A Question of Faith

The award-winning novelist on the fluidity of sexuality, the intersections of art and selfishness, and her most recent book, The Woman Upstairs.

The American writer discusses turning his back on showy prose, being labelled an “erotic” author, and “the importance of being somebody.”

The Pulitzer Prize winner on the intersection of human rights work and playwriting, telling stories that are “profoundly unheard,” and why she thinks a lot of writing about Africa amounts to little more than “pornography.”

The Guatemalan writer on his grandfather’s escape from Auschwitz, translation as collaboration, and giving readers “the words they deserve.

The landscape architect on living cities, the tyranny of lawns, and how mayors will soon rule the world.

Two writers discuss their cyber-stalker.

The cultural historian on the rhetoric of freedom, bossy white women, and the prospects of beating patriarchy by 2040.

The Booker Prize nominated novelist talks about his obsession with Pynchon, history as interference, & why literary fiction needn’t forsake the pleasures of suspense.

The bestselling novelist talks about the art of optimism, gender bias in the literary world, and donning public personas.

The MacArthur “Genius” on willful delusions, the ego’s limit, and the stories we tell to make sense of experience.

The writer, art historian, and street photographer on the body vs. the intellect, the mythical pre-history of humanity, and how very serious a Twitter post can be.

The Nation columnist and law professor on dissent, privatization, and the future of racial equity.

Sarah Manguso on memory, mental illness and how writing “is like feeding the cassette tape through the machine one last time after it breaks”

On the evolution of Internet bullying, resilience of underdogs, and the promise of today’s teens.

The journalist and former sex worker on what feminists get wrong about prostitution.

Melissa Febos on her dominatrix memoir, teaching sexuality in literature, and what it takes to make a great sex scene.

The provocateur on Obama’s second term and the role of bad behavior in fiction.

Her name tag said ‘Lynn Paltrow: Reproductive Justice.’ Pulling out a sharpie, she added, ‘And Drugs.’

The journalist and “accidental theologist” discusses distinguishing human from legend in her latest book on the founder of Islam.

One of TIME and Newsweek’s most influential people of 2012, Ai-jen Poo works to address a swiftly aging population, and an exploited workforce, by reforming domestic labor standards.

The data journalist and designer on the balance between content and beauty

The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize winner on her debut dystopian novel and the role of American fiction in the face of escalating violence.

After a decade of absence, the Mexican-American author and activist returns to the literary scene to discuss her new book, what it takes to ‘compost’ grief into light, and the long road for writers of color.

The professor and critic turns to technology explosions past—think typewriters, gramophones, and radios—to map the modern intersections of information and art.

The 5-Under-35 author on growing up in the Mojave, busting up the lines between fiction and nonfiction, and braving her way into the dark heart of the West’s discarded stories.

From electronic surveillance to drone strikes to racial disparities in the criminal justice system, the writer, lawyer, and advocate anticipates the most pressing issues of the next four years.

After spurring an investigation of internal violence in the armed forces, the journalist explores the same themes through fiction.

A.M. Homes on Nixon’s psyche, American dementia, and writing like a man.

Pussy Riot’s Yekaterina Samutsevich on protest, art, and freedom

The MacArthur “Genius” on his forthcoming sci-fi epic, Monstro, and the evolution of his wily main character, Yunior.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and former White Stripe Jack White on what’s killing the humanity of performances, how the wrong teacher can “really mess you up,” and the power of the blues.

The famed writer on life as Joseph Anton, the problems of free speech, and the importance of telling the ‘goddamn truth’.

Climate change activism collides with indigenous land movements in Mexico’s Zapatista heartland, where the interests of a green economy threaten to crowd out the voices of those for whom it matters.

What can The One Thousand and One Nights teach the modern world?

Pulitzer Prize winner David Shipler on why bad guys deserve rights, how small-town officials wield big-time power, and why Obama has been bad for the Constitution.

Hanna Rosin’s controversial new book proclaims the “end of men.” But what about the women?

Sonia Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi have overcome tragic and arduous pasts to emerge as leaders of India and Burma. What’s next for these two historical icons?

As we grapple with the legal, political, and cultural implications of drone warfare and targeted killing, the renowned anthropologist draws on an older turning point in military ethics—weapons design at Los Alamos.

Following three years of research in an Indian slum, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist discusses what language can’t express, her view that nobody is representative, and the ethical dilemmas of writing about the poor.

A Bosnian genocide survivor and a human rights journalist confront terror, loss, and what it takes to heal.

The iconoclastic leftist and novelist discusses the rage that fueled him, and how he felt about his coming end alongside the ruin of America.

Writer and former radical bookstore owner Sean Stewart talks about his new book on the underground press that was so vital to ’60s counterculture.

An exhaustive new biography of Brautigan will change the way we remember the poet and novelist.

The two visual artists on the gravitas needed to make protest art, the rhetoric and representations of the Occupy movement, and how to seduce an audience by grabbing them by the eyeballs.

Documentarian Annie Eastman tells the stories of families in Salvador’s palafitas—water slums built on piles of garbage—and confronts her outsider status.

In its bank crisis as well as its sex abuse scandals, the Catholic Church is defined by an astonishing lack of accountability. Is this why a parish per week closes in the United States?

In the afterglow of her Pulitzer win, the feminist playwright opens up about border-crossing, why she’d make a terrible critic, and her master teacher, Paula Vogel.

A conversation recorded on the road reveals the late author’s take on the role of the writer-as-activist. Read and listen.

Anthony Swofford on bad habits, good writing, and coming back from the brink