Writers on a New England Stage

The Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist joins us with his first solo adult novel in over a decade – the darkly comic Insane City. The book is a riotous tale of a destination wedding gone awry with Russian gangsters, angry strippers, a pimp as big as the Death Star, a very desperate Haitian refugee on the run with her two children from some very bad men, and an eleven-foot Burmese albino python named Blossom.

As senior legal analyst for CNN, staff writer for the New Yorker, and the author of The Nine, Jeffrey Toobin knows more than a few things about and more than a few people inside the United States Supreme Court.

Anyone who’s read Anna Quindlen’s Pulitzer Prize winning op-eds, or wildly popular  columns in the New York Times knows that she doesn’t hold back from pointed commentary on topics from politics to parenting. In the mid-nineties, Quindlen left the Times to write – so far -- ten best-selling non-fiction books and four  novels, including One True Thing, which was adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep.

Chris Matthews is best known for his opinionated and combative style on his MSNBC program, "Hardball with Chris Matthews." What's lesser known is that he's a former print journalist, was a long-time aide to Tip O'Neill, and that he grew up in an Irish Catholic family...of Republicans. All this played no small part in sewing the seeds of his admiration for a man he'd later write two books about, John F. Kennedy. 

Author Stephen King has written more than 50 worldwide best-sellers. More than 80 feature and television film adaptations have extended King’s reach far beyond the bestsellers list, earning him the title of “Master of Horror,” and establishing him as one of the most influential writers of our age.

Novelist Chuck Palahniuk of Fight Club fame reads his funny but disturbing short story, Romance, then discusses 12 step programs, Occupy Wall Street, and his latest novel Damned with WoM host Virginia Prescott.  Enlightening conversation - but not for the faint of heart.   This broadcast contains adult material (and censored curse words) that may not be suitable for kids and could be considered offensive to some listeners.

Elizabeth Gilbert reads from her new book, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Piece with Marriage, and talks about her relationship, skipping yoga in the mornings, and why Pamela Anderson is a great philosopher.

This segment was produced by Shannon Dooling.

The controversial author and self-proclaimed inventor of a new genre of literary non-fiction, Ben Mezrich's bestselling books include Bringing Down the House and The Accidental Billionaires. The first was the source for the film, 21 and the second was adapted into the Academy Award-winning movie The Social Network.