Free Library Podcast

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In conversation with Tracey Matisak

The first African American principal dancer in the 75-year history of the elite American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland is one of the world's most accomplished and recognizable artists. A recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, an inductee in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame, and one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people, she is the author of the ''thorough, sensitive...clear-eyed'' (The Washington Post) memoir Life in Motion. In her first health and fitness book, Copeland offers tips and encouragement to help people  achieve lean, powerful physiques.

Due to a flaw in the recording medium, the full audio is not available in the podcast. Watch the entire event here: https://livestream.com/flp/Copeland

Pine Tree Foundation Endowed Lecture

(recorded 4/13/2017)

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An internationally acclaimed yoga teacher whose body-positive approach encourages students to ask ''How do I feel?'' rather than ''How do I look?,'' Jessamyn Stanley has been featured on Good Morning America, Shape, People, and New York Magazine, among many other media outlets. She also is a regular contributor to Mind Body Green, Wanderlust, Elephant Journal, and is an award-winning Instagram star. Every Body Yoga illustrates and explains 50 yoga poses and 10 sequences to accomplish at home, and shares Stanley's paradigm-shifting philosophy of spirit and body acceptance. (recorded 4/18/2017)

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Joan Nathan is the author of 11 bestselling culinary guides, including The New American Cooking and Jewish Cooking in America, both of which won James Beard and IACP awards. The latter book was adapted into a PBS series produced by Nathan. A frequent contributor to the New York Times and Bon Appétit, she has appeared on Good Morning America, the Food Network, and NPR's All Things Considered. In King Solomon's Table, Nathan gathers more than 170 recipes that span the millennia and the far reaches of the global Jewish diaspora in a compendium of cooking and culture.  (recorded 4/20/2017)

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In conversation with Andrew Knowlton, Bon Appétit

Joe Beddia is the owner and chef of Philly's own Pizzeria Beddia, named by Bon Appétit as the best pizza in America. This distinction is not surprising, considering that he devoted the last 10 years solely to the pursuit of the perfect pie. James Beard Award winner and fellow Philly chef Michael Solomonov says, ''Never have I encountered an individual so singularly focused on his craft. Joe Beddia is hilarious, intelligent, and lovingly produces the best pizza in the f*cking universe.'' In Pizza Camp, this pizza maestro begins with the pizza basics and moves on to more than 50 iconic and inventive recipes to bake at home. 

(recorded 4/24/2017)

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David Grann is the no. 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of Z, the ''brilliant...impressively researched and crafted'' (Los Angeles Times) nonfiction tale of the deadly search for a fabled Amazonian civilization. His second book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, was named by Men's Journal one of the best true crime books ever written. An award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker, Grann has previously contributed to The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic, among other periodicals. Killers of the Flower Moon tells the chilling true-life story of one of the most sinister conspiracies in American history.

(recorded 4/25/2017)

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Blending liberalism with old values, David Callahan's many nonfiction books include Fortunes of Change, The Moral Center, and The Cheating Culture, a ''meticulously researched, thoughtful and damning look at our broken moral compass'' (Philadelphia Inquirer). He is founder of the website Inside Philanthropy and co-founder of the think-tank Demos, a frequent media commentator, and has contributed articles to the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. In The Givers, Callahan delves into the secretive realm of elite philanthropists and the ways they shape governmental policy.

Sandra Shaber Memorial Lecture (recorded 4/27/2017)

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In conversation with Buzz Bissinger, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of four books, including The New York Times bestsellers 3 Nights in August and Friday Night Lights.

Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, is an Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete, reality television star, and businesswoman. When she came out in a 2015 television interview she also became the world's most famous transgender person. She subsequently received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs, was named one of Glamour magazine's women of the year, and was listed by Time magazine as one of 2016's 100 most influential people in the world. Millions of viewers tuned into the E! network's I Am Cait, a docu-series chronicling Jenner's transition and its effect on her many relationships. From childhood to the present, The Secrets of My Life tells her singular story.

(recorded 4/28/2017)

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In conversation with Laura Kovacs, associate director, author events

Possessed of ''a magnificent gift for humanizing characters,'' (San Francisco Chronicle), Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer Prize for the 2008 bestseller Olive Kitteridge, a linked collection of narratives about a woman in coastal Maine. It was adapted into a multi-Emmy-winning HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand. A PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and Orange Prize nominee, Strout also penned the novels Amy and Isabelle, Abide with Me, and My Name is Lucy Barton, a no. 1 New York Times bestseller about an estranged mother and daughter's reconnection. Written in tandem with that book, Anything is Possible is a latticework of fiction that fleshes out the lives of the inhabitants of Lucy Barton's little town. 

*Optional book with ticket purchase

Please allow extra time to get to Parkway Central, due to extensive road work in the area.

(recorded 5/1/2017)

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

''A talent as strong and varied as American fiction has to offer" (The New York Review of Books), Richard Ford won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award for Independence Day, the sequel to his bestselling 1986 novel The Sportswriter. In 2006 and 2014 he returned to his most indelible character, famed everyman protagonist Frank Bascombe, in The Lay of the Land and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Let Me Be Frank With You. He is also the author of several other novels and story collections. His first memoir is an intimate portrait of his parents' travails across the panorama of mid-20th century America. 

Natalie Cohn Memorial Lecture

(recorded 5/2/2017)

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In conversation with longtime broadcaster and journalist, Tracey Matisak

Gabourey Sidibe received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her debut role in the 2009 film Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire. Sidibe won instant fame for her heartbreaking portrayal of the movie's title character. Since then she has appeared on three seasons of American Horror Story, was a cast member of the Showtime series The Big C, has hosted Saturday Night Live, and has appeared in several films. She currently plays Becky on Fox's popular musical drama series Empire. This Is Just My Face tells the behind-the-scenes story of Sidibe's Bed-Stuy upbringing and rise to fame while proffering sensible dispatches on celebrity, depression, friendship, and self-image.  (recorded 5/4/2017)