All Of It with Alison Stewart

The Montclair Art Museum has a new fall slate of shows opening this week. Every day we will speak with curators and artists about the shows. Today, executive director Ira Wagner and chief curator Gail Stavitsky join us to discuss the exhibits "George Inness: Visionary Landscapes" and "Life and Landscape: Inspired by George Inness" which is a juried exhibition of works done in collaboration with Studio Montclair, an organization supporting emerging artists.  

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the latest Nobel Prize recipient in literature, receiving the award for his decades of writing about colonialism, refugees, and family. Gurnah joins us to discuss his career and his latest novel, Afterlives, a story of characters living under German colonial rule in East Africa. 

*Gurnah will be speaking tonight at the New York Public Library SNFL event center at 6:30 p.m.

[ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON September 1, 2022] For part three of our August Full Bio series, we speak with Gene Jarrett, dean of the faculty and English professor at Princeton, and author of a new biography about the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, called, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird. For this installment, we learn about the women in Dunbar's life, like how he met his wife, Alice Nelson Dunbar. But we also speak about Dunbar's own demons, and his struggles with depression and alcohol abuse throughout his life. Plus, we hear WNYC's Michael Hill read a selection of Dunbar's poetry.

[ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON August 30, 2022] For the latest installment of our ongoing Full Bio series, we speak with Gene Jarrett, dean of the faculty and English professor at Princeton, and author of a new biography about the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, called, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird. On day one, we talk about Dunbar's parents, who were born as slaves, and the environment he grew up in in Dayton, Ohio, in the 1800s. Plus, we hear WNYC's Michael Hill read a selection of Dunbar's poetry.

[ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON September 2, 2022] For the final installment of our August Full Bio series, we speak with Gene Jarrett, dean of the faculty and English professor at Princeton, and author of a new biography about the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, called, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird. For the final installment, we learn about Dunbar's relationship with Booker T. Washington, as well as his struggles with illness and his early death at the age of thirty-three. Plus, we hear WNYC's Michael Hill read a selection of Dunbar's poetry.

[ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON August 31, 2022] For the latest installment of our ongoing Full Bio series, we speak with Gene Jarrett, dean of the faculty and English professor at Princeton, and author of a new biography about the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, called, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird. On day two, we learn about how Dunbar tried to make a career in poetry and writing after high school, including the time he met Frederick Douglass, and why he moved to New York. Plus, we hear WNYC's Michael Hill read a selection of Dunbar's poetry.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, the photographer Kwame Brathwaite, born in Brooklyn to a Caribbean American family, used his work to push for social change. Along with his brother, he founded the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios, an artist collective in Harlem and the Bronx, and also is thought of one of the creators of the phrase, “Black Is Beautiful.” A new exhibition at the New York Historical Society, called, Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, originally organized by Aperture, displays his photography and behind the scenes images of his involvement in the artistic communities around Harlem. Kwame S. Brathwaite, the artist's son and archive director of The Kwame Brathwaite Archive, and Marilyn Kushner, curator and head of the Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections at the New-York Historical Society, join us to discuss the show, which is on display until January 15.

This week, Lea Michele took the Broadway stage as Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" for the first time. But while no one denies her talent, many wondered whether, in the light of allegations of racist and bullying behavior on the set of "Glee," Michele should be given a second chance. Dr. Robert Bies, a Georgetown professor of management, is the co-author of a study on celebrity redemption, titled "Second Acts and Second Chances: the Bumpy Road to Redemption." He joins us to discuss how, and why, public figures recover their image, and why we even care. Plus, we take your calls.

Veteran CNN anchor Bernard Shaw passed away this week. NPR's media correspondent, David Folkenflik joins to discuss his impact and legacy.