In all of his conversations, James has never found anyone who approached the craft of writing with the scientific common sense of Julie Lekstrom Himes. They discuss her debut novel, MIKHAIL AND MARGARITA, and the tremendous amount of work she put into her research in order to understand Russian culture, tracing it all the way to its origins. Plus, Michael Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief of Europa Editions.

 

Julie Lekstrom Himes

Julie and James Discuss:

Grub Street

Fine Arts Work Center

Jim Shepard

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Margot Livesey

Hannah Tinti

Daniel Wallace

New York State Summer Writers Institute

THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov

THE WHITE GUARD by Mikhail Bulgakov

A YOUNG DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK by Mikhail Bulgakov

LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS and THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER by William Styron

THE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham Greene

I REMEMBER by Joe Brainard

Europa Editions

Michael and James Discuss:

Edizioni E/O

THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery

OLD FILTH by Jane Gardam

THREE WEEKS IN DECEMBER by Audrey Schulman

Elena Ferrante

MIKHAIL AND MARGARITA by Julie Lekstrom Himes

In 2004, Daniel Wallace led a workshop at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference that changed James’s life. They reconnect to discuss Daniel’s wonderful new book, EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES, and in the process touch on not trusting compliments, using word clouds, writing sex scenes, and why no one is named Crouton. Then, Kelly Luce joins the show to talk about working with Denis Johnson, who passed away on May 24.

Daniel Wallace

James and Daniel Discuss:

Hannah Tinti

Gordon Lish

Columbia University

Amy Hempel

ESQUIRE MAGAZINE

Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference

ONE STORY

Thomas Edison

Leo Tolstoy

Kelly Luce

Kelly and James Discuss:

Denis Johnson works-

JESUS’ SON

TRAIN DREAMS

TREE OF SMOKE

ANGELS

FISKADORO

THE NAME OF THE WORLD

Thomas Pynchon

Joy Williams

“The Late Homecomer” by Mavis Gallant

The Book of Jonah

“Gambling Hans” by the Grimm Brothers