To The Best of Our Knowledge

from Wisconsin Public Radio

Robert Olen Butler had a crazy idea. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist wanted to show how writers really work. So he created his own web site, pointed a camera at his word processor, and wrote...every night for three weeks. Believe it or not, thousands of people tuned in for the these webcasts. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the literary life.

 

Steve Paulson visits award-winning children's book author Paula Fox at her New York brownstone. Fox has just written a highly acclaimed memoir, "Borrowed Finery." And her early novels for adults are being re-issued. We also hear admiring comments from author Jonathan Franzen (remember the Oprah's Book Club flap about "The Corrections"?) and popular children's book author Kevin Henkes (he's the reason why your little girl wants a purple plastic purse).

Novelist Jane Smiley ("Moo" and "Horse Heaven") wrote the biography of Charles Dickens for the Penguin "Lives" series. She tells Jim Fleming Dickens had extraordinary energy and vitality, and by writing sympathetically about the poor and working class, he changed English literature forever. Also, Matthew Klamm ("Sam the Cat and Other Stories",) Thisbe Nissen ("The Good People of New York",) and Emma Richler ("Sister Crazy") talk with Steve Paulson about the lives of young writers and how their attitudes towards love, the opposite sex and friendship differ from those of their parents' generation.

Robert Olen Butler is a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. He tells Jim Fleming about his Internet project. For several days, Butler had a video camera trained on his desk and invited people to watch him write on-line. Butler says the Internet will create new art forms, and reflects on the meaning of September 11th. Also, Edward Hirsch, author of "How To Read A Poem" and five books of verse, has now written "The Demon and the Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration." He tells Anne Strainchamps that the best artists have "duende" - a kind of creative imp that puts them in touch with human emotional experience. He says you can't control it. You just do your best and hope for the best.

Books:

• Robert Olen Butler, Fair Warning (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Paula Fox, Borrowed Finery: a memoir (Henry Holt)
  
• Edward Hirsch, The Demon and The Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration (Harcourt)
  
• Matthew Klam, Sam the Cat and Other Stories (Knopf)
  
• Thisbe Nissen, The Good People of New York (Knopf)
  
• Emma Richler, Sister Crazy (Anchor Books)
  
• Jane Smiley, Charles Dickens (Penguin Lives)

Music:

• Inside and after Paula Fox:
  Various movements from Beethoven Piano Sonatas No. 16 in G major, Op. 31 #1 and 17 in d minor, Op. 31 #2 performed by Stephen Kovacevich on EMI
• After Smiley:
  "So Flute" from Tourist, performed by St. Germain on Blue note
• After 3 writers:
  "La Vie en Rose" from Louis Armstrong on Priceless Jazz
• After Butler:
  K.B.'s Alley from Blowout Comb by Digital Planets on Pendulum
• After Hirsch:
  "Muse Blues" from Album III by Loudon Wainwright on Columbia
• Close music:
  "The Sermon" from Finest Hour by Jimmie Smith on Verve

Distribution dates:

• week of 08/11/2002 - hour 1