Shelf Life

Send us Fan Mail Darcey Steinke is the author of five novels and a memoir, as well as most recently, the fragmentary investigation, Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life . Her work has been described as suburban Gothic and frequently borrows from her own life, drawing on her complicated relationship with her late mother, a one-time model and pageant girl, and the distant...

Send us Fan Mail Joyce Maynard has written ten novels, including To Die For and Labor Day ( both turned into acclaimed movies) and, most recently, Count the Ways , an epic portrait of an American family over four decades as it navigates a devastating accident against the backdrop of historical events and shifting  social attitudes. Maynard’s 2017 memoir, The Best of U s, tells the agonizing story...

Send us Fan Mail Not many of us can brag they’ve been murdered on screen by both Sir Ben Kingsley and Bill Paxton; Becky Ann Baker can, in the respective thrillers The Confession and A Simple Plan .  “I always say we got into this business to die, because it’s the most fun you can have,” she once said. Her  long list of movie, TV, and theater credits also includes iconic shows such as Freaks &...

Send us Fan Mail The writer and essayist  John Birdsall grew up in San Francisco where he learned to cook at Green's restaurant before exiting the kitchen after 17 years to focus on food criticism and essays. He's won several James Beard awards for his writing, notably for his game-changing essay for Lucky Peach magazine, "America, your food is so gay," in which he spells out t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode,  the best-selling YA author, Nic Stone, revisits two childhood faves: Louis Sachar's classic 1998 novel, Holes , and Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides - two books that left their impression on her own career as the author of  young adult novels that center the stories of  Black youths so long absent in fiction. Best known for her 2017 debut, Dear Ma...

Send us Fan Mail When he's not making movies, TV shows, podcasts, or performing in cabaret, Alan Cumming also finds time to write books.  He's published a novel, a memoir, a book on photography, and several children's books based on his beloved (and dearly departed) dogs, Honey and Leon. His latest book is called Baggage , and feels a lot like having Alan Cumming as your very favori...

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Waters racy Victorian picaresque, Tipping the Velvet , was published in 1998, and garnered huge attention and praise. It was adapted by the BBC  in 2002, a genuine television event that coincided with the publication of her third novel, Fingersmith , a heart-stopping gothic thriller — again with a lesbian couple at its center. Fingersmith was shortlisted for the Man Booker P...

Send us Fan Mail John Waters once said nothing is more impotent than an unread library. In this episode, the cult film director responsible for such enduring cult classics as Pink Flamingos , Female Trouble , Cry Baby and Hairspray talks about Serious Pleasures , Philip Hoare's extraordinary biography of Stephen Tennant, one of the so-called Bright Young Things who fascinated and scandalized...