AWM Author Talks

This week, playwright, poet, and author Pearl Cleage discusses her life and career with Remy Bumppo Theatre Artistic Director Marti Lyons. Remy Bumppo staged Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky in the fall of 2023. This conversation originally took place September 26, 2023 and was recorded live via Zoom. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about the speakers: Pearl Cleage  (she/her/hers) is an Atlanta-bas...

This week, former television screenwriter Patty Lin discusses her new memoir End Credits: How I Broke Up with Hollywood . She is joined by author, podcaster, and publisher Zibby Owens. This conversation originally took place October 5, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About End Credits : The only script you can really write in life is your own. Wh...

This week, writers Joanne Leedom-Ackerman and Sara Paretsky discuss their craft, the writing process, and the dangers of censorship and book bans. This conversation originally took place June 15, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. This episode is presented in conjunction with Banned Books Week . Follow the link to learn more about this initiative from the American Library A...

This week, author Tom Piazza discusses his novel The Auburn Conference with Booklist editor Donna Seaman. This conversation originally took place September 10, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About The Auburn Conference : It is 1883, and America is at a crossroads. At a tiny college in Upstate New York, an idealistic young professor has managed t...

This week, author Kathleen Rooney discusses her new book From Dust to Stardust , a novel about Hollywood, the cost of stardom, and selfless second acts, inspired by an extraordinary true story. Rooney is joined by writer and lecturer Ignatius Aloysius. This conversation originally took place September 6, 2023 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. About From Dust to Stardust : Chica...

This week, authors and editors Lauren DeJulio Bell, Rebecca Makkai, and Daiva Markelis discuss their contributions to the collection Growing Up Chicago . This conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About Growing Up Chicago : Growing Up Chicago  is a collection of coming-of-age stories that reflects the diver...

This week, contributing authors Jac Jemc, Juan Martinez, Joe Meno, and Luis Alberto Urrea discuss their work in the collection Small Odysseys: Selected Shorts Presents 35 New Short Stories . This conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About  Small Odysseys : A must-have for any lover of literature,&nbsp...

This week, author Jabari Asim discusses his novel Yonder with journalist Evan F. Moore. This conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . About Yonder : The Water Dancer  meets  The Prophets  in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-19th centu...

This week, journalist Todd Brewster discusses his book Seen and Unseen: Technology, Social Media, and the Fight for Racial Justice , which he co-authored with Marc Lamont Hill. Brewster is interviewed by author Catherine Adel West. This conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About Seen and Unseen : A rivetin...

This week, award-winning author Elizabeth Nunez discusses her novel Now Lila Knows , with Booklist editor Donna Seaman. This conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival . AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME More about Now Lila Knows : Lila Bonnard has left her island home in the Caribbean to join the faculty as a visiting professor at Mayfield Colleg...

In this episode, authors Jocelyn Nicole Johnson and Rebecca Makkai discuss their work and Johnson’s acclaimed collection short story collection My Monticello . This conversation originally took place at the American Writers Festival on May 15, 2022 and was recorded live. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About My Monticello : A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her n...

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...