Radio Raphael! (Lev Raphael's interview show)
Lev Raphael hosts BookTalk, mid-Michigan's only show devoted to weekly interviews with distinguished authors talking about their work. The range is wide: historians, novelists, cultural critics, and political observers. Recent guests have included Salman Rushdie, Elizabeth Kostova, Joseph Ellis, Stacy Schiff and Stephen Greenblatt. BookTalk airs on 89.7 FM, WLNZ, Lansing Public Radio on Wednesday afternoons at 1 PM right after the news, and encores on Sundays at 2 PM. To tune in on the Web, go to www.wlnz.org and click on the Listen Live box in the upper left hand corner.
To contact Lev about the show: levraphael@comcast.net About Lev Lev Raphael appeared as a guest book critic on NPR's The Todd Mundt Show for five years before it went off the air. Lev also does a monthly book feature on WKAR in East Lansing with Melissa Ingells called "Under the Radar" where he discusses and reads from books that won't make it onto the best seller list but deserve readers' attention nonetheless.
For ten years Lev reviewed regularly for The Detroit Free Press, where he had
his own mysteries column. Lev has also reviewed for The Washington Post,
Jerusalem Report, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Lambda Book Report and Boston
Review. Lev brings a unique perspective to BookTalk because he's also the prize-winning author of seventeen books in a wide variety of genres, from memoir to mystery. When he interviews an author, it's a conversation with a colleague, so you won't hear star-struck soft balls or questions based on a staffer's notes. If Lev interviews an author, you can count on his having read the book.
Lev holds a PH.D. in American Studies from MSU and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He taught at the college level for thirteen years before giving it up to write full-time. Though Michigan has been his home for half his life, Lev grew up in New York
City where his favorite stations were the classical WQXR and the album rock WNEW which featured the great DJs Scott Muni and Alison Steele. One of the things he enjoys most about BookTalk is getting to be a DJ, if just for a few minutes, every week on BookTalk where he plays new music at the break. Lev's musical tastes are very varied. He's a fan of Spoon, Rachmaninoff, Scissor Sisters, Chopin, Cesaria Evora, U2, Stereophonics, Vinicius Cantuaria, St. Germain, Rameau, Henri Salvador, Roxy Music, Jane's Addiction, Macy Gray, Bowie and Puccini. Lev loves to travel, especially to Canada, and he has more books than he can
ever possibly read. But he's always looking for exciting, well-written new books to share with his audience.
Publicists can contact Lev at levraphael@comcast.net
All text copyright © 2001-06 by Lev Raphael.
|