John Updike

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Updike died of lung cancer on Jan. 27. Fresh Air remembers the writer with archival interviews from 1988, 1989 and 1997.

Updike's newest book features Henry Bech, the moderately well known Jewish-American writer who was the hero of Updike's previous novels, "Bech: A Book," and "Bech is Back." His newest book is "Bech at Bay" (Knopf).

Writer John Updike. His new novel, "Toward the End of Time" (Knopf) is a chronicle of one man's life in America in the year 2020. Updike will read passages from the novel and answer questions posed by an audience in addition to the regular interview. Updike is the author of over forty volumes of work, and has received two Pulitzer prizes, the American Book Award, and two National Book Critic's Circle Awards. (Interview recorded at and for The Free Library of Philadelphia)

Writer Nicholson Baker. His new book, "U and I," is a quirky look at how writer John Updike has shaped Baker's life