Now What? With Carole Zimmer Carole Zimmer

Ever since he was a kid, Nick Kristof dreamed of being a foreign correspondent. And that’s what he spent decades doing, traveling to more than 150 countries to   cover conflicts and crises. Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his reports on the deadly Tiananmen Square protests and for columns focusing attention on genocide in Darfur. Kristof has also been called the moral conscience of a generation. We talk about all the close calls and terrifying moments he describes in his new memoir Chasing Hope. And we talk about why he’s an optimist in a world torn apart by conflict. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Gail Godwin has written 18 books. Many of her novels were best sellers including Evensong. Three of them were finalists for the National Book Award. Her book Grief Cottage features a boy who has a relationship with a ghost. Godwin says she herself has seen ghosts. When she was a reporter, an apparition dressed in a medical uniform used to visit her in the middle of the night. Godwin’s new book is a memoir. It opens with the story of how the writer, who’s 87, went into her back yard to water her dogwood tree, wound up falling on her face and breaking her neck. We talk about how curiosity saved her in her darkest moments. “Now What?” is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Writer Jhumpa Lahiri grew up in Rhode Island after her family emigrated from India when she was a toddler. Her first language was Bengali and she spoke English in school. When she was 32, Lahiri won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her first book Interpreter of Maladies. It was an honor but it also put a lot of pressure on her as a writer. Then Lahiri fell in love with the Italian language and when she moved to Rome, she discovered a kind of freedom. Now, Lahiri writes her books in Italian. Her latest work of fiction is called Roman Stories. We talk about identity, culture and what it’s like to live between 2 different worlds. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

What’s it like to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year working as the personal assistant to the billionaire founder of a famous hedge fund? Pretty tough according to writer Carrie Sun. Sun’s memoir Private Equity tells the story of working 24/7, being at the beck and call of a demanding boss and feeling so stressed that she developed an eating disorder. There are also the perks like a $2500 gift certificate to Soul Cycle, a Derek Lam coat worth $6,000, surfing trips to Montauk and a bird’s eye view of the world of the ultra-rich. We talk about what you owe your job, how that fits with your personal values and what to do when you feel you’re wasting your life. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

Frank Bruni used to be a restaurant critic for the New York Times. Now, he’s a Contributing  Opinion writer for the paper and a Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University. Bruni has written a book called The Age of Grievance about what’s going on in Trump World and the MAGA Universe. One of his theories is that the people who are the most furious feel they’re losing because someone else is winning. We talk about the erosion of democracy in our country and why so many people seem to be so ticked off. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

You may know him from his role as Murray Bauman in Stranger Things and as Martin in the BBC comedy Fleabag. Brett Gelman has dreamed of being a famous actor since he was a child growing up in Highland Park, Illinois, where he wanted to make the other kids laugh and wound up feeling like an outcast. Gelman has written about his childhood and his neuroses in a book called The Terrifying Realm of the Possible. He’s run into problems publicizing the book after making impassioned speeches about his support for Israel in the conflict with Gaza.  Get ready for a heated discussion (and laughs). “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.