Richard Linklater is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. Linklater talks with Evan about his Oscar-nominated, highly acclaimed film “Boyhood,” which was filmed over 12 years with the same cast.
Richard Linklater is best known for his films “Dazed and Confused,” “Boyhood,” “Slacker” and “Everybody Wants Some.” Linklater is the Artistic Director and founder of the Austin Film Society. He has won a Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and BAFTAs for Best Director and Best Picture.
Tony Award-winning actor John Cameron Mitchell discusses his groundbreaking career.
John Cameron Mitchell is a screenwriter, director and actor whose cult rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” won Mitchell Best Director at the Sundance Festival. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor for that same film. His recent Broadway production of Hedwig garnered him Tony Awards for his performance and for Best Revival.
Mitchell has directed other films, including “How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” “Shortbus” and “Rabbit Hole.”
International best-selling author John Grisham discusses his novel “The Guardians.”
John Grisham is the author of more than thirty novels, one work of non-fiction, a collection of stories and seven novels for young readers. A master of the legal thriller, nine of his novels have been turned into films – “The Firm,” “The Pelican Brief,” “The Client,” “A Time to Kill,” “The Rainmaker,” “The Chamber,” “A Painted House,” “The Runaway Jury” and “Skipping Christmas.” There are currently more than 300 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 40 languages. His 2019 novel, “The Guardians,” has a strong social-justice component that shows how wrongful convictions happen.
When he’s not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes including serving as the local Little League commissioner. The six ballfields he built on his property have played host to more than 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley discusses his memoir, “Truth Worth Telling.”
Scott Pelley has been a journalist for nearly five decades. He is the most awarded correspondent in the history of “60 Minutes,” and he is the former anchor of the “CBS Evening News.” His work has been recognized with three duPont-Columbia Awards, three Peabody Awards, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and 37 Emmy Awards.
In his memoir, “Truth Worth Telling: A Reporter’s Search for Meaning in the Stories of Our Time,” Pelley recounts the best and worst of his career – stories from 9/11 as he encounters extraordinary heroism, insight to the military fighting in the Middle East and the families they left behind and the grieving mothers and fathers of Sandy Hook. He gives behind-the-scenes looks at interviews with world-famous people, from Bruce Springsteen to Donald Trump, and examines both the impulse to serve and the arrogance that can sully a leader’s ethical perspective.
Poet and author Saeed Jones talks about his debut memoir, “How We Fight for Our Lives.”
Saeed Jones is the author of “Prelude to Bruise,” winner of the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry and the 2015 Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gittings Literature Award. The poetry collection was also a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as awards from Lambda Literary and the Publishing Triangle in 2015. Jones is a former co-host of BuzzFeed’s morning show, “AM to DM,” and previously served as BuzzFeed’s LGBT editor and Culture editor. In his debut memoir, “How We Fight for Our Lives,” Jones tells his story of growing up a young, black, gay man from the South and fighting to carve out a place for himself within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Jones was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Lewisville, Texas. He earned a BA at Western Kentucky University and an MFA at Rutgers University-Newark.
Tim O’Brien, author of “The Things They Carried,” talks about his book, “Dad’s Maybe Book.”
Tim O’Brien’s acclaimed novels include “The Things They Carried” (an NEA Big Read, which the New York Times said belongs on “the short list of essential fiction about Vietnam”), “If I Die in a Combat Zone,” “In the Lake of the Woods” and “Going After Cacciato” (which won the 1979 National Book Award in fiction), among others. In 2013 he was awarded the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. O’Brien was interviewed for Ken Burns’ 2017 documentary series, “The Vietnam War.” Most recently he was a co-writer on the Vietnam episodes of the NBC series “This Is Us.” His 2019 book is “Dad’s Maybe Book,” where he shares wisdom from a life in letters, lessons learned in wartime and the challenges, humor and rewards of raising two sons.
Native American novelist Tommy Orange discusses his transformation from being a poor student to receiving rave reviews on his 2018 debut novel, “There There,” which chronicles the lives of Native Americans living in Oakland, California.
Tommy Orange is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and is a graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. His first novel, “There There,” was hailed by The New York Times as “an energetic revelation of a corner of American life.” Orange was born and raised in Oakland, California and currently lives in Angels Camp, California.
Presidential historian and author Michael Beschloss discusses his book “Presidents of War,” the state of U.S. democracy and writing history books that hold relevance in the modern era.
Michael Beschloss is a historian and author of numerous books on presidential history including The New York Times bestsellers “Presidential Courage” and “The Conquerors,” as well as two volumes on Lyndon Johnson’s White House tapes. His book “Presidents of War” chronicles the difficult decisions made by presidents from James Madison during the War of 1812 to present. Beschloss was also editor of the bestseller “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy.” He is the NBC News Presidential Historian, a “PBS NewsHour” contributor and has received an Emmy and six honorary degrees. Beschloss lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two sons.
Director and screenwriter Jason Reitman discusses his career in entertainment, the advice he learned from his filmmaker father, Ivan Reitman, and his 2018 film, “The Front Runner.”
Jason Reitman is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. Reitman made his feature film debut with the 2006 Sundance hit “Thank You for Smoking.” He earned Academy Award nominations for directing “Juno” and “Up in the Air,” the latter of which earned Reitman a Golden Globe Award, WGA Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. His other films include “Young Adult,” “Labor Day,” “Men, Women and Children” and “Tully,” his third collaboration with Diablo Cody and second with Charlize Theron. Reitman has produced three seasons of the Hulu comedy series “Casual” through his Right of Way Films. He also executive produced the Academy Award-winning film “Whiplash” and the Jean-Marc Vallee directed “Demolition.”
Singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter discusses her prolific career as a musician, how the music industry has changed during her lifetime and the inspiration behind many of her songs and career decisions.
Mary Chapin Carpenter is a five-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter. Her 2018 album, “Sometimes Just the Sky,” celebrates her acclaimed 30-year recording career and features reimagined versions of one song from each of Carpenter’s twelve albums, plus one newly penned track. Over the course of her career, she has sold 14 million records, won two Country Music Association Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards and is one of only 15 female members of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
