Mark Twain once likened biographies to “the clothes and buttons of the man” saying “the biography of the man himself, cannot be written.” The quote is a favorite of Patricia Bosworth, a 1950s model-actor turned biographer known for capturing the lives of
Apr 14
Neal Shapiro: A Career Shaping Public Broadcasting
Neal Shapiro is an award-winning producer and media executive whose 30-year career spans print, broadcast, cable, and online media. Currently the CEO and President of WNET, Shapiro oversees the operations of ten public media channels and one radio station including THIRTEEN, WLIW ... Show More
41m 38s
Mar 2023
Episode 532 - Priscilla Gilman
With her new memoir, The Critic's Daughter (Norton), Priscilla Gilman explores her relationship with her father, Theater Critic and Yale Drama professor Richard Gilman (as well as with her mom, literary agent Lynn Nesbit). We get into the perils of literary-kid memoir, the NYC bo ... Show More
1h 24m
Jul 2021
A Heartbreaking Novel About Mothers, Daughters and Secrets
<p>The latest pick for Group Text, our monthly column for readers and book clubs, is Esther Freud's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/books/i-couldnt-love-you-more-esther-freud-group-text.html" target="_blank">“I Couldn’t Love You More,”</a> a novel about three generati ... Show More
56m 44s
Dec 2021
Simon Van Booy, "Night Came With Many Stars" (Godine, 2021)
Night Came With Many Stars (Godine 2021) ebbs and flows with people who only take or destroy, balanced by those who give or heal. And everything centers on a family. A Kentucky father treats Carol, his thirteen-year-old motherless daughter like a servant up to the moment he loses ... Show More
26m 41s
Apr 2021
The Sunday Read: ‘The Ghost Writer’
<p>The author Philip Roth, who died in 2018, was not sure whether he wanted to be the subject of a biography. In the end, he decided that he wanted to be known and understood.</p><p>His search for a biographer was long and fraught — Mr. Roth parted ways with two, courted one and ... Show More
27m 57s