Novelist Jane Smiley tells Jim Fleming Dickens had extraordinary energy and vitality, and by writing sympathetically about the poor and working class, he changed English literature forever.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard has been called "the happiest man in the world." He shares a few thoughts on finding resilience in a crazy world.
Jeanne Safer and Richard Brookhiser would seem like an unlikely couple. She's a lifelong liberal, while he's a senior editor for the conservative National Review, and yet the two have been happily married for more than 35 years. They shared the secrets of a lasting marriage across party lines.
Reverend Jamie Coots was a snake handler and Pentecostal preacher in Middlesboro, Kentucky. He died this past Saturday, when the rattlesnake he was handling during a church service bit him.
Italian journalist Riccardo Orizio tracked down seven former dictators living in exile around the world. He talks about what it was like to meet and talk with them.
Michael Dirda tells Anne Strainchamps that modern readers of Beowulf owe a great deal to J.R.R. Tolkien.
Jeffrey J. Kripal talks to Steve Paulson about his book, "Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal."
Parker Palmer is a writer and educator who's spent a lot of time thinking about the question, "What makes life worth living?"
Pages
