AWM Author Talks

This week, authors Logan Steiner and Elizabeth Blackwell discuss writing historical fiction and Steiner’s debut novel After Anne: A Novel of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Life . This conversation originally took place July 9, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about  After Anne : A stunning and unexpected portrait of Lucy Maud Montgomery, creator...

This week, Black writers and artists celebrate Juneteenth by discussing their crafts and their activism in the context of our special exhibit Dark Testament: A Century of Black Writers on Justice , on view now at the American Writers Museum. Journalist Jaha Nailah Avery reads from and discusses her new book Those Who Saw the Sun , a collection of oral history narratives from the time of Jim Crow i...

This week, Juno Dawson discusses her work and her debut picture book You Need to Chill! . Dawson is a leading LGBTQ+ activist and also the bestselling author of This Book Is Gay , which is currently the tenth most banned book in the United States. The following conversation originally took place June 22, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. About You Need to Chill! : A deligh...

This week, bestselling author Lisa See discusses her new historical fiction novel Lady Tan’s Circle of Women , with Joanne Leedom-Ackerman The following conversation originally took place June 12, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About Lady Tan's Circle of Women : The latest historical novel from  New York Times  bestselling author Lisa See, inspi...

This week, sex and relationship columnist Zachary Zane discusses his new essay collection Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto , named a Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of the Year by Buzzfeed. This conversation originally took place June 6, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. Content Warning: this conversation contains explicit language related to sexual themes. Listener discretion...

This week, a panel of authors and educators from StoryStudio Chicago discuss the process of writing from multiple identities, often marginalized ones, and inspiring young people to do the same. The writers include Dionna Griffin-Irons, Jac Jemc, Juan Martinez and Frances de Pontes Peebles. The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers F...

This week, we have a special episode with live music and lively conversation in celebration of the new one-of-a-kind anthology The People’s Tongue: Americans and the English Language . With performances and discussion from Ambassador Carolyn Curiel , senior speechwriter and special assistant to President Bill Clinton and former editorial board member of  The New York Times ;  Paquito D’Rivera , re...

This week, bestselling author Nicole Chung discusses her new memoir, A Living Remedy , with Nina Li Coomes. The following conversation originally took place May 16, 2023 and was recorded live via Zoom. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about A Living Remedy : From the bestselling author of All You Can Ever Know comes a searing memoir of family, class and grief—a daughter's search to understand the liv...

This week, writers discuss their contributions to the anthology The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry . The panel includes editors and contributors Tara Betts, Mallessa James, Len Lawson, Cynthia Manick, and Craig Stevens. Moderated by Eve L. Ewing. The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival ....

Acclaimed science fiction author John Scalzi discusses his recent book The Kaiju Preservation Society and the science fiction genre with fellow award-winning science fiction writer Michi Trota. This conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about The Kaiju Preservation Society : When COVID-19 sweeps throug...

This week, poet Michael Warr reads and discusses his work, and brings his fellow poets and friends on stage to perform their work. Featured poets include avery r. young, Elise Paschen, Reginald Gibbons, and more. The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival .

This week, we’re proud to present a conversation about the slippery slope of censorship and what you can do to preserve your community’s freedom to read. Young Adult and Children’s book author Jarrett Dapier appears in conversation with Deborah Caldwell-Stone ,  Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom and Kristin Pekoll, Assistant Director of the ALA Office for...

Students from the National Student Poets Program discuss their work and the importance of poetry in the lives of young people today. The National Student Poets Program is the nation’s highest honor for young poets (grades 10–11) creating original work. Annually, five students are selected for one year of service, each representing a different geographic region of the country. The Program believes...

This week, poets Angela Jackson, Johanny Vázquez Paz, Faisal Mohyuddin, and Carlos Cumpián read from and discuss their contributions to the recent collection Wherever I’m At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry . The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About Wherever I'm At : The Chicago Literary Hal...

This week, bestselling mystery novelist Amanda Flower discusses her latest multi award nominated novel Because I Could Not Stop for Death: An Emily Dickinson Mystery . In this first book in an all new series, Emily Dickinson and her housemaid, Willa Noble, realize there is nothing poetic about murder… Flower is joined by author and scholar Peter Coviello to discuss her book and Dickinson’s literar...

This week, Caits Meissner and Nicole Shawan Junior discuss their contributions to The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting A Writer’s Life in Prison . They are joined by Alicia Brown. The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about The Sentences That Create Us : The Sentences That Create Us  pr...

This week, Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr.—Emmett Till's cousin, best friend, and the last surviving witness of the night Till was lynched—discusses his book A Few Days Full of Trouble with co-author Christopher Benson. The following conversation originally took place March 16th, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about A Few Days Full of Trouble...

This week, historian and author Deborah Cohen discusses her book Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War . Cohen is joined in conversation by Daniel Greene, President and Librarian at the Newberry Library . The following conversation originally took place at the American Writers Festival on May 15, 2022 and was recorded live. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about La...

This week, Natalie Y. Moore discusses her play The Billboard with J. Nicole Brooks. As a play and a book, The Billboard is a cultural force that treats abortion as more than pro-life or pro-choice. The following conversation originally took place at the American Writers Festival on May 15, 2022 and was recorded live. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about The Billboard : The Billboard is about a fict...

This week, political scientist Dr. Clarence Lusane discusses his book Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy . He is interviewed by journalist Arionne Nettles. The following conversation originally took place February 23, 2023 and was recorded live via Zoom. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about Twenty Dollars and Change : Twenty Dollars and...

This week, activist and author Will Jawando discusses his book My Seven Black Fathers: A Young Activist’s Memoir of Race, Family and the Mentors Who Made Him Whole . He is joined by Ambassador Carolyn Curiel. The following conversation originally took place May 15th, 2022 at the American Writers Festival and was recorded live. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about My Seven Black Fathers: Will Jawand...

This week, acclaimed writers Ashley C. Ford and Eve L. Ewing discuss Ford’s memoir Somebody’s Daughter . One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with an extraordinarily powerful memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the looming absence of her incarcerated father. The following conversation originally took place May 15th, 2022 at the American Writers Festival and was recorde...

This week, legal analyst and author Elie Mystal discusses his book Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution , with professor Ivy Wilson. This episode is presented in conjunction with the AWM's special exhibit and content initiative Dark Testament: A Century of Black Writers on Justice . The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 at the American Writers Festiva...

This week, professor and author Richard Bradford discusses his book Tough Guy: The Life of Norman Mailer , the first biography to examine Mailer's life as a twisted lens, offering a unique insight into the history of America from the end of World War II to the election of Barack Obama. Bradford is interviewed by AWM Program Director Allison Sansone. The following conversation originally took place...

This week, professor and historian Brooks E. Hefner discusses his book Black Pulp: Genre Fiction in the Shadow of Jim Crow , a deep dive into mid-century African American newspapers, exploring how Black pulp fiction reassembled genre formulas in the service of racial justice. Hefner is interviewed by journalist Evan F. Moore. The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 at the Ame...