Olivia Laing says John Cheever's "The Swimmer" is one of the finest short stories every written.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Sandra Luckow is a ventriloquist herself, who tells him Fleming about her relationship with her "carved figure" Juanito.
Stephen Marche is the author of "How Shakespeare Changed Everything." He tells Anne Strainchamps why he thinks Shakespeare is the most important figure in history.
Warren MacDonald lost both of his legs in a climbing accident. But the lure of the back country was so strong that he learned to climb again using prosthetics.
Jessica Hopper is a rock critic with a secret. She hates music festivals. After more than a decade covering Lollapalooza, Bonaroo and all the rest, she finally called it quits.
There may be as many opinions about selfies as there are Twitter handles. Are they self-empowerment, or narcissism? Are they just personal branding? Or can they be art? Writer and critic Sarah Nicole Prickett came in to give us a primer.
Steven Biel talks about Grant Woods' iconic American painting: who the models were; how the painting's been received and why it's so often parodied.
Sjon is the Icelandic trickster, drawing on Icelandic sagas and surrealism to write his mythic stories. He tells Steve Paulson why we need to re-enchant the world.
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