Free Library Podcast

In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6abc Action News morning edition

Central Park birder Christian Cooper is the host and consulting producer on the National Geographic channel's Extraordinary Birder and is on the board of directors of the New York City Audubon Society. Also a groundbreaking comics writer, he introduced the first openly lesbian character for Marvel, conceived the first gay male character in the Star Trek universe via the Starfleet Academy comics series, and created Queer Nation: The Online Gay Comic. In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his life leading up to the morning in May 2020 when he was engaged in the birdwatching ritual that had been a part of his life since he was a child-and what might have been a routine encounter with a dog walker exploded age-old racial tensions. Cooper's viral video of the incident would shock the nation. Also part travelogue and primer on the art of birding, the book follows his worldwide avian adventures, explores his unique career, and offers insights into the ways his long history of looking up have prepared him to be a gay, Black man in contemporary America.

Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 6/27/2023)

In conversation with Marc Lamont Hill

Referred to by acclaimed author and academic Michael Eric Dyson as ''one of the most important works of history to come across my desk in a long time,'' Blair LM Kelley's Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class is an exhaustive coast-to-coast narrative that seeks to reclaim Black workers' central contribution to workers' rights throughout U.S. history. Kelley is also the author of Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship, winner of the Letitia Woods Brown Best Book Award from the Association of Black Women Historians. The director of the Center for the Study of the American South and co-director of the Southern Futures initiative at the University of North Carolina, she has contributed work to such publications as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she has appeared on MSNBC's All In and NPR's Here and Now, among other media outlets.

The Steve Charles Chair in Media, Cities and Solutions at Temple University, Marc Lamont Hill is the host of BET News and the Coffee and Books podcast. The recipient of honors from the National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, he is the author of six books, including Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life; Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond; and Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics. (recorded 6/26/2023)

A marine scientist, ocean explorer, conservation policy specialist, and submarine pilot, David E. Guggenheim, Ph.D. is the founder and president of Ocean Doctor, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing the conservation of the world's oceans. He also teaches ocean stewardship and sustainability at Johns Hopkins University; has spoken at an array of conferences, schools, and government hearings; and has appeared on numerous media outlets, including 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, PBS Newshour, and NPR. Also an award-winning photographer, Guggenheim was inducted into the Explorer's Club as a national fellow, sat as board chair of the Great Whale Conservancy, and served as vice president at The Ocean Conservancy. Though the last 60 years have witnessed the worst decline in ocean health in human history, The Remarkable Reefs of Cuba offers a surprisingly optimistic vision for marine recovery by exploring the resilience of Cuba's coral reefs. (recorded 6/20/2023)

In conversation with Alexandra Auder, author of Don't Call Me Home: A Memoir

Publishing industry veteran Christine Pride has held a variety of editorial positions at Doubleday, Simon & Schuster, and Crown, among other publishing companies. In this capacity she has championed and edited numerous New York Times bestselling memoirs and inspirational stories. Also a freelance editorial consultant, teacher, and coach, Pride writes the ''Race Matters'' column for the popular blog Cup of Jo.

A journalist, editor, and podcast host, Jo Piazza is also the author of seven novels, including Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, If Nuns Ruled the World, and Fitness Junkie. Her other writing has been widely published in a variety of places, including The Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, and Slate. She formerly served as a managing editor for Yahoo! Travel, the executive news director for the print and digital editions of In Touch Weekly, and the senior digital editor at Current TV.

Pride and Piazza's first collaborative novel and a Good Morning America Book Club pick, We Are Not Like Them told the dual-perspective story of two lifelong friends, one Black and one white, whose bond is forever changed when the latter's police officer husband is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. In their follow-up novel, a Black woman, finds an abandoned white baby, setting up collisions with her own past and the child's mother.

Alexandra Auder is a writer and actor and the author of Don't Call Me Home: A Memoir. Born in New York City to mother Viva, a Warhol superstar, and father Michel Auder, an award-winning filmmaker who directed Chelsea Girls with Andy Warhol. Alexandra  has been a featured character in HBO's High Maintenance and has acted in the films of Wim Wenders and Jodie Foster, among others. She resides in Philadelphia with her two children and husband, filmmaker Nick Nehez, with whom she co-produces and collaborates. (recorded 6/15/2023)

Geraldine Brooks won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for her novel March, an ''honorable, elegant, and true'' (The Wall Street Journal) retelling of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women from the point of view of the titular family's absent patriarch. Her other internationally bestselling works of fiction and nonfiction include Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, Caleb's Crossing, Foreign Correspondence, The Secret Chord, and People of the Book. A former war correspondent for The Wall Street Journal who was stationed in the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans, Brooks was awarded the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement and in 2016 she was named an Officer of the Order of Australia. Based on the incredible true story of a champion thoroughbred horse named Lexington, her latest novel finds three disparate generations of people tied together through both the horse and United States' ongoing reckoning with racism. (recorded 6/14/2023)

In conversation with Paul Hendrickson

''One of our most talented biographers and historians'' (The New York Times), David Maraniss is the author of bestselling portraits of some of America's most consequential figures, including Bill Clinton, Vince Lombardi, Barack Obama, and Roberto Clemente, as well as an acclaimed trilogy of books about the 1960s. An associate editor at The Washington Post, he has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. His other honors include three additional Pulitzer Prize nominations, The Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize, and the George Polk Award. Maraniss is currently a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. In his latest bestseller Path Lit by Lightning, he offers a nuanced analysis of the life of Jim Thorpe, the man known as ''the world's greatest athlete,'' who, as a member of the Sac and Fox Nation in the early 20th century, faced some of his greatest challenges off the field of competition.

Paul Hendrickson's seven acclaimed books include Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934–1961, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist; Sons of Mississippi, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; and The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and Five Lives of a Lost War, a National Book Award finalist. A creative writing teacher at the University of Pennsylvania for more than 20 years and a feature writer at The Washington Post for the two decades before that, he has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize six times. (recorded 6/7/2023)

In conversation with Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts 

Kwame Alexander is the author of The Crossover, a ''beautifully measured novel'' (The New York Times Book Review) that follows twin brother basketball stars coming to terms with the world. Winner of the 2015 Newbery Medal and the 2015 Coretta Scott King Honor Award, it was recently adapted for Disney+ into a television series. Also a poet, educator, and activist, Alexander is the author of 36 other bestselling books, including Rebound, The Undefeated, and The Door of No Return. He is also a regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, co-founder of a health clinic and literacy program in Ghana, and is the founding editor of Versify, a publishing imprint focused on changing the world through words. Both a memoir and collection of love poems, Why Fathers Cry at Night brings together the various parts of Alexander's past and present relationships to offer a larger narrative of his family's love.

The author and co-author of 15 books that explore topics such as faith, race, social justice, and motherhood, Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts is a professor of English and Black Studies at the Community College of Philadelphia, hosts the podcast HeARTtalk with Tracey Michae'l, and is the founder of HeARTspace, a healing community for those who have experienced trauma. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Essence, The Guardian, and Ebony, among other publications. In her recent essay collection, Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration, Lewis-Giggetts celebrates the reaffirming power of Black joy.

(recorded 6/6/2023)

In conversation with poet Phillip B. Williams

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.

Phillip B. Williams is the Whiting Award-winning author of Thief in the Interior and Mutiny. A recipient of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, Lambda Literary Award, and Whiting Award, he has also received fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the National Endowment for the Arts. He currently teaches at Bennington College and the Randolph College low-residency MFA. (recorded 6/1/2023)

In conversation with George Anastasia

The director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, James Comey captured international attention for his investigations into Hillary Clinton's emails, Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election, and Donald Trump, the last of which ultimately led to his dismissal. He is a former prosecutor, defense lawyer, general counsel, law teacher, and the author of two bestselling books, Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust and A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, which was adapted into a popular Showtime series. Central Park West, Comey's first work of fiction, draws upon the author's many decades in federal law enforcement as it follows a federal prosecutor's efforts to solve a disgraced former New York governor's murder amidst shocking revelations of high-powered politicians' ties to the mob.

''One of the most respected crime reporters in the country'' (60 Minutes), George Anastasia was a long-time writer for The Inquirer, where he earned two Pulitzer Prize nominations (and a hit contract from then-Philly crime boss John Stanfa) for his searing mafia exposés. He is the author of six crime books, including The Last Gangster, Blood and Honor, The Summer Wind, and Gotti's Rules. Anastasia's work has appeared in Playboy and The Village Voice, and he has been an organized crime consultant on projects for ABC and the History Channel, among others. (recorded 5/31/2023)

In conversation with Arwa Mahdawi

Referred to by bestsstelling author Rebecca Traister as ''exhilarating, good humored, and forward looking,'' Kristen R. Ghodsee's Everyday Utopia is a two-millennia examination of diverse civilizations' boldest dreams of and experiments in ideal societies. Ghodsee is also the author of six other books, including the acclaimed and bestselling Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence, which has been translated into 14 languages. A professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, she has contributed articles to numerous publications, including The New Republic, The New York Times, and Le Monde Diplomatique; and she has appeared on dozens of television shows, radio programs, and podcasts.

Arwa Mahdawi is a London-born, Philadelphia-based writer, speaker, and business consultant. Arwa is the author of Strong Female Lead, a book urging us to reconsider our preconceptions about leadership and laying out a blueprint for the types of leaders we need in a time of permacrisis. She writes a weekly column for The Guardian covering everything from politics to pop culture. She is also the creator of the viral website Rent-A-Minority, which is an ‘Uber for diversity.' (Yes, before you ask, it's satire.)  (recorded 5/18/2023)