August 2008
The author on rhythm, writing, problems, and his imperviousness to plot.

August 2008
Part 3: A conversation between actor/activist Mia Farrow and French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy on the current state of the Darfur genocide, what needs to be done after the Olympics, and how to start doing it.

July 2008
(Part 2) Actor/activist Mia Farrow on the continued slaughter, China's role, and what we can do to help the people of Darfur

June 2008
(Part 1) The French philosopher on how 3 great ideas of the political left have backfired on the people of Darfur

June 2008
The former Pfizer veep-turned-whistleblower on how the pharmaceutical industry is like the mob, the sad state of U.S. healthcare, and his fruitless attempts at finding work.

May 2008
The punk rock icon discusses debating the soldiers in Iraq, Sean Hannity's lack of courage, and the incalculable influence of Chuck D

February 2008
Rock star poet John Ashbery on pop art, manifestos, and feeling like a foreigner in America

February 2008
Iran's USA scholar says it's not just American politics that demonize Iran, it's the culture, including books and films

February 2008
The queen of science fiction on war, the problem with literary realism and learning to write as a woman

January 2008
The recent National Book Award winner on how poets and poetry can best engage the world.

December 2007
It would surprise most people to know that slave labor is just as prevalent in America as anywhere else in the world. Here John Bowe, the author of Nobodies, sheds light on America’s dirty secret and why it still exists.

November 2007
The poet who refuses to call himself a poet on his hatred of dumbing it down and the musician he might have been.

September 2007
Aesop Rock on hip-hop, the intelligentsia, and being a mad scientist

July 2007
The author of the proto-9/11 novel deconstructs terrorism, fiction, and his inability to carry a tune.

July 2007
The actress cum activist on her campaign to end genocide in Darfur, and how China, Steven Spielberg and Kofi Annan have stood in her way

May 2007
Iraq's most tenacious feminist says the U.S. war and its aftermath have completely disenfranchised women.

April 2007
The signs were there; but the Bush administration looked away

March 2007
Iraq was not the first time, just the first time we all watched it happen

February 2007
Islam's toughest critic on her new book, the Axis of Evil, and the neoconservatives' moral high ground

February 2007
In his 800th anniversary year, Rumi is the best selling poet in America; a talk with his most prominent English translator

January 2007
The economic boom in China has meant the rise virtually overnight of a slew of new cities. But what are the costs? A talk with the artist/photographer on hyper-urbanization in China, with his photographs

January 2007
The author discusses his decision to become a writer, the relationship between the individual and a nation, and his work as an opera librettist.

October 2006
The poet on his apprenticeship to Bidart, developing an effective "camouflage" and where the self lives in poetry.

September 2006
The photographer on working in series, the personal roots of his current project, "Window," and September 11th.

August 2006
The anti-Hillary candidate on the deaf media, war opportunism and building a progressive infrastructure.

August 2006
The writer on science fiction, collaborating with Ben Stiller, and how Ayn Rand almost made him an architect.

July 2006
The author/activist on the politics of natural gas in Bolivia

June 2006
The former poet laureate on attacking pretension, daring to be accessible, and i-poetry.

May 2006
As Republicans attempt to preemptively discredit the Congress’s oversight role, Conyers discusses why he won’t let go

May 2006
The author/journalist on climate change in a culture of denial

April 2006
The acclaimed author on giving up control, and becoming a playwright

April 2006
Is post-September 11^th New York on the verge of becoming the world’s greenest city?

April 2006
The U.S. poet laureate on the aesthetic of the simple poem

March 2006
They’re looking down upon us after Rwanda, saying, "You know, we’re going to give you another chance. This time we’re gonna give you lots of time."

February 2006
"Americans aren’t so stupid, after all, as to re-elect this guy."

January 2006
The columnist and author on the current war with Iraq and the next one with...

January 2006
The critic and the artist on Christo, political art, and the toggle between looking and reading

December 2005
The former deputy assistant attorney general on his new book, the Geneva Conventions and torture

November 2005
The British singer on the folk tradition, American politics, and the social reponsibility of the artist.

October 2005
The innovative writer/director discusses her latest film, venturing into uncharted territory, and how A.O. Scott got it wrong.

September 2005
Banks discusses his writing routine, finding a narrator's voice, and his (brief) acting career.

August 2005
What the Muslim gaze westward has seen during the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

August 2005
Oscar Hernández talks about winning a Grammy, being an indy favorite and the state of salsa today.

August 2005
Newman discusses Padilla's case, his state of mind and why the Bush administration's position would set an ugly precedent.

August 2005
The author of Everything is Illuminated, on the verge of a film release and an opera debut, talks about his new book.

June 2005
What I learned from him was that you could perhaps better tell the story of a place by writing of a tiny village as a sort of prism into the bigger issues the culture was facing.

June 2005
In a sense, I feel like the job of the artist at all times is essentially the same, which is simply to tell the truth. I mean, I’m nervous about any prescriptions for what a writer should or shouldn’t do.

May 2005
The only long-term way that the terrorist threat will be neutralized is to improve human dignity, and shore up failed states like Afghanistan, like Darfur, so that they don’t become a breeding ground for more people hostile to the United States.

May 2005
Al Qaeda has received a great deal of support and training over the years from the U.S. What’s important about mentioning these connections is not to point fingers or issue blame, but rather to prevent the same mistake from being repeated again.

January 2005
Terrorists act as they do because they don't have great power at their easy disposal. The result is that they rely upon the ability to exploit the mistakes of others.

January 2005
Yes, I think we have to be faithful to the context. But it's very important to differentiate between fidelity and literalness.

October 2004
For me, it articulates and enacts the difficult-to-say, the half-known; it finds a music and a shape, offers an arrangement, if you will, of words and sentences that better approximate the way things are.

October 2004
Historians hate to make predictions.