Originally Aired September 2004; Ferit Orhan Pamuk, or just Orhan Pamuk, won the Nobel prize for literature in 2006. He was born and still lives in Istanbul, though he has visited the U.S. and has taught at Columbia University. He is Turkey’s best-selling writer and the recipient of numerous prizes. Among his important works are My Name is Red; The Black Book; Snow; The White Castle; and Colors. He is a Muslim, though more in a cultural sense, and as a human rights activist has been outspoken about the Armenian genocide and also about Turkey’s treatment of the Kurds. Besides his huge writing talent and heart, Pamuk, at least in my opinion, is very funny.

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Elizabeth Kostova made history with the publication of The Historian, her novel about Vlad the Impaler on whom the original Dracula was modeled, which was translated into 44 languages. The book sold some 4 million copies and a film is in the works. Now after 5 years Elizabeth has written a novel called The Swan Thieves, about Robert Oliver, a gifted artist who attacks a painting in The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Why does he do it? Who is Leda? Join me and meet Elizabeth Kostova who knows the answers to these and any other questions you may have about Robert, or Vlad, or Swans, or love. She is a professor of literature at the University of Michigan as well as a talented writer. . . and very charming. Just cover your neck at night.

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Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a philosopher, novelist, MacArthur Fellow who writes about subjects that fascinate her. Usually brilliant people like herself. In 36 ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, her entertaining new novel, Rebecca introduces Cass Seltzer, a kind and gentle best-selling atheist who is drawn into a constellation of eccentric and interesting intellectuals from Harvard who both fuss over him and mesmerize him.  They are assorted poets, mystics, and geniuses including one six-year-old mathematical prodigy who is the son of a Hasidic Rebbe. Suffice that Goldstein’s novel is great fun as is Rebecca herself who in real life is as interesting as any of her characters and plays house with the redoubtable Steven Pinker. She knows whereof she speaks.

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Jasper Fforde is a British novelist unlike any you have ever read. He is a literary experimentalist of the first order who has carved out a special niche for himself within the literary world. His first novel The Eyre Affair was published in 2001 and followed by a series called Thursday Next about a literary detective of that name. He is unfailingly inventive, and clever, and fun to interview. But then what would you expect from a young man who owns and flies his own DH 82 Tiger Moth airplane. On the Frumkes Show Jasper discusses his life and the publication of his latest book Shades of Gray.

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Gail Godwin is a lovely lady and an elegant writer. She was raised in Asheville North Carolina and many of her books are set in the South. She was three times nominated for the National Book Award, and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to writing she is an artist, and a librettist. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times Best-Seller List and her current novel Unfinished Desires is recommended by the NY Times Book Review. She serves with me on the Editorial Board of The Writer Magazine and is a charmer. Join Gail and me for a nice discussion.

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“I’m 39 years old, and I grew up in Evanston, Illinois, which is the first suburb north of Chicago. I’m a spinster (albeit a spinster with a permanent boyfriend) and I live in a white stucco bungalow with my cats, Muybridge and Claudine. I’ve been writing since I was a tiny child, and I always made pictures to go with the words.” How could you not love a writer who describes herself thusly. She did write The Time Traveler’s Wife, and the recent Her Fearful Symmetry, and is an accomplished and talented artist. . . but that is all you need to know. Want to know more? Listen to our interview.

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David Baldacci’s “TRUE BLUE”, at this writing is the number one best-selling book in the nation. His other books “Absolute Power,” “Total Control,” “The Winner” and “The Simple Truth,” have also been best-sellers and main selections of the Book Of The Month Club. Each has sold millions of copies world-wide and been translated into dozens of other languages. Absolute Power and Total Control were major motion pictures and the newer books have been optioned and will probably follow soon. David Baldacci, who the Arizona Republic has called “the newest superstar of the thriller genre,” is a former lawyer who lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.

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One of the most original and outspoken voices now writing, James Elroy,  “The Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction” earned great respect and loyal fans from his L.A. Quartet The Black Dalhia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz. He joins me to talk about his latest, Blood’s A Rover, and about his life which is rich, dark and fascinating. A character in the best sense of the word. . . .you’d best hold on to your seats for this one.

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Jason Starr is a big talent coasting along just under the radar and worth discovering. If you’ve read his first book “Cold Caller,” and freaked out, or his most recent “Panic Attack,” you’ll know what I mean. Jason and I discuss how he got into writing. . .  writing thrillers, and how he views the rest of his life. An interesting young man.

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Jonathan Lethem tells me he thinks Chronic City is his best and most complete work. This evaluation becomes interesting in light of the fact that we have a clash of critics in the Times. Michiko Kakutani in the daily New York Times reviewed the novel unkindly while Gregory Cowles on the cover of the New York Times Book Review called it a “bravura eighth novel.” Lethem, a MacArthur Award recipient, who has developed his reputation with “Motherless Brooklyn,” and “Fortress Of Solitude,” and been compared to a young Saul Bellow probably has little to fear from the critics, yet it is interesting to hear him discuss his current work and raison d’etre in his own words.

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