Tuesday, April 29, 2008
CS Richardson has worked in publishing for over twenty years. He is a multiple recipient of the Alcuin Award, Canada’s highest honor for excellence in book design, and a frequent lecturer on various facets of publishing, design, and communications. The End of the Alphabet: A Novel, published by Doubleday Canada, is his first novel and it has just been awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for A Writer's First Novel. Congratulations Scott!! [interview Feb 2008]
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
It is always a delight to speak with authors in the UK. BookBuffet caught up with Lucy O'Brien, who hails from London. Lucy is the author of several female rock biographies and female rock historical bestsellers. Her latest is the groundbreaking biography of pop icon Madonna. The Material Girl turns fifty in 2008 and in anticipation, Lucy has produced a thorough, sensitive, and illuminating treatise that will help demystify the woman who has made history as the most successful female singer to date.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
When Canadian Joseph Boyden came on the literary scene he wowed readers with his powerful historical fiction set during WWI about brotherhood, native identity, and the raw face of war. To meet and speak with Joseph is a pleasure. He's handsome, and has a quick smile and a generous personality. His self-effacing modesty makes him accessible to people despite his success and obvious talent. Please join me in listening to Joseph talk about his life, his writing, and his upcoming new novel, which will follow on the success of Three Day Road.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Stress is an endemic fact of life for people juggling career, family and personal needs. How do you recognize the signs, and how do you restructure your priorities to reduce stress and return to balance? Monica Magnetti is the author of, Outsmart Stress and Being in the Present Moment: How to Create the Blueprint of your Life, she is and the founder of Luna Coaching. BookBuffet spoke with Monica about this social phenomenon and the ways her life coaching practice has helped clients. Listen to the podcast of this interview, and read along with the transcript. Then click to Monica's site for an appointment or book purchase.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
What do you do if you happen to live in a small town with only one theatre that only screens one box-office blockbuster every one to two weeks? If you’re the red-headed dynamo Shauna Hardy Mishaw, you get your buns in gear and turn that paucity of celluloid vacuity into The Whistler Film Festival—Western Canada’s fastest growing cultural phenomenon, screening 80+ films (including top North American directors), $40,000 in prizes and commissions, and the country’s most innovative programming through the Filmmakers Forum. All that and more in just five short years! Learn more about this vital regional addition to the world film festival circuit in this interview with the WFF Co-Founder and Executive Dirctor.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Whistler Reads village book group met March 7th at 7pm at Millennium Place to discuss Margaret MacMillan's award winning, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (Random House) Three community members (City Councillors and the former Mayor of Whistler) brought history to life with a fun MadLib of the world leaders from the conference; (see pictures) the audience watched them argue and debate the terms of the peace and participated with their own comments and questions. Margaret MacMillan "addressed" the WR group via an earlier podcast interview with WR Director, Paula Shackleton. Fabulous Alsace regional wine was provided by Dundarave Wine Cellar with tasting notes and given out as door prizes. Thanks to Telus, for their support of WR literacy arts in our community.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Seattle author, Kit Bakke has had an interesting life. In the '60s she was a member of the Underground Weatherman, an activist group who protested the Vietnam war. This interested the FBI enough to compile a 100 page file on her. Today this mother of two with two post graduate degrees and a book publication speaks to us about another reformer, the one featured in her first novel, Miss Alcott's E-mail: Yours for Reforms of All Kinds(David Godine Books 2006) Intrigued? Click on the link to our podcast in this article and listen along.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Award winning Montana author and documentary filmmaker, Swain Wolfe joins BookBuffet host Paula Shackleton in speaking about his fourth book, The Boy Who Invented Skiing: A Memoir (St. Martins Press, June 2006) Listen to this podcast by clicking on the link, and follow along with the transcript. Swain's lilting, intentioned speech describes a world of experience growing up in the West during hard times, and points to the basis of his lyric prose and the complex characterizations in his novels. This book is an excellent gift for the men on your holiday shopping list.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Michela Wrong spent six years as a correspondent covering events in Africa for Reuters, the BBC, and The Financial Times prior to writing her book, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. Printed by Harper Perennial and on its second edition, it is a history of the Congo and President Mobutu’s 32-year reign. It has been heralded by The Economist as a book that is destined to become a classic. She spoke with us from her home in London.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Bookbuffet recently had the pleasure of speaking with Margaret Atwood. Ms. Atwood is one of today’s most important writers. She has established herself as a prolific poet, novelist, literary critic, proto-feminist, and political activist. She is hailed as one of Canada’s most eminent writers and has been honored throughout her career both nationally and internationally. Atwood, through her perfuse writings, critiques, and activism has ultimately contributed to the growth of women’s writing and to the established legitimacy of Canadian literature.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Romance novel sales last year were an astounding 1.4 billion dollars. Statistics show romance readers are predominantly middle class, educated and married. BookBuffet was intrigued to speak with a talented new writer, Ami Silber who is an Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate who writes romance under the pseudonym Zoe Archer. Listen to the interview and discussion on the genre, her literary roots and of course her new book Lady X's Cowboy (Dorchester)
Friday, January 20, 2006
Bookbuffet speaks with Lansens about her second novel, The Girls (Random House, 2005). Listen to the audio and follow along with the transcript. This is an author whose work you will want to follow.
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Sunday, December 04, 2005
Take a look at facinating elements of Japanese culture as revealed in Oyama Shiro's prize winning novel, A Man With No Talents (Oxford University Press 2005) Bookbuffet interviews Edward B. Fowler who translated from Japanese to English this unique memoir, and provides us with insights on areas of his expertise surrounding the culture and language. Listen to the audio and read along with the transcript.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Damian McNicholl's first novel, A Son Called Gabriel (CDS Books) is a poignant story of a young boys' ambiguous sexual awakening in the backdrop of Northern Ireland's turbulent civil rights struggle of the '60s and '70s. It is a must-read for: every parent about to raise teenagers; every educator, councilor or psychologist; every minister or priest—indeed anyone seeking to be reminded of the importance of individualism.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Susan Orlean is a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her style of journalism is among some of the best prose written in the country today by a new breed of journalists. Author of five books, three of which are compilations of her collected articles, her book, The Orchid Thief (Ballantine Books 2000) about an environmental controversy in the protected swamps of Florida inspired the film Adaptation. BookBuffet caught up with this intrepid travelor, dog lover, and new mother to talk about her writing.
Friday, August 12, 2005
BookBuffet spoke with Oscar winning screenwriter, Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Vanity Fair) about his first novel, SNOBS (St. Martin's Press 2005) his insights into British aristocracy with thoughts on America, his Director/Screenwriter debut with Separate Lies in theatres this October—and the next actor to possibly play James Bond. Read the transcript and listen along.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Jack El-Hai, prize winning medical journalist and author of The Lobotomist (Wiley 2005) spoke with BookBuffet about the life and times of Dr.Walter J. Freeman—the man who helped pioneer and promote lobotomy as a revolutionary form of psychosurgery in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses. What went wrong? Why did this procedure become synonymus with the kind of repugnance and abuse we ascribe to it today? What can people, the medical community and healthcare policymakers learn from the unique life and career of Walter Freeman? Listen to the interview about The Lobotomist, and find out.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Tracy Quan first entered onto my radar screen while I was researching Jared Diamond (Pulitzer Prize winner for, Guns, Germs and Steel) and his new book, Collapse. There in the middle of an uber-geek website, between cognitive linguistics and intense scientific, technological and cultural conjecture was the short, alluring biography of author Tracy Quan.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Sharon Boorstin author of Cookin' for Love: A Novel with 
Recipes; iUniverse (2005) is a pleasure to speak with for three reasons: she is a self-made woman grounded in the values of food, family and friendship, (not necessarily in that order) who writes humorously about issues germane to women in their 40’s and 50’s, and has accomplished her goals by embracing technology in a creative way that you will enjoy reading about.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Kem Nunn, legendary surf noir novelist, spoke to BookBuffet about the third book in his surf-trilogy, Tijuana Straits, Random House (2004)
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Sheila Hayman is a force to be reckoned with. In typical British selfdepricating fashion, she describes herself as "the daughter of a German pure mathematician and a Yorkshire Quaker, who grew up awkwardly with stick-out ears and an appreciation for upper Mozart while [her] friends were still listening to the Monkeys”.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
What does a "Meat-eating, poker-playing, cigar-smoking, skirt-chasing, Ivy League graduate-come-screenwriter and yoga instructor have to do with it?" asks screenwriter and best friend Helena Kriel at the Santa Monica book launch of this author. Meet Arthur Jeon, in this month's author interview, discussing his new book, City Dharma: Keeping Your Cool in the Chaos, Random House (2004) his first in a two-book contract. Love and the Dharma is his next book.
Friday, May 14, 2004
May is International Translation Month and we caught up with Edith Grossman to talk about her latest work of translation, Don Quixote by Miquel Cervantes, (Harper Collins 2004) NEW! Listen to the podcast interview.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
BookBuffet interviews Sara Lewis, author of The Best of Good, is a story of Tom Good, a talented musician struggling with depression and losing his grip on life, who upon discovering that a decade old romance produced a son he never knew existed, becomes motivated to transform himself into a person his son will want to love. Sara writes like a female Nick Hornby.
