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Host: Eleanor Wachtel A special program on African-American author Toni Morrison. She talks about her life, her writing, and her most recent novel Jazz. Before the interview Morrison reads from one of her earlier novels, Song of Solomon. Following the interview, she reads an excerpt from Jazz. (Both are readings are excerpts from Random House audiobooks.)

This week: a panel on the perils and pleasures of literary prizes. Eleanor talks with four literary prize winners, including England's Justin Cartwright, Ireland's Kevin Barry, Canada's Charlotte Gray, and American Meg Wolitzer.

Eleanor speaks with Canadian author Carol Shields about her new collection of short stories, Dressing Up for the Carnival. Then: a reading of Shields' short story "Soup du Jour" at the Toronto International Festival of Authors.

Host Eleanor Wachtel talks with Cuban-American writer Oscar Hijuelos. He is perhaps best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. It was made into a movie starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas. Oscar Hijuelos talks to Eleanor Wachtel about his roots, about growing up in New York, and about the music that inspired him. His latest novel is A Simple Habana Melody (From When the World Was Good).

The winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Jericho Brown, talks to Eleanor Wachtel about the legacy of racial injustice and his award-winning collection, The Tradition.

Today on Writers & Company, Eleanor talks with the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey. The two-time U.S. Poet Laureate has a haunting new memoir, Memorial Drive, which deals with race, her Southern childhood, and the trauma of her mother's murder. CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains frank discussion of some of the painful experiences in Natasha's account, including physical and psychological violence.

American poet Rita Dove discusses her work and reads from her new collection, Grace Notes, and from her collection Thomas and Beulah. Then, British critic, dramatist, and writer Ronald Hayman discusses the life and work of Marcel Proust in his book Proust: a Biography.

A visit with Irish poet Paul Muldoon this week on Writers & Company. Muldoon won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, as well as the Griffin Award, for his most recent book of poems, Moy Sand and Gravel.

This week on Writers and Company, host Eleanor Wachtel talks with Jhumpa Lahiri about her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, and about her latest novel, The Namesake.

This week on Writers and Company, host Eleanor Wachtel talks with Dominican-American writer Junot Díaz. His latest novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, won this year's Pulitzer Prize.

A rare interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet John Ashbery. Ashbery - often touted as the next Nobel Laureate from the United States - discusses poets and poetry and reads from his work.

Part I: Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Maxine Kumin extols nature, family, horses, and her best friend, Anne Sexton. Part II: Kindred spirits - a look at the friendship between Noël Coward and Radclyffe Hall with American literary critic Terry Castle.

Featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Annie Dillard. Famous for her Thoreau-like nature book - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - and her charming memoir - An American Childhood - Annie Dillard is one of America's most-admired prose stylists.