The French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, was presented with a Freedom on Expression award from the PEN American Center this week. Six high-profile writers boycotted the awards ceremony at PEN's big annual gala. Hundreds more protested, while others gave the magazine's editors a standing ovation. The chariman of the PEN World Voices Festival is Colm Toibin, the celebrated Irish novelist. Toibin shares his thoughs on the controversy.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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James McBride won the National Book Award for "The Good Lord Bird," his novel about the abolitionist John Brown. He explains why he doesn't like most fictional portraits of slavery and how he tried to tell a different story.
Karen Armstrong talks with Anne Strainchamps about her tangled path back to God after leaving the convent.
If you think the American middle class has it bad, consider life in debt-ridden Italy or Greece. Best-selling financial writer Michael Lewis portrays the downfall of several European countries with his usual verve, in Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World.
Robert Ferris Thompson muses about the movements of the tango and all the passions they express.
When he was a young professor, philosopher Mark Rowlands adopted a wolf named Brenin, who turned into his constant companion. He reflects on the life lessons he learned from Brenin.
Millard Kaufman has a long string of successes, including two Oscar nominations as a screen writer. He tells Jim Fleming why he decided to take on a new kind of writing.
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