Part of UMKC's celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month in 2012, this public reading features writers of Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage, Richard Blanco (shown) and Fred Arroyo. Richard Blanco shares his experience growing up torn between C...
New Letters on the Air celebrates public libraries with this special anthology of poets, novelists, and memoirists, who talk about how they found inspiration and refuge in the libraries of their youth. Judith Ortiz Cofer, Junot Día...
In the first half of Park University's 2013 Ethnic Voices Poetry Series presentation at the Kansas City Public Library, Martín Espada begins by taking us to Puerto Rico with a poem from his 2003 book,...
Though she came to writing late, having spent nearly two decades as a librarian and professional storyteller, Janice N. Harrington draws from myriad experiences to create her poetry and children's stories. Her first children's book, ...
Acclaimed Newbery Award-winning children's author Lois Lowry's book for young people, The Giver, is now a 2014 film. One of the ...
We remember the Nobel Prize-winning South African writer Nadine Gordimer, who passed away on July 13, 2014. In this 1994 interview with former New Letters on the Air host, Rebekah Presson, Gordimer reads from her novel...
Olivia Stiffler always wanted to be a poet, but writing took a backseat to her family life. Decades later, while at a Savannah writing workshop, she met James Tolan (shown), a poet and English professor, who helped her envision her work as a compl...
The acclaimed author of twenty-nine books, including the well-known Schindler's List (originally...
In her debut novel, Shame the Devil, Debra Brenegan explores the fascinating true story of Sara Payson Willis, a novelist, journalist, and feminist wh...
Renowned poet, novelist, playwright, creative writing teacher and author of the text book Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft...
Poet Hadara Bar-Nadav views art as a collaboration and a conversation, whether it be with readers, paintings, architecture, music, or sculpture. She refers to many works of art in her 2012 collection...
Filipino-American poet Rick Barot wanted to be a lawyer, but after a writing class with Annie Dillard, when he first heard Jane Kenyon, he knew that he was destined to write poetry. Barot discusses the politics of identity, his disdain of narrativ...
For best -selling memoirist and fiction writer Anchee Min, 2014 marks both the 20th anniversary of the publication of her memoir, Red Azalea and the...
Sergio Troncoso discusses his journey from the small border town of Ysleta to his education at Harvard and eventually Yale, where he now teaches. His collection ...
Poet Tracy K. Smith, winner of the 2002 Cave Canem Prize for her first collection The ...
Winner of the first ever Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in 2012, Irish author Anne Enright talks about her often darkly humorous approach to writing about love, desire, death, and family. Recorded at the Kansas City Public Library...
Acclaimed crime fiction writer and Emmy-winning investigative reporter, Hank Phillippi Ryan reads from her Mary Higgins Clark award-winning novel, The Othe...
Maxine Kumin: Past American Voice
We pay tribute to Maxine Kumin, who died on February 6, 2014 at the age of 88. A former Consultant in Poetry to Library of Congress (now known as the US Poet Laureate), Kumin is heralded for her poetry and her dedication to feminism. Associated wi...
Kansas native Robert Day has penned several books of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel, The Last Cattle Drive, and ...
February 2014 marks the release of the book adaptation of the documentary, The Black Power Mixtape 1967 to 1975, which features commentary by Sonia Sanchez. One of the most important writers of the Black Arts Movement and author of more t...
Edwidge Danticat returns 15 years after her first interview on New Letters on the Air to talk about her literary successes, including The De...
Poet Walter Bargen, the author of over a dozen books, served as Missouri's first Poet Laureate from 2008 to 2010. Throughout his laureateship, Bargen vigilantly spread poetry and his poetic philosophies across the state, while continuing to write ...
Amiri Baraka: Past American Voice
In this compilation of archive interviews from 1988 and 1996 along with part of a previously unaired 2004 recording, we look back at the life of Amiri Baraka, who died ...
Taiwanese-American poet Shin Yu Pai was born in Illinois, raised in California, schooled in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Washington State and has lived in Texas and Arkansas, in big cities and small towns, yet people still think of her as a foreig...
We celebrate our 2013 Clarion Award for Best Radio Talk/Interview Program from the Association for Women in Communications with audio excerpts from our award-winning interviews. Jamaica Kincaid reads from her novel ...
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Jamaica Kincaid, Jim Shepard, Gloria Vando & Anika Paris, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Alex George, normally $7.99 per episode, this cd collection comes with over $15.00 in savings. Downloads of these programs have been reduced and are available through our archives.
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