All Videos Why did you write All The Sad Young Literary Men? It started as a bunch of stories, Gessen says. ▸ 5 min — with Keith Gessen
All Videos Re: What inspired you to write Lush Life? A robbery turned suicide on New York’s Lower East Side. ▸ 3 min — with Richard Price
All Videos Becoming a Poet Growing up in New Jersey and writing a first poem. ▸ 2 min — with C.K. Williams
All Videos David Maine on His Youthful Influences Isolation sparked his interest in reading. His writing influences are Langston Huges and Flannery O’Connor. ▸ 3 min — with David Maine
All Videos Did you hit any writer’s block while writing? Price says the writing was smooth. ▸ 1 min — with Richard Price
All Videos Nina Hachigian: The Next American Century Why write this book now? ▸ 2 min — with Nina Hachigian
All Videos How do you avoid cliches when you write about food? You don’t, says Platt. ▸ 2 min — with Adam Platt
All Videos What drew you to writing? Abbott was always drawn to people’s darker impulses. ▸ 2 min — with Karen Abbott
All Videos The Power of Political Writing What defines good political writing? ▸ 2 min — with Gabriel Sherman
All Videos Nathaniel Rich on Internalizing Criticism The reason for writing the book in secret. ▸ 1 min — with Nathaniel Rich
All Videos Howard Zinn on the Limitations of American History Books Do strong nations have an interest in writing accurate historical accounts? ▸ 3 min — with Howard Zinn
All Videos How do you write? Procrastination stems from fear and self-protection, says Dovey. ▸ 3 min — with Ceridwen Dovey
All Videos How do you write? Khakpour churns it out fast, and edits it later. ▸ 5 min — with Porochista Khakpour
All Videos Is the Eric Cash character based on anyone? Richard Price writes his fears. ▸ 5 min — with Richard Price
All Videos New York v. America Adam Platt writes about New York restaurants. Does he feel disconnected from the rest of the country? ▸ 2 min — with Adam Platt
All Videos Richard Price on “The Wire” Price says he doesn’t feel the pressure of writing for a show with such a cult following. ▸ 2 min — with Richard Price
All Videos Kenji Yoshino: What inspired you to write? Covering, Yoshino says, is downplaying aspects of an identity you otherwise admit to. ▸ 8 min — with Kenji Yoshino
All Videos Why did you start writing? After dropping film, Dovey wanted a creative outlet that wasn’t as exploitative. ▸ 3 min — with Ceridwen Dovey
All Videos Nina DiSesa: What inspired you to write? DiSesa says she wanted to reach women. ▸ 2 min — with Nina DiSesa
All Videos Azar Nafisi: Were you writing about an Iran that no longer exists? Nafisi responds to her critics who allege that Iran has become freer since Nafisi left. ▸ 5 min — with Azar Nafisi
All Videos Mo Rocca:What is George W. Bush’s legacy? Mo Rocca writes Bush’s epitaph. ▸ 1 min — with Mo Rocca
All Videos Dan Barber: Translating Theory into a Working Farm Adapting the writings of Elliott Coleman and Joel Salatin to 300 acres. ▸ 7 min — with Dan Barber
All Videos How do you write about Russia for an American audience? The challenge is avoiding he memes of Cold War reporting. ▸ 2 min — with Michael Idov
All Videos The Struggle of Writing The challenges of imposing intellectual order on human actions. ▸ 3 min — with Peter Beinart
All Videos How do you compose? It takes Muldoon ages to write a sentence. ▸ 3 min — with Paul Muldoon
All Videos The Struggle of Writing “When you’re not writing, there’s an anxiety about whether you will ever write again,” says Collins. ▸ 1 min — with Billy Collins
All Videos The Poetry of American Prisons The lifers, Pinsky says, are the ones who write the best poetry. ▸ 5 min — with Robert Pinsky
All Videos Why do you use such esoteric words in your poetry? “Why don’t you write some ordinary poems that the rest of us can understand,” someone wrote to Muldoon. ▸ 5 min — with Paul Muldoon
All Videos Why did you write from the male perspective? Because Khakpour was very interested in what makes Muslim men tick, after the events on 9/11. ▸ 4 min — with Porochista Khakpour
All Videos How do you write about food? Rubell writes about food seasonally. ▸ 3 min — with Jennifer Rubell