Bookworm

Playland (Random House) What has happened to innocence? A discussion of power and victimization in the thrillers of John Gregory Dunne.

The Wild Party: The Lost Classic by Joseph Moncure March (Pantheon Books)A talk -- about illustration and jazz-age poetry; political correctness and eroticism -- with the Pulitzer prize winning author of Maus.

Fatheralong The author on memory, paternity and ethnicity.

In the Lake of the Woods An argument: Who tells the story--the politician, the novelist or the killer?

The Informers Host Michael Silverblatt and author Ellis agree to avoid controversy and content, and instead discuss style, character, intention and technique.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life The lovable Anne Lamott reveals the techniques she uses to teach fiction to writers who are beginning to face creative and emotional blocks.

The Fran Lebowitz Reader On American humor: James Thurber, Robert Benchley, Dawn Powell--plus a digression on humorists who write children---s books.

A discussion of autobiography: Doris Lessing on self, memory and history.

Knowing When to Stop A demanding conversation with a modern composer about setting poetry to music, featuring a love duet with text by Frank O---Hara.

Closing Time Has Yossarian sold out? Can a sequel to Catch-22 be written? How does Heller feel about the fate of his later novels?

A conversation about personal voice, sexuality and the New York school of poetry.

Corelli's Mandolin A discussion about having it both ways: How Louis de Bernières maintains the passion of the traditional novel while exploring the complexities of post-modernism...

Dear Dead Person   Violence, comedy, style, the influence of modern German literature and the importance of extremity are today's subjects in our conversation with Benjamin Weissman.

For Keeps America---s greatest pop-culture critic talks about her new collection of movie reviews--a retrospective of a lifetime of passionate response.

Blacker than a Thousand MidnightsStraight talks about mothering by day, writing deep into the night, and knowing enough to see into the life of a young, black father.

The Bird Artist   Howard Norman's new novel about fatal romance and aesthetic distance has surprised critics and attracted a wide audience.

The writer discusses the evolution of her style and explores the gulf between political correctness and personal behavior.

The Waterworks   A discussion of the morality of mad scientists, New York history, and the evolution of the plot of E.L. Doctorow's best-selling novel.

Doggie Bag The fictional avante garde, its present and future, discussed by one of its longest standing practitioners.

Rick Moody's novel of the seventies provokes a discussion of the relationship between literary fiction and the marketplace.