Bookwaves/Artwaves – April 18, 2024: Don Winslow – Viet Thanh Nguyen

​Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Links to assorted local theater & book venues 

Don Winslow, author of “City in Ruins,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded via zencastr on April 10, 2024

Don Winslow is the author of 22 novels, many of which focus on crime and the criminal underworld, including The Cartel, The Force, Savages (which became an Oliver Stone film), and The Border. His latest novel,  “City in Ruins”, concludes the trilogy of “City on Fire” and “City of Dreams,” which told of a mob war using as a template the story of the Trojan War, The Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid and other works. In this latest novel, we follow the character of Danny Ryan, (Aeneas) as he winds up in Las Vegas (the founding of Rome), with forays into the Odyssey and the greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Europides.  Don Winslow has stated that these will be his final novels.

Don Winslow also produces political videos aimed at saving the American democracy from Donald Trump, and is a vital force on Twitter.

Photos: Richard Wolinsky. Complete Interview.

A conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel, The Sympathizer, which has now been adapted into a television miniseries. The interview was recorded in the KPFA studios, May 5, 2016. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky

Viet Thanh Nguyen came over from Vietnam with his family at the time of the fall of Saigon. The Sympathizer is the story of a Communist exile in America following the end of the Vietnam War, both a spy and in some respects, a lover of American culture.

An Associate Professor at the University of Southern California, Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of two non-fiction books, Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America and Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, a non-fiction bookend to his novel. A sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed, was published in 2021.

Complete 40-minute interview.

Review of “Tiger Style!” at TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts through April 28, 2024.

Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links

Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.

Book Stores
Bay Area Book Festival  Family Day, May 4th, events around Berkeley. 2025 Festival: June 1-2, guests include Joan Baez, Naomi Klein, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jonathan Lethem.
Book Passage.  Monthly Calendar. Mix of on-line and in-store events.
Books Inc.  Mix of on-line and in-store events.