Literary Figures: Novelists

Writer Edmund White. He has been called "unquestionably the foremost American gay novelist." White's novels draw significantly from his own experiences in a style he calls "auto-fiction." In his newest book, "Genet: A Biography" (Knopf), White documents the life of controversial French writer, Jean Genet.

Novelist David Leavitt discusses his new book "While England Sleeps." Themes are the betrayals, loyalties, and dilemmas of gay men in the 1930s.

Slovak novelist Martin Simecka discusses life after the split of Czechoslovakia. His latest novel to be published in the U. S. is "Year of the Frog." Prior to the fall of Communism, Simecka and his father were dissidents.

Detective novelist James Crumley. It's been ten years since his last book. In Crumley's fourth novel, "The Mexican Tree Duck" (Mysterious Press), redneck detective C.W. Sughrue (pronounced Shoog-rue) returns. Crumley gets a lot of materials for his novels hanging out in bars in his hometown of Missoula, Montana. Crumley has written three other detective novels.

Defensive lineman for the Atlanta Falcons, Tim Green. Green's written a novel, "Ruffians" (Turner), about a football star who's NFL experience is dominated by money and steroids. During football season, Green writes a weekly column for the "Syracuse Herald-Journal". Off season, Green attends law school. His sports commentaries can be heard occasionally on NPR.

Novelist Mary Gordon. Her most recent book, "The Rest of Life" (Viking), is a compilation of three novellas. She explores the delicate love affairs that shape the lives of three women. Gordon's a feminist and a Catholic and often explores those themes in her writing. She has written four other novels as well as a collection of short stories. Gordon teaches at Barnard College.

Novelist Amy Tan. Her debut novel, "The Joy Luck Club," was a huge critical and commercial success, and it earned Tan a nomination for the National Book Award. It's now been made into a movie. Tan and Ron Bass wrote the screenplay. Marty will talk with Tan and Bass about making "The Joy Luck Club" into a movie. Ron Bass also wrote the screenplay for "Rain Man" for which he won an Academy Award. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Science Fiction writer William Gibson. He's part of a small group of writers whose work is known as "cyberpunk" which combines the science of communication and control theory -- cybernetics -- with punk, an anti-social rebel or hoodlum. Gibson's first novel, "Neuromancer, was the first novel to win Science Fiction's triple crown: the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards.

Miami Herald columnist and novelist Carl Hiaasen. "Strip Tease," Hiaasen's fifth novel and latest gonzo thriller, is a yarn, pitting a seamy Florida politician against the star stripper at Miami's Eager Beaver club. Mr.

New York Times European diplomatic correspondent, Craig Whitney. Whitney is the author of a new book about espionage and spy swaps during the cold war in the two Germanys: "Spy Trader" (Times Books). Now living in Bonn, Whitney reports on the issues surrounding European unity: the rise of ethnic conflicts, and the crisis in Bosnia. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)