Rachel Kushner
Rachel Kushner is the author of several novels including The Mars Room and The Flamethrowers.\xa0 Her work has been compared to Joan Didion\u2019s, and that of Don DeLillo, a literary mentor to Kushner. Kushner\u2019s newest book, The Hard Crowd, is a collection of essays from the past 20 years that showcase her intellect and diverse interests, from muscle cars to postmodern art and politics.\xa0 She has received grants and prizes from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and her fiction and essays have appeared in\xa0The New Yorker\xa0and\xa0The New York Times Magazine.\xa0On April 29, 2021, Rachel Kushner talked with Heidi Julavits about the art of writing and the places and people that inspire her.