Jan 08 The private thoughts of a public man: the ambitions and insecurities of literary giant Norman Mailer By Victoria Fleischer J. Michael Lennon, author of "Norman Mailer: A Double Life," spoke to chief arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown about the ambitions and insecurities of the literary giant. Norman Mailer had quite a public persona. He was a Pulitzer Prize… Continue reading
Dec 24 Watch Dick Davis on "Faces of Love" and poetry in Iranian culture Dick Davis on his translations of medieval Persian poems and poetry's importance in Iran. Continue watching
Oct 16 Eleanor Catton wins the 2013 Man Booker Prize By Victoria Fleischer The 45th Man Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded Tuesday to Eleanor Catton for "The Luminaries." Set in 1860s New Zealand during the Gold Rush, Catton's second novel is a murder mystery that constructs its own astrological calendar… Continue reading
Jul 10 Wednesday on the NewsHour: Poet Liao Yiwu By Tom LeGro, Mary Jo Brooks Liao Yiwu was in his early 30s when he was arrested for writing and performing a poem about the brutality of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. A new memoir about his time in prison called "For a Song and… Continue reading
Jul 10 Weekly Poem: 'Massacre' By Tom LeGro, Mary Jo Brooks By Liao Yiwu, Translated by Wenguang Huang (Composed on the morning of June 4, 1989) Dedicated to those who were killed on June 4, 1989 Dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution Leap! Howl! Fly! Run! Freedom feels… Continue reading
Jul 04 From the NewsHour Archives: Robert Pinsky on the 4th of July By Imani Cheers O July 4, 2001, former poet laureate Robert Pinsky read aloud for NewsHour viewers the concluding section of Walt Whitman's "By Blue Ontario's Shore," Pinsky said, "Whitman's list of what he 'will not shirk' remains an attractive agenda and can… Continue reading
Jun 13 Thursday on the NewsHour: Novelist Walter Mosley By Molly Finnegan Author Walter Mosley has written more than 40 books. His new mystery novel, "Little Green," revives one of the best-known, longest-running characters in American literature. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, Mosley's fictional private eye, was last seen driving off a cliff. Continue reading
Nov 18 Patti Smith, Indie-Published Novel are Rock Stars of 2010 National Book Awards Known for her poetry and her rock 'n' roll, music legend Patti Smith has now been honored for her prose with a National Book Award, given out Wednesday night in New York. Continue reading
Jul 08 Dear Ben Greenman, About Your New Book... By Molly Finnegan "What He's Poised To Do" is a new story collection by New Yorker editor Ben Greenman. The stories feature and often take place in the form of letters, and explore our attempts to connect over time. Continue reading
May 21 Conversation: Isabel Allende By Molly Finnegan "Island Beneath the Sea," by author Isabel Allende, is set in the early 19th-century, amid colonial powers and slavery, and a chaotic period in Caribbean history. It also involves two places very much in the news in our own time:… Continue reading