COVER STORY
Letters
Kurt Andersen talks with Jhumpa Lahiri about the artistry of letters and her latest novel, The Namesake, in which a crucial letter never arrives.

Mogul Memos
David O. Selznick was a major Hollywood mogul, producing great films such as Gone with the Wind and Spellbound. But he was also a workaholic micromanager, obsessed with sending office memos. Through his memos, Selznick dictated every detail of production at his movie studio, from the size of Rhett Butler’s collars to Alfred Hitchcock’s camera angles. Produced by Eric Molinsky.
Go to David Selznick on IMDB
Go to the Amazon.com page on David Thomson's book, "Showman"
Go to the Amazon.com page on Rudy Behlmer's book, "Memo from David O. Selznick"

Mail Art
In August, Studio 360 asked listeners to send us mail art. And you responded with fantastic enthusiasm. Streams of amazing things poured in through the mail drop from all around the world – a piece of toast, a coconut, a lump of clay, envelopes big, small, glittery, fragile, sturdy and crumpled. Kurt Andersen called some of the mail artists to talk about their work.
Go to a slideshow of selected pieces of Mail Art we received
Go to the Electronic Museum of Mail Art

Young Werther
The German poet Goethe was 23 years old when he wrote his first novel, which he composed almost entirely of letters. The Sorrows of Young Werther spoke to readers, especially young men, in a way no book had ever done before, even inspiring a rash of copy-cat suicides. Two centuries later readers of young Werther’s letters are writing him back – via email. Produced by Megan Metcalf and Hilke Schellmann with Sarah Lilley.
Go to the Sorrows-of-Young-Werther.com
Go to Project Gutenberg and download the book
Go to this site and read more about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Pushing The Envelope
Stephen Malinowski heard our request for mail art and decided to do a little experiment. He tested the post office to see what they would and wouldn’t deliver by mailing not one, or two, but 100 pieces of mail art to our office, including crumpled envelopes, tissue paper, pieces of wood, Astroturf, even a postage scale with our address written on the side in permanent marker. Kurt Andersen spoke with Malinowski about the project he called “The scientific method as art.”
Go to Stephen Malinowski’s website

SPECIAL GUEST
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri is the author of The Namesake. Her debut story collection Interpreter of Maladies won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000. It was translated into twenty-nine languages and became a bestseller both in the United States and abroad. Lahiri was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002. The Namesake was recently released in paperback.
Go to a bio of Jhumpa Lahiri
Read an interview with Jhumpa Lahiri about The Namesake

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Steve Earle
Musician Steve Earle is a self described “lefty redneck.” Earle started his musical career as a teenager singing against the Vietnam War. A decade ago, he fought off a heroin habit that landed him in prison... since then, he has been active on behalf of prison reform and against the death penalty. Earle stopped by Studio 360 to talk with Kurt and play some songs off his new album, The Revolution Starts Now.
Go to full text
Go to Steve Earle’s website
Listen to the full version of Rich Man’s War
Listen to the full version of The Revolution Starts Now

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