New stories, fresh voices—it’s time for the 20th season of Conversations From the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference on Idaho Public Television. This year’s interviews, which air Saturday nights at 6:30 PM and Sunday mornings at 11 AM, include a National Book Award winner and a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.
Nov. 1 & 2: Ocean Vuong
Vuong, a professor at New York University, is the author of two novels and two books of poetry. His latest book, The Emperor of Gladness, debuted at #2 on the New York Times Best Sellers list in May. In 2019, Vuong was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.
Nov. 8 & 9: Andre Dubus III
Dubus, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, is the author of nine books, including the bestselling House of Sand and Fog, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and was adapted into a feature film. His latest book, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin, is a compilation of essays about his life.
Nov. 15 & 16: Wright Thompson
Thompson, a senior writer for ESPN.com, has published three books. The latest, The Barn, examines the history of the barn where 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured in 1955, which is near where Thompson grew up in Mississippi. Till’s death galvanized the civil rights movement in the United States.
Nov. 22 & 23: Colum McCann
McCann is the author of 13 books, including Let the Great World Spin, which won a National Book Award in 2009. His latest novel, Twist, takes place on a boat that repairs the undersea cables that carry the internet around the world. He’s also the co-founder of Narrative 4, an international nonprofit that uses storytelling to bring youth of different backgrounds together.
It’s been 20 years since Marcia Franklin recorded her first interviews at the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, which began in 1995. “I was a volunteer at the event in its early years and loved listening to the range of authors who spoke there,” she says. “I thought it would be exciting if some of those wonderful speakers could be heard statewide, so I approached the conference organizers about doing interviews. I’m so grateful they said yes, and it’s been such a positive relationship over the past two decades.”
In 2005, Franklin’s first interviewees included Robert MacNeil, the co-founder of the PBS News Hour (originally known as The Robert MacNeil Report). Since then, the team has recorded more than 80 conversations. All are available for free on IdahoPTV’s YouTube channel and the Conversations From the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference website at idahoptv.org/svwc.