KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Bookwaves/Artwaves presents in-depth interviews with authors of fiction and narrative non-fiction, delving deeply into political and social issues, literary technique, and the life of the author, along with interviews devoted to theatre and film, and archive interviews from Bookwaves and Probabilities. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves is a news podcast hosted by KPFA, with 25 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

KPFA hosts KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves, a news show with 25 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

  Bookwaves/Artwaves – September 3, 2026: Two Science Fiction Masters: Ursula K. Le Guin and Gene Wolfe

  Sep 3, 20261 hour

  Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018): Science Fiction/Fantasy Giant, 2000 Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018), who broke the artificial wall between science fiction and literature, died on January 22nd, 2018 at the age of 88. An essayist and poet along with being a fiction writer, she transcended all genres with the quality of her prose and the allegorical nature of her work. Best known for her novels The Left Hand of Darkness, which dealt with gender; The Dispossessed, which dealt with a utopian civilization; her series of novels in the fantasy realm of Earthsea; and her short stories, especially “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Ursula K. Le Guin broke ground in several directions over the course of her writing life. But she started in science fiction fantasy. On September 29th, 2000, Richard Wolinsky and his then co-host Richard A. Lupoff spoke with Ursula K. Le Guin about her career as a writer and about her latest novel, a political and social science fiction allegory, “The Telling.” An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. Gene Wolfe (1931-2019): Science Fiction Grandmaster, 1982 Gene Wolfe, from a 1982 video. Gene Wolfe (1931-2019), author of several science fiction novels and short stories, including “The Book of the New Sun,” interviewed by Richard Wolinsky, Lawrence Davidson and Richard A. Lupoff at Bay Con, Thanksgiving weekend, 1982. The noted fantasy and science fiction writer Gene Wolfe died on April 14, 2019, one month shy of his 88th birthday. By the time of his death, he’d achieved a lifetime achievement award from the World Fantasy Convention, he’d been acclaimed a science fiction Grand Master from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, had won several awards from various organizations in the field, and was considered a writer’s writer. Digitizing, remastering & re-editing by Richard Wolinsky in 2019. Sound quality is variable. Complete Radio Wolinsky podcast The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – September 3, 2026: Two Science Fiction Masters: Ursula K. Le Guin and Gene Wolfe appeared first on KPFA.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

  Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 27, 2026: Carl Hiaasen, Master of the Satiric Detective Novel

  Aug 27, 20261 hour

  Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues Carl Hiaasen: Creating Satire in the Age of Trump, “Fever Beach,” now out in trade paper Carl Hiaasen is a novelist best known for writing humorous and satiric crime thrillers set in Florida. His latest novel, now out in trade paperback, Fever Beach, satirizes the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, corrupt nepo Florida Congress-critters, and rich right-wing geriatric billionaires. Until 2021, he was a regular columnist for The Miami Herald, appearing every Sunday to discuss political and social issues. He is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky. In this in-depth interview, he discusses the writing of “Fever Beach” and how difficult it has been to create satire during the Trump years, his views on what’s happening in Washington and Florida, the adaptation of his novel “Bad Monkey” for Apple Plus, and his process of writing. Recorded August 13, 2025. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 27, 2026: Carl Hiaasen, Master of the Satiric Detective Novel appeared first on KPFA.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

  Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 20, 2026: Ursula Hegi (1946-2026), Acclaimed Novelist and Short Story Author, 1991

  Aug 20, 20261 hour

  Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues Ursula Hegi (1946-2026): Two Interviews, 2001 and 2004 Ursula Hegi (1946-2026), who died at the age of eighty on July 27, 2026, best known for her novel “Stones from a River,” about life in a small town in Germany in the days leading up to World War II, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Two interviews, the first recorded November 6, 2001 while on tour for her short story collection, “Hotel of the Saints,” and the second, recorded January 8, 2004, for her novel, “Sacred Time,” less than a year after the invasion of Iraq. Ursula Hegi was a German born novelist and short story writer whose work focused on life in Germany before, during and after World War II along with German and German-American identity, and the nature of moral complicity. She was best known for her novel, Stones from a River, published in 1994, which formed part of a series of novels and stories which came to be known as the Burgdorf cycle, taking place in the fictional small town of Burgdorf, Germany during the middle of the twentieth century. At the time of her death from complications from a stroke, there were nine novels, two short story collections, a children’s book, and one non-fiction work from 1998, Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America. Her last novel, The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls, was published in 2020. The 2001 interview, one of the last Bookwaves interviews recorded on analog tape, was digitized, remastered and edited August 14-16, 2026. Review of “R.O.I. (Return on Investment)”, a San Francisco Playhousere production at the Creativity Theatre through September 5, 2026 The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 20, 2026: Ursula Hegi (1946-2026), Acclaimed Novelist and Short Story Author, 1991 appeared first on KPFA.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

  Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 13, 2026: Probabilities Mystery Archive: Robert B. Parker – Nancy Pickard

  Aug 13, 2026—

  Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues The Probabilities Archive: Robert B. Parker (1932-2010), The Spenser Novels, 1992 Robert B. Parker (1932-2010), in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded June 13, 1992 while on tour for the Spenser novel, “Double Deuce.” Mystery and suspense author Robert B. Parker died at the age of 77 on January 18, 2010. His career encompassed 38 novels in his popular Spenser detective series during his life, with another three published posthumously, plus nine novels in the Jesse Stone series, four in the Cole and Hitch series, six in the Sonny Randall series, nine other novels, and four books of non-fiction. There were two Probabilities interviews with Robert B. Parker. The first time, co-hosted with Lawrence Davidson, was recorded in Parker’s hotel room in the spring of 1981. At the time he’d just switched publishers and with Looking for Rachel Wallace and then Early Autumn, he was finally having success as an author. His success would explode exponentially over the next eleven years, and by the time of this interview. Robert Parker had written an additional ten Spenser novels, the TV series Spencer for Hire starring Robert Urich had run for three seasons, and a spin-off, A Man Called Hawk had had a 13 episode run. In addition, he’d completed an unfinished Philip Marlowe novel by Raymond Chandler, and followed that up with a sequel. This interview was digitized, remastered and re-edited in January 2024 by Richard Wolinsky and has only been posted as a podcast. The Probabilities Archive: Nancy Pickard, The Jenny Craig Mysteries, 1990 Nancy Pickard, author of the Jenny Crain mysteries, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded April 4, 1990 in the KPFA studios while on tour for the novel “Bum Steer.” Originally a journalist, Nancy Pickard turned to mysteries in 1984 with Generous Death, which would eventually lead to ten Jenny Crain novels. As of 2026, there are also three novels in the Marie Lightfoot series, three non-series novels, plus three in the Eugenia Potter series, four collections and one co-authored non-fiction work. Her most recent novel to date, The Scent of Rain and Lightning, was published in 2010 and was adapted into a film in 2017. As of 2025, she continues to speak at various mystery conferences and conventions. In the late 1980s, crime and mystery fiction by women skyrocketed. Even so, awards were still being given to mostly male writers, and in 1987, the organization Sisters in Crime was formed. In Berkeley, at KPFA, Richard Lupoff and I, the hosts of the Probabilities radio program, having drifted from science fiction into mysteries and later into general fiction and narrative non-fiction, noticed the trend pretty early on, and began interviewing these pioneer writers, one by one, local writers like Marcia Muller and Sue Dunlap, and writers from out of town, such as Sue Grafton, or from overseas, such as P.D. James. These interviews, the Sisters in Crime interviews, were all conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, and because of the switch from analog tape to digital, were not heard since the new century began, and are now being digitized, one by one. This is the second in the Sisters In Crime series of interviews. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited on August 8, 2026. It was first aired in 1990 and then rebroadcast in 1991. Review of “Orpheus Descending” at Oakland Theatre Project through August 23, 2026 The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 13, 2026: Probabilities Mystery Archive: Robert B. Parker – Nancy Pickard appeared first on KPFA.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

  Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 6, 2026: Robert Bloch (1917-1994), Author of “Psycho”

  Aug 6, 20261 hour

  Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues The Probabilities Archive: Robert Bloch (1917-1994), Pulp Magazine Writer and Novelist Robert Bloch (1917-1994), who died on September 23, 1994 at the age of 77, began his career writing fantasy and horror for the pulp magazines, and graduated after World War II to writing psychological thriller novels, often focusing on serial killers. He is best known today for having written the novel “Psycho,” which was adapted into the classic 1959 film by Alfred Hitchcock. From the 1950s through 1970s, he also wrote for episode television (most notably “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”) and made for television films. In all, there were countless short stories, over thirty published novels, and several non-fiction articles. On March 4, 1982, the late Probabilities co-host Richard A. Lupoff (1935-2020) ninterviewed Robert Bloch before an audience. There were no major science fiction conventions at the time, so it’s not clear exactly where this interview took place). In the first part of the interview, Bloch discusses his friendship with H.P. Lovecraft, his work with the legendary Fictioneers writing group, and the creation of his Lefty Feep series of short stories. The second part of the interview takes him to his novel-writing days, with a look at the creation of his most famous character, Norman Bates of “Psycho.” Digitized and edited August 1-2, 2026 and introduced by host Richard Wolinsky. Portions of this interview found their way into “Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends,” edited by Richard Wolinskky and published by Tachyon Books in 2025. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – August 6, 2026: Robert Bloch (1917-1994), Author of “Psycho” appeared first on KPFA.

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.