Episode 50: A talk about biography with John Matteson, author of A Worse Place Than Hell
A wide ranging discussion of the choices a biographer makes and how John Matteson put together his group of figures present at the battle of Frederickburg
13 Mar 202146min
Episode 49: A talk with Kathleen Spaltro, Author of The Great Lie: The Creation of Mary Astor
A wide ranging of discussion of a great character actress, active in both silent and sound film, her relationships with Ronald Colman and Bette Davis, and her career as a writer of novels and memoirs.
6 Mar 202131min
Episode 48: A discussion with Sydney Stern about her book, The Brothers Mankiewicz
What it takes to write a biography of the Mankiewicz brothers and other issues biographers encounter.
27 Feb 202132min
Episode 47: Justice to Charmian London, a writer who was much more than Jack London’s wife
A wide ranging discussion of Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s new biography, including reflections on the biographer as villain and how biography can be an act of restitution.
20 Feb 202129min
Episode 46: How I Became A Biographer: A conversation with Richard Bradford
I speak with Richard Bradford about how he became a biographer, the role biography should play in literary study, and why he chose to write about Ernest Hemingway, Patricia Highsmith and others.
13 Feb 202139min
Episode 45: William Faulkner’s Civil War, a talk with Michael Gorra about his new book
All things biographical and how Faulkner, the man and the writer, approached the Civil War.
6 Feb 202139min
Episode 44: The Past Is Never Dead
How does a biographer recreate the past the milieu of a subject’s life. I draw on my own experience in biographies of William Faulkner, Lillian Hellman, Rebecca West, Michael Foot, and others.
31 Jan 202148min
Episode 43: Talking with William Souder about Mad at the World, his new biography of John Steinbeck
William Souder explains his attraction to Steinbeck, what it takes to do a biography, the audience you can expect to reach as a biographer, and much much more.
23 Jan 202138min
