Listen Live
Donate
 on air
Schedule

KCRW

Read & Explore

  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Culture
  • Events

Listen

  • Live Radio
  • Music
  • Podcasts
  • Full Schedule

Information

  • About
  • Careers
  • Help / FAQ
  • Newsletters
  • Contact

Support

  • Become a Member
  • Become a VIP
  • Ways to Give
  • Shop
  • Member Perks

Become a Member

Donate to KCRW to support this cultural hub for music discovery, in-depth journalism, community storytelling, and free events. You'll become a KCRW Member and get a year of exclusive benefits.

DonateGive Monthly

Copyright 2025 KCRW. All rights reserved.

Report a Bug|Privacy Policy|Terms of Service|
Cookie Policy
|FCC Public Files

Back to Bookworm

Bookworm

Alexander Maksik: A Marker to Measure Drift

An aristocratic Liberian woman is left bereft and exiled on a remote Aegean island during her country's second civil war…

  • rss
Download MP3
  • Share
By Michael Silverblatt • Oct 10, 2013 • 28m Listen

Alexander Maksik's second novel, A Marker to Measure Drift (Knopf), began as an experiment in voice. The book's central character – an aristocratic Liberian woman, left bereft and exiled on a remote Aegean island during her country's second civil war – is as different from the author as any character possibly could be. Maksik talks about how he gradually learned to "reveal" Jacqueline, the trance-like quality of his prose, the novel's nuanced sensuality.

Read an excerpt from A Marker to Measure Drift.

Banner image: Beowulf Sheehan

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Michael Silverblatt

    host, 'Bookworm'

  • KCRW placeholder

    Connie Alvarez

    Communications Director

  • KCRW placeholder

    Alan Howard

    Bookworm Collaborator

    CultureBooksArts
Back to Bookworm