literature

He dreamed up Conan the Barbarian from his lonely town of Cross Plains, Texas. But where did Robert E. Howard find his inspiration for the sword-and- sorcery, weird tales that still resonate today? Howard dipped his pen in the inkwell of Texas history, tall tales and the boom and bust of the oil fields. How Conan is really a Texan.

In the story “Clara” by Roberto Bolaño, a man tells the story of a woman he knew in his youth. Over three decades later, he hasn’t forgotten her. The story is riddled with tells that reveal that he’s carried the memory of her around with him for all that time. What is the hold she has on him all about?

Richard Bausch discusses his latest story collection, The Fate of Others. This may be the author’s 24th book, but it is a fresh, powerful collection of stories for today’s world with all its resonances of loss and isolation—but also of hope.

The flaws and follies of Cupolo’s characters teach us something about what it means to be human when we make mistakes or when we allow each other mercy. Lisa Cupolo discusses her award-winning story collection.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss “Oh, Joseph, I’m So Tired" by Richard Yates. It’s a story narrated by a man looking back on his childhood during the Depression. He recalls difficult moments that are brutally honest but told with a tender acceptance of what was.

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff is a multigenerational family saga that underscores the ways that a family tries to navigate and survive addiction, grief, shame and the losses that loving deeply can bring to our lives. Secrets and regrets, forgiveness and grace—all figure in this tender story about love in its many forms.

Jock Heidenstein. Anita Lasker. Chana Zumerkorn, Regina Feldman. These young women did not know each other. They never met—not before or after their respective experiences during the Holocaust. What connects their incredible stories? A red sweater. Lucy Adlington discusses her book Four Red Sweaters.

The Imagined Life is a novel about memory, music and longing—and about the bonds between a father and a son. Andrew Porter discusses his latest novel on the latest episode of Book Public.

For author Lauren K. Watel, “potions” are part poem and part fiction. There are 75 prose-like vignettes with the density and intensity of poems in her "Book of Potions."

The novel is set in 2038 in Three Rivers, Texas. A corrupt industrialist is the mayor. Women are indentured laborers in a fish cannery. Reading books is against the law. Protagonist Neftalí is the last literate citizen of the town. What can she do to reclaim and help her city?