Free Library Podcast

One of Spain's most revered novelists, Javier Marías has received numerous literary honors, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Prix Femina étranger. His 14 novels include A Heart So White, While the Women Are Sleeping, and The Infatuations. Marías is also the author of three story collections and 20 collections of articles and essays, and he has translated some of the English language's greatest writers' work into Spanish. His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages and has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide. Thus Bad Begins, ''a demonstration of what fiction at its best can achieve'' (Guardian), explores desire, power, and the lies couples tell each other.

In conversation with Wyatt Mason a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine. His work also appears in The New York Review of Books, GQ, The London Review of Books and The New Yorker. He is a writer in residence at Bard College. (recorded 11/10/2016)

In conversation with Bill Marimow, editor at large, The Philadelphia Inquirer

''One of the most intense, visceral'' (Philadelphia Inquirer) writers of our time, Mark Bowden is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and Vanity Fair and is the author of numerous New York Times bestselling books of investigative journalism, including the classic of war reporting, the National Book Award-nominated Black Hawk Down. Bowden's other books include Killing Pablo, winner of the Overseas Press Club's Cornelius Ryan Award for book of the year; Guests of the Ayatollah, listed by Newsweek as one of the ''50 Books for Our Times''; and The Three Battles of Wanat, a collection of his best long-form war, cultural, and sports essays. Using unprecedented archives and interviews with participants from both sides, Bowden's latest book narrates every stage of the Vietnam War's most pivotal and bloody battle.

(recorded 7/11/2017)

One of Spain's most revered novelists, Javier Marías has received numerous literary honors, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Prix Femina étranger. His 14 novels include A Heart So White, While the Women Are Sleeping, and The Infatuations. Marías is also the author of three story collections and 20 collections of articles and essays, and he has translated some of the English language's greatest writers' work into Spanish. His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages and has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide. Thus Bad Begins, ''a demonstration of what fiction at its best can achieve'' (Guardian), explores desire, power, and the lies couples tell each other.

In conversation with Wyatt Mason a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine. His work also appears in The New York Review of Books, GQ, The London Review of Books and The New Yorker. He is a writer in residence at Bard College. (recorded 11/10/2016)

Music historian Harvey Sachs's many books include The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, a biography of Arthur Rubenstein, and two collections of essays on musical subjects. He has written for dozens of newspapers, magazines, and literary journals-including The New York Times and The New Yorker-and penned hundreds of items for record companies. A faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Sachs has lectured at universities and cultural institutions across North America and Europe. On the sesquicentennial of Toscanini's birth, Musician of Conscience looks at the great conductor's musical brilliance, political courage, and personal passions.  (recorded 6/27/2017)

An Irish writer famous for her rich and sensuous prose, Edna O'Brien has been called ''the most gifted woman now writing fiction in English'' by fellow author Philip Roth. The author of novels, short stories, plays, biographies, and children's books, O'Brien is a prolific, often controversial writer. Due to frank female voices and daring sexual scenes, her first book, The Country Girls, and six of her subsequent works, were banned in Ireland. Her most recent novels, Wild Decembers and In the Forest, were selected as New York Times Notable Books, and in 2002, she was awarded the National Medal for Fiction. The Light of Evening centers on the yearning for reconciliation between an estranged mother and daughter. (recorded 10/17/2006)

An Irish writer famous for her rich and sensuous prose, Edna O'Brien has been called ''the most gifted woman now writing fiction in English'' by fellow author Philip Roth. The author of novels, short stories, plays, biographies, and children's books, O'Brien is a prolific, often controversial writer. Due to frank female voices and daring sexual scenes, her first book, The Country Girls, and six of her subsequent works, were banned in Ireland. Her most recent novels, Wild Decembers and In the Forest, were selected as New York Times Notable Books, and in 2002, she was awarded the National Medal for Fiction. The Light of Evening centers on the yearning for reconciliation between an estranged mother and daughter. (recorded 10/17/2006)

In conversation with Megyn Kelly, host of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly

Ghosts of Manhattan, Douglas Brunt's New York Times bestselling debut novel about a flawed but highflying Bear Stearns bond trader, took ''a smart shot at the absurdity of Wall Street and the long fall that brought us all down'' (Kirkus). He followed with The Means, an ensemble tale of political intrigue and boundless ambition. His latest work, Trophy Son, takes on the equally ruthless dynamic of father-son relationships in our achievement-consumed society. Former CEO of the security company Authentium, Brunt will be joined in conversation by his wife, former Fox News and current NBC journalist Megyn Kelly.

(recorded 6/26/2017)

As NPR's science correspondent, David Baron received awards from the National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among many other organizations. He is the author of 2005's The Beast in the Garden, the harrowing story of the clash between suburban sprawl and mountain lions in Colorado. In his new book, Baron, a committed eclipse chaser, details the 19th-century celestial and terrestrial drama of a coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in which three distinctly American personalities-including a ruthless young Thomas Edison-jockey for discovery amidst the last days of the Wild West. (recorded 6/15/2017)

Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for his novel Empire Falls, Richard Russo is acclaimed for capturing the ''foolishness of this lonely world, but also the humor, friendship and love that abide'' (San Francisco Chronicle). His many other novels include Bridge of Sighs, That Old Cape Magic, and Nobody's Fool, which was adapted into a popular film starring Paul Newman. ''Like hopping on the last empty barstool surrounded by old friends'' (Entertainment Weekly), Everybody's Fool catches up with the world-worn protagonist Sully and the irresistible residents of North Bath, New York. Trajectory is a collection of four sprawling short stories far outside the blue-collar realm Russo has mapped in his many novels.  (recorded 6/20/2017)

Yaa Gyasi's breakout debut novel Homegoing, a multigenerational tale that ''brims with compassion'' (NPR Books), follows two half-sisters on opposite sides of the 18th-century Ghanaian slave trade and their descendants. It was a New York Times bestseller and 2016 Notable Book and a Guardian Best Book, and it was nominated for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. Gyasi, a native of Ghana who emigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1991, earned a Master of Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and was selected by Ta-Nehisi Coates for the National Book Foundation's 2016 ''5 under 35'' award.

Acclaimed for portraying the cultural and socio-political issues of his native Jamaica, Kei Miller is the author of the novels The Last Warner Woman and The Same Earth; the story collection The Fear of Stones; and several collections of poetry, including the award-winning The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion. A creative-writing teacher at the University of London, Miller is the recipient of the Forward Prize for Poetry and an International Writer's Fellowship at the University of Iowa, and he was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Set in the Jamaican backlands, Augustown tells the story of a woman's struggle to overcome the weight of history, race, and violence.

(recorded 6/8/2017)