Inside this month's issue of BookPage

September 2004
In This Issue

FIRST PERSON
September BookPage interviews:

Terry Gross: The 'Fresh Air' host's most memorable conversations

Although "Fresh Air" frequently focuses on current affairs, in her first collection of interviews Gross shines the light on artists — writers, actors, musicians, comics and visual artists. Culling the thousands of interviews (including those before 1997, which hadn't been transcribed), she realized that what makes for good radio doesn't always make a good read. "I wanted to be respectful of the writing medium," says Gross, who whittled away at her list until some three dozen selections remained.

Walter Zacharius: A publisher writes a compelling first novel

Walter Zacharius always dreamed of writing a book. But Zacharius, the chairman and CEO of Kensington Publishing Corp., wasn't content to write just any old novel. "I wanted it to be a page-turner," he tells BookPage. Zacharius' first — and, he says, last — novel, is the compelling personal tale of a young woman's struggle against the Nazis during World War II. The fast-paced storyline takes readers from Europe to America and back again, all in the space of less than 300 pages.

Mark Spragg's second novel shines on page and screen

Well known authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson team up for a Peter Pan prequel

Meet Joyce Carol Oates

Nancy Reisman examines the bonds of place and family in an accomplished debut novel

Chef Frank Stitt revolutionizes Southern cooking

Meet Mark Ulriksen

FEATURES

SPOTLIGHT: Our Preview for the fall publishing season

Remembering September 11 and Ground Zero

Behind the Cookbook: Rising from the ashes

Well Read: Louis de Bernières' Birds Without Wings follows a clash of cultures in wartime

Arthur Phillips explains the "inspiration" behind his inventive second novel in Behind the Book

Investing advice for playing the market

Football: Two books highlight America's new favorite pastime

FICTION

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke

Heir to the Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick

The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates