AltWeeklies Wire
A Retired UC Davis History Professor Turns Detectivenew

The Codex Cardona is a 16th century account (by native scribes) of what life was like in Mexico before and immediately after the arrival of the Europeans. A retired UC Davis history professor turns detective and attempts to solve the mystery of a missing Mexican treasure.
Sacramento News & Review |
Kel Munger |
02-25-2010 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Barry Lopez on a Writer's Responsibility in a Time of Environmental Crisisnew

Every couple of years, Barry Lopez assigns himself a trip that he knows "will knock me over backwards." And it's not the sort of travel you might expect from the naturalist author of such classics as Of Wolves and Men and Arctic Dreams.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Bill O'Driscoll |
02-08-2010 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Philip Caputo Uses the Border as His Inspiration in 'Crossers'new

When writer Philip Caputo first came to Patagonia in 1996, he wasn't looking for the Arizona-Mexico borderlands to become a canvas for his fiction. The borderlands have a way of taking whatever part of you is given over to creativity and setting it on fire. The result, 2 1/2 years in the making, is his latest novel, Crossers.
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
01-13-2010 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Steven Levitt on His Controversial New Book, 'SuperFreakonomics'new
In 2005, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times columnist Stephen J. Dubner co-wrote Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Now comes the highly entertaining sequel, SuperFreakonomics.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
John Ervin |
01-06-2010 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Anne Rice: Interview with the Vampire Killernew

Anne Rice will never write about vampires again. Not even with these tragically hip, newfangled bloodsuckers lurking about, dating high school girls and coming out of the closet, demanding equal rights. She has told enough vampire stories to last her an eternity.
L.A. Weekly |
Gendy Alimurung |
12-28-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Writer Collaborates With Iraqi Refugee to Tell a Different Story From Iraqnew

What Justin Sirois wanted to do was offer a different perspective of the war that wasn't being as accessibly covered in conventional war journalism. He wanted to argue that there might be more going on than journalism can offer. He wanted to tell a different story.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
12-21-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Sisters in War': A Vermont Journalist Recounts the Stories of Women in War-Torn Baghdadnew

In 2004, as Baghdad became increasingly dangerous for journalists, Christina Asquith took refuge in the apartment of two sisters. Now she tells their story in Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family, and Survival in the New Iraq, which was published by Random House in September.
Seven Days |
Margot Harrison |
12-09-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
John Freeman Explores Email's Dark Side ... in an Email Interviewnew
Freeman has been busy lately, both as the new editor of the lit mag Granta and with the writing of The Tyranny of E-Mail, the subject of, LOL, this email interview.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Scott Dickensheets |
11-20-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Margaret Atwood Renders Today's Troubles into Absorbing Dystopian Tomorrowsnew

Atwood discusses her new novel, The Year of the Flood, today's environmental movement, and why no one can predict the future.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Julia Goldberg |
11-11-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Augusten Burroughs Gets Personal with Santa in 'You Better Not Cry'new
While discussing Christmas (his favorite holiday), Burroughs says he sees one common thread throughout his memories, "Each one has been horrible, worse than the last." He's recounted those laughably miserable memories in his latest book, a loose collection of Christmas stories spanning from his youth until just a few years ago.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Wyatt Williams |
11-10-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Michael Chabon Discusses Children and Popular Culturenew
Chabon is the jack-of-all-trades of contemporary literature. His literate, humorous, elegiac books include everything from a Pulitzer Prize winner about comic book creators to an alternate-world mystery in a Jewish free state. Now he's got a new collection of essays, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son.
INDY Week |
Zack Smith |
10-30-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Populist Carolyn Chute Disbands the 2nd Maine Militia, Turns to Revising Her Book Seriesnew

Militant populist author Carolyn Chute has disbanded the 2nd Maine Militia, which she has led for many years, to focus on revising the book series that began with School last year. After that five-volume work is complete, though, she hints that she may retire.
Portland Phoenix |
Rick Wormwood |
10-29-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Jordanian Journalist Rana Husseini Talks About Honor Killingsnew

Husseini can never forget the way the uncles of a 16-year-old murder victim dispassionately described how their niece deserved to die. "It was as if they were speaking about a sheep," she writes in her new book, Murder in the Name of Honor.
Willamette Week |
Henry Stern |
10-28-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Illustrator Chris Lane Plays Off Our Pathogen Fears in His New Graphic Novelnew
Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection imagines a public health crisis in the year 2012 caused by a sickness that percolates through the air and gets under people's skin. By the end of the year, more than five billion people have succumbed. The idea is horrifying, but in a weirdly seductive way.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
10-28-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Philosopher Peter Singer Wants You to Give Away Your Moneynew

The premise of The Life You Can Save is simple: With so much conspicuous affluence in the world, especially in the U.S., there's no good reason for so much poverty to exist. Singer's solution? Give away a reasonable percentage of your money.
New Haven Advocate |
John Stoehr |
10-27-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews