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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Ramona Koval has been praised as a master of the interview genre, renowned for engaging writers in conversations that are incisive, provocative, and often funny. In this new collection, Speaking Volumes: conversations with remarkable writers, she shares the most fascinating interviews from her 2005 book Tasting Life Twice, along with brand-new ones with some of the most important writers of our times.
'Through Koval, we are privy to the extraordinary minds of Joseph Heller, Joyce Carol Oates, Mario Vargas Llosa, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, David Malouf, P. D. James, John Mortimer, Ian McEwan, Amos Oz, Gore Vidal, Harold Pinter, John le Carré, Barry Lopez, Malcolm Bradbury, William Gass, Judith Wright, Les Murray, Fay Weldon, A. S. Byatt, Margaret Drabble, Martin Amis, Toni Morrison, André Brink, John Banville, Jeanette Winterson, Hanif Kureishi, and Anne Enright, among others.'
Source: Publisher's website (Scribe 2010)
Notes
-
Dedication: For Dave
-
Epigraph: 'I was shaking his hand. I was smoking his cigar, and I was hearing him talk - this man I had learned to love and admire fourteen thousand miles away. Reading his books, I had striven to get an idea of his personality, and all my preconceived notions were wrong and beneath the reality. Blessed is the man who finds no disillusion when he is brought face to face with a revered writer.'
Rudyard Kipling on interviewing Mark Twain, 1889.
'Why do I refuse to be interviewed? Because it is immoral! It is a crime, just as much of a crime as an offence against my person, as an assault, and just as much merits punishment. It is cowardly and vile. No respectable man would ask it, much less give it.'
Rudyard Kipling (after 1892) on being interviewed, according to his wife.
We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.
- Anais Nin
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Transcripts of interviews conducted by Koval with Australian and overseas authors. The interviews were originally broadcast on ABC Radio National's Books and Writing program.
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Sydney,
New South Wales,:ABC Books
, 2005 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- Morris West, Ramona Koval (interviewer), single work interview (p. 81-92)
- David Malouf, Ramona Koval (interviewer), single work interview (p. 103-113)
- Judith Wright, Ramona Koval (interviewer), single work interview (p. 256-266)
- Les Murray, Ramona Koval (interviewer), single work interview (p. 267-291)
- Tom Keneally, Ramona Koval (interviewer), single work interview (p. 314-324)
- Michael Ondaatje and David Malouf, Ramona Koval (interviewer), single work interview (p. 325-337)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Conversations with Writers
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 15 no. 1 2011;
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Untitled
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 3 no. 1 2010;
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Untitled
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , September vol. 90 no. 2 2010; (p. 37)
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Question Time in the House of Creativity
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 October 2010; (p. 36)
— Review of A Word in Edgeways 2010 selected work biography interview ; Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Off the Shelf : Interviews
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 2 October 2010; (p. 26)
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview
-
Better You Don't Ask
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 272 2005; (p. 42)
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Artful Chats with Literary Process
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 18 June 2005; (p. 15)
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Second Reading Doubly Enjoyable
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2-3 July 2005; (p. 12)
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
In Short : Non-Fiction
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 23-24 July 2005; (p. 23)
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Probing the Minds of Great Writers
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Jewish News , 28 October vol. 72 no. 5 2005; (p. 20)
— Review of Tasting Life Twice : Conversations with Remarkable Writers 2005 selected work interview -
Moments of Magic and Wisdom
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 17 July 2005; (p. 22) -
Ramona's World of Leading Writers
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian Jewish News , 29 July vol. 71 no. 45 2005; (p. 19)
Last amended 29 Nov 2012 11:00:15
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