This conversation features best-selling author Colm Tóibín, interviewed by Silas House, former Kentucky Poet Laureate (2023-2025). They discuss Tóibín’s book “Long Island” before a live audience at the University of Louisville, Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on April 14th, 2025, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Irish novelist, playwright, and essayist Colm Tóibín has written eleven novels, including the most recent, Long Island, which is the quietly heartbreaking sequ...
May 09, 2025•56 min
This conversation features best-selling author Sebastian Junger, interviewed by NPR Podcast Host Rachel Martin. They discuss Junger’s book “In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face-to-Face with the Idea of an Afterlife” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on February 3rd, 2025, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Sebastian Junger is a bestselling author of many books, award-winning journalist, and documentary filmmaker. Junger’s bestselling book “The...
Feb 21, 2025•53 min
This conversation features CNN Anchor and Chief Security Analyst Jim Sciutto, interviewed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez. They discuss Sciutto’s book “The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on November 25th, 2024, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Jim Sciutto is an anchor for CNN Newsroom. He has reported from more than fifty countries across the globe and has ear...
Dec 13, 2024•55 min
This conversation features musician, activist and poet Joan Baez, interviewed by journalist and radio host Diane Rehm. They discuss Baez’s book “When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance: Poems,” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on October 21st, 2024 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Joan Baez has performed for more than 60 years, releasing more than 30 albums. She has been honored with both the Recording Academy and the Latin Recording Acade...
Nov 15, 2024•56 min
This conversation features bestselling author Amor Towles, interviewed by New York Times Book Critic Alexandra Jacobs. They discuss Towles’ book “Table for Two: Fictions” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on September 30, 2024, at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. Amor Towles is the author of The New York Times bestsellers “The Lincoln Highway,” “A Gentleman in Moscow,” and “Rules of Civility.” His novels have collectively sold millions of copie...
Oct 25, 2024•56 min
This conversation features journalist and author Bianca Bosker, discussing her book, “Get the Picture” with writer Patrick Bringley. Bianca Bosker is The New York Times bestselling author of “Cork Dork” and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. In “Get the Picture,” Bosker throws herself into the nerve center of art, and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators, and of course artists themselves. Probing everything from cave paintings to Instagram, and the science of sight to...
Aug 23, 2024•44 min
This conversation features renowned singer Renée Fleming, interviewed by author Richard Powers. They discuss Fleming’s book “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on April 8, 2024 at The Kentucky Center in Louisville, Ky. Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. She is also a leading advo...
May 10, 2024•58 min
This conversation features best-selling author and book store owner Ann Patchett, interviewed by author and professor Kevin Wilson. They discuss Patchett’s book “Tom Lake” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on February 12th, 2024 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. ANN PATCHETT is the author of nine novels, four books of nonfiction and one children’s book. Patchett has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a National H...
Mar 15, 2024•58 min
This conversation features renowned lawyer and Professor of Law at Yale and Georgetown Universities, Stephen Bright, interviewed by Pulitzer Prize-winner and Yale Law Professor James Forman Jr. They discuss Bright’s book, “ The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts ” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on November 13th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Bright is a Visiting Lectur...
Dec 08, 2023•55 min
This conversation features best-selling author Jill Lepore and U.S. Congressman Jamie Raskin discussing Lepore’s book, “The Deadline: Essays,” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on September 11th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Jill Lepore is a professor of history and of law at Harvard University. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the best-selling “These Truths: A History of the United States,” was n...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr 4 min
This conversation features best-selling author Geraldine Brooks and former NPR journalist Jacki Lyden discussing Brooks’ book, “Horse: A Novel” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on March 27th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Geraldine Brooks grew up in Australia and became a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald, and later with The Wall Street Journal. Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2006 for her novel “March”. ...
May 12, 2023•58 min
This conversation features author Maggie Haberman and CNN host Laura Coates discussing Haberman’s book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on January 9th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, wrote “Confidence Man” in 2022. Ms. Haberman joined The New York Times in 2015 and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 f...
Feb 24, 2023•57 min
This conversation features author Josh Chin and New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos discussing both of their books before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum on September 29th, 2022 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Josh Chin wrote “Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control” with fellow Wall Street Journal writer, Liza Lin. He tells the gripping story of how China’s Communist Party is building a new kind of political control: shaping the will of the...
Nov 04, 2022•59 min
Author Maggie Nelson discusses her book, On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint, with writer Eula Biss. Maggie Nelson is a writer working in autobiography, art criticism, theory, feminism, history, aesthetic theory, philosophy, scholarship, and poetry. Nelson received a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2012 Creative Capital Literature Fellowship, a 2011 NEA Fellowship in Poetry, and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction. Other honors include a 2007 Andy Warhol Foundation/Creative Capital...
Oct 21, 2022•41 min
Politician and author Charles Booker discusses his book, “From the Hood to the Holler: A Story of Separate Worlds, Shared Dreams, and the Fight for America’s Future,” with writer and Professor Eddie Glaude. Charles Booker represented the 43rd District in the Kentucky House of Representatives, where he served on the economic development and workforce, judiciary, and natural resources and energy committees. A graduate of the University of Louisville and its Brandeis School of Law, Booker is a Bing...
Aug 05, 2022•41 min
Artist and author James Bridle discusses their book, Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence with writer and musician Claire Evans. James Bridle is an artist, technologist and philosopher whose artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Oslo Architecture Triennale, the Istanbul Design Biennial, and the Design Museum, London. Bridle’s writing has appeared in magazi...
Jul 22, 2022•39 min
Author Geraldine Brooks discusses her book “Horse: A Novel” with journalist Gal Beckerman. Geraldine Brooks grew up in Australia and became a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald, and later with The Wall Street Journal. Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2006 for her novel “March.” Many of her novels and nonfiction books have been New York Times bestsellers. Her first novel, “Year of Wonders,” is an international bestseller, translated into more than 25 languages. In 2016, ...
Jun 24, 2022•29 min
Author Keri Blakinger discusses her book, “Corrections in Ink: A Memoir” with writer Piper Kerman. Keri Blakinger is an investigative reporter based in Texas, covering criminal justice and injustice for The Marshall Project. She previously worked for the Houston Chronicle and her writing has appeared in the New York Daily News, the BBC, VICE, and The New York Times. Blakinger was a member of the Houston Chronicle's Pulitzer-finalist team in 2018, and her 2019 coverage of women's jails for The Wa...
Jun 10, 2022•43 min
Author Anna Quindlen and writer Amy Bloom discuss Quindlen’s book “Write for Your Life.” Anna Quindlen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, novelist, and opinion columnist. She is the best-selling author of nine novels, including “Every Last One,” and “Still Life with Bread Crumbs.” Her memoir “Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake”, published in 2012, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Quindlen’s book “A Short Guide to a Happy Life” has sold more than a million copies. While a columnist at The Ne...
Apr 29, 2022•33 min
Journalist and author Moisés Naím discusses his book, “The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century” with radio host Ari Shapiro. Moisés Naím is an internationally-syndicated columnist and best-selling author. He is the chief international columnist for El País and La Repubblica, the largest daily newspapers in Spain and Italy. His columns have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, Newsweek, Time, Le Monde, El Esta...
Mar 25, 2022•30 min
This conversation features Congressman Jamie Raskin and Russian expert Dr. Fiona Hill discussing both their books before a live audience at The Kentucky Author Forum on January 24th, 2022 at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. Jamie Raskin represents Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was renamed Chair of the Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for the 117th Congress. Representative Raskin’s moving memoir “ Unthinkable, ” tells th...
Mar 11, 2022•59 min
Author Roya Hakakian discusses her book "A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious” with journalist Jen Balderama. Roya Hakakian is the author of three books in English and has published two collections of poetry in Persian. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. Hakakian has collaborated on journalistic programming for network television, including 60 Minutes. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fel...
Feb 25, 2022•40 min
Author and professor Amy Zegart discusses her book “Spies, Lies, and Algorithms” with journalist Scott Shane. Amy Zegart is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, as well as a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University. She is a contributing writer to The Atlantic and has written five previous books, including co-authoring with Condoleezza Rice “Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity,” based on thei...
Feb 11, 2022•37 min
Author Laurence Leamer discusses his book “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal and a Swan Song for an Era” with professor, historian, and film critic Leo Braudy. Laurence Leamer is a New York Times best-selling writer and journalist. He is a former Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and an International Fellow at Columbia University. In addition to Leamer’s eighteen books, he has written for New York Magazine, The Washingtonian, Harper’s, and The New ...
Jan 28, 2022•35 min
Physicist Frank Wilczek and Professor Janna Levin discuss Wilczek’s book, “Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.” Frank Wilczek jointly won The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004, for his graduate work at Princeton with David Gross. He was among the earliest MacArthur Fellows and has won many awards both for his scientific work and his writing, which includes hundreds of articles in leading scientific journals. His “Wilczek’s Universe” column appears regularly in the Wall Street Journal. Wilczek is the...
Jan 14, 2022•38 min
Writer Mary Roach and NPR host Peter Sagal discuss Ms. Roach’s latest book, “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law”. Mary Roach is the author of six New York Times bestsellers. Roach has written for National Geographic, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and Clinical Anatomy. Her TED talk made the TED 20 Most Watched list. Roach has been a guest editor for The Best American Science and Nature Writing, a finalist for the Royal Society’s Science Book Prize, and a winner of the American Association of ...
Dec 03, 2021•42 min
Writer and professor Kathryn Paige Harden discusses her book "The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality," with journalist and author Carl Zimmer. Kathryn Paige Harden is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and co-directs the Texas Twin Project. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Huffington Post, among others. In 2017, Harde...
Nov 19, 2021•43 min
Writer Kurt Andersen discusses his latest book “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History,” with professor and author Daron Acemoglu. Kurt Andersen is the bestselling author of the novels “Heyday, “Turn of the Century,” and “True Believers.” He is also a contributor to Vanity Fair and The New York Times and was the host and co-creator of Studio 360 , the Peabody Award-winning public radio show and podcast. Andersen writes for television, film, and the stage. He regularly appears a...
Nov 05, 2021•44 min
Writer and Professor Ethan Kross discusses his book “Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters and How to Harness It'' , with journalist and author Maria Konnikova. Ethan Kross is a best-selling author and award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business. He studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships. Kross’ research has been published in Science, The New...
Oct 22, 2021•44 min
Professor, writer, and CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter discusses her book “Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and Politics" with professor and author Sarah J. Jackson. Anne-Marie Slaughter is the CEO of New America and Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 2009-2011 she served as the director of policy planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. Dr. Slaughter has written or edited seve...
Oct 08, 2021•43 min
