Professor M.G. Lord’s book Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, uncovers the surprising story behind Barbie's smash success. In telling Barbie’s fascinating story, cultural critic and investigative journalist M.G. Lord—herself a first-generation Barbie owner—has written a provocative, zany, occasionally shocking book that will change how you look at the doll and the world.

Lord is a professor at the University of Southern California and co-host of the podcast L.A. Made: The Barbie Tapes. She is also author of the family memoir Astro Turf, a cultural history of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the basis for L.A. Made: Blood, Sweat and Rockets, her 12-part podcast.

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Recorded 4-12-2024

In The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go, businessman and former U.S. Ambassador Matthew Barzun layers lessons from American history and business with insights from his career in tech, politics, and diplomacy to show how we can lead meaningful change in our companies, communities, and even our nation.

Barzun served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Obama administration and is the current owner/publisher of Louisville Magazine.

Recorded: 12-8-2022

Louisville native Anne McCarty Braden turned her back on a promising career as a newspaperwoman to dedicate herself to fierce advocacy for racial and social justice for almost half a century.

Charged twice with sedition and arrested multiple times, Braden remained an outspoken writer and organizer locally until her death in 2006.

Dr. Catherine Fosl, professor emerita at UofL and co-founder of the UofL Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, will examine how Braden’s message has helped to shape our community, and why it still resonates today.

Recorded: 3-26-2024

Aging is a subject of concern to many that is often misunderstood. However, it presents a wonderful opportunity to make informed choices and live to our potential. Dr. Robert Friedland will help you learn the

The Craig Buthod Author Series presents NPR correspondent Stacey Vanek Smith

With charm and wit, Smith uses Machiavelli’s book The Prince as a guide to demonstrate how women can unapologetically take and maintain power in careers where they have long been cast as

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MARGO PRICE is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter. She has released three LPs, earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, performed on Saturday Night Live, and is the first female musician to sit on the board of Farm Aid.

The Main Library welcomes four accomplished Louisville writers as they describe the thriving Louisville writing scene, share some of their triumphs, discuss navigating the challenges of publishing, and much more. Panelists will include:

Ashleé Clark: Journalist, author, and manager of the American Journalism Project

Kelly Hill: novelist

Michelle Tyrene Johnson: Playwright and Louisville Public Media Senior Producer

Erin Keane: Critic, poet, memoirist, and Chief Content Officer at Salon.com

Presented in partnership with Spalding University’s Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing

Recorded 3-5-2024

Carmichael's Bookstore presents New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Makkai in conversation with Katy Yocom

Award-winning author Rebecca Makkai will be joined onstage by Louisville writer Katy Yocom for a discussion of her New York Times bestselling mystery novel I Have Some Questions for You. Named a best book of 2023 by People, USA Today, and Real Simple, Makkai’s latest literary mystery follows the story of a podcaster who revisits the role she played in a flawed investigation from her past. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca Makkai teaches at Northwestern University, and is the Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. Her 2018 book The Great Believers was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and was named one of the Ten Best Books of the year by the New York Times.

Recorded 2-26-2024

Carmichael's Kids presents children's author John Patrick Green to discuss Agents of S.U.I.T: From Badger to Worse, the newest volume in his New York Times bestselling Investigators graphic novel series.

This four-part series presented by UofL's Dr. Calvin Coker is about