CBC Radio: Writers & Company

This week, a "crash-course in civilization" with the versatile and witty Clive James - critic, novelist, essayist, memoirist, poet and TV host. As the "New Yorker" put it: "Clive James is a brilliant bunch of guys."

In part three of our series on Mexico, Eleanor Wachtel speaks with journalist, historian and novelist Paco Ignacio Taibo II. He was born in Spain, into a politically active family who fled Franco’s regime for Mexico in 1958. He is best known for his series of philosophical crime novels, featuring his detective Hector Belascoaran Shayne, described as "Mexico’s contemporary hero of the oppressed."

In part two of our series; a lively and illuminating panel with two of the country’s most provocative writers, Juan Villoro and Jorge Volpi. Juan Villoro’s journalism, published internationally, covers a wide range of subjects, including rock, sports, cinema, literature and travel. Jorge Volpi became one of the founders of the "Crack" movement in Mexican literature - an ironic response to the Latin American literary "Boom" of the 1960s, with its insistence on magic realism.

Much of what we know about our NAFTA partner is cloaked in stereotype. This four-part special series cuts through those clichéd images and looks at Mexico through the eyes of its writers and filmmakers at how history informs the present and politics penetrates daily life. In part one, Eleanor Wachtel speaks with Elena Poniatowksa. She is truly Mexico’s literary 'superstar,' respected and admired for her commitment to social causes as well as her highly original body of work.

Writers & Company celebrates Poetry Month with a conversation about Paul Celan. Eleanor Wachtel talks to John Felstiner about his engaging study of Europe’s most compelling post-war poet, Paul Celan.

This week on Writers & Company, remembering Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author of science fiction classics such as, "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Childhood’s End." Clarke was described as an "interplanetary treasure" for his visionary writings in both science and fiction. On Tuesday, March 18th, Arthur Charles Clarke died at the age of 90.

This week on Writers & Company, "Two Lives." Eleanor Wachtel speaks with New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm, who combines literary biography with investigative journalism in her vivid portrait of the legendary couple, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.

This week, more from Turkey as Eleanor Wachtel speaks with the dynamic young novelist, Elif Shafak. Her latest controversial hit, “The Bastard of Istanbul” chronicles the tangled histories of an Armenian and Turkish family.

Eleanor Wachtel speaks with Turkey’s Nobel Prize-winning writer, Orhan Pamuk. The author of "Istanbul" and "Snow" has a new book of essays, "Other Colors."

This week on Writers & Company, from Ireland, playwright Conor McPherson. The author of "The Weir" and "Shining City" has a new supernatural success with "The Seafarer." Also on the show, Eleanor Wachtel speaks with London playwright, screenwriter and director, Christopher Hampton about his adaptation of the classic, "Dangerous Liaisons."