Alice Munro Withdraws From Canadian Literary Prize.NY Times: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/alice-munro-withdraws-from-canadian-literary-prize/
Globe & Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/munro-removes-book-from-giller-contention/article1268444/
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: French writer Marie Darrieussecq discusses her new book Tom is Dead.
The Book Show, ABC (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2671519.htm
August 30
PODCAST/DISCUSSION: (Rebroadcast) Diane Rehm leads a discussion about Olive Kittredge, the
collection of stories by Elizabeth Strout which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.Diane Rehm Show, NPR (US): http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/08/30.php#28465
NEWS: UK Writer Julie Myerson about writing her memoir re: son's drug addiction and the public recriminations
she has suffered for doing so.
NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/books/31myerson.html?hpw
August 28
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: Irish writer Emma Donoghue's Sealed Letter.The Book Show, ABC (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2669529.htm
NEWS: Alison Wong of Titahi Bay, New Zealand, has been awarded the Janet Frame Award 2009 for fiction.
http://www.janetframe.org.nz/default.htm
http://www.penguin.co.nz/
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Writers/Profiles/Wong,%20Alison
August 25
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: Valerie Lawson author of Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers.The Book Show, ABC (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2665869.htm
August 24
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: US author Roxana Robinson discusses her new novel, Cost.On Point Radio, NPR (US): http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/08/novelist-roxana-robinson-2
August 21
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: In one of the opening sessions of the 2009 Melbourne Writers
Festival, Canadian author Anne Michaels is in conversation with Peter Mares.The Book Show, ABC (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2662742.htm
August 20
INTERVIEW: "Rachel Cusk: A Fine Contempt" Interview by Lynn BarberThe Guardian (UK): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/30/rachel-cusk-lynn-barber
INTERVIEW: Margaret Atwood. The Canadian novelist talks to Sinclair McKay about books and bees.
telegraph.co.uk: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6061404/Margaret-Atwood.html
August 19
PODCAST: READING Malorie Blackman reads Double Cross.The Guardian (UK): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audio/2009/aug/19/malorie-blackman_double-cross
August 15
NEWS: Afghanistan Women, "Roya, 24, Aspiring Writer" She has found an outlet through her words—posting
her stories and poems online and even appearing on a TV show. But she lives in fear her brother will find out.L.A. Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-roya15-2009aug15,0,1010775.story
LINK: Afghan Women's Writing Project http://awwproject.wordpress.com/
August 13
PODCAST/DISCUSSION: Today in our series of Australian classic novels, we look at a much
loved author, Thea Astley, and her book The Multiple Effects of
Rainshadow.The Book Show, ABC (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2642325.htm
August 12
REVIEW: Writer's Myth Looms as Large as the Many Novels She Wrote by Dwight Gardner Review of Benjamin Mosher's
WHY THIS WORLD: A Biography of Clarice Lispector. Lispector was an avant-grade Brazilian writer (1920-1977)New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/books/12garner.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail1=y&_r=2&emc=tnt
August 10
ARTICLE: Wilder Women: The Mother and Daughter Behind the Little House Stories, by Judith Thurman (Laura Ingalls Wilder)The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/08/10/090810crat_atlarge_thurman
August 8
BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION: if US author Anne Tyler's Noah's CompassThe Scotsman http://www.scotsman.com/books/Book-Club-Noah39s-Compass-by.5534794.jp
August 7
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: Scottish author A.L. Kennedy talks about the line between comedy and
sadness in her new collection of short stories, What Becomes.The Guardian (UK): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audio/2009/jul/10/al-kennedy-what-becomes
July 30
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: British novelist Sarah Waters discusses her new book The Little
Stranger, which has been longlisted for this year's Booker prize.The Book Show (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2633171.htm
July 22
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: British author Maggie Gee speaks about her new novel My Driver.The Book Show (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2627811.htm
July 16
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: American writer Brad Gooch discusses his biography of Flannery
O'Connor, a Catholic writer from the American south who died of lupus at the age of 39.The Book Show (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2627457.htm
July 15
ARTICLE: Austen in sea monster mash-up. Following the success of Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies, publisher unleashes creatures from the deep on
Sense and Sensibility.The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/15/austen-sea-monster-mashu
July 12
NEWS: Japanese author Yoko Ogawa and Australian author Julia Leigh win Shirley Jackson Awardshttp://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/sja_2008_winners.php
July 10
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: Roma Tearne on Brixton Beach. The Sri Lankan-born author talks about how her
life and fiction have been informed by a mixed heritage on both sides of a brutal conflict.The Guardian (UK): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audio/2009/jul/10/roma-tearne-brixton-beach
July 7
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: M.J. Hyland discusses her new novel This Is How.The Book Show (AUS): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2612896.htm
July 6
PODCAST/INTERVIEW: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Thing Around Your Neck.
A Nigerian-born author explores the ties that bind men and women, children and parents, Africa and the U.S.The Diane Rehm show, WAMU/NPR (US): http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/07/06.php#26702-------