Writers on the Air :
Conversations about Books

$20.00
Hardcover
467 pp.
5.38" x 8.5"
September 2005
ISBN: 9781589880214

Quantity in Basket: None

Donna Seaman

Take a Moment and read an excerpt from this book.

Retail: $24.95. BACKLIST SALE PRICE $20.00

Writers on the Air brings to print for the first time Donna Seaman's vibrant author interviews from her Chicago-based radio program, Open Books. In these conversations, authors discuss their inspirations, their favorite books, their working and research habits. Seaman also connects the author's books with other writing, creating "constellations" of related books and ideas to introduce readers to wonderful writing they might not discover on their own.

Seaman created her radio show Open Books in 1994, and has been co-producer and host ever since, conducting interviews with dozens of fiction writers, poets, essayists, memoirists, and nature writers.

Writers on the Air includes interviews with Diane Ackerman, Margaret Atwood, Lynda Barry, Madison Smartt Bell, Dennis Bock, T. C. Boyle, Peter Carey, Sandra Cisneros, Wade Davis, Chitra Divakaruni, Stuart Dybek, Julia Glass, Lee Gutkind, Aleksandar Hemon, Edward Hirsch, Edward P. Jones, Ward Just, Jamaica Kincaid, Alex Kotlowitz, Chang-rae Lee, Alan Lightman, Phillip Lopate, Barry Lopez, Alice McDermott, Anchee Min, Sy Montgomery, Kate Moses, Joyce Carol Oates, Alex Shakar, Paul West, Colson Whitehead, and Terry Tempest Williams.

"As in the best author interviews that appear in the Paris Review, Seaman does not merely question her subjects — she engages them with her infectious enthusiasm and opinions, challenging them to articulate their methods, influences, and aesthetic judgments . . . Highly recommended for public and academic libraries." —Library Journal

"An intimacy is formed that makes it seem as if both interviewer and author have entered our room and allowed us to travel with them on journeys of brilliant conversation." —Susan Hahn

"It is a delight to 'listen' to Donna Seaman and her radio guests — an exhilarating eavesdropping interlude for the reader. All that's needed is a drink-in-hand and you've got it made." —Studs Terkel

"Writers on the Air offers a rare feast of literary conversation. It's one of those books to read in, around, and through for years. I've always loved this sort of compilation, and this one, edited with tact and intelligence by Donna Seaman, is a model of its kind. Writers and readers alike will find a great deal to inspire them in these pages, and they will pick up trails that lead to unexpected, marvelous places." —Jay Parini

Selections from the book

"One of the more maddening aspects of my work as a reviewer and critic is the knowledge that so very many wonderful books are published without fanfare, accorded scant critical attention, and allowed to slip out of view before readers have had the chance even to consider reading them. My heart sinks when, on telling a book-loving friend about a brilliant and prolific living writer whose work I revere, my friend says she's never heard of him. My mission is to bring as many literary writers to the attention of as many readers as possible. . . . " — From the Introduction by Donna Seaman

"But to my surprise, I saw this face and I knew this face. You know why? He was on the shooting dummy; he was on our targets. I thought to myself, 'The enemy.' I had been trained to shoot the enemy with the big nose. And here he is smiling at us." —Anchee Min on Nixon's visit to China

"Being a writer means you're home a lot, and you certainly can't write all day, at least I can't. So the rest of the day is this incredibly frightening void of indolence, so one has to do something. I like to make bread and cook." —Chang-Rae Lee on the writing life

"So I figured out that I had to paint a manuscript, and I did the first manuscript, the first successful manuscript, with watercolor." —Lynda Barry on sidestepping writer's block

"We're surrounded by plants and animals that are so familiar we take them for granted. There are discoveries just lying in the roadway waiting for us—lying on the lips of lobsters. There was a discovery a couple of years ago about a creature that only lives on the lips of lobsters." —Diane Ackerman on the wonders of nature

"Now this is our song, our unofficial national anthem. It's fine to have the 'Stars and Stripes,' which is a wonderfully triumphal and very moving song. But this is Australia's true song, so you can imagine, can't you, why the prime minister, or a diplomat, might not want to stand with his hand over his heart while he sings about the guy who committed suicide rather than go to jail." —Peter Carey, on the song "Waltzing Matilda"

Donna Seaman is a book critic, an editor at Booklist, an essayist, a frequent contributor to the Chicago Tribune, Speakeasy, and other venues, and editor of the anthology In Our Nature: Stories of Wildness. The recipient of two Pushcart Prize Special Mentions and several Illinois Arts Council grants, she has hosted Open Books on WLUW-Chicago for the past ten years.

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