Library Talks - podcast cover

Library Talks

The New York Public Librarywww.nypl.org
Join The New York Public Library and your favorite writers, artists, and thinkers for smart talks and provocative conversations from the nation’s cultural capital.
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Episodes

Jean Strouse with Hernan Diaz: Family Romance

Jean Strouse sits down with Pulitzer Prize–winner Hernan Diaz to discuss her latest book Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers . Strouse's account illuminates a period of tumultuous social change that saw the declining fortunes of the British aristocracy, the dramatic rise of new wealth on both sides of the Atlantic, and the birth of the modern art market.

Dec 24, 202458 min

Dava Sobel with Angela Saini: The Elements of Marie Curie

In her new biography, The Elements of Marie Curie, Dava Sobel explores not just on Curie’s legendary genius, but the 45 women who worked in her lab—from Marguerite Perey, who discovered the element francium, to Curie’s elder daughter, Irène, winner of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Sobel chronicles Curie’s remarkable life of discovery alongside the lives of the women who followed down the trail she blazed. Sobel discusses her new book with science journalist Angela Saini.

Dec 17, 202458 min

Daniel Saldaña París with Chloé Cooper Jones: Planes Flying over a Monster

Daniel Saldaña París speaks with Chloé Cooper Jones about his latest book Planes Flying over a Monster , which explores the cities where París has lived, each one home to a new iteration of himself. These now diverging, now coalescing selves raise questions: Where can we find authenticity? How do we construct the stories that define us? What if our formative memories are closer to fiction than truth?

Dec 10, 202455 min

New York Crime Stories: Reading from the Archives

Dive into the Library’s collections for true tales of crime and chicanery from some of the city’s most outstanding lawbreakers. Beloved actors and performers read stories mined from the Library’s collections about the words and deeds of New Yorkers who lived on either side of the letter of the law.

Dec 03, 20241 hr 12 min

Maira Kalman with Rumaan Alam: Still Life with Remorse

Beloved artist and author Maira Kalman sits down with author Rumaan Alam to discuss her new collection of illustrations, Still Life with Remorse , her most autobiographical and intimate work to date.

Nov 26, 202452 min

Celebrating Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer’s 'The Joy of Connections'

Celebrating The Joy of Connections, the last book of beloved icon (and long-time New Yorker) Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Co-authors Allison Gilbert and Pierre Lehu are joined by Dr. Ruth's children, Dr. Miriam Westheimer and Dr. Joel Westheimer, in a conversation moderated by WABC-TV's Bill Ritter.

Nov 19, 202453 min

Glory Edim with Aminatou Sow: Gather Me

Glory Edim, the founder of Well-Read Black Girl , discusses her new memoir, Gather Me , an ode to the power reading has had on her life and to books’ ability to help us understand ourselves.

Nov 12, 202455 min

Ada Limón and Peter Sís: In Praise of Mystery

The U.S. Poet Laureate and Caldecott honoree Illustrator discuss their transcendent picture book featuring a poem that will travel into space aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper.

Oct 22, 202455 min

Library Talks: Eliza Griswold, Hahrie Han with Andrea Elliott: 'Circle of Hope' and 'Undivided'

Not all evangelical churches fit the stereotypes. In their latest books, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Eliza Griswold and the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute, Hahrie Han, bear witness to two churches who break the mold. In Circle of Hope, Griswold chronicles the ravaging and ultimately destructive results to a group of progressive-leaning Philadelphia evangelicals who attempt a racial reckoning. In Undivided, Han follows four members of a conservative Midwest church whose lives...

Oct 08, 202458 min

Connie Chung with Walter Isaacson

Connie Chung talks with Walter Isaacson about her new memoir, Connie . The book delves into her storied career as the first Asian woman to break into an overwhelmingly white, male-dominated television news industry. Chung is the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian to anchor any news program in the U.S.

Sep 25, 20241 hr

Taffy Brodesser-Akner: Long Island Compromise

Brodesser-Akner, the author of Fleishman is in Trouble, came by the Library to talk about her latest novel, Long Island Compromise, the story of an American family and the dark moment that shatters the myth of their suburban paradise. She spoke with New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief, Jake Silverstein.

Sep 19, 202458 min

Protecting Reproductive Freedoms: Lourdes Rivera, Meera Shah, Reva Siegel, and Jessica Bruder

Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , the future of abortion access, reproductive rights, and women’s healthcare is murkier than ever. In this episode of Library Talks , a panel of experts examines the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision, including what they’re seeing on the ground and where we might be headed in this significant election year. Featuring ​​Lourdes Rivera, President of Pregn...

Sep 03, 202459 min

Michael Stipe with Taryn Simon: Portraits of Now

Artist, producer, and former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe recently published his fourth book of photography, Even the birds gave pause , which features a series of works-in-progress in plaster, concrete, rotocast plastics, ceramics, bookmaking, and darkroom photographic printing. On this episode of Library Talks, Stipe sits down with artist Taryn Simon to discuss his book and creative practice.

Aug 06, 202453 min

Justice Stephen Breyer: Choosing Pragmatism Over Textualism

In this episode of Library Talks, Stephen Breyer, retired Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, delivers the annual Robert B. Silvers Lecture. Breyer’s talk is inspired by his most recent book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism , which examines some of the most important cases in the nation’s history.

Jul 09, 20241 hr 15 min

Colm Tóibín with Caoilinn Hughes: Long Island

In this episode of Library Talks, Colm Tóibín sits down with Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes to discuss his latest book, Long Island , which takes place twenty years after the events of his bestselling and beloved novel Brooklyn .

Jun 11, 202456 min

Emily Wilson: Reading The Iliad

The groundbreaking translator and professor of classics reads from and discusses her masterful new English version of the greatest literary landmark of antiquity. Actors Ben Shenkman and Morgan Spector will read selections from Wilson's translation.

May 28, 20241 hr 14 min

Ruha Benjamin with Rujeko Hockley: Imagination

Social and technology critic Ruha Benjamin examines the power of our imagination to challenge systems of oppression and to create a world in which everyone can thrive.

May 14, 202459 min

Marilynne Robinson with Ayana Mathis: Reading Genesis

Legendary novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson discusses her new book, Reading Genesis, with author Ayana Mathis. Often overlooked as a piece of literature, Robinson reconsiders The Book of Genesis and its exploration of themes that resonate throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Apr 30, 202457 min

Lyn Slater and Chloé Cooper Jones

The Accidental Icon Lyn Slater, a fashion and culture influencer, talks about her new book, How to Be Old , and reflects on life in her 60s. She speaks with Chloé Cooper Jones, author of the bestselling memoir Easy Beauty.

Mar 19, 202457 min

Chasing Bruno Schulz: Benjamin Balint with Joshua Cohen

Author and journalist Benjamin Balint sits down with Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Joshua Cohen to discuss Balint’s latest book Bruno Schulz , a fresh portrait of the Polish-Jewish writer and artist that draws on extensive new reporting and archival research.

Mar 05, 202457 min
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