This week’s show features our final interviews from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. We talk with Sarah Bakewell, author of At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails. Tony Tulathimutte joins us to discuss his novel Private Citizens and how he overcame his fear of writing comedy. We also talk with Andrea Kleine about her deeply personal novel Calf, a story about a love affair between John Hinckley, Jr. (the failed Reagan assassin) and Leslie DeVeau, a woman who murdered her own daughter.
This episode is sponsored by Otherppl with Brad Listi, a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today’s leading authors, poets, and screenwriters. Electric Literature calls it “one of the best podcasts on the web,” and Buzzfeed calls it “the perfect way to get the story behind your stories.” There are now more than 400 episodes available — and counting. Hear conversations with writers like George Saunders, Cheryl Strayed, Roxane Gay, Leslie Jamison, Hanya Yanagihara, Jonathan Lethem, Sheila Heti, Eileen Myles, and many more. Otherppl with Brad Listi has its own official app, available for free at your favorite app store. The show is also available for free at iTunes and Stitcher, and on the web at otherppl.com.