Writing

Writer Ernesto Quinonez His debut novel, “Bodega Dreams” (Vintage books), is set in Spanish Harlem. Like his narrator, Quinonez is half Ecuadorean, half-Puerto Rican. A reviewer in the Kirkus Reviews writes of the book, “Edgy, street-smart. . . An admirable debut, brimming with energy and refreshingly devoid of genre clichés.”

Prize winning author John Irving. He's turned his novel, "The Cider House Rules," into a movie. Irving writes about the Cider House Rules and the process of turning it into a screenplay, in "My Movie Business, A Memoir (Random House). Irving is the author of 9 novels, including "The World According to Garp," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," and "Hotel New Hampshire."

Writer Lee Stringer. He spent eleven years on the streets of New York City, living n the tunnels under Grand Central Terminal, addicted to crack. His acclaimed memoir "Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street" (Washington Square Press) chronicled his unraveling, from a marketing executive to being homeless and crack addicted. He collaborated on his new book with Kurt Vonnegut: "Like Shaking Hands with God: a conversation about writing" (Seven Stories Press)

Before he became a well-known detective novelist, Lawrence Block wrote a number of books of lesbian pulp fiction, under the pseudonym Jill Emerson (and others). Block is best known for his detective novels featuring the Manahatten private eye, Matt Scudder. His novels have followed Scudder through alcoholism and into recovery through an Alcoholics Anonymous program.

The writer Paul Bowles died today in Tangiers, Morocco, his home for 50 years. He was 88 and died of cardiac arrest. His most famous novel "The Sheltering Sky" was selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the century. We remember him with an excerpt of his 1993 interview. (REBROADCAST from 6/15/93).

Actor Gene Hackman. The star of the films "Bonnie and Clyde," "The French Connection," "The Conversation," and "Unforgiven" is now an author. He's collaborated with Daniel Lenihan (LEN-ah-han) who we'll also from hear from (one of the world's leading underwater archaeologists) on the new novel, "Wake of the Perdido Star: A novel of shipwrecks, pirates, and the sea" (Newmarket Press). (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Writer and Emergency doctor Frank Huyler (HIGH-ler). Huyler has transformed his experiences working in emergency rooms and hospitals into a series of short stories. His new book is called "The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine (University of California Press)." His poetry has appeared in a number of publications including the Atlantic Monthly.

Novelist A.M. Homes. Her new book is "Music for Torching" (Rob Weisbach Books/William Morrow). Her previous novels are "The End of Alice," "In a Country of Mothers," and "Jack." She teaches writing programs at Columbia University and the New School.

British writer Pat Barker is best known for her "Regeneration" trilogy set in the shadows of WWI. In 1995,
she received the Booker Prize for its concluding novel, The Ghost Road. She has written the new novel "Another World." (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) Pat Barker grew up poor in the industrial North, once remarking that her decision to write about war was a deliberate response to patronizing reviews of her working-class settings in her earlier novels.

Tom Perrotta is the author of "Election: The Novel" which the new film "Election" is based upon. The book is set in a New Jersey high school amidst a hotbed of political activity: students are voting for their school president. earlier books, The Wishbones (1997), and, Bad Haircut (1994), were in similar fashion observing the agonies of growing up in suburban New Jersey.

Writer Kurt Andersen is a columnist for The New Yorker, and was co-founder and editor of Spy magazine. He's just written his first novel, "Turn of the Century" (Random House) a sprawling, satirical, futuristic novel of sorts set in February 2000.

Writer Andre Dubus III. He is the son of the celebrated writer Andre Dubus, who died earlier this year. He's the author of the new novel, "House of Sand And Fog" (W.W. Norton). Dubus is the author of two previous books, and he teaches writing at Tufts University and Emerson College.

Poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje (on-DAH-chay). He won Britain's highest literary prize, the Booker Prize, for his novel set in post World War II, "The English Patient," which was made into a film. Ondaatje was born in Cylon (now Sri Lanka), emigrated to England, and now lives in Canada. He has a new book of poetry, "Handwriting" (Knopf)

The CIA's Public Affairs Director William Harlow. The retired Navy Captain has written a new novel, a political-military thriller. It's called "Circle William" (Scribner) and has as one of its heroes a White House press secretary. Harlow was also a public affairs officer in the Navy Secretary's office and was former White House national security aid under Reagan and Bush.

Writer Gail Godwin. Her latest novel "Evensong" (Ballintine) is about the inner spirituality of a modern woman and continues the story of Margaret Bonner began in "Father Melancholy's Daughter." Godwin's other books include "The Odd Woman," "Violet Clay," and "A Mother and Two Daughters." Godwin is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the 1981 Award in Literature from the National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Novelist Elmore Leonard. "Be Cool" (Delacorte Press) is his newest book. It continues the story of Chili Palmer, the small time Brooklyn crook in "Get Shorty" who became a Hollywood movie producer. John Travolta played Chili in the movie version. "Be Cool" has Palmer dabbling in the music industry. It's also soon to be a new film.

Novelist Arthur Golden wrote the bestseller, "Memoirs of a Geisha" which was on the New York Times Bestseller List for one year. It's now out in paperback, and a movie version will be made by Stephen Spielberg. "Memoirs of a Geisha" was GOLDEN's debut as a novelist.(

Jonathan Kellerman is a child psychologist and best-selling writer. He's best known his character psychologist Alex Delaware. In his latest novel, his 14th book, Delaware is on hiatus. In "Billy Straight" published by Random House, his star is Billy, a 12 year old runaway, who witnesses a murder. Kellerman is a clinical professor of pediatrics and psychology at University of Southern California School of Medicine. His wife Faye Kellerman is also an accomplished mystery writer.

Updike's newest book features Henry Bech, the moderately well known Jewish-American writer who was the hero of Updike's previous novels, "Bech: A Book," and "Bech is Back." His newest book is "Bech at Bay" (Knopf).