Free Library Podcast

The Chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2009-2012, Dr. Gregory Jaczko oversaw the U.S. government's response to Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster. An NRC commissioner from 2005-2009 and former science policy advisor to Senator Harry Reid, he is now an adjunct professor at Princeton University and Georgetown University, and has created a clean energy development company. In Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator, Jaczko blows the lid off the public and private controversies surrounding nuclear energy and explains how the U.S. government has allowed it to endanger our lives.

(recorded 1/14/2019)

President of Spelman College since 2015, and dean emerita of the Tisch School of the Arts, Mary Schmidt Campbell served as the vice chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities during the Obama administration. She has contributed to an array of scholarly and popular publications, is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was the commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Her new book delves into the life of artist Romare Bearden, a muralist and collagist whose large-scale public works came to symbolize the black experience during the Civil Rights era.

Watch the video here.

(recorded 12/6/2018)

President of Spelman College since 2015, and dean emerita of the Tisch School of the Arts, Mary Schmidt Campbell served as the vice chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities during the Obama administration. She has contributed to an array of scholarly and popular publications, is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was the commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Her new book delves into the life of artist Romare Bearden, a muralist and collagist whose large-scale public works came to symbolize the black experience during the Civil Rights era.

Watch the video here.

(recorded 12/6/2018)

In conversation with award-winning journalist Tracey Matisak.

On the eve of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduces children to ten suffragists who raised their voices for justice. With illustrations by The New Yorker contributor and artist Maira Kalman, Bold and Brave profiles courageous visionaries including Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Alice Paul. Senator Gillibrand is also the author of the 2015 New York Times bestseller Off the Sidelines: Speak Up, Be Fearless, and Change Your World, ''one of the most helpful, readable, down-to-earth, and truly democratic books ever to come out of the halls of power'' (Gloria Steinem). (recorded 12/13/2018)

In conversation with award-winning journalist Tracey Matisak.

On the eve of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduces children to ten suffragists who raised their voices for justice. With illustrations by The New Yorker contributor and artist Maira Kalman, Bold and Brave profiles courageous visionaries including Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Alice Paul. Senator Gillibrand is also the author of the 2015 New York Times bestseller Off the Sidelines: Speak Up, Be Fearless, and Change Your World, ''one of the most helpful, readable, down-to-earth, and truly democratic books ever to come out of the halls of power'' (Gloria Steinem). (recorded 12/13/2018)

''Ridiculously witty and painfully prescient'' (Time), Gary Shteyngart is the author of the culturally reflective novels The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story, which was named one of the best novels of the year by The New York Times Book Review. His other work includes the National Book Critics Award finalist Little Failure, a memoir of his experiences in the dramatically dissimilar worlds of uber-consumerist America and the perpetually deprived Soviet Union of his youth. His new novel, a penetrating exploration of the ultra-rich .1%, follows a billionaire hedge-fund manager who flees New York by bus in search of simpler life.

Watch the video here. (recorded 9/17/2018)

''Ridiculously witty and painfully prescient'' (Time), Gary Shteyngart is the author of the culturally reflective novels The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story, which was named one of the best novels of the year by The New York Times Book Review. His other work includes the National Book Critics Award finalist Little Failure, a memoir of his experiences in the dramatically dissimilar worlds of uber-consumerist America and the perpetually deprived Soviet Union of his youth. His new novel, a penetrating exploration of the ultra-rich .1%, follows a billionaire hedge-fund manager who flees New York by bus in search of simpler life.

Watch the video here. (recorded 9/17/2018)

In conversation with award-winning journalist Tracey Matisak

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood as we welcome Maxwell King, author of The Good Neighbor, a personal, professional, and artistic biography of Fred Rogers. A figure as deceptively sophisticated as the namesake television program that brought an unerring message of kindness, compassion, and equality to millions of children, Mr. Rogers remains one of America's most beloved cultural icons. King, CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation, former president of Heinz Endowments, and editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer for eight years, weaves archival documents and original interviews into a portrait of the man who-spoiler alert-really was as gentle and empathetic as we all hoped he'd be. 

Speedy delivery! Mostly known for his portrayal of Mister Rogers' deliveryman, David Newell was also the director of public relations for The Fred Rogers Company. As an ambassador for everyone's favorite neighborhood he toured the world as Mr. McFeely until his retirement in 2015.

Watch the video here.

(recorded 9/24/2018)

In conversation with award-winning journalist Tracey Matisak

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood as we welcome Maxwell King, author of The Good Neighbor, a personal, professional, and artistic biography of Fred Rogers. A figure as deceptively sophisticated as the namesake television program that brought an unerring message of kindness, compassion, and equality to millions of children, Mr. Rogers remains one of America's most beloved cultural icons. King, CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation, former president of Heinz Endowments, and editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer for eight years, weaves archival documents and original interviews into a portrait of the man who-spoiler alert-really was as gentle and empathetic as we all hoped he'd be. 

Speedy delivery! Mostly known for his portrayal of Mister Rogers' deliveryman, David Newell was also the director of public relations for The Fred Rogers Company. As an ambassador for everyone's favorite neighborhood he toured the world as Mr. McFeely until his retirement in 2015.

Watch the video here.

(recorded 9/24/2018)

A professor of African American studies, public affairs, and gender and sexuality studies at Princeton University, Dr. Imani Perry is the author of More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States, May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem, and Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop. Her latest book is a portrait of the short but extraordinary life of the writer of A Raisin in the Sun, whose network of friends, family, colleagues, and collaborators included the most prominent African American artists and activists of the 1960s.

Watch the video here. (recorded 9/25/2018)