Journalism
Not the complete list – a selection. Interviews, articles, reviews, you name it.
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Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
Published on 27 June 2010 in The New York Times Book Review
At first you think: That’s a nice conceit. “They had made a movie about us,” Bret Easton Ellis’s new book begins, and of course, they did, allowing us at least an early glimpse of the genius of Robert Downey Jr. The movie, it should go without saying, is the film version of “Less Than Zero,” [...]
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An interview with Sir Tom Stoppard at the London Library
Published on 12 June 2010 in The Times
It is the capital city’s best-kept secret – but not for much longer. As the London Library unveils a new look, a host of cultural icons, led by Sir Tom Stoppard, reveal its impact on their lives
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An interview with Rose Tremain
Published on 27 February 2010 in The Times
The author who made her name with Restoration deserves to emerge from the shadow of her illustrious peers
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An interview with Philip Roth
Published on 17 October 2009 in The Times
For 50 years Philip Roth has been mining the depths of the American soul — and at 76 he shows no sign of stopping
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This is How by M. J. Hyland
Published on 15 August 2009 in The New York Times Book Review
a review of the author’s third novel
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An interview with Margaret Atwood
Published on 15 August 2009 in The Times
Her prophetic, powerful fiction, from The Handmaid’s Tale to her new book The Year of the Flood, makes her a voice to be reckoned with —and she says we need to act now: our time to save the planet is running out
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I turned to Neil and said: ‘Hey, look. We missed the whole thing!’
Published on 3 July 2009 in The Times
Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, tells Erica Wagner about the shocking aftermath of his career as an astronaut and why man must land on Mars
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How US was nearly pipped to first moon rock samples
Published on 3 July 2009 in The Times
Sir Bernard Lovell tells Erica Wagner how he listened from Jodrell Bank to the drama, with the original audio from 1969
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An extraordinary trip up the coast of Baffin Island
Published on 9 May 2009 in The Times
Travelling with Adventure Canada as far as Resolute…
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An interview with Benjamin Zephaniah
Published on 2 May 2009 in The Times
One of Britain’s greatest poets scorns the role of Laureate
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An interview with Azar Nafisi
Published on 4 April 2009 in The Times
The Iranian academic and author tells why, in her new memoir, she felt compelled to unravel her extraordinary family’s secrets
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The art of storytelling comes to town
Published on 20 October 2008 in The Times
As the nights draw in, the art of storytelling comes into its own, and there are plenty of places to hear a good tale
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The Perfect Tunafish Sandwich
Published on 1 July 2008 in Real Simple
The summer I was seven, my parents and I drove from New York City, where we lived, to the tiny rural town of Quechee, Vermont, to visit friends. My dad’s car was an ancient Volkswagen Beetle, white, convertible, with cracks in the floorboards and red vinyl seats whose sticky scentand rough texture I still vividly [...]
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Central Park
Published on 3 May 2008 in The Times
… New York’s wild heart
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Jonathan Coe’s The Rain Before It Falls
Published on 13 April 2008 in The New York Times
“Caught on tape”
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An interview with Sir Bernard Lovell
Published on 8 March 2008 in The Times
Aged 94, Sir Bernard Lovell has one final fight – to save the pioneering radio telescope that was named after him but now faces closure in budget cuts
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Seizure — the soundtrack
Published on 29 February 2008 in The Times
What music do novelists hear when they write? In Erica Wagner’s case, timeless tales of love, bewitchment and betrayal
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Peter Carey talks about prose, politics, and his passion for Australia
Published on 1 February 2008 in The Times
Erica Wagner meets Australia’s greatest literary export to discuss his latest novel, His Illegal Self
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Roddy Doyle’s The Deportees
Published on 20 January 2008 in The New York Times
“White Irish need not apply”
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How to fly a plane
Published on 29 September 2007 in The Times
For one Times journalist, piloting a Russian aerobatic trainer was the next best thing to being a bird
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The Secrets of Brooklyn Bridge
Published on 1 September 2007 in The Times
Erica Wagner reveals our love affair with New York’s enduring gateway to the world
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Picking up the pieces
Published on 17 June 2007 in The New York Times
a review of Michael Ondaatje’s Divisadero
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Young man with a gun
Published on 24 April 2007 in The New York Observer
a review of Phil LaMarche’s novel, American Youth
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New York — still top
Published on 1 April 2007 in Prospect
After 15 years in London, I’ve come to miss many things about New York—including, incredibly, its subway system
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Altered States
Published on 1 April 2007 in Vogue
Erica Wagner describes how her seizures changed her life
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Call me, Ishmael
Published on 25 March 2007 in The New York Times Book Review
Why great literature and cellphones don’t mix…
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Cruel World
Published on 3 December 2006 in The New York Times Book Review
a review of the Everyman edition of Roald Dahl’s collected stories — I was reminded how good the early ones are
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The Birthday Party
Published on 17 September 2006 in The New York Times Book Review
a review of Gregoire Bouillier’s intriguing memoir, The Mystery Guest
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Little Earthquakes
Published on 21 May 2006 in The New York Times Book Review
a review of Amy Hempel’s (wonderful) Collected Stories
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Divinely inspired: Philip Pullman
Published on 18 October 2000 in The Times
Condemned by The Catholic Herald as “the stuff of nightmares”, Philip Pullman’s trilogy of children’s novels, His Dark Materials, draws on a tradition of religious dissent that goes back as far as Blake and Milton
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Ted Hughes’s archive opened at Emory University
Published on 10 April 2000 in The Times
In January 1975, Ted Hughes, the late Poet Laureate, was corresponding with the woman who had been his mother-in-law, Aurelia Plath. By this time Hughes had been married for five years to Carol Orchard, his second wife; Sylvia Plath’s suicide was 12 years behind him, the suicide of Assia Wevill, for whom he had left [...]
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William Maxwell and The New Yorker
Published on 16 March 2000 in The Times
… an interview in New York, the last Maxwell gave
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You have to be Maddy to sing this
Published on 28 January 2000 in The Times
Maddy Prior’s voice put English folk music into the charts. Now, 30 years later, she talks to Erica Wagner about her latest work
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Bridges span both space and spirit
Published on 9 September 1999 in The Times
Down the ages, structures uniting two sides have retained their ability to enthral and impress
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An interview with Alan Garner
Published on 12 August 1999 in The Times
‘I never considered myself a writer for children. A book that can only be read by children isn’t a good book.’
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A hero whose time has come
Published on 29 June 1999 in The Times
Profile of Sir Ernest Shackleton
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Beyond the Border, 1999
Published on 24 June 1999 in The Times
The ancient art of storytelling is celebrated next month at a Welsh festival. Erica Wagner prepares to listen
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Skellig’s garage is out the back…
Published on 22 April 1999 in The Times
An interview with David Almond
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Let me tell you a story…
Published on 22 April 1999 in The Times
an interview with tale-teller Ben Haggarty
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Death school
Published on 9 January 1999 in The Times
Ultimately we will all end up in the undertaker’s hands, but what sort of people choose to dedicate their lives to our deaths? Erica Wagner visited the College of Funeral Sciences to find out
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Poetic giant with his feet on the ground
Published on 11 September 1998 in The Times
an interview with Seamus Heaney
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Home comforts
Published on 4 April 1998 in The Times
His debut novel of love and life during the American Civil War, Cold Mountain, became a modern classic overnight. Erica Wagner talks to Charles Frazier, an author inspired by the beauty of his birthplace and history of his ancestors
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‘Thomas More’s London could be the city of God’
Published on 28 February 1998 in The Times
Peter Ackroyd takes Erica Wagner on a tour of the mean streets and divine architecture of the 16th century