Hank Conner will be taking a little break
for the next few weeks and in his stead we have selected a series of special that
we hope will please you.
Friday May 27, 2005 @ 1:00pm
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Independent Mind:
Peter Sellers Special
Peter Sellers'
comic genius is undeniable. His radio, television, and film work has
influenced everyone from the Monty Python troupe to Mike Myers. He gave
movie audiences iconic characters like the laughingly wicked Dr.
Strangelove, and the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. In the 1960s, his rise
to stardom made him one of England's most recognizable stars, on par
with the Beatles.
Now, 40 years
after the height of Peter Sellers' career, David D'Arcy hosts an
engaging look at this comic genius. We'll
hear from Sellers' collaborators Blake Edwards,
Paul Mazursky and Joe McGrath,
as well as Mike Myers, Tracy Ullman,
John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush,
and Sellers biographers Ed Sikov and
Roger Lewis. Plus rare archive interviews of
Sellers!
David D'Arcy
is a journalist and critic who has been covering the cultural scene for
NPR for almost 20 years. He is a frequent commentator on the arts for
the BBC Radio program, "Front Row," and a correspondent for "The Art
Newspaper," a London monthly. |
Peter Sellers
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Friday, June 3rd, 2005 at 1:00
On
February 2, 2002, a remarkable and even unique event in the history of
Southwestern letters took place in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, as novelists,
Rudolfo Anaya, Tony Hillerman, and N. Scott Momaday took part in a panel
discussion before an audience of several hundred at Jemez Valley High School
Auditorium. Most obviously, these writers represent the three cultures or
intermingling literary traditions of New Mexico - the Hispano, the Anglo and the
Native American. While Anaya, Hillerman, and Momaday have cultivated their own
distinctive voices or styles, they also share a common interest in the magic and
mythology of the American Southwest. Their novels, stories, and plays are
grounded in the particulars of place, steeped in the landscape and in the
ancient cultures of the region.
This panel featured the
three authors in a good-humored freewheeling discussion of topics including:
1) How each author views his
particular ethnicity contributing to his work.
2) How they feel they became such gifted storytellers.
3) How they write.
4) What projects do they have in the works?
5) How the September 11th terrorist attacks have impacted their thinking and
work.
Excerpts:
Rudolfo Anaya: "I get asked about my inspiration
and I tell them that writing is just painful to me…painful! And nobody wants to
hear that. They don't want to hear about the pain. They just want to hear the
trade secrets. I say I don't have any trade secrets. I tell them to go out and
feel some pain and maybe they'll get something done."
Tony Hillerman jokes about how the New Mexico
landscape seeps into his work. "One critic wrote about my work, 'Hillerman's
novels are pretty good in ways but every time you think something's about to
happen, he stops and describes a cloud.'"
Scott Momaday on September 11th: "The one
positive thing about 9/11 it seems to me is that we have been MADE to think
about human life and the salvation of the planet and our souls in a new light."
Bios
Rudolfo Anaya is a
novelist, short story writer, playwright and professor and is considered "The
Father of Chicano Literature." His books include Bless Me Ultima,
Alburquerque, and Rio Grand Fall.
Tony Hillerman
is an award-winning mystery writer and chonicler of Navajo culture. His books
include Hunting Badger, Listening Women, and Seldom
Disappointed: A Memoir.
N. Scott Momaday is a Pulitzer
Prize winning novelist, poet, artist and literary critic. His works include
House Made of Dawn, In the Bear's House, and The Ancient Child.
Friday, June 10th, 2005 at 1:00
Simon Ortiz |
A Celebration of Southwest Storytellers
Part 2: Chavez, McGarrtity, Ortiz
This follow-up to the NFCB Award-Winning Celebration Of
Southwest Storytellers: Anaya, Hillerman and Momaday brings to the fore three
more top authors with roots in New Mexico.
Click
here to view the transcript. |
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HOSTED BY JUDY GOLDBERG
PRODUCED BY PAUL INGLES WITH SUPPORT FROM THE NEW MEXICO
ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES AND KUNM RADIO
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"I believe in the mercy of books, the kindness and gentleness of books, the
'A-HA!' of books..."
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Denise Chavez |
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"Another element to all of my books is the connection to family. What I
write has something to do with family, each and every time."
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Michael McGarrity |
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"That's really what community is. Not really all people being the same or
agreeing with each other, but actually complimenting each other."
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Simon Ortiz |
August 5th, 2002, a special event in
the history of Southwestern letters took place in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, as
writers, Denise Chavez, Michael
McGarrity, and Simon Ortiz took part in a panel discussion before an audience of
several hundred at Jemez Valley High School Auditorium.
As in the original program, this joint appearance by
Chavez, McGarrity and Ortiz, gathered three writers representing the major
literary traditions of
New Mexico - the Chicano, the Anglo, and the Native American. In their writings,
Chavez, McGarrity and Ortiz, are literary realists who depict the many cultures
of the Southwest autobiographically, authentically, and in detail. Through their
many novels, stories, plays, and poems they celebrate the local landscape and
customs of the people and they emphasize the importance of family and unspoiled
nature, as stays against confusion. For this event, Jemez Springs resident and
Pulitzer prize winner N. Scott Momaday served as moderator.
Bios:
Denise Chavez: Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico,
in 1948, playwright and novelist Denise Chavez studied acting and playwriting at
New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico. She is best known
for her often-anthologized and semi-autobiographical short story cycle "The Last
of the Menu Girls," which received the Puerto del Sol Fiction Award in 1966, and
for her novel "Face of an Angel," which received an American Book Award in 1994.
Micahel McGarrity: The author of eight police
procedural novels in the Kevin Kerney series, including the Anthony
Award-nominated "Tularosa" and the recent "Everyone Dies." A trained
psychotherapist, he was recognized as New Mexico Social Worker of the Year in
1980. An honor graduate of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy and a former
deputy sheriff, he was honored as Santa Fe's Officer of the Year in 1987.
Simon Ortiz: Born in 1941 and raised at the
Pueblo of Acoma west of Albuquerque, Simon Ortiz completed an MFA at the
University of Iowa in 1969. He received the 1981 Pushcart Prize for poetry for
his collection "From Sand Creek." In his didactic, intensely political poetry,
he often laments the development and industrialization of Indian lands. Ortiz
received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Writers' Circle of the
Americas in 1993.
N. Scott Momaday (moderator): A Pulitzer Prize
winning novelist, poet, artist and literary critic. His work includes "House
Made of Dawn," "In the Bear's House" and "The Ancient Child."
Friday, June 17th, 2005 at 1:00pm
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Demetria Martínez
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A Celebration of Southwest Storytellers
Part 3: Martínez, Nichols, & Swentzell
A multi-cultural trio of notable New Mexico writers - Rina
Swentzell, Demetria Martinez, and John Nichols - are featured in the third
installment in the series A Celebration of Southwest Storytellers.
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John Nichols |
PRODUCED BY PAUL INGLES WITH SUPPORT FROM THE NEW MEXICO
HUMANITIES COUNCIL AND KUNM RADIO
I grew up in
Santa Clara Pueblo, and was told continuously that walking, moving,
talking carefully was very important. It was important because every step
we take and every word that we speak has an impact on the whole of
existence.
-Rina Swentzell
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I
love to write about activists and people who are working for change. It's
amazing to me that people, in the face of all evidence to the contrary,
continue to hope and continue to do the work.
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Demetria Martinez |
We need writers
in this country who sympathise with the three billion people on earth who
live on less than two dollars a day so that 60% of United States citizens
can be overweight and yet undernourished also.
-John Nichols
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On September 27, 2003, Demetria
Martínez, John Nichols, and Rina Swentzell gathered at an auditorium in Jemez
Springs, New Mexico to participate in the third in a series of panel discussions
featuring authors who represent the three major literary traditions of New
Mexico—the Chicano, the Native American, and the Anglo.
This program presents the best of this engaging
session. It is the third in a series of programs that has featured other New
Mexico literary stars. In previous years, one panel included noted writers
Denise Chavez, Simon Ortiz, and Michael McGarrity, while another featured Tony
Hillerman, Rudolfo Anaya and N. Scott Momaday.
Demetria Martínez, Rina Swentzell, and John Nichols
share a common interest in social justice, political issues, and struggles over
collective memory as they explore the alternative narratives and cultural
connections that have evolved out of their respective communities and histories.
Demetria Martínez is best known for her novel, "Mother
Tongue," which won the 1994 Western States Award for Fiction. She has also
written several books of poetry, the latest being, "Breathing Between the
Lines."
Rina Naranjo Swentzell was born in Santa Clara Pueblo,
New Mexico. Her work includes a children’s book, "Children of Clay: A Family of
Pueblo Potters," and her writing also appears in magazines, scholarly journals,
and edited collections.
John Nichols is best known for his novel, "The Milagro
Beanfield War," which has been called a contemporary "Grapes of Wrath" with Mark
Twain’s down-home humor. "The Milagro Beanfield War" is Part One of a New Mexico
trilogy that includes "The Magic Journey" and "The Nirvana Blues."
Join us next week at this time for the return
of Conner Calling on Classic 89 and Nature
Coast 90.
