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Book Nook: Some Favorite Interviews From 2020 - A Fiction Retrospective

red and teal mugs sit in front of books
Vick Mickunas
/
WYSO

When I looked back at the interviews I conducted over the past year I had a lot of favorites. I chose three of them to feature on this year-end retrospective program. There were many more that I could have picked. The criteria I used to choose these particular ones were fairly basic. First of all, the interview had to have something special about it. I had to love the book and the conversation that we had about it. And the interviews had to sound good.

I would have selected my interview with Adrian McKinty for his book "The Chain" because he provided my favorite anecdote of the year when he gave a long description of the crazy sequence of events that led to the publication of that novel. I had been trying to get another interview with Adrian for a long time. We ended up doing it on a cell phone and unfortunately, that created some audio issues. I still loved the book and the conversation. The sound, not so much. That's why I didn't pick it. Here are the ones I chose:

"The Evening and the Morning" by Ken Follett
I never dreamed I could ever score an interview with Ken Follett. But I did. And it was a good one. Another Book Nook milestone.

"Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey" by Kathleen Rooney
A magical book. Half of it is told from the point of view of a pigeon. Kathleen Rooney is an amazing writer.

"Dead Girl Blues" by Lawrence Block
About every ten years or so I score an interview with the legendary novelist Lawrence Block. This was my third conversation with him and it was my favorite by far. The book is incredible and Lawrence Block gave an amazing interview.

The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.