Tom Shippey, author of “Tolkien: Author of the Century,” talks with Steve Paulson about the great fantasy writer’s life, the origins of hobbits, and Tolkien’s motivation for writing fantasy.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Operatic bass Samuel Ramey tells Anne Strainchamps about his various devil roles and why he likes singing them.
A big cat biologist goes on a blind date. It doesn't go well. Writer Ben Hoffman reads from a work in progress.
Writer Richard Rodriguez views his so-called brown identity as a racial mixture, dating back to the colonization of the Americas. He tells us why he celebrates being brown, and embraces the term "Hispanic."
Stephen Prothero tells Steve Paulson about the first American cremation, which didn’t really go very well, and the current craze for going out in a blaze of glory.
Film critic Roger Ebert on the glories of black and white films
Siberia is vast... and writer Ian Frazier has crossed it all. He fell in love with the place he calls, “greatest horrible country.”
Guitarist Sharon Isbin talks with Steve Paulson about how she came to the guitar as a child, why women have a harder time than men being accepted as guitarists.
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