Free Library Podcast

In conversation with Jeannine Cook, owner of Harriett's Bookshop and Ida's Books

Shayla Lawson is the author of This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope, a ''whip-smart'' (People) essay collection about politics, pop culture, politics, and history. Named one of the most anticipated books of 2020 by numerous periodicals, it was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography and a LAMBDA Literary Award. Also the author of two poetry collections, Lawson has contributed writing to Salon, New York magazine, and ESPN, among other places. They have also earned fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell. In How to Live Free in a Dangerous World, they present a globetrotting essay collection about the need for beauty during tough times, the unexpected wisdom we find when we fall in and out of love, and the transformative power of freedom.

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The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees. (recorded 2/8/2024)

In conversation with Niela Orr

A ''hilarious, uncomfortable and compulsively readable story about race and class'' (TIME), Kiley Reid's novel Such a Fun Age tells the story of a young Black babysitter and her well-intentioned but misguided employer. A New York Times bestseller, a Reese's Book Club Pick, and named one of the best books of the year by a slew of publications, it was longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. Reid's other writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, and The Guardian, among other places. She teaches writing at the University of Michigan. A novel about wealth, bad behavior, and indelicacy, Come and Get It tells the story of an ambitious University of Arkansas resident assistant and her tangled relationships with a professor and three boisterous students.

Niela Orr is a critic whose work has appeared in The London Review of Books, The Paris Review, and The Believer, among other places. She is a story editor for the New York Times Magazine.

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The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees. (recorded 1/31/2024)

Emily Nagoski is the author of the New York Times bestseller Come as You Are, a self-help manual lauded by critics and readers for its ability to ''offer up hard facts on the science of arousal and desire in a friendly and accessible way'' (The Guardian). With her sister, Amelia Nagoski, she is also the co-author of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. She earned an MS in counseling and a PhD in health behavior from Indiana University, where she has conducted clinical and research training at the renowned Kinsey Institute. She now teaches sex education and stress education to women across the country. In Come Together, Nagoski employs scientific rigor, compassion, and humor to create a pragmatic and specific guide for maintaining a fulfilling sex life while in a long-term relationship.

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The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees. (recorded 2/1/2024)

Susan Muaddi Darraj won the 2016 American Book Award, the 2016 Arab American Book Award, and was a finalist for the Palestine Book Award for A Curious Land, a collection of linked stories that follows the denizens of a Palestinian West Bank village. She is also the author of a story collection titled The Inheritance of Exile, and Farah Rocks, the first children's book series to feature a Palestinian-American character. A former Ford Fellow and winner of the Maryland State Art Council's Independent Artist Award, she teaches creative writing at Johns Hopkins University. In Behind You Is the Sea, Muaddi Darraj tells the story of three immigrant Palestinian families who experience very disparate versions of contemporary American life.

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The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.

(recorded 1/25/2024)

In conversation with Kristen Graham, education reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer

Public education reporter Benjamin Herold's stories, features, and investigative exposés have appeared in Education Week, PBS NewsHour, The Hechinger Report, NPR, and the Public School Notebook, among other publications. The recipient of a master's degree in urban education from Temple University and first place awards from the Education Writers Association, Herold formerly worked as a researcher, documentary filmmaker, and training specialist for rape-crisis and domestic-violence prevention organizations. In Disillusioned, he offers a timely examination of the hope and hazards suburban public schools and school boards offer in the fight to renew the promise of historical American middle class ideals.

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The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees. (recorded 1/23/2024)

In conversation with CJ Hauser

Featured as an Editor's Choice in The New York Times Book Review, Annie Liontas' debut novel, Let Me Explain You, follows the bridge-burning patriarch of a Greek American family who believes he has only days to live. Liontas is the co-editor of the anthology A Manner of Being: Writers on their Mentors, and has contributed writing to The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Gay Magazine, Guernica, and McSweeney's, among other places. The Gloss, her interview series with women and genderqueer writers, appears in BOMB, The Believer, and Electric Literature. A personal memoir in essays, Sex with a Brain Injury details the multiple concussions Liontas suffered in her 30s and their lasting effects, while offering a larger account of the roles brain injuries have played in historical and contemporary culture-particularly in relation to women and the LGBT community.

CJ Hauser is the author of The Crane Wife, a popular memoir in essays that explores the many definitions of love. Also the author of the novels Family of Origin and The From-Aways, they have contributed writing to a wide array of periodicals, including The Paris Review, Tin House, The Guardian, Bon Appetit, Esquire, The New York Times, and Vogue UK.

Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU!

The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.

(recorded 1/18/2024)

In conversation with Airea D. Matthews, 2022-2023 Philadelphia Poet Laureate and Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr

With an artist's perspective and a ground-level view of people in extremis across the world, writer Anna Badkhen offers ''rich and lucid prose [that] illustrates her journey as vividly as might a series of photographs'' (Christian Science Monitor). Her immersive investigations of the world's inequities have yielded seven books of nonfiction, including The World Is a Carpet: Four Seasons in an Afghan Village; Walking with Abel: Journeys with the Nomads of the African Savannah; and Fisherman's Blues: A West African Community at Sea. A contributor to Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and The New Republic, she has earned a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Barry Lopez Visiting Writer in Ethics and Community Fellowship, and the Joel R. Seldin Award for documenting the lives of civilians in warzones. In Bright Unbearable Reality, Badkhen offers 11 essays set across four continents that explore the human need for communion amidst the world's current emotional and political disruptions. 

Airea D. Matthews is the Philadelphia Poet Laureate and Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr College. Her collection Simulacra won the 2016 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize and her work has appeared in Callaloo, Harvard Review, and American Poets, among other journals. The recipient of a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, her latest collection, Bread and Circus, comes out next year. (recorded 10/18/2022)

In conversation with Airea D Matthews

Hailed by Tara Westover as ''Dazzling. Potent Vital. A light shining on the path of self-deliverance,'' Safiya Sinclair's memoir How to Say Babylon recounts her struggle to break free from her rigid Rastafarian upbringing and her father's repressive control, set against the backdrop of a larger story of colonialism in Jamaica. Sinclair is also the author of the acclaimed poetry collection Cannibal, winner of a Whiting Writers' Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award in Literature, and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, among other honors. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, she teaches creative writing at the University of Arizona. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The Nation, and Kenyon Review.

Airea D. Matthews is the 2022–23 Philadelphia Poet Laureate and directs the poetry program at Bryn Mawr College. Her collection Simulacra won the 2016 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Best American Poets, Gulf Coast, Harvard Review, and VQR, among other journals. Matthews' other honors include a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, a 2020 Pew Fellowship, and the 2016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award. Addressing themes of income inequality, commodification, and conventional economic theories, Bread and Circus combines poetry, prose, and imagery to tell an intimate story about the author and her family.

: Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 10/5/2023)

Co-sponsored by Committee of Seventy

In conversation with Cherri Gregg, host/news anchor for WHYY radio

Dannagal Goldthwaite Young is the author of Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the United States. A professor of communication and political science at the University of Delaware and a former Distinguished Research Fellow with the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, she is also a TED speaker and a member of the National Institute for Civil Discourse Research Network. Her writing about the effects of political entertainment has been published in a variety of media, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Columbia Journalism Review. In Wrong, Young explains how American politics and media reinforce our partisan views and offers a map out of this feedback loop.

Cherri Gregg is an afternoon drive host/news anchor for WHYY radio. Prior to her current position, the award-winning journalist covered civil rights, social justice, race, and public affairs issues impacting marginalized communities in the Philadelphia region, spending nearly a decade on air at KYW Newsradio. She served as the station's community affairs reporter and was the creator, host, and executive producer of the weekly syndicated radio show and podcast ''Flashpoint with Cherri Gregg.'' Under her leadership, the show earned two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in 2021. Cherri is also a past president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.

Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 12/6/2023)

In conversation with Reem Kassis

A chef, writer, video producer, and community advocate, Sohla El-Waylly hosts Mystery Menu for The New York Times Cooking YouTube channel and The History Channel's Ancient Recipes with Sohla, and serves as a judge on HBO Max's The Big Brunch. She formerly worked as an assistant food editor at Bon Appétit, where she frequently appeared in the magazine's cooking videos, and she has also been featured on Food52, Serious Eats, and on the popular Babish Culinary Universe YouTube channel. A graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, El-Waylly trained at various New York City restaurants, including Del Posto, Atera, and Battersby, before opening a restaurant in Brooklyn with her husband. In Start Here, the recipe developer serves up a transformative guide to the fundamentals of good cooking alongside a mix-and-match batch of recipe variations.

Reem Kassis is a Palestinian writer and author of the award winning cookbooks The Palestinian Table (2017) and The Arabesque Table (2021) and the children's book We Are Palestinian (2023). Her writing regularly appears in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. She grew up in Jerusalem, then obtained her undergraduate and MBA degrees from UPenn and Wharton and her MSc in social psychology from the London School of Economics. She now lives in Philadelphia with her husband and three daughters.

Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 12/5/2023)