Talking on the Water: Conversations about Nature and Creativity

Jonathan White

“One of the functions of art is to give people the words to know their own experience… Storytelling is a tool for knowing who we are and what we want.”

Ursula K. Le Guin on art, storytelling, and the power of language to transform and redeem — a wonderful interview:

James Baldwin: The Last Interview: and other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)

James Baldwin

“Loving anybody and being loved by anybody is a tremendous danger, a tremendous responsibility.”

James Baldwin on the dignity of all love and his advice on coming out:

Dinner with Lenny: The Last Long Interview with Leonard Bernstein

Jonathan Cott

“There is so much inherent goodness in people that if they aren’t inhibited by traumas and are given half a chance, it shines through.”

The great Leonard Bernstein on cynicism, instant gratification, and why paying attention is a countercultural act of courage and rebellion:

Upstairs at the Strand: Writers in Conversation at the Legendary Bookstore

Jessica Strand

“See how long you can stay in that space, where both things are true… That’s a great place to try to be.”

A wonderful conversation with George Saunders about writing, the artist’s task, the vitality of living with opposing truths, and whether goodness can win in the end:

Power and Possibility: Essays, Reviews, and Interviews

Elizabeth Alexander

“You have to tell your own story simultaneously as you hear and respond to the stories of others.”

Elizabeth Alexander on writing, the ethic of love, language as a vehicle for the self, and the inherent poetry of personhood:

The Type

Sarah Kay

“My father is a wonderful, brilliant photographer. He is also not an educated man — he barely graduated from high school, he’s extremely dyslexic, almost to the point of having trouble with literacy. He somehow managed to be a very successful businessman for all his life, but he’s not well-read. And when I first started writing poetry, something that was immensely important to me was that I not write poetry that alienated my father. I did not want to write poetry that made my dad feel stupid — I wanted to write poetry that made him laugh or made him cry or that he was otherwise able to engage with. And that desire — to make poetry that had an access point for someone who was not necessarily in the same education space that I was — was really important to me.”

A conversation with poet Sarah Kay about how we measure creative success, as individuals and as a culture – more at the link:

A Glorious Accident: Understanding Our Place in the Cosmic Puzzle

Wim Kayzer

“Our universe is the most interesting of all possible universes, and our fate as human beings is to make it so.”

Freeman Dyson on our place in the cosmic puzzle – wisdom from one of the greatest scientific minds of our time:

Conversations with Kafka (Second Edition) (New Directions Paperbook)

Gustav Janouch

“Truth, which is one of the few really great and precious things in life, cannot be bought. Man receives it as a gift, like love or beauty.”

Kafka on appearance vs. reality, how the media commodify truth, and how to keep the cognitive keyhole clean:

Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace & Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing

Bryan Garner

“Really good writing [is] able to get across massive amounts of information and various favorable impressions of the communicator with minimal effort on the part of the reader.”

David Foster Wallace on why you should use a usage dictionary, how to write a great opener, and the true measure of good writing:

More Writers & Company: New Conversations with CBC Radio’s Eleanor Wachtel

Eleanor Wachtel

Alice Walker on what her father taught her about lying and the love-expanding capacity of telling the truth:

Seven Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges

Fernando Sorrentino

“When you come right down to it, opinions are the most superficial things about anyone.”

Borges on public opinion, literature vs. the other arts, and the true measure of artistic success:

Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“Generally, beware of dissipating your powers, and strive to concentrate them.”

Goethe on beginner’s mind and the importance of being enormously selective about your media diet:

Conversations with Robert Graves

Robert Graves

“Love is really a recognition of truth, a recognition of another person’s integrity and truth.”

Robert Graves on love, lust, and the crucial difference between the two:

Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“Terrible things happen. And those are the things that we learn from… The amazing thing is that despite all… the human spirit still manages to survive, to stay strong.”

Madeleine L’Engle on creativity, how to get unstuck, and the hope of the human spirit – magnificent vintage interview: