Frank Uhle talks with actor, director, and writer Simon Callow, author of the memoir Being an Actor and acclaimed biographies of Charles Dickens, Richard Wagner, and Charles Laughton. Callow is working on the fourth and final volume of his definitive account of the life of Orson Welles for Jonathan Cape/Viking.
They discuss life on the British stage, coming out in the ’80s, how research has changed from the pre-internet era to today, and the cult of Welles.
Jessica Abel reads from her latest book Growing Gills: How to find creative focus when you’re drowning in your daily life (2017). We talk about radio, podcasts, graphic novels, comics, self-publishing, creative focus and doing what you believe in.
photo credit: Jessica Abel
Fulla Abdul-Jabbar talks about her work with the 57th Ann Arbor Film Festival. We also talk about experimental film art, spoken word, Green Lantern Press, and Exquisite Dogs.
Gina Brandolino reads from her latest essay The Monster Inside: Frankenstein’s Legacy (2018).We talk about horror, the devil, films, monsters, and things you can’t unsee.
Guest host Amanda Uhle talks with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah about Friday Black (Mariner Books 2018). Twelve stories. Dystopian future. Excellent conversation ahead.
*author photo credit: Limitless Imprint Entertainment
Aimee Bender joins Living Writers via phone from California and reads part of her short story “Tiger Mending” from The Color Master (Vintage & Anchor Books 2013).
We talk about creativity + limitation, exhilaration, Virginia Woolf + a room of one’s own, and consequences.
In the last quarter of the episode, T reads the prologue to Aimee Bender’s novel An Invisible Sign of My Own.
Aimee Bender’s Playlist includes: Night Shift (Commodores), Decatur (Sufjan Stevens), In the Bleak Mid-Winter (Jane Siberry), Alejandro (Lady Gaga), You Said Something (PJ Harvey), and This is the Day (The The).
Guest host Amanda Uhle talks with Anna Clark about The Poisoned City (Metropolitan Books 2018), an acclaimed, thorough account of the causes, crisis, and aftermath of the Flint, Michigan water disaster. They talk about tragedy, courage, resilience, and the way forward.
