Is the near-universal game of “cowboys and Indians” just positive propaganda for genocide? When a Vietnamese-American watches ‘Apocalypse Now’, does he identify with the victim or perpetrator? As the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s book ‘The Sympathizer’ comes to HBO, we explore these themes and discuss his triumphant new memoir, ‘A Man of Two Faces: A Memoi ... Show More
Nov 2023
A Word in Your Ear – The Half-Blood
Texas-based Bulgarian writer Miroslav Penkov wasn’t sure if anyone would pay attention to his first English-language novel, Stork Mountain. However, when the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative paired him with The English Patient author Michael Ondaatje, it gave him the boos ... Show More
24m 12s
Nov 2023
A Word in Your Ear – Disquiet
Winner of Pulitzer and Nobel prizes, the late Toni Morrison was one of the all-time great American novelists. For the inaugural Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, she was paired with Australian writer Julia Leigh, who was busy writing her second novel, Disquiet. Hear Kerry ... Show More
19m 11s
Jul 2018
Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Rethinking Vietnam
<p>The vast ambition of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's PBS documentary <em>The Vietnam War</em> has precedents, but most of them are other Burns and Novick documentaries. The two directors' collaborations -- including 1994's <em>Baseball</em> and 2007's <em>The War</em>, about WW2 - ... Show More
47m 29s
Jan 2024
Kaveh Akbar's novel 'Martyr!' is a journey of identity, addiction and poetry
Halfway through today's episode, author Kaveh Akbar tells NPR's Scott Simon that his life is a summation of "private joys amidst collective grief and private grief amidst collective joy." It's a contrast that contextualizes his emotionally dark yet deeply funny debut novel, Marty ... Show More
8m 22s
Apr 2021
Bing West, "The Last Platoon: A Novel of the Afghanistan War" (Bombardier Books, 2020)
The Last Platoon: A Novel of the Afghanistan War (Bombardier Books, 2020) is a riveting book of infantry ground combat. As a work of fiction it is superb, showing the personal drama, drives and experiences of regular Marines combined with the high ambitions and political maneuver ... Show More
53m 54s
Aug 2020
Legacies of Vietnam
<p>Today, Alec speaks with two colleagues he’s known for a long time, Brian Delate and Dick Hughes -- both actors whose lives were touched by the Vietnam War. Delate, Alec’s first guest, served in Vietnam after high school. He has performed on stage, in movies and on TV, and he’s ... Show More
47m 24s
Jun 2019
Ocean Vuong: Live at Politics and Prose
Like the stunning poems of his collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Vuong’s kaleidoscopic first novel speaks from the heart of multi-generational PTSD, charting the fate of a Vietnamese-American family struggling to settle into life in Hartford, Connecticut. Vuong frames his n ... Show More
59m 31s
Jul 2022
A Novel About Brilliant Young Game Designers
<p>Gabrielle Zevin’s new novel, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” is set in the world of video game design, and follows two friends named Sadie and Sam as they collaborate on what becomes a very successful game.</p><p>“A friend of mine described the book as being what it’s ... Show More
49m 24s