Literary Figures: Novelists

Novelist and poet Robert Morgan. He's written nine volumes of poetry and four novels. His latest novel is The Truest Pleasure (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill). Morgan's work centers on the place where he grew up, The Blue Ridge Mountains. Morgan also teaches English at Cornell University.

Larry McMurtry is considered one of Texas most prominent fiction writers even though he has not lived in that state for nearly two decades. Over his career, he has written 19 novels...including the 1986 Pulitzer Prize winning book Lonesome Dove.. His newest Dead Man’s Walk (Simon & Schuster 1995) takes readers to the early days of his Lonesome Dove heroes Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call. Other books by McMurtry include: Streets of Laredo (sequel to Lonesome Dove), Terms of Endearment and The Last Picture Show.

An inside account of the world of high-fashion. Nina Blanchard is founder of Nina Blanchard Agency which is considered one of nation’s most prestigious modeling agencies. Blanchard herself discovered supermodel Cheryl Tiegs. She’s been called The Beauty Broker. She has written a novel based on the fashion world The Look, (Dutton 1995) Blanchard talks about what it takes to be a model, the pressures they’re under and why she herself finally had enough.

Miami Herald columnist and novelist Carl Hiaasen. His newest comic thriller set in South Florida is Stormy Weather, about the rip off artists and corrupt construction and insurance industries that take advantage of hurricane victims. He's also the author of five other books in the same vein: Strip Tease, a yarn, pitting a seamy Florida politician against the star stripper at Miami's Eager Beaver club. Mr.

Novelist Amy Tan. Her best-selling books include The Joy Luck Club, and The Kitchen God's Wife. Her newest novel is The Hundred Secret Senses (Putnam's), about two half-sisters. One is Chinese-American, the other is Chinese, and has the ability to see ghosts.

Novelist Elmore Leonard. He's 70 years old and has been called "the greatest living writer of crime fiction" (New York Times). Though he'd been writing for decades, critics didn't take notice of him until the 1980s. Now his work is known for it tight prose, "ear-perfect" dialogue and depiction of lower class life. Leonard's written thirty-two novels, including the bestsellers Pronto, Maximum Bob, and Get Shorty which has been made into a film, starring John Travolta and Gene Hackman.

Kazuo Ishiguro won international recognition with his novel The Remains of the Day. He won the distinguished Booker Award for this book in 1989. It was later adapted to a movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. The Japanese born British writer has released his latest book The Unconsoled, Alfred A. Knopf 1995. A story about the mixed blessings of celebrity from the point of view of a concert pianist. Other titles by Ishiguro include: A Pale View of the Hills, An Artist of the Floating World.

British writer Nick Hornby. His autobiographical memoir about being an obsessed soccer fan, Fever Pitch (1992, now in paperback, Penguin) achieved cult status. With his second book, and his first novel High-Fidelity one reviewer writes that Hornby has "established himself in England as a maestro of the male confessional." High-Fidelity (Riverhead Books, div. of Putnam) is about 36-year old Rob Fleming, an obsessed record-collector, who's just lost his girlfriend, a casualty of his devotion to music.

Novelist Kaye Gibbons. She's the author of several acclaimed novels: Ellen Foster and Charms for the Easy Life. One reviewer says "Gibbon's brilliance lies in examining with unsentimental tenderness a family poised on the brink of disaster." Gibbons has a new novel, Sights Unseen (Putnam) about a girl's life with her manic-depressive mother. Gibbons herself has the illness, and she'll talk with Terry about that.

ABC News political and media analyst Jeff Greenfield. He appears regularly on Nightline and World News Tonight. He also has a weekly column on World News Sunday. He's just written his first novel about presidential politics and the electoral college, The People's Choice: A Cautionary Tale, (G.P. Putnam).