Marginalia: Carlo Rovelli

This episode of Marginalia features a nice chat I had recently with Laura Barnett about her first novel, The Versions of Us. The book actually features three stories that focus on one couple, Eva and Jim. The stories vary quite differently because at some random point during each story, a seemingly harmless decision was made which altered the characters’s course.

On this episode on Marginalia, I speak with Kristopher Jansma about his new novel, Why We Came to the City. The story focuses on five friends--an editor, an astronomer, a poet, an investment banker, and an artist--who have remained friends since their college graduation five years prior, and help each other navigate through life and dreams in New York City. When a seemingly innocuous lump below an eye turns into an delayed cancer diagnosis, the five must reexamine and redefine their hopes and dreams to accommodate tragedy and loss.

Idra Novey is a poet. She also translates works from Spanish and Portuguese, and now, with a new novel, she’s writing fiction.

Ways to Disappear is a novel about a celebrated Brazilian writer who climbs up an almond tree holding a suitcase and a cigar to escape a growing gambling debt. This climb occurs in the opening pages of the book, and what follows is the search for the author conducted by her translator and her grown children.

I recently spoke with Novey about the book, her various genres, poetry…and climbing trees. Here’s our conversation.

This episode of Marginalia is a bit of a departure from our other episodes. Normally I feature a 2-way conversation between myself and an author. But because our listeners at KMUW hear this specific author 2 hours a day every Monday through Friday, this 2-way was turned into a news feature which was broadcast on air. Who was this special author? Public radio talk show host, Diane Rehm.