For more than fifteen years, iconoclastic thinker Ivan Illich refused to be interviewed. Finally, in 1988, CBC’s David Cayley persuaded Illich to record a conversation. This first interview led to additional sessions that continued until 1992 and are now contained in Ivan Illich in Conversation.

In these fascinating conversations, which range over a wide selection ofthe celebrated thinker’s published work and public career, Illich’s brilliant mind alights on topics of great contemporary interest, including education, history, language, politics, and the church.
Ivan Illich (1926-2002) was a priest, the founder of the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and author of numerous books, including Deschooling Society, Tools for Conviviality, and Medical Nemesis.

David Cayley is a writer and broadcaster with CBC Radio One’s Ideas. He is the author of The Rivers North of the Future  (with Ivan Illich) and The Expanding Prison, and has contributed books on Northrop Frye and George Grant to Anansi’s “In Conversation” series.