David Leavitt’s Spy Tale

David Leavitt agreed to write an original short story for Studio 360’s Science & Creativity series, and said he wanted to write about book codes, a venerable, low-tech way of encrypting secrets using any printed book. We put him in touch with cryptographer Steve Bellovin, a professor at Columbia University and a major figure in internet encryption. After their conversation, Leavitt wrote an original story for Studio 360 called The Cheese Pastries of Sintra. It’s read for us by actor Ed Herbstman. Produced by Sarah Lilley.
  
  
  
Bonus Track: The Cheese Pastries of Sintra David Leavitt’s original story about cryptography, espionage, and pastry-themed codes, read by Ed Herbstman

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U.S. Department of State Code D-1, issued for classified communication in 1929 (Ryan Somma/flickr)