The author Esmeralda Santiago has been writing about Puerto Rico and questions of immigration and identity since the early nineties. But, in 2008, she suffered a stroke that left her unable to decipher words on a page. In the months that followed, she relied on some of the same strategies she’d used to teach herself English after moving to the United States ... Show More
Today
Ryan Coogler on “Sinners,” His Epic Film about Race, Music, and the Undead
When the Oscar nominations were announced this year, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” set a record. It received sixteen nominations, the most for any film ever. The fact that it’s, in part, a vampire movie, made by a director who’s not yet forty, makes that feat all the more remarkable. ... Show More
19m 28s
Mar 1
Failed “Finance Bros” Find Success with HBO’s “Industry”
David Remnick sits down with Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, the creators of a show he loves, “Industry,” which is currently airing its fourth season. The show is centered on the financial and personal dramas of junior employees at a fictional London investment bank. Down and Kay are ... Show More
16m 23s
Aug 2023
Esmeralda Santiago is Back in the Book Case
We talked to the renowned bilingual author Esmeralda Santiago a few months about her incredible trilogy of memoirs. So when she sent us her new novel, Las Madres, we couldn’t wait. Turns out she is just as good of a fiction writer as she is a memoirist. This is a searing, funny a ... Show More
42m 47s
Jan 2021
Turn memory into art: Isabel Allende on “The House of the Spirits”
How do you write the stories of your life? Any time, any place, any order. Isabel Allende was 39, and a refugee from her native Chile, when she started writing a letter to her dying grandfather – recounting the family stories he'd told her – of love, loss, memory, magic. This let ... Show More
38m 9s
Jan 2021
#309 Kate Elizabeth Russell: Writing Fiction & Setting Boundaries
Kate Elizabeth Russell is a writer, based in Oregon. Her debut novel, My Dark Vanessa, was published in 2020 and has been translated into thirty-five languages. It’s been both a Sunday Times Bestseller and a New York Times Bestseller. Stephen King himself described it as ‘a hard ... Show More
30m 51s
<p>Jerry Craft’s graphic novel <a href="https://jerrycraft.com/books/new-kid/" target="_blank"><i>New Kid</i></a> has won multiple awards, made the New York Times Best Sellers List, and is beloved by children across the country.But this year, <i>New Kid </i>made headlines for a d ... Show More