All Of It with Alison Stewart

[REBROADCAST FROM March 3, 2023] For over thirty years, the work of the Booker Prize winning British-Nigerian author Ben Okri, known for his 1991 novel, The Famished Road, has gone unpublished in the U.S. Recently, two of Okri's works have been published in this country, including his latest poetry collection, A Fire in My Head. The collection includes poems about 2020's racial justice protests, the Grenfell Tower disaster, and the pandemic. Okri joins to discuss and read from the collection.

[REBROADCAST FROM September 27, 2022] Woman Without Shame is celebrated author Sandra Cisneros's first poetry collection in 28 years. It includes poetry both in English and in Spanish, and is a chronicle of her life as an artist. Cisneros joins us to discuss.

[REBROADCAST FROM February 28, 2023] Art and poetry collide in the new book from poet Reginald Dwayne Betts and artist Titus Kaphar. Titled, Redaction, the book combines words from Betts and art from Kaphar to explore how incarcerated people are treated by American society. It's an expansion on their MoMA PS1 show of the same name. Betts and Kaphar join us to discuss.

[REBROADCAST FROM APRIL 14, 2022] To celebrate National Poetry Month, we talk to acclaimed author Colm Tóibín about his debut poetry collection, Vinegar Hill, which discusses religion, death, sexuality, and the pandemic.

[REBROADCAST FROM January 11, 2023] Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner was recently nominated for a Grammy for his recent spoken-word album, Hiding In Plain View. He also stars in the series, "Accused," on Fox. He joins us to discuss his current projects.

After her father died while she was in high school, Laurel Braitman focused on achieving success in school and in work until she couldn't avoid the grief any longer. She joins us to talk about her new memoir, What Looks Like Bravery: An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love and what it means to embrace the pain after losing someone. We also take your calls.

Our April Get Lit with All Of It book club selection is the latest novel from acclaimed writer Mona Simpson. Commitment tells the story of a family in 1970s California coping with the fallout from their single mother's decision to check herself into a mental health facility for depression. Simpson joins us for a preview conversation ahead of our April 26th in-person event at the SNFL Rooftop Event Center. Click here to find out how to borrow your e-copy, courtesy of our partners at the New York Public Library, and to reserve your free ticket to our April event!

April marks the beginning of the New York Restoration Project's free tree giveaway program, in which the NYRP hosts events throughout all five boroughs of the city to educate community members about the importance of trees in urban spaces, and also distribute native species for participants to plant in their neighborhoods. NYRP executive director Lynn Kelly joins to preview the program and how you can get involved.

Brandee Younger returns to the show, this time in-studio, to perform songs live from her new album, Brand New Life, out tomorrow. The album celebrates the work of trailblazing jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby and features contributions from Pete Rock, 9th Wonder, Meshell Ndegeocello and Makaya McCraven.

NOTE: This segment has been edited to remove one performance to which WNYC does not have the rights to include in the podcast.

Tonight is opening night of the New York premiere of author Zadie Smith's debut play, "The Wife of Willesden." The play is a modern adaptation of an excerpt of one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath's Tale. After a debut run in London in 2021, the play comes to BAM, directed by Indhu Rubasingham and starring Clare Perkins as Alvita, a middle-aged Jamaican woman living in England who decides to tell her life story to a group of strangers in a North West London pub. "The Wife of Willesden" is showing at BAM's Harvey Theater until April 16.