Public Radio’s “Bookworm”

Few shows on public radio dedicate themselves exclusively to books, but one bright exception is “Bookworm,” hosted by Michael Silverblatt. The weekly half-hour show is produced by KCRW in Los Angeles and syndicated nationally. (All of the shows are available for free on the Internet.) The shows rarely, if ever, touch on travel writing, but a story about Bookworm in today’s Los Angeles Times focuses on a topic that comes close enough to make it worth mentioning here: a 10-part series Bookworm has produced on a range of issues related to writing, including identity, culture and place. It sounds like an ambitious, star-studded series.

 

In one installment, authors Sandra Cisneros and Nina Marie Martinez discuss Hispanic identity in writing. In another, J.D. McClatchy, Joan Didion, Jonathan Lethem and Toni Morrison discuss place and identity. (Didion, of course, reflects on California.) Other authors featured in the series include Maya Angelou, Susan Sontag, Normal Mailer, Camille Paglia and Maxine Hong Kingston.

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