Books & Authors

In a pleasant Scottish brogue, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle talks about how he started writingSherlock Holmes (“I began to think of turning scientific methods, as it were, onto the work of detection”) and the character’s popularity (“I’ve even had ladies writing to say that they’d be very glad to act as [Holmes’] housekeeper”). Then the […]

In this 1952 interview, John Steinbeck talked about writing The Grapes of Wrath and how things had changed since the book was published in 1939. He’s surprisingly optimistic about the changes in American society since the Great Depression: “We have solved so many of [the problems] and the solutions have been the product of ourselves,

Here’s Nabokov talking about his novel Lolita on a 1950s CBC program \”Close Up.” The interview is at the height of the controversy surrounding the book, which was banned due to its theme of child molestation. When asked his intentions in writing it, Nabokov replies: “I don’t wish to touch hearts and I don’t even

In a 1987 interview, Arthur Miller talks about his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. In addition to thoughtful insight into Monroe’s psychology, he discusses the reception of After The Fall, a play he wrote about his relationship with Monroe.

Here’s Flannery O’Connor reading her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find\” at Vanderbilt University in 1959.  

In 1958, Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series, interviewed crime writer Raymond Chandler for the BBC. This is the only recording of Chandler’s voice. Listening to their conversation is like eavesdropping on two master genre writers talk shop.  

And here’s Jack Kerouac on the The Steve Allen Plymouth Show in 1959. After awkwardly answering questions while Steve Allen tinkles on the piano, he gives a terrific reading from On The Road and Visions of Cody while jazz plays in the background. You gotta love that ending: “I think of Dean Mor-i-ar-ty.”