Literary journalist Robert Birnbaum, who grew up on the mean streets of Chicago’s Golden Ghetto,West Rogers Park, is also a veteran member of the Newton (MA) Little League umpiring corps and a (bumbling but) active father of a teenage athlete. He contributes to a number of smart journals and maintains a relentless web presence at Our Man In Boston. He counts among his influences Nelson Algren, Ernie Banks, Golda Meir, Mike Royko, Leon Dupres, Hannah Arendt, Howard Zinn, Eduardo Galeanos, and Barbara Ehrenreich. He lives in the working-class section of West Newton with his pooch Beny. He claims to be working on his long awaited memoir Just Talking: Doing Things With Words.
CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLES
Writing for Kids and the End Game for the Bernie Gunther Series
Philip Kerr, creator of the Bernie Gunther series, talks about, JFK, Matthew McConaughey, and why he almost tore up his passport....
On Big Books and War: A Chat with Bob Shacochis
Robert Birnbaum interviews Bob Shacochis on topics ranging from his knowledge of the CIA to his three dogs....
Lionel Shriver Talks to Robert Birnbaum
Lionel Shriver on electric cigarettes and other literary matters....
The Innermost Law of the Form: An Interview with David Shields
MY ACQUAINTANCE with the then young novelist David Shields began in the last decade of the last millennium, when Shields was ...
That Quivering Point of Saturation
RB: WHEN I FIRST SAW YOUR NAME I took it to be Japanese. HZ: Really? It’s an old fashioned ...
