Amy Tan

Sunday is Mother’s Day. So today, my conversation with an author who called upon her mother’s life experiences to craft one of America’s best loved novels of the late 20th century.

Amy Tan’s parents emigrated to the US from China. And they brought with them not only their own personal histories, of course, but centuries of Chinese history and wisdom.

It was against that backdrop that Tan wrote her 1989 best-selling novel, The Joy Luck Club.

And as you’ll hear in a few minutes, Tan’s writing tapped into a consciousness that even her own mother was startled by.

The first time I interviewed Amy Tan was in 1990, when the paperbackedition of The Joy Luck Club had just been published .

So here now, from 1990, novelist Amy Tan.

Amy Tan is 71 now. She is frequently listed as among the most important and influential American authors of her time.


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Lucie Arnaz

It’s mother’s Day weekend. So today on Now I’ve Heard Everything a conversation with a woman whose mother was, and is, one of the world’s most famous women, the great Lucille Ball.

I met Lucie Arnaz in 1997 when she was on tour promoting a CD-ROM project she had created called “Lucy and Desi: The Scrapbook.

She was also promoting a companion project, a kind of do-it-yourself family, scrapbook and album, and she was encouraging other sons and daughters to create family memories.

Now, you’ll probably chuckle a bit when you hear us discussing such “cutting edge” technologies as the CD-ROM, but in 1997, they really were.

So here now, from 1997, Lucie Arnaz.

Lucie Arnaz will be 71 in July. She lives in California.


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Barbara Corcoran

Photo: Jacqueline Zacco

She’s been a top New York City real estate broker for many years, but you may know Barbara Corcoran best for her role that’s one of the investors pitched by entrepreneurs each week on the TV series Shark Tank.

What you may not know is that Barbara Corcoran is one of 10 children, and that her very strong mother inspired her to become a business success.

I met Barbara Corcoran in 2003, when she wrote a book about the wisdom her mother had passed along to her.

So here now, from 2003, Barbara Corcoran:

Barbara Corcoran is 72. She is still very active as a public speakler consulant and columnist.

Christina Crawford

All this week on Now I’ve Heard Everything, as we look ahead to Morthers Day next Sunday, we\re featuring interviews with or about mothers.

Today my 1988 interview with a wopman whose book about her adoptive mother became a cultural nilepost.

Christina Crawford;s mother was Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. But as she revealed in her 1978 bestseller, life with the fanous actress was not a fairy tale existence.

I first met Chrsitina Crawford ten years after “Mommie Dearest,” when she came out with a book called “Survivor.”

So here now, from 1988, Christina Crawford:\

Christina Crawford is now 80 years old. She is still primarily known for “Mommie Deares.”