The Words At Large podcast has an interview with Michael Chabon that aired last year on CBC Radio One’s Writers & Company. The interviewer, Eleanor Wachtel, talks to Chabon about his latest novel The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Here’s the description:
Part science fiction, part hardboiled whodunit, the novel takes place a world where Israel doesn’t exist. Instead, Europe’s Jewish refugees who fled the Holocaust ended up in the “temporary” safe haven of the Federal District of Sitka, in Alaska. Now, six decades later, the district is slated to return to Alaskan control, and the vibrant Yiddish community is threatened. But homicide detective Meyer Landsman’s most immediate concern is figuring out who murdered a former chess prodigy virtually right under his nose.
Chabon is the acclaimed author of seven novels, including The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as two books of short fiction and a collection of essays. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union garnered a fistful of prizes, including the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. A film adaptation of the book, to be written and directed by the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers, is currently in pre-production and is scheduled for release in 2010.
Michael Chabon spoke to Eleanor Wachtel from a studio in Oakland, California. They discuss where his love of the fantastic comes from and why he takes such pleasure in mixing up literary genres.
Have a listen |MP3| direct, or subscribe to the Writers & Company podcast feed:
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/writersandco.xml
Posted by Jesse Willis
P.S. CBC Radio One still has Apocalypse Al under lock and key. For shame!