May 29 Conversation: Geoffrey Rush By Arts Desk Geoffrey Rush is well-known for many film roles, including "Shine," for which he won an Academy Award, "Shakespeare in Love" and much more. "Exit the King" is his debut on Broadway, and he's been nominated for a Tony Award for… Continue reading
May 22 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings By Arts Desk Soul music began in the late-1950s and never really died, but in recent years there seems to be something of a revival underway. One center of that movement is Daptone Records and its most prominent voice, Sharon Jones and the… Continue reading
May 15 Conversation: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck Discuss Their New Film, ‘Sugar’ By Arts Desk The new film, "Sugar," is a dramatic telling of the story of a young Dominican-born baseball player as he learns some lessons about baseball and life at a training camp in his homeland and as a minor league player in… Continue reading
May 13 Conversation: Author Mark Kurlansky on ‘America Eats’ By Arts Desk Throughout the Depression, an ambitious New Deal project called "America Eats" employed secretaries and unemployed journalists, as well as literary luminaries -- Nelson Algren, Zora Neale Hurston and Eudora Welty -- to research and write about the nation's gastronomic traditions,… Continue reading
May 08 Conversation: Daniyal Mueenuddin By Arts Desk Daniyal Mueenuddin new book, "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders," comprises a series of linked stories that explore the lives of peasants and landowners in Pakistan's Punjab. Continue reading
May 01 Conversation: Arthur Phillips, Author of ‘The Song Is You’ By Arts Desk Arthur Phillips, author of "The Song Is You," made a name for himself with his very first novel, "Prague," which became a national bestseller. That was followed by "The Egyptologist" and "Angelica."… Continue reading
Apr 28 Conversation: Poet Carl Phillips By Arts Desk To read Carl Phillips to enter a world of finely-wrought poems that explore mind and body, history and intimacy. Phillips is a professor of English and African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis and a much praised and honored… Continue reading
Apr 24 Conversation: Adina Hoffman, Author of the New Biography of Poet Taha Muhammad Ali By Arts Desk Several years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to travel through Israel and the West Bank to talk to Palestinian and Israeli poets. Among the remarkable writers I met there and the one who made the greatest impression on viewers… Continue reading
Apr 17 Conversation: John Richardson, Biographer and Friend of Pablo Picasso By Arts Desk For much of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was at the forefront of modern art, but the work of his later years has at times been taken less seriously, as more an appendage to his earlier, revolutionary turns. Continue reading
Apr 10 Conversation: Elie Wiesel By Arts Desk In the new novel, "A Mad Desire to Dance," Doriel Waldman has survived the holocaust as a youth and achieved professional success as a man only to find himself in his 60s barely hanging onto his sanity. Continue reading