Booktalk with Diana Korte Diana Korte

Host Diana Korte speaks with Mo Rocca,  co-author with English professor Jonathan Greenberg, of ROCTOGENERIANS.

They introduce us to the people past and present who peaked when they could have been puttering—breaking out as writers, selling out concert halls, and attempting to set land-speed records.

  Enjoy dozens of profiles of late-in-life achievers in this book from activists, artists, actors, old soldiers, comedians, and of course, Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, all who declined to go into decline just because they were eligible for Social Security.

 

 



 

PR Operative Phil Elwood is a man who used to pull the strings, but who is now pulling back the curtain in his DC tell-all book, ALL THE WORST HUMANS.

After nearly two decades in the Washington PR business, Elwood wants to come clean, by exposing the dark underbelly of the very industry that’s made him so successful. The first step is revealing exactly what he’s been up to for the past twenty years—and it isn’t pretty.

Elwood has worked for a murderer’s row of questionable clients, including Gaddafi, Assad, and the government of Qatar. In All the Worst Humans, Elwood unveils how the PR business works, and how the truth gets made, spun, and sold to the public—not shying away from the gritty details of his unlikely career.

Host Diana Korte speaks with James Lee Burke who is the author of about 40 books written over more than 50 years.  

He’s best known for two series. One is about the Holland family that’s featured in this program about “The House of the Rising Sun.”  We chatted about this book several years ago.

The other series that he is best known for features former New Orleans police officer Dave Robicheaux. His continuing story has been told in two dozen books. #24 is “Clete,” published this year.

Another 2024 title is “Harbor Lights,” a book of 8 short stories that move from the marshlands on the Gulf of Mexico to the sweeping plains of Colorado.

Host Diana Korte speaks with Daniel Handler--perhaps better known for 25 years as his alter ego Lemony Snicket--who has authored his 30th book,  “And Then? And Then? What Else?"

It’s a fully engaging memoir from who’s that guy in the cafe wearing big headphones while scribbling on index cards to details of his love of books always, along with advice for aspiring writers.

Woven through is his path toward one of the most spectacularly successful writing careers of the 21st century. 





 

Host Diana Korte speaks with Karlya Shelton-Benjamin, a Swan of Harlem herself who is one of the dancers featured in "The Swans of Harlem. Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years Of Sisterhood, And Their Reclamation Of A Groundbreaking History” written by Karen Valby.

It’s the forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas, the first principals in the Dance Theatre of Harlem, who traveled the world as highly celebrated stars in their field and whose legacy was erased from history until now.

Karlya Shelton-Benjamin began dancing at age 4 with the Colorado Concert Ballet (currently Colorado Ballet). At 17, she became the first person of color to represent the United States in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne ballet competition in Switzerland.

Her ballet sisters also featured in this book are Lydia Abarca, Gayle McKinney-Griffith, Sheila Rohan and Marcia Sells. Together they describe their triumphs and challenges of being Black ballerinas back in the day when many people didn't know they existed.

Host Diana Korte speaks with David Coggins, author of his fourth book, "THE BELIEVER".

He brings readers along for an enchanting year of fly fishing in Patagonia, Cuba, Belize, Spain, Scotland, Norway, and the U.S. And of course, it’s about more than just the fishing.

He deftly mixes travel, local cultures, further fishing challenges (some knee-buckling in their disappointment) and details his own experience as life and love crowd his time to fish.

And, since this is fly fishing, after all—there’s always the possibility of abject failure and leaping, glorious reward.