Read This Book!

Read This Book!

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Read This Book! episodes

  • Amplifying Black Narratives: Black Publishers and Black Bookstores
    The Friends of the University of Minnesota Libraries hosted an online panel discussion on Oct. 28, 2021, which featured Mélina Mangal, Rekhet Si-Asar, Dionne Sims, and panel moderator Kate McCready. The panel discussed the challenges faced by black authors, librarians, independent publishers, and bookstore owners in getting books by black authors on the shelves and ultimately in the hands of readers.
    1 hr 18 min
  • Amplifying Black Narratives: Past, Present, and Future
    Jokeda (JoJo) Bell, Tia-Simone Gardner, and Catherine Squires joined moderator Cecily Marcus for a conversation about the preservation of Black art and culture in community-based archives and the University collections. Please watch this lively conversation with experts who share a passion for keeping historical archives not only accessible, but alive.
    1 hr 16 min
  • Campus Exploration Fair 2021
    The University Libraries, the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence, the Academic Success Centers, Hennepin and Ramsey County Public Libraries, the Bell Museum, and other partners welcomed first-year and transfer students to campus on Friday, Sept. 3.

    From learning about databases and special collections to being introduced to popular reading selections and Breakerspace activities, students jumped on the fast track to powering curiosity, discovery, and connection through the Libraries.
    3 min
  • Cooking during the pandemic

    Megan Kocher and Lisa Von Drasek discussed cookbooks they liked the most for cooking and baking during the pandemic, on this installment of "Read This Book!" from the University of Minnesota Libraries.

    The post Cooking during the pandemic appeared first on UMN Libraries News & Events.

    7 min
  • Pankake Poetry featuring Deborah Keenan
    The 12th annual Pankake Poetry reading features poet Deborah Keenan, the author of 10 collections of poetry. Her book, “Willow Room, Green Door: New and Selected Poems,” received the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. Following the reading, there will be a discussion with Keenan led by James Lenfestey.
    1 hr 1 min
  • ‘Transcendent Kingdom’ reviewed on Read This Book!

    Lacie McMillin discusses Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom, with Lisa von Drasek, on this installment of Read This Book from the University of Minnesota Libraries. Transcendent Kingdom us a novel about faith, science, religion, and love, centered on a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief. It's Gyasi's followup to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing. 

    The post ‘Transcendent Kingdom’ reviewed on Read This Book! appeared first on UMN Libraries News & Events.

    8 min
  • In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, the Mapping Prejudice project has attracted media attention from across the globe. What began here has exploded into the largest protest in American history. The whole world was watching as our community was ripped apart, partly as a consequence of decades of unjust and discriminatory housing practices.

    Learn how community researchers are mapping the hidden histories of race and privilege in your neighborhood — and how you can join them.
    1 hr 14 min
  • John Berryman’s Selected Letters
    Please join the University of Minnesota Libraries for an international virtual book launch for “The Selected Letters of John Berryman,” edited by Philip Coleman (Trinity College Dublin) and Calista McRae (New Jersey Institute of Technology). The editors and invited guests — including Eve Cobain, Henri Cole, Ray Gonzalez, Patricia Hampl, and Richard J. Kelly — will read from Berryman’s letters and consider his legacy in a discussion moderated by poet and critic Peter Campion. Bringing together scholars and poets from both sides of the Atlantic, the launch will explore how the letters shed light on Berryman’s life and work.
    1 hr 33 min
  • A Feast of Words: John Wright — the Unapologetic Omnivore



    Emeritus Professor Dr. John S. Wright discusses his intellectual forebearers and the African American renaissance men and women who inspire his work. Dr. Wright will be joined by Cecily Marcus, Curator of the University Libraries’ Givens Collection of African American Literature, the Performing Art Archives, and the Upper Midwest Literary Archives.


    1 hr 6 min
  • Investigating the news
    By Allison Campbell-Jensen

    The landscape of news media has changed and to navigate it, news consumers need to be savvy, journalism students need to be curious, and reporters need to be ethical. These were aspects of the news discussed at the Oct. 21 event, “Behind the Headlines: Reporters and news consumers in a 24/7 media world,” sponsored by Friends of the Libraries.

    The concept of “data voids,” for example, occurs when there are high levels of demand for information but with low levels of information available on search engines or social media platforms, said Gayle Golden, a Senior Lecturer and Morse Alumni Distinguished University Teacher in the Hubbard School of Journalism. This can happen with breaking news: searches on YouTube or Google may produce deliberately false information designed to take advantage of that data void. So news consumers need to be wary.
    From the reporter
    Kelly Smith

    Today in Minnesota and around the country, there are “news deserts,” places where community newspapers have closed and “there’s no one covering the school board,” said Kelly Smith, a Star Tribune reporter for 10 years.

    COVID is the culprit, as it caused the bottom to fall out of advertising which, with subscriptions, is one of the two supports for the newspaper business. While the Star Tribune hasn’t had layoffs in a decade, the staff has shrunk from about 380 in 2006 to 240 now and the entire news staff took eight unpaid furlough days due to COVID-related advertising losses. Recently, City Pages, owned by the Star Tribune, folded, as did the Minneapolis community newspaper, the Southwest Journal.

    Still, the news continues. Beat reporters are “mini experts,” said Smith, who covers nonprofits. Story creation starts with an idea, pitched to an editor, written, and then reviewed by a copyeditor who checks names and critical facts.

    In all they do, Star Tribune reporters adhere to a code of ethics. They cannot participate in political activities — even put a bumper sticker on their cars. They don’t pay for information and, with a few exceptions, they identify their sources.
    From the journalism professor
    Gayle Golden

    “What’s the difference between truth and a fact?” That was a recent topic of conversation between Golden and her husband, also a journalist. “A fact is true, and truth needs more than facts,” she replied. Truth includes an emotional element of trust, she said.

    Among the principles of journalism she teaches her students is that their first obligation is to the truth — putting reliable facts in context. “Our first loyalty is to citizens,” she added. Journalists need to follow practices so they can verify what they find, and they must have independence from those they cover.

    Students need to break through barriers to ask questions. “Young people have been taught to the test,” Golden said, so they feel questions are risky. She encourages their curiosity and critical thinking. Students need to diversify their news diets, even while they build their skills.

    She also teaches them to analyze how a news story is constructed: What might be missing?
    57 min

About Read This Book!

From the publisher's feed

Host Lisa Von Drasek and guests review books from various genres: including children’s literature, cookbooks, science, mysteries, and popular literature. This audio podcast also includes episodes from…