Dialogue with Marcia Franklin

Novelist Tayari Jones describes the process of writing "An American Marriage," a novel that chronicles the trajectory of a marriage when one of the spouses is wrongfully convicted of a crime. Jones talks with Marcia about the serendipity that led to the book's characters, as well as how her writing is informed by the experiences of her parents, who were both active in the civil rights movement. Do...

  Bob Edwards, National Public Radio senior correspondent and longtime host of "Morning Edition," has died. His sonorous voice has kept millions of NPR listeners company for decades. Edwards talked with Marcia Franklin in 2004 about his career and his book "Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism." Originally aired: 07/22/2004

Pulitzer Prize-winning Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday has died. In this interview from 1996, host Marcia Franklin talks with Momaday about his role in commentating on Native American culture in the recently released Ken Burns documentary 'The West.' Momaday also talks about how to find your voice as an author, as well as the relationship between Native Americans and American society. Originally air...

Marcia Franklin talks with David Epstein, an award-winning sports journalist and author of the bestselling book  The Sports Gene.  It delves into the controversial research on what role genetics plays in the development of athletic talent. The book also takes on the so-called "10,000 Hour Rule," which contends that 10,000 hours of practice can produce mastery in a field, including sports. Don't fo...

Writer Ethan Watters joins Marcia Franklin to discuss the themes in his book,  Urban Tribes , which looks at the ways in which young, unmarried Americans create their own sense of family. Ethan Watters has written about psychiatry and social psychology for 20 years. He has also taught writing at Berkeley, Stanford, and California College of the Arts. In 1994 he co-founded the San Francisco Writers...

  Marcia Franklin talks with Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), the last of the so-called "Big Six" leaders of the African-American civil rights movement. Lewis was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and played a seminal role in some of the 56 most important activities of the movement, including the Freedom Rides, the march from Selma to Montgomery and the...

  Marcia Franklin talks with Boise resident Kurt Koontz about his book, "A Million Steps," which chronicles his journey along the Camino de Santiago trail in northern Spain. The 500-mile route, known colloquially as 'The Way,' was originally a trek made by Catholic pilgrims to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, believed to be the burial place of St. James, an apostle of Jesus. Today, 200,000 se...

  Conversations From the Sun Valley Writers' Conference is back for a 16th season! In this episode, host Marcia Franklin speaks with writer Mohsin Hamid about his latest novel, The Last White Man . The story follows the transformation of a man who wakes up one day to find that his skin color has changed. Hamid, who often incorporates his own multicultural background into his work, talks with Frank...

  Conversations From the Sun Valley Writers' Conference is back for a 16th season! In this episode, journalist Andrea Elliott joins host Marcia Franklin to talk about her book, Invisible Child , which won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. The book chronicles eight years in the life of Dasani Coates, a child in Brooklyn. Elliott shares what compelled her to spend that much time coveri...

  Conversations From the Sun Valley Writers' Conference is back for a 16th season! In this episode, David Grann regales viewers with some of the amazing true stories surrounding the wreck of The Wager, a British ship that sank off the tip of South America in 1741. In his book The Wager , Grann uses rare primary source documents to reconstruct the harrowing experiences of the ship's castaways and s...

  Conversations From the Sun Valley Writers' Conference is back for a 16th season! In this episode, Hernan Diaz joins Marcia Franklin to discuss his latest novel, Trust , which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The intricately braided tale about characters in the world of high finance gives readers four different takes on the same story, playing with the idea of "truth." Diaz explains why h...

  Conversations From the Sun Valley Writers' Conference is back for a 16th season! In this episode, host Marcia Franklin talks with Dr. Abraham Verghese about his latest blockbuster novel, The Covenant of Water . The epic, which includes a mystery at its core, covers more than 70 years in the intertwined lives of families in the Indian state of Kerala. Verghese discusses the ties the story has to...

Longtime  New Yorker  writer and author Susan Orlean joins host Marcia Franklin for a lively chat about her writing style and her work, including hundreds of magazine articles, "The Library Book," and an upcoming memoir. Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the  Dialogue  website  for more  conversations that matter. Originally Aired: 12/31/2021 The interview is part of  Dialogue 's series  "Conve...

Known for elevating the "ordinary" with her keen observations, including life in Latino and Arab communities, Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye is the author or editor of more than 30 works of poetry, fiction and essays. Her books include  Words Under the Words; Red Suitcase; Fuel; You and Yours; Never in a Hurry; Habibi; A-maze Me; Honeybee;  and  19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Mi...

Host Marcia Franklin interviews one of the most esteemed writers of the Vietnam War era, Tim O'Brien. O'Brien, who served as an infantryman from 1969 to 1970, wrote a memoir in 1972 called "If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home." It received excellent reviews, and in 1978, O'Brien won the National Book Award for "Going After Cacciato," a novel about a soldier who goes AWOL and the...

Host Marcia Franklin talks in-depth with author Anthony Doerr about his newest book, "Cloud Cuckoo Land," and the Netflix adaptation of "All the Light We Cannot See," his 2014 novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. "Mr. Doerr's been on Dialogue more times than any other author," says Franklin. "But still, it had been eight years since we'd recorded an interview together. So it was a lot of...

Marcia Franklin talks with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stacy Schiff about her work , The Witches.  The book examines the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, delving into what precipitated them, and the participants involved. Franklin talks with Schiff about why she wanted to write the book, the challenges involved and the legacy of the trials. Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the  Dialogue  website...

Marcia Franklin talks with author Gretel Ehrlich about her works and passions. Perhaps best known for her memoirs about the American West, including  The Solace of Open Spaces,  Ehrlich has also spent extensive time in the Arctic, writing about the effects of climate change on the wildlife and culture there. Franklin talks to her about that issue, her writing style and her love for the West. Don't...

In this interview from 1996, Marcia Franklin talks with Pulitzer Prize winning author N. Scott Momaday about his role in commentating on Native American culture in the recently released Ken Burns documentary 'The West.' Momaday also talks about how to find your voice as an author and the relationship between Native Americans and American society. Originally aired: 09/25/1996

Marcia Franklin talks with Idaho filmmakers Heather Rae and Russell Friedenberg. The two produced and wrote "Trudell," a documentary about Native American poet and activist John Trudell. The documentary aired on Idaho Public Television as part of the "Independent Lens" series. Rae and Friedenberg discuss their film, which premiered at Sundance and has been screened around the world. They also talk...

Author and professor Andrew Solomon relates how he went from being a bullied child suffering from depression to an award-winning journalist traveling the world. Solomon's 2001 book,  The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression,  won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. He has delivered popular TED Talks on culture and psychology. Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the  Dialogue  website  for mo...

Marcia Franklin talks with Robert MacNeil, the veteran journalist, author, and former co-host of the NewsHour on PBS. MacNeil, who was born in Canada, talks about becoming an American, how the news profession changed over the course of his career, and his love for the English language. Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the  Dialogue website  for more conversations that matter!  Originally Aired...

Marcia Franklin talks with poet Richard Blanco, the first LatinX and gay inaugural poet. Blanco wrote a poem for President Obama's second inaugural and read it at the ceremony. He discusses the process of writing the inaugural poem, "One Today," how the piece reflected his life and his philosophy of writing, the themes of his work, and the power of poetry to change lives. Mr. Blanco was the keynot...

Amy Waldman, a former reporter for  The New York Times,  discusses her bestselling novel  The Submission,  which tells the fictional tale of Mohammad "Mo" Khan, a secular Muslim who wins a competition to design a memorial honoring the victims of a terrorist attack similar to 9/11. When the jury members discover who've they've selected, some try to change the result. But the decision is leaked to t...

Journalist Steve Coll talks with Marcia Franklin about his latest book,  Directorate S,  a follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning book  Ghost Wars.  He discusses why he wanted to write the book and what he learned — including about Idahoan Bowe Bergdahl, who was imprisoned by the Taliban. Coll, who is also the dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism, discusses threats to journalism....