Audio by Adam

Down a couple of old Maryland country roads that barely show up on state maps you’ll find Grandma Cora, an elderly African American lady who is known throughout those parts for her delicious sweet potato pies, which she lovingly backs on her old stove and sells to make ends meet nicely. I spent an afternoon with Grandma Cora for this “Women in Business” story, and got both happier and fatter as a result.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:29 — 5.9MB)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:56 — 18.3MB)

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Allen Ginsberg was one of the greatest poets, and most generous Americans of the 20th century.  I interviewed him quite a bit in 1994 in connection with the publication of his collected poems, and for later for the post-mortem tribute I produced after his death in 1996 (also on this blog).  I thought my conversation with him (warts and all) might be of interest to those who knew or know and appreciate him.  So I put it up here with no editing at all, just for bumps.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:55 — 56.7MB)

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(photo: Chehalis Hegner)

Perhaps no one has done more to spread  the spirit and craft of poetry more than Naomi Shihab Nye, a Palestinian American whose award winning books for both adults and children explore themes of  loss and exile, the pace of modern life, family ties and  spirituality – often with humor.  I spoke with her while she visited New York in her capacity as chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.   (Photo: Chehalis Hegner)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:14 — 4.8MB)

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Tony Kushner is one of America’s foremost dramatists, and not only because of his epic Angels in America.  He also probles and continues to probe our culture and its values — about sexuality, money, race — and other things many of us would rather just leave alone.  Here is my American Profile of Kushner, which was broadcast near the time that “Caroline, or Change” made its pre-Broadway opening.  (Raw interview elsewhere in this blog).)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:57 — 6.4MB)

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Explorer. Hero. Genocidal Conqueror. Genius.  Inventor. Adventurer. Fool. Prophet.  All these names have been used to describe the “discoverer” of America.  But what do we really know about the man who sailed the ocean blue in 14 hundred and ninety two?  This long form doc, explores the many faces of Columbus as he has come down to us, and the enigma he represents within our own national history and character. (produced in conjunction with the 500th anniversary of 1492).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:14 — 18.5MB)

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After articles about the President and “dog bites man,” the obituaries are among the most popular articles the New York Times features. Part news story, part profile, obits attempt to sum up a person’s life and significance, and no more. Indeed, how many “column inches” a person is expected in the paper to get when he dies is closely guarded knowledge at the Times.  In this story,   I crash the gates of Hell, and spend some time with the people who make the Obit Section work, and their overseers. As with many of my stories, Chopin is included at no extra charge.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:44 — 8.0MB)

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For nearly 60 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder has combined an environmental awareness shaped by America’s Far West with a Zen Buddhist perspective that celebrates and reveres the natural world.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:56 — 4.5MB)

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In which the California poet (and Buddhist) discusses her poetry with Adam, and reads excerpts from several of her poems with explanations….

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:35 — 7.9MB)

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Since October 2008, Kay Ryan has been serving as America’s 16th poet laureate, tapped by the librarian of Congress to be ambassador for American poetry. She has published more than half a dozen books of collected poems. and is cherished for her  compact, vivid and accessible verse.  This profile is based on my interview with her at the Academy of American Poetry in New York City.

Here is a link to the VOA story I did about her and includes audio links to an extended excerpt from our interview and sound files of Ryan reading several of her poems.

See also my profiles of US Poet Laureates Charles Simic and Donald Hall.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:37 — 7.9MB)

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