Literary Figures

His new memoir is called When I was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School. As a teenager, Kashner left his comfortable suburban life on Long Island, N.Y. and became the first student to attend the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colo. Kasher's teachers were the great beat writers William Burroughs, Allan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Kerouac. Kashner is also the author of a novel, Sinatraland, as well as three non-fiction books. He is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair.

The Pernice Brothers' album, Yours, Mine & Ours, was one of the most acclaimed of 2003. Joe Pernice's new book, Meat is Murder, is part of a collection of short books inspired by music albums. The book's title comes from the album of the same name by The Smiths.

Syndicated cartoonist Aron McGruder. His strip “The Boondocks” follows the escapades of Huey and Riley two brothers from the inner city sent to live with their grandfather in a Chicago surburb, where most of their neighbors are white. The strip is read in over 35 newspapers nationwide. MCGRUDER has been publishing it for four years and he hasn’t been shy about controvery. In his strip he’s taken on everyone from George W. Bush to rapper P. Diddy. MCGRUDER has several collections of the strip: “The Boondocks: Because I Know You don’t Read the Newspaper,” “Fresh For ’01. . .

Keillor's new book is Love Me: A Novel. It's about the ambitions of a frustrated writer who publishes a piece in The New Yorker, writes a disappointing debut novel, and ends up penning an advice column in the local newspaper. Keillor is the host of A Prairie Home Companion, on the air since 1974. He has written 13 books, including Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, Wobegon Boy and Wobegon Days.

Writer Carlo Rotella takes a look inside the world of boxing in his new book, Cut Time: An Education at the Fights. Rotella is also the author of Good With Their Hands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt. Rotella is a professor at Boston College, where he teaches American literature, American studies, urban literatures and cultures, and creative and nonfiction writing. His essays have appeared in Harper's, Washington Post Magazine and Best American Essays 2001.

Berg is the author of the new book, Kate Remembered about actress Katharine Hepburn. Berg began a friendship with her 20 years ago, and during that time Hepburn disclosed confidences about her life with the understanding that were he to write a book about her he would wait until after her death to publish it. In 1999 he wrote that book but it was held in a vault. She died on June 29th at the age of 96. Berg is also the author of Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, Goldwyn: A Biography and Lindbergh, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize.

He has written the new biography Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Reviewer Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., writes of the book, "both an absorbing narrative biography and an acute assessment of the man and his impact on his time and on posterity." Isaacson is also the author of a biography of Kissinger, is president of the Aspen Institute, and was managing editor of Time magazine.

James Wood is book critic for The New Republic. He's making his own literary debut with the novel The Book Against God. It's about a priest's son who becomes an atheist. Wood is also the author of The Broken Estate: Essays on Literature and Belief.

His new book is Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. It's the story of how the Oakland A's turned their team around and made history, winning 20 games in a row to set a new American League record. Lewis goes behind the scenes and finds a new kind of baseball knowledge. He is the author of the best selling books Liar's Poker and The New New Thing.

His book about breeding racehorses is now out in paperback. It's called Stud: Adventures in Breeding. Stud explores the process of creating champions, from the farms of Kentucky, where studs command $500,000 a pop, to the horse auctions, where the world's richest people compete for the top yearlings. Conley is an editor at The New Yorker. This interview first aired March 25, 2002.