Mukoma Wa Ngugi is a poet and English professor who writes crime novels set in his native Kenya. He says the crime genre lets him write truthfully about race, class and violence in cities like Nairobi.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Mark Dunn's book, “Ella Minnow Pea,” explores what happens when individual letters begin to be expunged from the language. It’s a technical tour de force since the author labors under the same restrictions as his characters.
There's a nagging question at major sporting events: Are the athletes cheating? Steroids, human growth hormones and blood doping techniques are extending the outer limits of performance, and athletes can use them if they want -- unless they're professionals or Olympic athletes. But is doping really a problem? Australian philosopher and bioethicist Julian Savulescu has a simple litmus test: What contribution is coming from the technology and what is coming from the athlete?
Raymond Zilinskas tells Jim Fleming that a biological weapon is live organism while a chemical weapon uses an inert substance.
Mary Ann Caws is an internationally respected scholar of surrealism. She has translated many of the movements major texts and is the editor of “Surrealism (Themes and Movements).”
Australian writer Richard Flanagan is the author of "The Unknown Terrorist." He says that his book is the story of a society gone haywire.
The music of avant-garde composer Philip Glass is distinct and memorable. His span reaches across opera and symphonies to film scores and popular music. One cannot exaggerate the influence this world-renowned composer has had on modern classic music. And now, at 78, Philip Glass has given us one more work to ponder: his memoir, called “Words Without Music.”
In this UNCUT conversation, Jonathan Lethem talks about "Dissident Gardens" and the many faces of a novelist.
Pages
