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Shelf Life
Episodes
59 episodes
Brian Broome on Mary Karr's The Liar's Club, and the art of writing memoir
Broome’s memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods, the winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, is a deeply felt account of growing up Black and gay in the 1980s. The writer, who joins Shelf Life to chat about Mary Karr's Th...
Darcey Steinke on writing the female body and avoiding the paparazzi with Jackie O.
Darcey Steinke is the author of five novels and a memoir, as well as most recently, the fragmentary investigation, Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life. Her work has been described as suburban Gothic and fre...
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Joyce Maynard on memoir, Salinger, and the original Spider-verse
Joyce Maynard has written ten novels, including To Die For and Labor Day (both turned into acclaimed movies) and, most recently, Count the Ways, an epic portrait of an American family over four decades as it navigates...
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Becky Ann Baker on Somerset Maugham, and life as Lena Dunham's screen mom
Not many of us can brag they’ve been murdered on screen by both Sir Ben Kingsley and Bill Paxton; Becky Ann Baker can, in the respective thrillers The Confession and A Simple Plan. “I always say we got into this business...
John Birdsall: The Complicated Legacy of James Beard
The writer and essayist John Birdsall grew up in San Francisco where he learned to cook at Green's restaurant before exiting the kitchen after 17 years to focus on food criticism and essays. He's won several James Beard awards for his wri...
Nic Stone: On Losing Her Religion, and Revisiting The Virgin Suicides
In this episode, the best-selling YA author, Nic Stone, revisits two childhood faves: Louis Sachar's classic 1998 novel, Holes, and Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides - two books that left their impression on her own career a...
Alan Cumming: On Visiting Gore Vidal and Reading Jean Rhys
When he's not making movies, TV shows, podcasts, or performing in cabaret, Alan Cumming also finds time to write books. He's published a novel, a memoir, a book on photography, and several children's books based on his beloved (and dearly...
Sarah Waters: On the Brothers Grimm and Victorian Sex
Sarah Waters racy Victorian picaresque, Tipping the Velvet, was published in 1998, and garnered huge attention and praise. It was adapted by the BBC in 2002, a genuine television event that coincided with the publication of her t...
John Waters: On the Serious Pleasures of a Bright Young Thing
John Waters once said nothing is more impotent than an unread library. In this episode, the cult film director responsible for such enduring cult classics as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Cry Baby and Hairspray<...
