Interviews with 18 significant American writers. The interviews were conducted by the author on his radio program, Between the Covers, on KBOO in Portland, Oregon over a seven-year period. More conversational than interview in style, they focus on the interaction between the authors' lives and their literary work. The writers interviewed include Tim O'Brien, Carolyn Kizer, William Styron, William Kennedy, Robert Stone, Thomas McGuane, Carol Shields, Ethan Canin, Tobias Wolff, Paul Theroux, Jim Grimsley, Lorrie Moore, Dagoberto Gilb, Philip Levine, Thom Jones, Robert Wrigley, Stephen Dixon, and Robert Olen Butler.