Free Library Podcast

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

Bernardine Evaristo won the 2019 Man Booker Prize and the Dublin Literary Award for Girl, Woman, Other, ''a breathtaking symphony of Black women's voices'' that explores the merging of identity and Britain's African and Caribbean colonial history. Her other novels include The Emperor's Babe and Hello Mum, both of which were adapted into BBC radio programs, in addition to her short fiction, poetry, literary criticism, and drama. A longtime advocate for greater inclusion of artists of color, she co-founded Britain's first Black women's theater company, first major Black theater conference, and first major conference on Black writing. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature. An exploration of identity, race, class, aging, and the power of persistence, Manifesto is a memoir of Evaristo's intertwined life and multi-decade effort to share her work with the world. (recorded 1/20/2022)

In conversation with Priya Joshi, Professor of English at Temple University in Philadelphia 

Economist Amartya Sen received the Nobel Prize for his ''fascinating ... eloquent, and probing'' (The New York Times) work on social choice theory, welfare economics, development economics, and economics during peacetime and war. Advocating for ethical economies that prioritize tolerance, pluralism, and harmony, his many books include An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions, Development as Freedom, and Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. The Lamont University Professor at Harvard University, Sen is the recipient of many honors, including the Bharat Ratna, which is the most distinguished honor awarded by the president of India, the Eisenhower Medal, the French Legion of Honor, and the National Humanities Medal. ''A portrait of a citizen of the world'' (The Spectator), Home in the World recounts how his experiences in Asia, Europe, and the United States continue to shape his moral vision for the future.

Priya Joshi is a scholar of narrative who studies the social work of popular culture from the nineteenth- to twenty-first centuries. Priya's books include In Another Country:  Colonialism, Culture, and the English Novel in India which won the Modern Language Association's First Book Prize, and Bollywood's India:  A Public Fantasy, both published by Columbia University Press.   She's currently completing a study called Good Bad Books about the titles that everybody loved to read but hated to admit that they did.   (recorded 2/7/2022)

In conversation with Stanford Thompson, founder and executive director of Play On Philly

A public and private school music educator for more than 20 years, Brendan Slocumb has performed on violin with the Washington Metropolitan Symphony, the Prince George's Philharmonic, and the Alexandria Symphony. He is the concertmaster for the NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra, has frequently served as guest conductor for orchestras throughout Virginia and North Carolina, and is the founder of the Philippines-based nonprofit organization Hands Across the Sea, which has the mission to provide instruments, lessons, and financial support to young music students. The Violin Conspiracy, Slocumb's debut novel, follows a Black musician as he confronts the injustices of U.S. history, racism in the profession of classical music, and the theft of his great-great-grandfather's priceless Stradivarius violin. (recorded 2/3/2022)

In conversation with Jonathan Tamari

Born in Philadelphia to an immigrant family, Democrat Ro Khanna has served as the U.S. representative for California's 17th congressional district-better known as Silicon Valley- since 2017. The deputy assistant secretary of commerce during the Obama administration and a national co-chair for Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign, he was an economics professor at Stanford University and worked in private practice as a lawyer for technology companies. In Congress, Khanna has championed environmental causes, jobs programs, campaign finance reform, and anti-monopoly economic reforms, among other progressive issues. Dignity in a Digital Age presents Rep. Khanna's objective to achieve opportunity and access for people in the parts of the United States whose lives have been shaped by the growth of 21st technology while not necessarily experiencing the industry's economic benefits.

Jonathan Tamari is the national political reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Based in Washington, D.C., he writes about policy and politics on Capitol Hill and helped lead the Inquirer's coverage of Pennsylvania's critical role in the 2020 presidential election. A North Jersey native, he previously reported on New Jersey state politics and the Philadelphia Eagles. When he can disconnect, you'll find him running or walking his dog. (recorded 2/2/2022)

In conversation with Bernice McFadden

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 appeared in The Washington Post, Essence, The Guardian, and Ebony, among other publications. In her new essay collection, Lewis-Giggetts celebrates the reaffirming power of Black joy as a means of restoration, resilience, and resistance.

Bernice McFadden won the 2017 American Book Award and the 2017 NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work for The Book of Harlan. Her other novels include Praise Song for the Butterflies, Sugar, and Gathering of Waters. She was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award and a four-time finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. (recorded 2/1/2022)

In conversation with Jacob S. Hacker

Political scientist Barbara F. Walter is the author of Reputation and Civil War: Why Separatists Conflicts are So Violent; Globalization, Territoriality, and Conflict; and Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention. The Rohr Chair in Pacific International Relations at the School of Global Policy & Strategy, she is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is on the editorial boards of the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and International Studies Quarterly, among other academic journals. Walter has received grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the United States Institute of Peace. How Civil Wars Start examines the substantial increase in violent extremism around the globe in order to explore the rising possibility of a second U.S. civil war.

The Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science and the director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University, Jacob S. Hacker is the author of The Great Risk Shift and The Divided Welfare State, and the co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets and American Amnesia, among several other books. He is a board member of The American Prospect, the Economic Policy Institute, and The Century Foundation.  (recorded 1/31/2022)

Co-sponsored by Blue Stoop

A former reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, Jessamine Chan has published short stories in Tin House and Epoch. She has received residencies and fellowships from various organizations, including the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation. In The School for Good Mothers, praised by Carmen Maria Machado as ''a timely and remarkable debut'' novel, Chan tells the story of an otherwise dedicated mother who, due to a single lapse in judgment, finds herself pitted against the government and in danger of losing custody of her child.

Liz Moore is the bestselling author of Long Bright River, The Words of Every Song, Heft, and The Unseen World. A creative writing professor in the M.F.A. program at Temple University, her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Tin House and The New York Times, among other places. (recorded 1/27/2022)

Holocaust survivor Nechama Tec is professor emerita of sociology at the University of Connecticut and the author of six books, including In the Lion's Den and Dry Tears, her memoir of growing up during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Recently adapted into an acclaimed film directed by Edward Zwick and starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, Defiance tells the story of a forest community in western Belorussia that numbered more than 1,200 Jews by 1944: the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in World War II. Tec illuminates group commander Tuvia Bielski's struggle as a partisan who lost his family to the Nazis, yet never wavered in his conviction that it was more important to save Jews than to kill Germans.

Interviewed by Philadelphia Inquirer film critic, Carrie Rickey. (recorded 3/5/2009)

An award-winning Philadelphia Daily News columnist and morning host for 900 am WURD radio in Philadelphia, Solomon Jones is the author of the Essence bestselling novel The Bridge, as well as the critically acclaimed books Pipe Dream, Ride or Die, Payback, and The Dead Man's Wife. He is also a blogger and frequent on-air commentator for NPR-affiliate WHYY and is the founder of Words on the Street Literacy Program and the Rally for Justice Coalition. Jones previously taught creative writing at Temple University, worked as a columnist for the Philadelphia Weekly, and served on the boards of several committees to end homelessness. Presented through the profound stories of ten contemporary victims of criminal justice racism, his new book presents an actionable guide for social justice advocates to reform racist institutions and policies. (recorded 1/19/2022)

In conversation with Andy Kahan, Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams, Jr. director of author events

''A wrenching portrait of the enduring grace of friendship'' (NPR), Hanya Yanagihara's bestselling novel A Little Life is a story of tragedy and transcendent praise to brotherly love and an unsettling meditation on sexual abuse, suffering, and the difficulties of recovery. A National Book Award Finalist and short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, it was named to dozens of publications' ''best books of the year'' lists. Yanagihara is also the author of The People in the Trees, shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut fiction. She is editor-in-chief at T Magazine: The New York Times Style Magazine. A story about the deep recesses of the human heart, To Paradise, her new centuries-spanning novel, follows three sets of characters navigating alternate realities that reveal frightening implications for our own lives. (recorded 1/18/2022)