Free Library Podcast

With a career spanning four decades, 26 studio albums, and untold scores of concerts, Loudon Wainwright III is one of the world's most loved singer-songwriters. A prolific actor in a variety of television and film roles, he can also boast of being the father of Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, and Lucy Wainwright Roche, three musical luminaries in their own right. In his new memoir, the folk patriarch and son of a celebrated Life magazine columnist reflects on the ups and downs of his career, the inspirations for his art, and the familial relationships that have marked him the most. 

''A kick-ass counter-cultural icon'' (The New Yorker), Eileen Myles is the celebrated author of nearly two dozen books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, plays, and performance pieces, including Chelsea Girls, I Must Be Living Twice, and The Irony of the Leash. Her lengthy list of honors includes a Guggenheim Fellowship in nonfiction, the Clark Prize for Excellence in Art Writing, and an Andy Warhol/Creative Capital Arts Writers Grant. Afterglow is a multi-genre examination of the pet/pet-owner relationship told through the prism of Myles's 16-year relationship with her beloved pit bull Rosie. (recorded 9/12/2017)

In 2013 NSA contractor Edward Snowden shook the pillars of the worldwide intelligence community when he revealed a trove of highly classified information that exposed astonishingly widespread mass U.S. surveillance overreach on a variety of international and domestic levels. Labeled a hero and whistleblower by some, he was formally charged with espionage and has been granted asylum in Russia, where he lives in an undisclosed location. In this one-of-a-kind interview, Snowden will discuss these revelations along with the current status of the surveillance state with Jeremy Scahill, investigative journalist, co-founder of the online journal The Intercept, and author of the bestselling books Blackwater, Dirty Wars, and The Assassination Complex.

(recorded 9/11/2017)

Starring a hard-bitten and self-destructive maverick Oslo police detective, Jo Nesbø's ''maddeningly addictive'' (Vanity Fair) Harry Hole novels have sold more than 23 million copies and have been translated into more than 50 languages. A musician, songwriter, economist, and former professional soccer player, the Norwegian native is the recipient of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic crime novel. In The Thirst, Nesbø's 11th installment in the Harry Hole series, the titular protagonist hunts for a nemesis from his past as he investigates a serial killer who targets Tinder daters.

(recorded 5/9/2017)

The year 2010 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Called a "sobering corrective" by a reviewer for the New York Times, Bruce Cumings's book takes a fresh look at the often unjustly ignored conflict. Characterizing its beginning as a civil war in which America should not have intervened, Cumings exposes the atrocities committed by all sides during combat. He is chair of the history department at the University of Chicago, author of The Origins of the Korean War, and winner of the Kim Dae Jung Prize for Scholarly Contributions to Democracy, Human Rights, and Peace.

Native Speaker, Chang-rae Lee's widely acclaimed debut novel, explored the alienation that modern-day immigrants face-from both American culture and the cultures they leave behind. The book won several awards, including the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction. Lee went on to write the novel A Gesture Life and the bestseller Aloft. In his new book, "Lee writes with such intimate knowledge of his characters' inner lives and such an understanding of the echoing fallout of war that most readers... will be swept up in the power of The Surrendered and its characters' aching and indelible stories." (New York Times)

  (recorded 3/29/2011)

The year 2010 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Called a "sobering corrective" by a reviewer for the New York Times, Bruce Cumings's book takes a fresh look at the often unjustly ignored conflict. Characterizing its beginning as a civil war in which America should not have intervened, Cumings exposes the atrocities committed by all sides during combat. He is chair of the history department at the University of Chicago, author of The Origins of the Korean War, and winner of the Kim Dae Jung Prize for Scholarly Contributions to Democracy, Human Rights, and Peace.

Native Speaker, Chang-rae Lee's widely acclaimed debut novel, explored the alienation that modern-day immigrants face-from both American culture and the cultures they leave behind. The book won several awards, including the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction. Lee went on to write the novel A Gesture Life and the bestseller Aloft. In his new book, "Lee writes with such intimate knowledge of his characters' inner lives and such an understanding of the echoing fallout of war that most readers... will be swept up in the power of The Surrendered and its characters' aching and indelible stories." (New York Times)

  (recorded 3/29/2011)

In conversation with Dick Polman, "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania, and national political columnist at WHYY's Newsworks.org

A longtime staff writer for The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright won the Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower, a ''wrenchingly intimate and boldly sweeping'' (The New York Times) narrative that explains the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the intelligence mistakes that led to the 9/11 attacks. His other nonfiction books include In the New World, Thirteen Days in September, and Remembering Satan. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Society of American Historians, Wright has written and performed two one-man plays, co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary Going Clear, and is currently producing a television series based on The Looming Tower. In 10 watershed pieces first published in The New Yorker, his new book charts the course of Middle East terrorism since the 1990s.

(recorded 7/27/2017)

In conversation with Dena Heilik, Department Head of Philbrick Hall, the fiction department of the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. 

Kevin Hearne is the author of the New York Times bestselling Iron Druid Chronicles, the ancient-Celtic-meets-contemporary-mayhem action-adventure series featuring 2,000-year-old Atticus O'Sullivan. In his latest adventure, the immortal Irishman dodges traps in ancient Egypt and soul-stealing demons at a Kansas carnival.

Chuck Wendig's many works include the YA Heartland series, Blackbirds, and the Atlanta Burns books; the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus; a popular blog, terribleminds.com; and several celebrated books about writing. Wendig's New York Times bestselling Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy tells the canon story of the events that occurred between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

Fran Wilde's Nebula Award-nominated debut novel, Updraft, won the 2016 Andre Norton Award and the Compton Crook Award. Cloudbound is the second installment in the inventive Bone Universe saga, a series that explores a lofty society of towers populated by residents who strap on wings and soar the skies in search of their destinies.

(recorded 7/14/2017)

A cofounder and former publisher of Apogee Journal and a contributing editor for Literary Hub, Zinzi Clemmons has had work published in a variety of literary magazines, including Zoetrope: All Story, The Paris Review Daily, and Transition. Raised in Philadelphia to a South African mother and an American father, Clemmons teaches in Los Angeles at The Coleburn Conservatory and Occidental College. Her debut novel, What We Lose, tells the story of Thandi, a young woman caught between cultures as she struggles with love, unexpected motherhood, and the loss of the person who shaped her the most.  (recorded 7/13/2017)

In conversation with Laura Kovacs

Acting legend Jane Alexander has appeared in some of the finest films of the last 50 years, including All the President's Men, The Great White Hope, Kramer vs Kramer, and The Cider House Rules. Her stage career-including more than 100 plays on Broadway, in London's West End, and in countless other cities-has eclipsed even her screen success. She has earned a Tony, two Emmys, an Obie, four Oscar nominations, and induction into the Theater Hall of Fame. A fierce wildlife advocate and conservationist, Alexander is a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the National Audubon Society, among others. In Wild Things, Wild Places, she presents a moving and inspiring look at the crucial work of wildlife preservationists across the globe.  

Carole Phillips Memorial Lecture (recorded 11/3/2016)

In conversation with Laura Kovacs

Acting legend Jane Alexander has appeared in some of the finest films of the last 50 years, including All the President's Men, The Great White Hope, Kramer vs Kramer, and The Cider House Rules. Her stage career-including more than 100 plays on Broadway, in London's West End, and in countless other cities-has eclipsed even her screen success. She has earned a Tony, two Emmys, an Obie, four Oscar nominations, and induction into the Theater Hall of Fame. A fierce wildlife advocate and conservationist, Alexander is a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the National Audubon Society, among others. In Wild Things, Wild Places, she presents a moving and inspiring look at the crucial work of wildlife preservationists across the globe.  

Carole Phillips Memorial Lecture (recorded 11/3/2016)