AWM Author Talks

This week, for our first episode of 2022, AWM President Carey Cranston sits down with Layla Saad, author of the New York Times bestselling book Me and White Supremacy . This conversation originally took place February 5th, 2020 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. Layla will be joining us this coming February 17th for a virtual event to discuss the new edition of Me and White Supr...

This week, tune into a conversation between Jonathan Lethem, award-winning author of The Fortress of Solitude , and Stacie Williams, whose book Bizarro Worlds references Lethem’s characters and storylines to explore racism and gentrification. This conversation originally took place March 15th, 2019 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a write...

This week, editors Nina Bennett and Marie Bennett discuss rediscovering and reprinting 1920s author Gertrude Beasley’s banned memoir My First Thirty Years . They are joined by Beasley scholar Dr. Celia Marshik, Professor of English at Stony Brook University. This conversation originally took place December 8th, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. A...

This week, bestselling author Scott Turow discusses his novel The Last Trial with Olivia Bedi, a member of the AWM Board of Trustees. This conversation originally took place June 24th, 2020 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME

This week, award-winning writers Sigrid Nunez and Charlotte Wood discuss Nunez’s 2020 novel What Are You Going Through . This conversation originally took place September 24th, 2020 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME

This week, editor Andrew Blauner chats with acclaimed writers A. O. Scott and Rafia Zakaria about their contributions to the essay anthology Now Comes Good Sailing: Writers Reflect on Henry David Thoreau . This conversation originally took place October 21st, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM Podcast Network Hub

This week, two former military officers and award-winning authors, Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, discuss their recent book 2034: A Novel of the Next World War . This conversation originally took place March 31st, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer.

This week, AWM Program Director Allison Sansone speaks with journalist Tom Roston about his new book The Writer’s Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five . This conversation originally took place October 15th, 2021 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM Podcast Network Home

This week, award-winning writers Asali Solomon and Rebecca Makkai discuss Solomon’s new novel The Days of Afrekete . This conversation originally took place October 26th, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME

This week, just in time for Halloween, AWM Program Director Allison Sansone talks with historian Scott Peeples about Edgar Allan Poe and his book The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City . This conversation originally took place October 27th, 2020 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM Podcast Network Home

This week, hear from Joanne Lee Molinaro about her new cookbook The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen . Molinaro is interviewed by Christie Maliyackel, a member of the Chicago Council of the American Writers Museum. This conversation took place October 12th, 2021 and was recorded live at the American Writers Museum. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer....

This week, AWM Program Director Allison Sansone chats with playwright and screenwriter Sarah Gubbins, who most recently adapted the screenplay for the film Shirley starring Elisabeth Moss as Shirley Jackson. This program originally took place July 6th, 2020 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM Podcast Network Home

This week, our celebration of Hispanic American Heritage Month continues with Juan Martinez, author of the short story collection Best Worst American . This program is hosted by the Chicago Council of the American Writers Museum, a group of dedicated professionals who plan and host fundraising events for the museum. It originally took place June 10th, 2020 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope y...

This week, we have a fun panel of writers who are featured in the anthology Dear McSweeney’s: Two Decades of Letters to the Editor from Writers, Readers, and the Occasional Bewildered Consumer . This program is hosted by McSweeney’s senior editor Daniel Levin Becker. It originally took place September 21, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer.

This week, AWM Program Director, Allison Sansone, chats with Lilliam Rivera about her latest middle grade novel Never Look Back , which blends a touch of magical realism into a timely story about cultural identity, overcoming trauma, and the power of first love. This program originally took place November 10, 2020 and was recorded live via Zoom. This program is presented in conjunction with our ex...

This week, AWM Program Director, Allison Sansone, talks with Shay Bravo, a Mexican born author who has now lived half of her life in the U.S. Shay began sharing her work online through Wattpad when she was fifteen years old and has connected with over 100,000 followers. Historically Inaccurate won the 2019 Watty Awards and it’s her first novel. Publishers Weekly called the book "an earnest and tim...

This week, historian and critic Leonard S. Marcus discusses his book You Can’t Say Say That!: Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have To Tell . Marcus is joined by Meg Medina, one of the authors featured in the book. This program took place August 12, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer.

This week, hear from journalist and editor Elly Fishman about her book Refugee High: Coming of Age in America , winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel award. The book tells the story of a year in the life of a Chicago high school that has one of the highest proportions of refugees of any school in the nation. Elly is interviewed by award-winning author Alex Kotlowitz. This program took place August 10...

This week, AWM Program Director Allison Sansone talks with Charles Ardai, editor of the short story anthology Killer, Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury . This program took place August 17th, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. This is the final of three episodes in a row about Bradbury in the leadup to his August 22nd birthday. Visit our special exhibit Ray Bradbury: Inextinguish...

This week, AWM President Carey Cranston talks with former chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises Christie Hefner about the landmark publication and its relation to Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451 in particular. This program took place May 25th, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. This is the second of three episodes in a row about Bradbury in the leadup to his August 22nd birthday. Visit our spe...

This week, Kathleen Rooney talks about her recent novel Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey with fellow writer Michael Zapata, author of The Lost Book of Adana Moreau . This program took place August 13th, 2020 and was recorded live via Zoom. Learn more about and order Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey here . We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. All podcast episodes available here.

This week, AWM Program Director Allison Sansone chats with renowned poet and a leader of the Black Arts Movement Dr. Haki Madhubuti about his recent collection Taught By Women: Poems as Resistance Language . This program took place May 20, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME

This week, AWM Program Director Allison Sansone chats with writer and researcher Jess McHugh about her recent book Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books . This program took place June 1, 2021 and was recorded live via Zoom. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer.

June is Immigrant Heritage Month and we are celebrating all month long by sharing past programs presented in conjunction with our special exhibit My America: Immigrant and Refugee Writers Today . This exhibit has been extended through 2021 and you can explore it in person at the American Writers Museum or online at My-America.org . This week, acclaimed mystery writer Sara Paretsky interviews histo...

This week, program director Allison Sansone chats with writer and professor Aaron Bobrow-Strain, whose book The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez tells the true story of a Mexican teen mother journeying through the U.S. immigration system and the obstacles she faces. We hope you enjoy entering the mind of a writer.