All Of It with Alison Stewart

A new novel tackles a pandemic... but was written before 2020. In How High We Go In the Dark, a grieving anthropologist accidently unleashes an ancient virus when he finds the preserved remains of a girl in the Arctic Circle. That virus will change the world forever. Author Sequoia Nagamatsu joins us to discuss his debut novel, which was written before COVID-19, but edited during the early months of the pandemic. This conversation is part of our series highlighting debut authors, "2022 Debuts."

"Black No More" is a new musical based on George S. Schuyler’s 1931 satirical novel, about a machine that allows Black people to become white. In the musical, the machine's nefarious inventor, and the show's de facto narrator, is Dr. Junius Crookman, played by Tariq Trotter, otherwise known as The Roots' emcee Black Thought. In addition to starring, Trotter wrote the show's lyrics and co-wrote its music. He joins us to discuss the show, which is running at the Pershing Square Signature Center through February 27.

The Berlin-based record label Habibi Funk creates curated albums of re-released or newly discovered tracks from all around the Arab world, from the 1950s to the 1980s. The albums feature Lebanese folk, Moroccan disco, Sudanese jazz, and much more. Co-founder and curator Jannis Stürtz joins us to discuss his process for finding these tracks, and we'll listen to some music.

Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism festival explores the artistic movement through performances, talks and other events across New York City, running through March. Ytasha Womack, curatorial council member and author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, joins us for a preview.

For the February installment of our "Full Bio" series, we take a look at the life and career of the poet Sylvia Plath with Heather Clark, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath. Today, we talk about Heather's research process for the book and the early life of Sylvia Plath.

New York Times food reporter and cookbook author Priya Krishna launched a new video series last month with New York Times Cooking called "On the Job." The new series sees Krishna exploring the labor behind the scenes of the food industry in New York City, talking to those who usually go unseen, but still shape what and how we eat. Krishna joins us to talk the episodes of the new series, which include topics such as Where New York Restaurants Send Their Dirty Laundry, How To Run A Restaurant on Instagram, and How To Run a TikTok-Famous Bodega. Plus she previews what topics she will cover next.

Grammy-winning producer, composer and filmmaker Flying Lotus has been called "one of his generation’s foremost electronic musicians and hip-hop jazz beatmakers" by Afropunk. On February 12, he'll perform at Carnegie Hall as part of their Afrofuturism festival. He joins us for a preview and to talk about his other projects, including a recently announced feature film.

The UK-based experimental rock band Black Country, New Road, turned heads with their 2021 debut album, For the First Time, which the Guardian considered to be one of the best albums of the year. Black Country, New Road consists of six members, and last Friday they released their highly anticipated sophomore album, Ants From Up There. Bassist Tyler Hyde and drummer Charlie Wayne are with us for a Listening Party for the new album.

Animal Collective's new album Time Skiffs arrives following the longest gap in the band's release history; six years after their album Painting With. It's also the first album in a decade to feature their complete line-up. Bandmembers Josh Dibb, aka Deakin, and Brian Weitz, aka Geologist, join us for a Listening Party, and Deakin confirms that the band is already working on their follow-up.

Animal Collective will be performing at Brooklyn Steel on March 12, 2022.

Wall Street Journal columnist Spencer Jakab investigates the GameStop short squeeze organized by amateur investors on Reddit in his new book, The Revolution That Wasn't: GameStop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors. He joins us to talk about how the meme stock squeeze unfolded.