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The Monday Interview: George Pelecanos
An interview with George Pelecanos, whose latest novel, The Turnaround, was published by Little, Brown.
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An L.A.State of Mind
Bestselling crime novelist Michael Connelly, 52, says that his inspiration “was always wrapped up in Los Angeles, even though I’d never been there.”It was reading quintessential L.A. master Raymond Chandler that made him try to write his own book; he wrote two novels, later scrapped, while working as a crime reporter in Florida (where he grew up), but success came only after h...
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Real Fast Food
In Fast Food My Way, Jacques Pépin offers an elemental and elegant approach to preparing great meals. “The supermarket as prep cook” is a big theme in both of your fast food books. What do you think is the most convenient prepared item? Probably the packaged, ready-to-cook chicken parts.
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The Writing Life
In The Wink of the Zenith, poet and memoirist Skloot—who was brain damaged after a viral attack in 1988—dissects his often bumpy path to becoming a writer. In Zenith, you talk about your undergraduate study of Thomas Hardy. What first drew you to his work? Growing up, I was far more likely to read The Hardy Boys than Thomas Hardy.
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The Monday Interview: Gan Golan
An interview with Gan Golan, co-author with Erich Origen of Goodnight Bush, which was published by Little, Brown.
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Crack Reporter: PW Talks with David Carr
In The Night of the Gun (Reviews, June 16), New York Times columnist and reporter David Carr investigates his history as a drug addict.
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All in the Coven
Kathleen Kent revisits the Salem witch trials through the lives of her ancestors in The Heretic's Daughter. You're descended from Martha Carrier, one of 19 people hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. Have you always known about your famous ancestor? I grew up hearing stories about Martha Carrier and the fact that she was the only woman that directly confronted her accusers and ...
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The Monday Interview with John Darnton, author of Black & White and Dead All Over
An interview with John Darnton, whose latest novel, Black & White and Dead All Over will be published by Knopf.
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Diving into Darkness
Known for her unflinching depictions of violence, Mo Hayder has Phoebe “Flea” Marley, a police diver, join series regular Det. Insp. Jack Caffery in Ritual (Reviews, July 14), the first in her new Walking Man series. Why did you decide to focus on Flea instead of Jack Caffery in Ritual? I was preoccupied with people who recover dead bodies from underwater—it can be incredibly...
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Appointment in Samarra
In Nothing to Be Frightened Of (Reviews, July 14), Julian Barnes offers philosophical musings on mortality. Why did you choose to address questions about faith and mortality in this particular form? This book came out of the period of time after my parents' death and the effect that subconsciously had on me.
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The Monday Interview: David Wroblewski, author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
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Recovering Lost Christianities
In The Lost History of Christianity, noted historian Philip Jenkins argues that European Christianity was a late arrival to the party (Reviews, p. 61). How does this new work relate to your acclaimed 2002 book, The Next Christendom, which argued that the locus of Christianity is shifting toward the southern hemisphere? We talk a lot about the “coming” of global Christianity.
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Family Business
In The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family (Reviews, June 23), Patrick Lencioni reveals how management techniques can bring greater serenity to harried, overextended families. When did you become interested in business writing? I began writing just over 10 years ago, somewhat by accident. I had come up with a theory about leadership and began sharing it with clients and colleagues, who enc...
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Call of the Wilde
Gyles Brandreth, a former MP and an Oscar Wilde biographer, delivers his second mystery to feature Wilde as a Holmesian detective, Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder (Reviews, July 7). How did you become interested in Wilde? Since I was a boy, I have been an avid admirer of both the works of Oscar Wilde and the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
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Paradise Lost
Ariel Sabar's father, Yona, was from an Armenian-speaking Jewish community in remote Kurdistan. Yona immigrated to California and had a son who felt alienated from Yona's antiquated ways. In My Father's Paradise (Reviews, June 23), Sabar journeys to Kurdistan to bridge the barrier. What is the most surprising thing you learned? How central Iraq was to the history of the Jewish Diaspora.
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Q & A with Lane Smith
Lane Smith’s Madam President (Disney-Hyperion) concerns a girl who approaches every deed—from negotiating a dog/cat treaty to cleaning her room—as the sworn duty of the U.S. Commander in Chief. As the 2008 election approaches, Smith talks about this new picture book and his tongue-in-cheek John, Paul, George and Ben, on the childhood lives of the Founding Fathers.
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The Next Weird Thing: PW Talks with Daryl Gregory
Daryl Gregory blends psychology and demonology in his dark fantasy debut, Pandemonium.
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Home on the Range: PW Talks with Annie Proulx
Annie Proulx's new book, Fine Just the Way It Is (Scribner, Sept.), is the third collection in the Wyoming Stories, “the last,” Proulx says emphatically. And when Annie Proulx says it, you believe her. She wants to write about something else, she says. “I like to keep moving... shake things up.
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Accelerate the Personal
In Downtown Owl, the pop-culture critic and Esquire columnist tries his hand at fiction by examining a small town in North Dakota.
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PW Talks with Paul and Anne Ehrlich: A Web-Exclusive Q&A
In Dominant Animal (Island Press), ecologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich, who authored the highly influential The Population Bombforty years ago, recalibrate their vision and find that, despite some progress (heading off some of their more dire 1968 predictions), our species is still overshooting the capacity of the planet to sustain itself, and must change our ways.
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