Literary Figures

Readings from the PEN American Center's benefit for Bosnian Writers, "An Evening For Sarajevo", held last night in New York City. Fifteen American writers read from their work to raise money for the writers of Sarajevo for food and supplies; writers in the besieged city are fighting to keep their literary culture vital and undiminished in a time of war.

Book critic John Leonard considers the vital role book translators have on literature on the occasion of the death of translator Ralph Manheim.

Critic Maureen Corrigan pays tribute to horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, who she says in the true inheritor of Edgar Allen Poe.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan talks about her admiration of Erich Auerbach, Leon Trotsky, and Fernand Braudel, writers who were somehow able to write expansive, well-researched books while in prison or exile -- without notes or access to other texts and documents.

Mexican-American writer Sandra Cisnero is credited as the first Chicana author to publish a book about Chicana women. She joins Fresh Air to read from a new story, called "La Fabulosa."

Egyptian-American writer Gregory Djanikian reads a poem called "Renovations," about his coming to grips with chaos.