Free Library Podcast

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Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for his novel Empire Falls, Richard Russo is acclaimed for capturing the ''foolishness of this lonely world, but also the humor, friendship and love that abide'' (San Francisco Chronicle). His many other novels include Bridge of Sighs, That Old Cape Magic, and Nobody's Fool, which was adapted into a popular film starring Paul Newman. ''Like hopping on the last empty barstool surrounded by old friends'' (Entertainment Weekly), Everybody's Fool catches up with the world-worn protagonist Sully and the irresistible residents of North Bath, New York. Trajectory is a collection of four sprawling short stories far outside the blue-collar realm Russo has mapped in his many novels.  (recorded 6/20/2017)

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After more than 20 years of bringing attention to progressive issues underreported by the mainstream media, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! program now airs simultaneously on satellite and cable television, more than 1,400 radio stations throughout the world, and the internet. Her many honors include the first Right Livelihood Award, a lifetime achievement award from Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, and the George Polk Award. Goodman's five New York Times bestselling books include Breaking the Sound Barrier and her newest work, Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America. Now she returns to the Free Library to analyze and contextualize the last year's tempestuous political events. 

(recorded 5/8/2017)

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Starring a hard-bitten and self-destructive maverick Oslo police detective, Jo Nesbø's ''maddeningly addictive'' (Vanity Fair) Harry Hole novels have sold more than 23 million copies and have been translated into more than 50 languages. A musician, songwriter, economist, and former professional soccer player, the Norwegian native is the recipient of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic crime novel. In The Thirst, Nesbø's 11th installment in the Harry Hole series, the titular protagonist hunts for a nemesis from his past as he investigates a serial killer who targets Tinder daters.

(recorded 5/9/2017)

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Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris's ''truly affecting novel about work, trust, love, and loneliness'' (Seattle Times), won the 2008 PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His other works include The Unnamed and To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. One of The New Yorker's ''20 Under 40'' writers and winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize, Ferris has published fiction in Granta, Prairie Schooner, and Best American Voices, among other places. The Dinner Party, his first story collection, is rife with characters searching for answers in the aftermath of life's pitfalls.

''Nailing entire worlds together with teeming, precise detail'' (The New York Times), Jim Shepard is the author of seven novels, including The Book of Aron and Project X. A writer's writer, he is perhaps more celebrated for his short fiction, which has appeared in publications ranging from The Paris Review to Playboy. His story collections include You Think That's Bad and Like You'd Understand, Anyway, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of The Story Prize. His new collection explores the emotional hazards of everyday life writ large on the canvases of historic tragedy and triumph.

(recorded 5/24/2017)

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Military historian and journalist Thomas E. Ricks won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his Wall Street Journal series on U.S. defense spending in the post-Cold War era. His books include The Generals, The Gamble, and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Fiasco, a bestselling account of America's tragic and reckless invasion of Iraq. A member of the Center for a New American Security defense policy think tank, he has reported on a wide variety of military activities for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Atlantic Monthly, among other publications. His new book is a dual biography of Winston Churchill's and George Orwell's farsighted fight for democracy during its darkest hours.

(recorded 5/25/2017)

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Yaa Gyasi's breakout debut novel Homegoing, a multigenerational tale that ''brims with compassion'' (NPR Books), follows two half-sisters on opposite sides of the 18th-century Ghanaian slave trade and their descendants. It was a New York Times bestseller and 2016 Notable Book and a Guardian Best Book, and it was nominated for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. Gyasi, a native of Ghana who emigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1991, earned a Master of Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and was selected by Ta-Nehisi Coates for the National Book Foundation's 2016 ''5 under 35'' award.

Acclaimed for portraying the cultural and socio-political issues of his native Jamaica, Kei Miller is the author of the novels The Last Warner Woman and The Same Earth; the story collection The Fear of Stones; and several collections of poetry, including the award-winning The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion. A creative-writing teacher at the University of London, Miller is the recipient of the Forward Prize for Poetry and an International Writer's Fellowship at the University of Iowa, and he was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Set in the Jamaican backlands, Augustown tells the story of a woman's struggle to overcome the weight of history, race, and violence.

(recorded 6/8/2017)

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Patricia Lockwood, ''The Poet Laureate of Twitter'' (unofficial), is the author of 2014's groundbreaking Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, a book of obscene, angry, funny verse that ''is unforgettable, literally: once read, it cannot be forgotten'' (NPR). Her 2013 satirical poem ''Rape Joke,'' first printed on the website The Awl, ''reawakened a generation's interest in poetry'' (The Guardian). Her debut poetry collection Balloon Pop Outlaw Black was trumpeted as one of 2012's best by The New Yorker. Lockwood's new memoir Priestdaddy tells the story of her unconventional upbringing and irascible Catholic-priest father.

(recorded 6/13/2017)

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In conversation with Megyn Kelly, host of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly

Ghosts of Manhattan, Douglas Brunt's New York Times bestselling debut novel about a flawed but highflying Bear Stearns bond trader, took ''a smart shot at the absurdity of Wall Street and the long fall that brought us all down'' (Kirkus). He followed with The Means, an ensemble tale of political intrigue and boundless ambition. His latest work, Trophy Son, takes on the equally ruthless dynamic of father-son relationships in our achievement-consumed society. Former CEO of the security company Authentium, Brunt will be joined in conversation by his wife, former Fox News and current NBC journalist Megyn Kelly.

(recorded 6/26/2017)

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Music historian Harvey Sachs's many books include The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, a biography of Arthur Rubenstein, and two collections of essays on musical subjects. He has written for dozens of newspapers, magazines, and literary journals-including The New York Times and The New Yorker-and penned hundreds of items for record companies. A faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Sachs has lectured at universities and cultural institutions across North America and Europe. On the sesquicentennial of Toscanini's birth, Musician of Conscience looks at the great conductor's musical brilliance, political courage, and personal passions.  (recorded 6/27/2017)

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In conversation with Bill Marimow, editor at large, The Philadelphia Inquirer

''One of the most intense, visceral'' (Philadelphia Inquirer) writers of our time, Mark Bowden is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and Vanity Fair and is the author of numerous New York Times bestselling books of investigative journalism, including the classic of war reporting, the National Book Award-nominated Black Hawk Down. Bowden's other books include Killing Pablo, winner of the Overseas Press Club's Cornelius Ryan Award for book of the year; Guests of the Ayatollah, listed by Newsweek as one of the ''50 Books for Our Times''; and The Three Battles of Wanat, a collection of his best long-form war, cultural, and sports essays. Using unprecedented archives and interviews with participants from both sides, Bowden's latest book narrates every stage of the Vietnam War's most pivotal and bloody battle.

(recorded 7/11/2017)