Former Alaska writer laureate, Tom Sexton has a new poetry collection out from University of Alaska Press.  We’ve got a poet’s review right here.

Music= QQQ performing “Swimming under the Moonlight” from a Live at WFMU set, available from the Free Music Archive.

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NPR will be turning to best-selling Chinese authors this week to gain some insight into the people’s perspectives on the People’s Republic during its controversial 60 years of rule. Today’s story, the first of the three parts, focuses on Jian Rong’s, Wolf Totem which I happened to pick up not too long ago, fascinated by the subject of Beijing intellectuals electing to go live with the nomadic people of Inner Mongolia and learning from their cultural adoration for the wolf. Listen to the story and join in the conversation, here.

Reviewed and read by JPL staff.  Get your hands on a copy of the book, here.

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If you aren’t already an NPR listener, here’s a few links to some recent  literary content worth a listen.

First,Tom Ashbrook, host of On Point, hosts a conversation about Zen and Now: On the trail of Robert Pirsig and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Mark Richardson.  Join the conversation  and Listen. Second, Neal Conen, host of Talk of the Nation, speaks with Pulitzer Prize winner, Junot Diaz about culture, politics and his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,  Listen, Read/Blog/Comment. Third, Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air, interviews Diaz following the announcement of his Pulitzer Prize,  Listen.