Free Library Podcast

In conversation with Sam Katz, civic entrepreneur and executive producer of History Making Productions.

Janet Benton's writing has appeared in some of America's most prestigious periodicals and literary journals, including The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Glimmer Train. A professional editor and teacher of writing, editing, grammar, and composition, Benton has taught at a variety of universities, including University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of California, Davis; and Temple University. She is also the founder of The Word Studio and Benton Editorial, the roster of which includes a wide variety of commercial, academic, and nonprofit organizations. In her debut novel, Lilli de Jong, a young Quaker gives birth in an institution for unwed mothers in 1883 Philadelphia. (recorded 6/5/2017)

Patricia Lockwood, ''The Poet Laureate of Twitter'' (unofficial), is the author of 2014's groundbreaking Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, a book of obscene, angry, funny verse that ''is unforgettable, literally: once read, it cannot be forgotten'' (NPR). Her 2013 satirical poem ''Rape Joke,'' first printed on the website The Awl, ''reawakened a generation's interest in poetry'' (The Guardian). Her debut poetry collection Balloon Pop Outlaw Black was trumpeted as one of 2012's best by The New Yorker. Lockwood's new memoir Priestdaddy tells the story of her unconventional upbringing and irascible Catholic-priest father.

(recorded 6/13/2017)

In conversation with Sam Katz, civic entrepreneur and executive producer of History Making Productions.

Janet Benton's writing has appeared in some of America's most prestigious periodicals and literary journals, including The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Glimmer Train. A professional editor and teacher of writing, editing, grammar, and composition, Benton has taught at a variety of universities, including University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of California, Davis; and Temple University. She is also the founder of The Word Studio and Benton Editorial, the roster of which includes a wide variety of commercial, academic, and nonprofit organizations. In her debut novel, Lilli de Jong, a young Quaker gives birth in an institution for unwed mothers in 1883 Philadelphia. (recorded 6/5/2017)

Military historian and journalist Thomas E. Ricks won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his Wall Street Journal series on U.S. defense spending in the post-Cold War era. His books include The Generals, The Gamble, and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Fiasco, a bestselling account of America's tragic and reckless invasion of Iraq. A member of the Center for a New American Security defense policy think tank, he has reported on a wide variety of military activities for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Atlantic Monthly, among other publications. His new book is a dual biography of Winston Churchill's and George Orwell's farsighted fight for democracy during its darkest hours.

(recorded 5/25/2017)

Blending dramatic historical narrative with critical interpretation in order to make surprising connections to contemporary political and cultural struggles, William Hogeland's three books on founding American history include The Whiskey Rebellion, Founding Finance, and Declaration. He has also contributed articles and essays about history, music, and politics to a slew of publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, and Salon, and has appeared on PBS's History Detectives, Book TV, and Good Morning America. In Autumn of the Black Snake, Hogeland tells the story of the creation of the U.S. Army and how its first victory against the indigenous people of the Ohio Valley opened the way to western settlement.

(recorded 5/23/2017)

''His generation's most gifted writer of love's complicated, contradictory power'' (Los Angeles Times), Colm Tóibín is the author of an impressive list of novels, short stories, essays, plays, poetry, and criticism. His novels The Master (2004) and The Testament of Mary (2013) were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and Brooklyn (2009) was adapted into the popular BAFTA Award-winning film of the same name. The Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University, in 2011 Toibin received an Irish PEN Award. In House of Names, Tóibín brings a modern sensibility and sympathy to the story of Clytemnestra, the vengeful wife of Ancient Greece's King Agamemnon. 

(recorded 5/17/2017)

Dennis Lehane's ''raw, harrowing, and unsentimental'' (Washington Post Book World) bestselling crime novels include Mystic River; Shutter Island; Gone, Baby, Gone; and Live by Night, all of which have been adapted into critically acclaimed films by Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, and Ben Affleck. His other writing includes the story collection Coronado, several episodes of the television shows The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, and the screenplay for the film adaptation of his book The Drop. Lehane's latest novel tells the story of a shut-in, former television journalist who finds her sanity tested as she slips into a violent conspiracy.

(recorded 5/18/2017)

In conversation with Joel Nichols, Data Strategy & Evaluation Administrator, Strategic Initiatives

Acclaimed for his ''unparalleled inventiveness'' (Chicago Tribune), China Miéville is the author of a score of fantasy novels, comics, novellas, short story collections, Marxist nonfiction, and essay collections. Associated with the ''New Weird'' writing movement, his books include This Census-Taker, Railsea, The City & The City, and Perdido Street Station. A contributor to The New York Times, The Guardian, Granta, and a founding editor of the quarterly Salvage, he has won the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Arthur C. Clarke awards. In October, Miéville plunges into the extraordinary 1917 political tumult that led to the creation of the world's first socialist state.

(recorded 5/16/2017)

Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris's ''truly affecting novel about work, trust, love, and loneliness'' (Seattle Times), won the 2008 PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His other works include The Unnamed and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. One of The New Yorker's ''20 Under 40'' writers and winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize, Ferris has published fiction in Granta, Prairie Schooner, and Best American Voices, among other places. The Dinner Party, his first story collection, is rife with characters searching for answers in the aftermath of life's pitfalls.

''Nailing entire worlds together with teeming, precise detail'' (The New York Times), Jim Shepard is the author of seven novels, including The Book of Aron and Project X. A writer's writer, he is perhaps more celebrated for his short fiction, which has appeared in publications ranging from The Paris Review to Playboy. His story collections include You Think That's Bad and Like You'd Understand, Anyway, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of The Story Prize. His new collection explores the emotional hazards of everyday life writ large on the canvases of historic tragedy and triumph.

(recorded 5/24/2017)

Paula Poundstone's decades-long stand-up comedy career has included multiple HBO specials, an Emmy Award, two comedy albums, and an American Comedy Award for Best Female Stand-Up. Renowned for her self-effacing wit and cheeky observations, she is a frequent panelist on NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me and a recurring guest on A Prairie Home Companion. She is the author of There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say and has contributed articles to The Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and Mother Jones. In her new book, Poundstone embarks on a series of diverse adventures in search of long-term happiness.

Barbara Gohn Day Memorial Lecture

(recorded 5/11/2017)