Literary Figures

Lopez has a new collection of essays called Crossing Open Ground, which offers what he hopes is a non-judgemental view of environmental change and different interactions with animals and the natural world.

Garrison Keillor retired from the public radio show A Prairie Home Companion in 1987. He says he was overwhelmed by the celebrity, and wanted to focus on writing fiction. Keillor moved with his wife from his native St. Paul to New York City. His recent novel is called Leaving Home; a forthcoming collection of short stories is titled We Are Still Married.

Leavitt's writing focuses on the family lives of gay men and women. He says families can alternately be sanctuaries and dangerous communities for for them. His new book, set in the suburbs, is called Equal Affections.

Frank Chin is critical of many other contemporary Asian American writers; their works, he says, rely too much on western forms, cater to white audiences, and misrepresent Asian culture. His new collection of short stories, The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco R.R. Co, reveals his own perspectives on the Chinese American experience.

Tobias Wolff's acclaimed new memoir tells the story of the author's early life with his poor, single mother. The book serves as a unique counterpoint to Wolff's brother Geoffrey's own memoir about life with their father. Tobias Wolff joins Fresh Air to discuss his memories of growing up and how he transformed himself into the person he is today.

The writer inherited his family's ranch, but later sold it when he moved to Iowa for graduate school. Kittredge critiques the belief that humans have the moral authority to develop and tame the American West. This mythology, he says, has led to ecological destruction and the genocide of American Indians. His new collection of essays about the subject is called Owning it All.

Literature professor and writer Carolyn Heilbrun writes about women's issues under her own name, and detective novels under the pseudonym Amanda Cross. She believes that the path forward for feminism is androgyny and a greater blurring of gender roles and identities.

Writer Patrick McGrath grew up near England's Broadmoor mental hospital, where his father worked. He is now a horror writer. His collection of short fiction is called Blood and Water and Other Tales. A novel is forthcoming.

John Cheever's son Benjamin collected the author's letters in a new book. He joins Fresh Air to talk about John Cheever's sexuality, relationship with their family, and the impact of his death.

Harold Brodkey is famous for working on his as-of-yet unpublished novel for the past thirty years. Some critics think he's brilliant; others call him a fraud. His work deals with consciousness and memory.