Free Library Podcast

Religion scholar Reza Aslan is the author of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Zealot, ''a lucid, intelligent page-turner'' (Los Angeles Times) that sifts through centuries of mythmaking to present a clear account of the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. His other books include No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, a finalist for the Guardian First Book Award and select...

One of academia's leading authorities on African American literature, enslavement, gender studies, and the ways in which marginalized people are excluded in historical narratives, Saidiya Hartman is a University Professor at Columbia University. Her works include Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals; Lose Your Mother...

Yiyun Li 's ''remarkable'' (The Washington Post) debut fiction collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Guardian First Book Award. Her other work includes the novel The Vagrants, the story collection Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, and the memoir Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life. The recipien...

In conversation with Jo Piazza A ''quite prescient and worthwhile'' writer who ''understands her characters inside and out'' (The New York Times Book Review), Jodi Picoult has authored many No. 1 bestsellers that are renowned for combining controversial topics with nuanced characters and precise descriptions of suburbia's fraught reality. Her 28 novels include House Rules, Handle with Care, Wish Y...

In conversation with Mark Krotov, publisher and editor of n+1  Vladimir Sorokin  is one of contemporary Russian literature's most popular writers. Banned by the Soviet Union, his numerous novels include The Queue, The Blizzard, Day of the Oprichnik, and the controversial Blue Lard. His work also includes several screenplays, plays, short story collections, art exhibitions, and an opera libretto, a...

In conversation with Tracey Matisak Margaret A. Burnham is the founding director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, an initiative to document every racially motivated killing in the South between 1930 and 1970. Also a law professor at Northeastern University and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, she formerly worked as a lawy...

In conversation with Edwin Mayorga and Sharif El-Mekki  For 20 years  Camika Royal  was a middle and high school teacher and a teaching coach for her fellow educators in Baltimore, Washington, DC, and her hometown of Philadelphia. Currently an associate professor of urban education at Loyola University Maryland, she examines the racial, historical, and sociopolitical contexts of school reform ideo...

Meelya Gordon Memorial Lecture ''John le Carré's nonfiction counterpart'' (The New York Times), Ben Macintyre is the bestselling author of A Spy Among Friends, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat, and The Spy and the Traitor, among other books. He has adapted several of these stories into popular documentaries for the BBC. Writer-at-large for The Times of London, Macintyre is the recipient of the S...

In conversation with Tracey Matisak, award winning broadcaster and journalist Tommie Smith and John Carlos made history at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics when they stood at the winners' podium and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice in the United States. Smith, gold medalist in the 200-meter sprint, and Carlos, the bronze medal winner, were forced to leave the games and face...

In conversation with Chenjerai Kumanyika Ruth Wilson Gilmore is largely credited with creating carceral geography, the study of how the interplay between space, institutions, and political economies shape modern incarceration. The author of Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California and several often-anthologized essays, she is the co-founder of several social...

In conversation with Wesley Stace ''The most psychologically astute writer working today, our era's Jane Austen'' (Esquire), Ian McEwan won the Booker Prize for his novel Amsterdam. His 16 other novels include Atonement, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and later adapted into an acclaimed Oscar-nominated film; The Comfort of Strangers and Black Dogs, both Booker Prize finalists; an...

In conversation with Kevin Werbach Acclaimed for their intersectional explorations of cyberculture, religion, currency, and politics,  Douglas Rushkoff's 20 bestselling books include Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, Present Shock, and Media Virus. He also is the host of the Team Human podcast, writes a column for Medium, and created the PBS Frontline documentaries Genera...

In conversation with David Fricke, senior editor for Rolling Stone and SiriusXM host The co-founder, co-editor, and publisher of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner has influenced the ways in which the world perceives music, politics, and pop culture for nearly 50 years. Also the founder and publisher of Outside, US Weekly, Family Life, and Men's Journal, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

In conversation with Laura McGrath, Assistant Professor of English at Temple University ''Quirky and often darkly hilarious'' (Mother Jones), Gary Shteyngart is the author of the culturally reflective novels The Russian Debutante's Handbook, winner of the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction; Absurdistan, named a ''best book of the year'' by slews of periodicals; the New York Times bestseller Sup...

In conversation with Mark Bowden A Pulitzer Prize–-winning journalist and author of four books, Buzz Bissinger is perhaps best known for the New York Times bestseller Friday Night Lights, the 1990 nonfiction chronicle of a Texas high school football team that has since been adapted into a successful film and a long-running television series. His other popular books include 3 Nights in August, A Pr...

In conversation with Tracey Matisak, award-winning journalist and interviewer Co-star of the ABC mega-hit show Black-ish, Jenifer Lewis' nearly 35-year career has featured roles in some of Hollywood's most beloved films and television shows. These include such diverse projects as What's Love Got to Do With It, Pixar's Cars series, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, among dozens of others. Titled aft...

In conversation with Tracey Matisak, award winning journalist and broadcaster The United States Representative for California's 28th Congressional District and the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Adam Schiff was the lead manager for the first impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump. He is a former member of the House Appropriations Committee...

In conversation with Marc Lamont Hill W. Kamau Bell is the host and executive producer of the Emmy Award–winning CNN docuseries United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, and also directed and executive produced the recent four-part Showtime documentary We Need To Talk About Cosby. He has appeared as a guest and comedian on many television shows, has two comedy specials, hosts the radio show Kam...

In their illustrated children's book, Brian Westbrook Sr. and Lesley Van Arsdall tell the story of a determined little critter named Brian who overcomes his small size to become a star in the Mouse Football League. Brian Westbrook, Sr.  played nine seasons in the NFL, including eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was a two-time Pro-Bowl running back and was named first team All-Pro afte...

In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition One of the world's foremost chroniclers of the intersection of the human and natural worlds, Michael Pollan is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of eight books. These works include How to Change Your Mind, an examination of the science of psychedelics; Cooked, which was adapted into a Netflix series; Food Rules:...

In conversation with Tracey Matisak, award winning broadcaster and journalist Mark Leibovich's books include the No. 1 bestseller This Town, a ''vastly entertaining and deeply troubling'' (The New York Times Book Review) exploration of the political culture in Washington, D.C.; and Big Game, a beyond-the-playing-field analysis of professional football at its precarious economic and social peak. Fo...

In conversation with Renée Chenault Fattah In  The XX Edge , Patience Marime-Ball and Ruth Shaber envision a new paradigm of gender-focused investing where more women are placed in decision-making roles and able to optimize their skills across all capital markets-leading to higher returns for individual investors and greater economic growth. Patience Marime-Ball  is the founder and CEO of Women of...

Acclaimed for crafting ''sharply drawn characters, exuberant prose,'' and ''plenty of period detail'' (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the author of six novels, including Tumbling, Tempest Rising, Trading Dreams at Midnight, and Lazaretto, a historical novel set in a legendary 19th-century Philadelphia quarantine hospital. A two-time recipient of the American Library As...

In conversation with Marc Lamont Hill A world-renowned counterterrorism expert and former career intelligence officer who has deployed in the Balkans, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa,  Malcolm Nance  is a longtime consultant for the U.S. government's Special Operations and Homeland Security agencies. His New York Times bestselling books include The Plot to Hack America, Hacking Isis, The P...

In conversation with Beth Kephart Alice Elliott Dark  is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Think of England and the short story collections In the Gloaming and Naked to the Waist. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Ploughshares, and The New Yorker, and her story ''In the Gloaming'' has twice been adapted into feature films. A writing professor in Rutge...