New Letters on the Air

Series produced by New Letters on the Air

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Listening to New Letters on the Air is like eavesdropping on intimate conversations with favorite writers who reveal secrets about their creative methods, read a few favorite passages, and inspire the listener's imagination.

NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR is a weekly half-hour show that has been entertaining and informing audiences about contemporary writers and literature since 1977. Each week, the program focuses on a writer of poetry, fiction or essays, either in an intimate interview or in a public reading before an audience. Post-produced with narrative and music, NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR gives insight into the creative writing process and the universal stories that writers tell.

Each show is self-contained and undated, except for the occasional holiday or theme related program. 30- and 60-second produced promos are provided weekly on the PRSS promo satellite feeds and on Content Depot. Written promos are posted weekly on the DACS along with the timings and cues. Other distribution methods are available.

Though educational, NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR is not pedantic, and the conversation is often filled with laughter as authors discuss and read from their books. Our archive programs contain many Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, along with recipients of other major literary awards. Recent guests include poets Sherman Alexie, Naomi Shihab Nye, Billy Collins, and Alicia Ostriker; dramatists August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Tony Kushner; essayists Meghan Daum, Susan Orlean, and David Sedaris; fiction writers Richard Russo, Jane Smiley, and Ha Jin. The program also features less-familiar but remarkable writers whose work and contributions are equally engaging.

"Most people have a creative streak, whether they're interested in writing or not," says Angela Elam, host of NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR. "I hope by exploring the writer's process and hearing work that captures the essence of our lives, the program will inspire listeners to do something creative in their own way." Hide full description

NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR is a weekly half-hour show that has been entertaining and informing audiences about contemporary writers and literature since 1977. Each week, the program focuses on a writer of poetry, fiction or essays, either in an intimate interview or in a public reading before an audience. Post-produced with narrative and music, NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR gives insight into the creative writing process and the universal stories that writers tell. Each show is self-contained and undated, except for the occasional holiday or theme related program. 30- and 60-second produced promos are provided weekly on the PRSS promo satellite feeds and on Content Depot. Written promos are posted weekly on the DACS along with the timings and cues. Other distribution methods are available. ... Show full description


143 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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This program pays tribute to the feminist poets of the last century who opened doors for a vast number of talented women writers published today. F...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN, WRPI, KUT, WSKG, CKMO and more


  • Added: Mar 02, 2007
  • Length: 30:30
  • Purchases: 6
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Edward P. Jones, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for THE KNOWN WORLD, writes about the lives of African-Americans in his native Washington DC in ...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN, WPSU-FM, WDCV, and CKMO


  • Added: Mar 02, 2007
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 4
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Poet Naomi Shihab Nye tells in this public presentation how grownups can prevent kids' natural interest in poetry from slipping away. She reads poe...

Bought by CKMO and WFCR


  • Added: Mar 02, 2007
  • Length: 30:45
  • Purchases: 2
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Newberry Medal-winning children's author Lois Lowry discusses her books GOSSAMER, THE GIVER, and UNDER THE STARS. Her work is often challenged in s...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Mar 02, 2007
  • Length: 30:39
  • Purchases: 1
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Internationally known author Salman Rushdie reads from his novel SHALIMAR THE CLOWN, and discusses the humanizing aspects of storytelling, the regi...

Bought by CKMO and WCAI / WNAN


  • Added: Oct 31, 2006
  • Length: 29:03
  • Purchases: 2
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Poet and essayist Andrei Codrescu reads from It Was Today and The Devil Never Sleeps; he discusses writing for radio versus for the page, why poets...

Bought by WEKU and CKMO


  • Added: Oct 31, 2006
  • Length: 29:03
  • Purchases: 2
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Popular literary novelist John Irving, author of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, reads from his highly autobiographical 2005 novel UNTIL I FIND YOU, a...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Oct 31, 2006
  • Length: 38:18
  • Purchases: 1
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Award-winning novelist E.L. Doctorow, E.L. Doctorow, recipient of the 2006 National Book Critics' Circle award, reads from and discusses his book, ...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Mar 16, 2006
  • Length: 30:43
  • Purchases: 1
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Sena Jeter Naslund conjures the spirits of the four girls killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, AL, in her novel FOU...

Bought by WJAB and CKMO


  • Added: Feb 20, 2006
  • Length: 29:02
  • Purchases: 2
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Poet Cornelius Eady reads from his acclaimed 2001 collection, BRUTAL IMAGINATION, about the fictional black man whom Susan Smith, the mother who dr...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Feb 20, 2006
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
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British novelist and short story writer A.S. Byatt reads from POSSESSION and LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF STORIES, and talks about the pleasures of aging a...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Jan 12, 2006
  • Length: 29:02
  • Purchases: 1
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Marilynne Robinson, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, talks about her novel GILEAD. It's a dying father's recollections for his young ...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Jan 11, 2006
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
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Arthur Golden, author of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, worked on his book for over 10 years before it became a runaway best-seller. He talks about his resea...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Dec 14, 2005
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
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Sarah Vowell discusses her career launched by public radio: her start as a creative nonfiction writer, writing for radio versus writing for print, ...

Bought by CKMO, WCAI / WNAN, WNPR, and KGLT


  • Added: Dec 13, 2005
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 4
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Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Doug Wright shares some insights into I AM MY OWN WIFE. He also discusses his award-winning play QUILL...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Nov 18, 2005
  • Length: 29:03
  • Purchases: 1
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Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson, who is best known for his dramas about the African-American experience in the 20th Century, discusses...

Bought by WNYC, CKMO, KUT, and Public Interactive


  • Added: Oct 03, 2005
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 4
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In this Hispanic Heritage Month interview about her memoirs WHEN I WAS PUERTO RICAN and ALMOST A WOMAN, author Esmeralda Santiago discusses being t...

Bought by WGBH Radio Boston, KWMR-FM, KRZA, Georgia Public Broadcasting, WSKG and more


  • Added: Sep 20, 2005
  • Length: 29:02
  • Purchases: 7
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Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley talks about how she found inspiration for her books GOOD FAITH, HORSE HEAVEN, and A THOUSAND ACRES, and how she l...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Jul 27, 2005
  • Length: 29:02
  • Purchases: 1
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Social satirist Meghan Daum’s work delicately balances somewhere between essay and memoir, truth and fiction in both her essay collection, "My Miss...

Bought by CKMO


  • Added: Jun 19, 2005
  • Length: 29:03
  • Purchases: 1
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Medical physician and writer Khaled Hosseini, author of THE KITE RUNNER, talks about his novel set in his native Afghanistan. This book is the firs...

Bought by CKMO and WCAI / WNAN


  • Added: Apr 19, 2005
  • Length: 29:02
  • Purchases: 2