Author Interviews Topics

Democracy Now! interviews the most important authors of the day. Check out our vast archive.

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  • Stormyweather

    Pioneering African American Actress, Singer and Civil Rights Activist Lena Horne, 92, Dies

    Lena Horne enjoyed a six-decade singing career on stage, television and in film. She was the first black woman to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio. She helped break racial boundaries by acting alongside white entertainers, but she was segregated on screen so producers could clip out her singing when the movies ran in the South. In the 1950s, she was blacklisted in part because of her friendship with Paul Robeson and...
    May 11, 2010 | Story
  • Isabell_allende_2010_0503

    Chilean Author Isabel Allende on Her New Novel "Island Beneath the Sea," from the Slave Uprising in Haiti to 19th Century New Orleans

    Renowned Chilean novelist Isabel Allende joins us in our studio to talk about her new book, Island Beneath the Sea, her first novel in four years. The story takes readers back 200 years in time to the slave uprising that led to the creation of the world’s first independent black republic, Haiti. Allende also discusses the new Arizona immigration law, the new Chilean president Sebastián Piñera, the earthquake in Chile, and the rise of leftist...
    May 03, 2010 | Story
  • Rossjohn-bk

    John Ross on "El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City"

    Independent reporter, activist and poet John Ross has been covering social movements in Mexico and Latin America for nearly fifty years. He is the author of ten books; his latest is El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City. Ross moved to Mexico City in the aftermath of the massive 8.1-magnitude earthquake in 1985 and has lived there ever since. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 27, 2010 | Story
  • Amazonweb

    Author Nikolas Kozloff on "No Rain in the Amazon: How South America's Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet"

    Environmentalists and indigenous communities along the Amazon celebrated an important victory Thursday after a Brazilian judge suspended bidding on the construction of what is slated to be the third largest dam in the world. We speak to Nikolas Kozloff, author of the new book No Rain in the Amazon: How South America’s Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet. Kozloff argues that protecting the rainforests of the Amazon from environmental...
    Apr 16, 2010 | Story
  • Eaarthbk

    Environmentalist, 350.org Founder Bill McKibben on "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet"

    Ahead of Bolivia’s indigenous summit on climate change and the expected unveiling of a Senate climate bill next week, we speak to someone who sounded one of the earliest alarms about global warming. Twenty years ago, environmental activist Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, but his warnings went largely unheeded. Now, as people are grappling with the unavoidable effects of climate change and confronting an earth that is suddenly melting,...
    Apr 15, 2010 | Story
  • Bowden-bk

    Charles Bowden on "Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields"

    First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Mexico City Tuesday night after making a stop in Haiti on her first official trip abroad without the president. Her trip to Mexico comes as a new report by the Mexican government has found the death toll from the so-called drug war is much higher than previously thought. Nearly 23,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since a US-backed military crackdown on cartels began more than three...
    Apr 14, 2010 | Story
  • Alice-walker-dn

    Alice Walker on "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo and Palestine/Israel"

    As the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winners are announced, we speak with the first African American woman to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for fiction: author, poet and activist Alice Walker. She was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer for her novel The Color Purple. She was written many books since then. Her latest, just out, is called Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo and Palestine/Israel. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 13, 2010 | Story
  • Finkelstein-democracynow

    Part II: Scholar Norman Finkelstein on Next Steps Towards Resolution in Israel-Palestine

    Norman Finkelstein is author of several books on the Israel Palestine conflict. His latest is This Time We Went Too Far: Truth & Consequences of the Gaza Invasion. In Part II of our conversation, Finkelstein discusses lessons he learned from Gandhi, the role of public opinion in politics, and more.
    Mar 23, 2010 | Web Exclusive
  • Netanyahu

    Norman Finkelstein Responds to Clinton, Netanyahu AIPAC Comments

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told attendees at the AIPAC conference on Monday that the US commitment to Israel is "rock-solid," but Clinton did criticize Israel for continuing to build settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. In a defiant speech hours after Clinton’s address, Netanyahu rejected US criticism and vowed to continue building settlements. We speak with Norman Finkelstein, author of the new book, This Time We Went...
    Mar 23, 2010 | Story
  • Roy-democracynow

    Arundhati Roy on Obama's Wars, India and Why Democracy Is "The Biggest Scam in the World"

    We speak with acclaimed Indian writer and activist Arundhati Roy on President Obama, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, India and Kashmir and much more. Roy also talks about her journey deep into the forests of central India to report on the Maoist insurgency. [includes rush transcript]
    Mar 22, 2010 | Story