Literary Figures: Novelists

Writer Nick Hornby's novel, About a Boy, has been made into a film starring Hugh Grant and Toni Collette. It opens Friday, May 17. Hornby also wrote the novel High Fidelity, which became a hit film of the same name starring John Cusack. This interview first aired Sept. 26, 1995.

Novelist Rick Moody is the author of The Ice Storm which was made into a film, and the short story collection Demonology. He calls his new book, The Black Veil, a "sort of non-fiction novel." It parallels Moody's investigation of his own family's history of depression. He found that one of his ancestors — a clergyman — was the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "The Minister's Black Veil."

Novelist Carol Shields won a Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling novel, The Stone Diaries. Her books are often about middle-class people leading quiet lives. Her other novels include Larrys Party, which won Britains Orange Prize, The Republic of Love and Swann: A Mystery. She also wrote a biography of Jane Austen as well as plays, poetry and story collections. In 1998 Shields was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is now in a late stage of the disease. Her new novel, Unless (Fourth Estate), was written after her diagnosis.

Science fiction writer Sheri S. Tepper is the author of over a dozen novels including, The Fresco, The Family Tree, Grass and her newest, The Visitor. (Harper Collins).

Writer Bharati Mukherjee's new novel is Desirable Daughters (Theia Press). Mukherjee is an Indian-born writer who emigrated to the U.S. as an adult. Her new novel is about a traditional Brahmin family transformed by contemporary culture. Mukherjee is the author of five novels, two nonfiction books and two collections of short stories, including The Middleman and Other Stories, for which she won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Writer Jake Arnott's new novel is He Kills Coppers, a dark thriller set in London in 1966. Arnott's first novel, The Long Firm, is being made into a five-part series for the BBC.

Writer Gary Paulsen is a prolific writer of children's books. He began writing over 30 years ago, when he was coming to terms with his alcoholism. For many years he and his wife lived in poverty in rural Minnesota. This changed when Paulsen won the Newbery Award for children's fiction in 1985 with Dogsong, about running the Iditarod. Paulsen's children's books often deal with adventurous youths who triumph over adversity in the wilderness. This interview first aired Oct. 6, 1992.

Cartoonist Daniel Clowes. Drawn in 1950s pop culture style, his comics are darkly humorous satires of middle class America. His graphic novel Ghost World (first published in 1993) is the basis of the film of the same name. Ghost World has just been nominated for an academy award in the Adapted Screenplay division. Clowes' first comic book series was Lloyd Llewellyn, followed by Eightball

Ken Wells is senior writer and features editor for The Wall Street Journals Page One. He is also the author of two novels: his latest Juniors Leg (Random House), and Meely LaBauve (published last year). Both novels are set in south Louisiana on the bayou where he grew up himself.

Novelist Richard Price reflects on life in New York City post September 11th. He reads an excerpt from an article he wrote for the 11/11/01 Sunday New York Times Magazine, about advice he gave his daughter. Price is the author of the novels Clockers and Freedomland.