Free Library Podcast

In conversation with Carlin Romano, Critic-at-Large, The Chronicle of Higher Education, former literary critic The Philadelphia Inquirer and author of America the Philosophical.

David Grossman won the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his novel A Horse Walks into a Bar, a ''magnificently comic and sucker-punch-tragic excursion into brilliance'' (New York Times). Born in Jerusalem, Grossman is the author of numerous works of fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature, including To the End of the Land, a meditation on war, family, and loss, praised as ''one of those few novels that feel as though they have made a difference to the world'' (New York Times) His many international honors include the French Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Israel's Emet Prize, and the just announced 2018 Israel Prize.

(recorded 4/13/2018)

A ''genuine artist ... who can render the intricate dazzle of it all and at the same time plumb its philosophical implications'' (Esquire), Richard Powers explores a remarkable range of subject matters in his novels. Among them are The Echo Maker, a story of the precarious brain, mass migrations, and car accidents; Orfeo, the narrative of a falsely accused amateur scientist/composer; and Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, in which a WWI-era photo sends two men on very different quests. His many honors include the National Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Lannan Literary Award, and two Pushcart prizes. Powers' new book evokes activism, resistance, and the beauty of the natural world in the tale of disparate people saved and summoned by trees.

A writer of ''wide learning, audacious innovation and sardonic wit'' (Washington Post), prolific polymath William T. Vollmann is a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and war correspondent. His 10 novels include the National Book Award-winning Europe Central, a portrait of Germany and the USSR at war. Two of his works of nonfiction, Rising Up and Rising Down and Imperial, were National Book Critics Circle Award finalists. Vollmann's articles and fiction have appeared in Harpers, The New Yorker, Esquire, and too many other publications to name. With firsthand research, sardonic wit, and far-reaching scope, No Immediate Danger details the ongoing disaster of the Fukushima nuclear plant and the global consequences of climate change.  (recorded 4/12/2018)

In conversation with Dick Polman, "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania, and national political columnist at WHYY News

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's venerable career in public service includes positions on the National Security Council, on Capitol Hill, and as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In 2012, Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her books include the memoirs Madam Secretary, The Mighty and the Almighty, and Prague Winter, in which she recounts the story of her Czech childhood under Nazi invasion and Soviet occupation. Drawing upon these experiences, a career spent in international diplomacy and governance, and insights from colleagues around the world, Albright's new book explores the history and resurgence of fascism, the threat it poses to peace, and remedies to the inequalities that give rise to oppression.

Note: Dr. Albright's voice is quiet for a couple minutes before the sound level increases.

Meelya Gordon Memorial Lecture

(recorded 4/11/2018)

In conversation with Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Black Tickets, Lark & Termite, Machine Dreams, and director of Rutgers University-Newark's MFA Creative Writing Program

''Fluid, cracked, mordant, colloquial'' (The New York Times Book Review), Lorrie Moore's acclaimed fiction includes the short-story collections Self-Help, Bark, and Birds of America; and the novels Anagrams, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, and A Gate at the Stairs. The Gertrude Conaway Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, she is the recipient of the Irish Times Prize for Literature, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award. From early-career novel reviews and criticism, to writings on the unequal state of race in America, to commentary on the shifting landscapes of some of television's most popular shows, See What Can Be Done showcases more than three decades of Moore's diverse work.

(recorded 4/10/2018)

In conversation with Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Black Tickets, Lark & Termite, Machine Dreams, and director of Rutgers University-Newark's MFA Creative Writing Program

''Fluid, cracked, mordant, colloquial'' (The New York Times Book Review), Lorrie Moore's acclaimed fiction includes the short-story collections Self-Help, Bark, and Birds of America; and the novels Anagrams, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, and A Gate at the Stairs. The Gertrude Conaway Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, she is the recipient of the Irish Times Prize for Literature, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award. From early-career novel reviews and criticism, to writings on the unequal state of race in America, to commentary on the shifting landscapes of some of television's most popular shows, See What Can Be Done showcases more than three decades of Moore's diverse work.

(recorded 4/10/2018)

In conversation with Dick Polman, "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania, and national political columnist at WHYY News

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's venerable career in public service includes positions on the National Security Council, on Capitol Hill, and as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In 2012, Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her books include the memoirs Madam Secretary, The Mighty and the Almighty, and Prague Winter, in which she recounts the story of her Czech childhood under Nazi invasion and Soviet occupation. Drawing upon these experiences, a career spent in international diplomacy and governance, and insights from colleagues around the world, Albright's new book explores the history and resurgence of fascism, the threat it poses to peace, and remedies to the inequalities that give rise to oppression.

Note: Dr. Albright's voice is quiet for a couple minutes before the sound level increases.

Meelya Gordon Memorial Lecture

(recorded 4/11/2018)

Perhaps America's most esteemed Central and Eastern European historian and academic, Timothy Snyder is the author of the no. 1 bestseller On Tyranny, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, Wall Around the West, and an impressive array of other books, articles, and essays about that continent's contentious and complicated past. His many honors include the Hannah Arendt Prize, the literature award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding. He is the Housum Professor of History at Yale, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. The Road to Unfreedom maps authoritarianism's rapid and alarming resurgence from Putin's Russia west toward the bastions of liberal democracy.

(recorded 4/9/2018)

Junot Díaz won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the ''unruly, manic, seductive'' (Esquire) multigenerational tale of a cursed Dominican family. He is also the author of the story collections Drown and the National Book Award finalist This Is How You Lose Her. He serves as fiction editor at Boston Review and professor of creative writing at MIT. His many honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Islandborn-Diaz's first foray into children's books-is an ode to the power of our imaginations to connect us to the past.

Children's book event

(recorded 4/7/2018)

In Conversation with Kalela Williams, Director of Neighborhood Enrichment Programming

Philadelphia's Leslie Odom Jr., burst on the scene in 2015, originating the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical phenomenon Hamilton. Since then, he has performed for sold-out audiences, sung for the Obamas at the White House, and won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. But before he landed the role of a lifetime in one of the biggest musicals of all time, Odom put in years of hard work as a singer and an actor.

He joined students from local schools to talk about his career and answer questions about how to succeed in the arts and life. (recorded 3/28/2018)

In Conversation with Kalela Williams, Director of Neighborhood Enrichment Programming

Philadelphia's Leslie Odom Jr., burst on the scene in 2015, originating the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical phenomenon Hamilton. Since then, he has performed for sold-out audiences, sung for the Obamas at the White House, and won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. But before he landed the role of a lifetime in one of the biggest musicals of all time, Odom put in years of hard work as a singer and an actor.

He joined students from local schools to talk about his career and answer questions about how to succeed in the arts and life. (recorded 3/28/2018)