Two Worlds
Acclaimed novelist Vikram Chandra is equally obsessed with the tech world of computer coding and the realm of imagination. He talks about the two realities.
Jane Ciabattari’s reviews, interviews, and cultural reporting have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, The Guardian, NPR.org, The Boston Globe, Salon, The Paris Review, Los Angeles Times, O the Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, and The East Hampton Star, among others. She is vice president/online and former president of the National Book Critics Circle and author of the short-story collection Stealing the Fire. Her recent short stories are online at The Literarian, KGB Bar Lit, Verbsap, Literary Mama, and Lost Magazine, and in Long Island Noir, edited by Kaylie Jones.
Though born in Beijing Yiyun Li writes English better than most native writers. She talks about her new book, her childhood, and the darkness of humanity.
Confused
Bestseller author Isabel Allende caused a furor when she dismissed mysteries while she herself was promoting her new novel, a mystery itself. She talks to Jane Ciabattari about the controversy and why she tried her hand at the genre.
Silk and Lace
Novelist Amy Tan talks about her new novel, The Valley of Amazement, set in a Shanghai courtesan house, how she researched Chinese history, and learning how to write about sex.
Sociopaths
Jayne Anne Phillips talks about her new novel, ‘Quiet Dell,’ inspired by the ‘Bluebeard’ murders in Depression-era West Virginia, one of America’s most sensational serial killings.
All About Grandma
Terry McMillan talks about the power of family ties and her new novel, Who Asked You? with Jane Ciabattari.
Rick Bass
Rick Bass, one of America’s great writers of the West, talks about his new novel and the glory days of George Plimpton.
Invisible Manor
Mac Griswold tells Jane Ciabattari about an estate near the Hamptons that used to be one of the largest slave-owning plantations in the North.
After War
How do you return from war? That was the question Roxana Robinson set out to answer in her new novel, Sparta. She spoke to Jane Ciabattari about how she researched the experiences of veterans—and why she used that title.
May Reads
May is Short Story Month. Here are Jane Ciabattari’s favorite new collections, from an ironic new voice to a posthumous release.