British born Neil Gaiman is nothing if not prolific and versatile. He’s written short stories, novels, screenplays, poetry, even comic books and graphic novels.
And his fiction has won an entire trophy case full of major awards.
As a child, Gaiman started reading at age 4, and devoured books throughout his youth.
I met him in the fall of 2006 when he published a book of short fiction called Fragile Things.
So here now, from 2006, Neil Gaiman.
Neil Gaiman is 63. He lives in Wisconsin and Massachusetts.
Author David Baldacci is best known for Suspenseful political thrillers. But about 20 years ago he was inspired to write a very different kind of book.
It was a book inspired by his own experience on a long train trip
The Christmas Train is about a writer, not unlike Baldacci, who takes a train trip that will change his life. Hallmark turned it into a TV movie in 2017 starring Dermot Mulroney.
If you like Christmas, if you like trains, this may be just the book for you to read over the holidays.
So here now, from 2002, David Baldacci.
David Baldacci is 63, and lives in Virginia. He has written nearly four dozen books for adults and several for young readers.
If you’ve had young children in your house anytime in the past 50 years, or if perhaps you were the young child, you know the work of children’s book author Tomie dePaola.
He turned a childhood fascination with drawing into a career in which he produced over 260 children’s books.
One of my interviews with dePaola occurred over 30 years ago, around this time of year, as we talked about his book called Jingle the Christmas Clown.
And he had some fascinating insights into what it takes to create a memorable children’s book.
When I was a kid, all my friends and I were into The Twilight Zone, the Rod Serling TV series.
But in the later 2000s, another “twilight” captured the world’s imagination: the “Twilight” series of novels by Stephenie Meyer.
Four, in all, chronicling the stories of teenager Bella, vampire Edward. and werewolf Jacob.
The third book in the series, “Eclipse,” was published in 2007. And that’s when I met the author — who, as you’ll hear, was still getting accustomed to the fact she had become more popular, book-sales-wise, than J.K. Rowling.
Here now, from 2007, Stephenie Meyer.
Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” books have been turned into popular movies. And her books continue to sell tens of millions of copies worldwide.
On just about any list of the best selling novelists of all time you’ll find the name Sidney Sheldon.
In a nearly 40 year writing career – which followed a nearly 30 year television, movie and Broadway career – Sheldon sold over 300 million copies of his books worldwide.
Oh, and about that earlier career? Sidney Sheldon is the one who created The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie, and Hart To Hart.
He started writing novels at age 50.
And if you’re a Sidney Sheldon fan, you know that once you start reading one of his novels, it’s really hard to put it down.
And he made it look so easy! If you ever wondered what makes his books so captivating, well, it may be a once in a generation confluence of skill, talent, and luck.
In my several interviews with him, I tried to draw out his secrets of writing. In 1988, for example, we talked about his novel The Sands of Time. And I got some fascinating insights.
So here now, from 1988, Sidney Sheldon.
Sidney Sheldon died in 2007, just days before his 90th birthday./
Over the last three decades, millions of people around the world have enjoyed a series of novels about a fictional amateur bounty hunter from New Jersey named Stephanie Plum.
Stephanie is the creation of writer Janet Evanovich. In the 1980s, she was a stay-at-home mom, but when her kids were nearing the age at which they would be leaving for college, she decided to try something new — like, writing.
She started out as a romance writer, and achieved considerable success in that genre.
But after several years, she realized that what she liked best about writing was the action sequences in her books, and their humor.
So in 1994, Evanovich wrote her first mystery, a book called One For the Money . It introduced Stephanie Plum and her offbeat circle of friends and family.
It was an almost instant hit, and gave rise to a series that continues to this day. There are now 30 books in the Stephanie Plum series.
And this is where it all began. So here now, from 1994, my interview with the newly published Janet Evanovich.
Janet Evanovich celebrated her 80th birthady in April. Her most recent Stephanie Plum book, the 30th in the series, was published this year.
Indian-born author Salman Rushdie was building a solid literary reputation in the 1980s. His novels won several prestigious awards.
But it was his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, that earned him not accolades, but I death sentence, pronounced by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Rushdie spent the next several years essentially in hiding, with constant death threats hanging over him.
Gradually, however, he re-emerged in public, and by 2002 was again going on author tours. That’s when I first met him, as we talked about his non-fiction book Step Across This Line.
So here now from 2002 Salman Rushdie.
Salman Rushdie is 76 now/.
One year ago this weekend Rushdie was attacked on stage at a lecture in New York. He was seriously injured. His attacker was arrested and charged with attempted murder. The government of Iran has denied any involvement.
Tom Keneally has written dozens of books in his career, spanning from the 1960s.
But the one book with which you may be most familiar is his prize-winning 1982 book called Schindler’s Ark. It was later renamed Schindler’s List, and that’s what the movie was based on.
Keneally is one of Australia’s most prolific, and most honored, authors.
He has also been a playwright, lecturer, and even actor.
I’ve had the privilege of interviewing him half a dozen times over the years, including our talk in 1995 about his novel A River Town.
So here now, from 1995, Thomas Keneally.
Thomas Keneally will be 88 this fall. His last book was published in 2019.
