On today's episode, we welcome William T. Vollmann, author of Shadows of Love, Shadows of Loneliness, a new two-volume collection of his visual art, including photographs, drawings, prints, and paintings, from 1980 to 2022, published by Unnamed Press and Rare Bird Books. In addition to the visual, the two volumes feature Vollmann’s commentary on his process as a photographer, printmaker, and painter; his subjects, drawn from his encounters with insurgents, refugees, prostitutes, police, and criminals; and the connections between these artistic and photographic projects and his books.
Vollmann is the author of four collections of short fiction, a memoir, seven works of non-fiction (including the seven-volume essay on violence Rising Up and Rising Down), and 11 novels, including the National Book Award-winning Europe Central and the five books currently available in his Seven Dreams series of historical fiction). Vollmann’s journalism and stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Harpers, Esquire, Granta, and many other publications. He’s also the recipient of a Whiting Award and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
This is my fifth radio interview with Bill, going back to his short fiction collection Last Stories and Other Stories in 2014, and I always look forward to talking with him. Hope you enjoy the conversation!
- KBOO