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Novelist Claire Vaye Watkins on the beauty & brutality of the desert

πŸ“Ί Fresh Air πŸ• August 6, 2026 at 10:37 AM
πŸ“ Source based in: World β€Ί Northern Hemisphere β€Ί North America β€Ί United States

Keeps playing with the screen off. The episode is played from Fresh Air’s own podcast host.

Claire Vaye Watkins’ new novel, ‘Yellow Pine,’ is about a group of misfits and activists in the Mojave desert, fighting a corporate solar development. Living in the desert is “not for everybody,” she tells Terry Gross. Her home, near Death Valley, is staggeringly beautiful and brutal. She talks about growing up around environmental activism, solitude, and her father’s escape from the Manson Family.

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new thriller series β€˜Furious,’ starring Emmy Rossum, by β€˜New Girl’ creator Elizabeth Meriwether.Β 

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