Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

By objective measures, evidence indicates that President Barack Obama has been tremendously successful and effective. On economic indicators alone, he is credited with the longest streak of job growth in U.S. history, a two-thirds reduction in the federal budget deficit, and the rebounding of the stock market to record highs following the record lows of the recession under his predecessor. His victories have come against a backdrop of criticism and sometimes open defiance from conservatives, lack of cooperation in Congress, and racially tinged commentary in traditional and social media. Through it all, the President, who campaigned on a slogan of "Yes, We Can!" has persevered in his determination to make a difference and left an indelible mark on American politics and the world.

Michael I. Days is editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, which has won numerous national, state, and local awards under his leadership including a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He sits on the national board of the Associated Press Media Editors and is the former editor of its quarterly magazine, APME News.

Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund.

Recorded On: Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Walter Arthur Harris Gill, Ph.D., the first African American to graduate from the then all-male Baltimore City College High School, writes about his boyhood and youth experiences while growing up in Greenville, Mississippi; Jefferson City, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; and on the campus of Morgan State College. He graduated from Morgan State College (University) and later received a masters and doctorate from Syracuse University. Gill has worked as a teacher, professor, artist, actor and author.

W. A. H. Gill is sometimes known as The Urban Professor. Gill has touched over 17,000 students in public, detention and residential center schools and undergraduate and graduates in higher education. He has produced a variety of art works; performed in community theatre, written three books on urban education and designed, copyrighted and promoted the "I Love Balitmore - The Harbor City" tee shirts. His philosophy is "he who teaches, learns."

Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a bequest from The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund. 

Recorded On: Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Through the powerful stories of five enslaved people who were "owned" by four of our greatest presidents, In the Shadow of Liberty discusses the role slavery played in the founding of America. From Billy Lee, valet to George Washingotn, to Alfred Jackson, faithful servant of Andrew Jackson, these dramatic narrative explore our country's great tragedy -- that a nation "conceived in liberty" was also born in shackles. These stories help us know the real people who were essential to the birth of this nation but who have traditionally been left out of the history books.

Kenneth C. Davis is the bestselling author of America's Hidden History and Don't Know Much About® History, which gave rise to the Don't Know Much About® series of books for adults and children. He is a frequent guest on national television and radio and a Ted-Ed educator.

Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a bequest from The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund. 

Recorded On: Tuesday, December 6, 2016

In the sequel to her New York Times bestseller Etched in Sand, Regina Calcaterra pairs with her youngest sister Rosie to tell Rosie’s harrowing, yet ultimately triumphant, story of childhood abuse and survival.

They were five kids with five different fathers and an alcoholic mother (Cookie) who left them to fend for themselves for weeks at a time.  When Regina discloses the truth about her abusive mother to her social worker, she is separated from her younger siblings Norman and Rosie. And as Rosie discovers after Cookie kidnaps her from foster care, the one thing worse than being abandoned by her mother is living in Cookie’s presence. Beaten physically, abused emotionally, and forced to labor at the farm where Cookie settles in Idaho, Rosie refuses to give in. Like her sister Regina, Rosie has an unfathomable strength in the face of hardship — enough to propel her out of Idaho and out of a nightmare.

Filled with maturity and grace, Rosie’s memoir continues the compelling story begun in Etched in Sand — a shocking yet profoundly moving testament to sisterhood and indomitable courage.

Regina Calcaterra is the bestselling author of Etched in Sand, the memoir of her childhood growing up in numerous foster homes, homeless shelters, and on the streets, all the while trying to protect and keep her siblings together. Beating the odds, Regina graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1988 and Seton Hall University School of Law in 1996. Regina became the founding partner of the New York office of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine (BR&B), an internationally recognized and highly ranked securities litigation firm. From 2006 to 2011 she was a board member of You Gotta Believe, an adoption agency for older foster children. She has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the perils that foster children face if they age out of the system parentless. Today, she serves as Chief Deputy County Executive to Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone. Visit her on the web at www.reginacalcaterra.com  

Rosie Maloney is a graduate of Idaho State University at Pocatello and presently serves as an account executive at First Digital Telecom.

Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a bequest from The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund. 

Recorded On: Wednesday, November 30, 2016

This is the unflinching memoir of a female African American advertising executive’s unprecedented and unlikely success, which began in the Mad Men era. It follows her journey from the projects of Motown-era Michigan to the skyscrapers of Madison Avenue and beyond. With marches, riots, and demonstrations as the backdrop, and rock ’n’ roll as a soundtrack, this book accompanies Graves as she traverses the seismically shifting terrain of 1960s and ’70s America on her quest to “be somebody.”

In the ’80s and ’90s, as Graves makes her ascent to the East Coast heights of the white male–dominated advertising world, she turns familiarity with harsh realities like racism and sexism into robust insights that deeply connect with African American consumers. During the golden era of black advertising, she becomes an undisputed “somebody.” Soon, though, she learns that money, success, a good marriage, and connections that reach all the way to the White House cannot entirely insulate her against the social ills that threaten to crush black Americans.

Valerie Graves, whom Advertising Age magazine named one of the “100 Best and Brightest” in the entire industry, is a nationally recognized creative director of such Fortune 500 accounts as Ford, General Motors, AT&T, Burger King, General Foods, and Pepsi. A former teenage parent from the factory town of Pontiac, Michigan, Graves broke barriers in advertising as one of the first black copywriters at BBDO, Kenyon & Eckhardt, and JWT. In 2007, recognizing Graves’s stellar career and public service via the Advertising Council and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, industry coalition ADCOLOR granted her the title of “Legend.” She resides in New York City.

The Brown Lecture Series is supported by a generous grant from the Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Foundation.

Recorded On: Thursday, November 17, 2016

Meg Eden's work has been published in various magazines, including Rattle, Drunken Boat, Poet Lore, and Gargoyle. She teaches at the University of Maryland. She has four poetry chapbooks, and her novel Post-High School Reality Quest is forthcoming from California Coldblood, an imprint of Rare Bird Lit. Check out her work at www.megedenbooks.com.

Horseman and poet Barrett Warner is the author of Why Is It So Hard to Kill You? (Somondoco, 2016) and My Friend Ken Harvey (Publishing Genius, 2014). He is a 2016 recipient of an Individual Artist Award from the Maryland Arts Council, and his other awards include the Cloudbank poetry prize, the Tucson Book Festival essay prize, and the Salamander fiction prize. He lives on a farm in Maryland where he also edits Free State Review and serves as acquisitions editor for Galileo Books.

Read "Tohoku Ghost Stories" by Meg Eden.
Read "Twins" by Barrett Warner.

Recorded On: Tuesday, November 15, 2016

In a new memoir, Monica Coleman reflects on the legacies of slavery, poverty, war, and alcoholism, and how these conditions can mask a history of mental illness. At once spiritual autobiography and memoir of madness, Bipolar Faith is the book Dr. Coleman was hoping to find when she was diagnosed with bipolar II, which is characterized by periods of deep depressions balanced by periods of productivity and energy. Moreover, she found precious few memoirs that engage religion and faith in truly constructive ways.

While the taboo around depression in the African-American faith community is diminishing, "I think there are people suffering from depression and bipolar disease who are also striving to maintain their faith. There are few guides or safe places where they can discuss their feelings," says Coleman. This book is for them and for their allies.

Monica A. Coleman, MDiv, Ph.D., teaches theology and African-American religions at Claremont School of Theology (CST), in Claremont, CA. At CST, she was recently promoted to the position of full professor -- making her the first African-American woman full professor at CST. Dr. Coleman is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a sought-after speaker and preacher.

Presented in partnership with NAMI Metro Baltimore.

Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a bequest from The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund. 

Recorded On: Thursday, November 3, 2016

Poet and journalist celeste doaks is the author of Cornrows and Cornfields (Wrecking Ball Press, UK, March 2015). Cornrows was listed as one of the “Ten Best Books of 2015” by Beltway Quarterly Poetry. Her poem “For the Chef at Helios…” received a 2015 Pushcart Prize nomination. Her multiple accolades include a Lucille Clifton Scholarship to attend Squaw Valley Writers Workshop, the 2010 AWP WC&C Scholarship, and residencies at Atlantic Center of the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her journalism has appeared in the Huffington Post, Village Voice, Time Out New York, and QBR (Quarterly Black Book Review). Most recent poems can be found in Rabbit Ears: TV Poems an Anthology. Celeste received her MFA from North Carolina State University; she currently teaches creative writing at Morgan State University.

Jane Satterfield is the recipient of awards in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maryland Arts Council, Bellingham Review, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Mslexia, and more. Her essays have received awards from the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, Massachusetts Review, Florida Review, and the Heekin Foundation, among others. Her books of poetry are Her Familiars, Assignation at Vanishing Point, and Shepherdess with an Automatic. She is also the author of Daughters of Empire:  A Memoir of a Year in Britain and Beyond (Demeter Press). Born in England, she teaches creative writing at Loyola University Maryland.

Read Five Poems in Beltway Poetry Quarterly by celeste doaks.

Read “Parachute Wedding Dress” by Jane Satterfield.

Recorded On: Wednesday, October 26, 2016

At an auction in Baltimore Pamela Rigby and her mother Vivian Rigby purchased a 19th century photograph album owned by a former slave. The mother-daughter team began the task of researching and writing about Fannie Keene and her lost family treasure.

Over a period of almost 60 years, Fannie Keene amassed an incredible collection of almost 80 photographs of nearly 100 individuals including family members, friends, and two well-known people. Each page of Waiting to Be Found is filled with fascinating information about this extremely rare album and the people pictured. 

Vivian Rigby, a teacher, and Pamela Rigby, a programmer and web developer, began their research for Waiting to Be Found in 2003. Early on in research phase, Vivian passed away leaving Pamela to complete  the journey they started together. 

Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a bequest from The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund. 

Recorded On: Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Over the past decade a new and controversial energy extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has rocketed to the forefront of U.S. energy production. With fracking, millions of gallons of water, dangerous chemicals, and sand are injected under high pressure deep into the earth, fracturing hard rock to release oil and gas.

In her new book, Wenonah Hauter argues that the rush to fracking is dangerous to the environment and treacherous to human health. Frackopoly describes how the fracking industry began; the technologies that make it possible; and the destruction and poisoning of clean water sources and the release of harmful radiation from deep inside shale deposits, creating what the author calls "sacrifice zones" across the American landscape. The book also examines the powerful interests that have supported fracking, including leading environmental groups, and offers a thorough debunking of its supposed economic benefits.

Wenonah Hauter is a longtime public interest advocate working on energy, environmental and agricultural issues. She is the founder and executive director of Food & Water Watch, a watchdog group with offices around the United States. She is the author of Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America.

Presented in partnership with Food & Water Watch Maryland.

Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by a bequest from The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund. 

Recorded On: Thursday, October 13, 2016