Encounters with Authors

This collection of 20 interviews with and articles about noted writers covers fantasy, poetry, mystery, journalism, drama as well as literary, experimental and commercial fiction. * In London, Agatha Christie's theatrical producer guards the secrets of "The Mousetrap." * In Stratford-upon-Avon, actor Derek Jacobi challenges the scholarly interpretation of Shakespeare. * At Florida's Cross Creek, friends of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings pay homage to her memory. * On Georgia's St. Simons Island, Eugenia Price shuns her label as a "Christian novelist." * Behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner warns us about a pending but preventable "apocalypse." * Southern novelist and journalist Harry Crews remembers his torturous but character-building childhood. * Tennessee Williams dodges the press. * Larry McMurtry describes the process of writing his epic "Lonesome Dove." * John Mortimer testifies on behalf of "Rumpole of the Bailey." * Chaim Potok, author of "The Chosen," renounces religious fundamentalism. * Richard Adams, author of "Watership Down," looks deep into his subconscious. * African poet Kofi Awoonor summons the ghosts of his ancestors. * Bel Kaufman leads a new generation "Up the Down Staircase." * Evan Hunter, Richard Eberhart, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Andre Norton and others talk about the art and business of writing.