Great Podversations

This conversation features New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, interviewed by former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke. They discuss Sides’ book “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook,” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on May 7th, 2026, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville...

This conversation features Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Opinion Columnist Maureen Dowd, interviewed by author and journalist Todd Purdum. They discuss Dowd’s book “Notorious: Portraits of Stars from Hollywood, Culture, Fashion and Tech” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on December 1st, 2025, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Maureen D...

This conversation features United States Congressman Jim Clyburn, interviewed by former U.S. Congressman John Yarmuth. They discuss Clyburn’s book “The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on November 24th, 2025, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. James E. Clyb...

This conversation features best-selling author Colm Tóibín, interviewed by Silas House, former Kentucky Poet Laureate (2023-2025). They discuss Tóibín’s book “Long Island” before a live audience at the University of Louisville, Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on April 14th, 2025, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Irish novelist, playwright, and essayist Colm Tóibín has wr...

This conversation features best-selling author Sebastian Junger, interviewed by NPR Podcast Host Rachel Martin. They discuss Junger’s book “In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face-to-Face with the Idea of an Afterlife” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on February 3rd, 2025, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Sebastian Junger is a bestselling autho...

This conversation features CNN Anchor and Chief Security Analyst Jim Sciutto, interviewed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez. They discuss Sciutto’s book “The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on November 25th, 2024, at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Jim Sciutto is an...

This conversation features musician, activist and poet Joan Baez, interviewed by journalist and radio host Diane Rehm. They discuss Baez’s book “When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance: Poems,” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on October 21st, 2024 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Joan Baez has performed for more than 60 years, releasing mor...

This conversation features bestselling author Amor Towles, interviewed by New York Times Book Critic Alexandra Jacobs. They discuss Towles’ book “Table for Two: Fictions” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on September 30, 2024, at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. Amor Towles is the author of The New York Times bestsellers “The Lincoln Highway,” “...

This conversation features journalist and author Bianca Bosker, discussing her book, “Get the Picture” with writer Patrick Bringley. Bianca Bosker is The New York Times bestselling author of “Cork Dork” and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. In “Get the Picture,” Bosker throws herself into the nerve center of art, and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators, and of course...

This conversation features renowned singer Renée Fleming, interviewed by author Richard Powers. They discuss Fleming’s book “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on April 8, 2024 at The Kentucky Center in Louisville, Ky. Renée Fleming is one of the most acclaimed singers of our time, perform...

This conversation features best-selling author and book store owner Ann Patchett, interviewed by author and professor Kevin Wilson. They discuss Patchett’s book “Tom Lake” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on February 12th, 2024 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. ANN PATCHETT is the author of nine novels, four books of nonfiction and one childre...

This conversation features renowned lawyer and Professor of Law at Yale and Georgetown Universities, Stephen Bright, interviewed by Pulitzer Prize-winner and Yale Law Professor James Forman Jr. They discuss Bright’s book, “The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was...

This conversation features best-selling author Jill Lepore and U.S. Congressman Jamie Raskin discussing Lepore’s book, “The Deadline: Essays,” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on September 11th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Jill Lepore is a professor of history and of law at Harvard University. She is also a staff writer at The New Y...

This conversation features best-selling author Geraldine Brooks and former NPR journalist Jacki Lyden discussing Brooks’ book, “Horse: A Novel” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on March 27th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Geraldine Brooks grew up in Australia and became a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald, and later with The W...

This conversation features author Maggie Haberman and CNN host Laura Coates discussing Haberman’s book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on January 9th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, wrote “Confidence Man” in 2022. Ms. H...

This conversation features author Josh Chin and New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos discussing both of their books before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum on September 29th, 2022 at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. Josh Chin wrote “Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control” with fellow Wall Street Journal writer, Liza Lin. He tells the gripping story...

Author Maggie Nelson discusses her book, On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint, with writer Eula Biss. Maggie Nelson is a writer working in autobiography, art criticism, theory, feminism, history, aesthetic theory, philosophy, scholarship, and poetry. Nelson received a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2012 Creative Capital Literature Fellowship, a 2011 NEA Fellowship in Poetry, and a 2010 Gugg...

Politician and author Charles Booker discusses his book, “From the Hood to the Holler: A Story of Separate Worlds, Shared Dreams, and the Fight for America’s Future,” with writer and Professor Eddie Glaude. Charles Booker represented the 43rd District in the Kentucky House of Representatives, where he served on the economic development and workforce, judiciary, and natural resources and energy com...

Artist and author James Bridle discusses their book, Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence with writer and musician Claire Evans. James Bridle is an artist, technologist and philosopher whose artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Oslo Architecture Triennale, the...

Author Geraldine Brooks discusses her book “Horse: A Novel” with journalist Gal Beckerman. Geraldine Brooks grew up in Australia and became a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald, and later with The Wall Street Journal. Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2006 for her novel “March.” Many of her novels and nonfiction books have been New York Times bestsellers. Her first novel,...

Author Keri Blakinger discusses her book, “Corrections in Ink: A Memoir” with writer Piper Kerman. Keri Blakinger is an investigative reporter based in Texas, covering criminal justice and injustice for The Marshall Project. She previously worked for the Houston Chronicle and her writing has appeared in the New York Daily News, the BBC, VICE, and The New York Times. Blakinger was a member of the H...

Author Anna Quindlen and writer Amy Bloom discuss Quindlen’s book “Write for Your Life.” Anna Quindlen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, novelist, and opinion columnist. She is the best-selling author of nine novels, including “Every Last One,” and “Still Life with Bread Crumbs.” Her memoir “Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake”, published in 2012, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Quindlen’s b...

Journalist and author Moisés Naím discusses his book, “The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century” with radio host Ari Shapiro. Moisés Naím is an internationally-syndicated columnist and best-selling author. He is the chief international columnist for El País and La Repubblica, the largest daily newspapers in Spain and Italy. His columns have been published i...

This conversation features Congressman Jamie Raskin and Russian expert Dr. Fiona Hill discussing both their books before a live audience at The Kentucky Author Forum on January 24th, 2022 at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. Jamie Raskin represents Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was renamed Chair of the Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civ...

Author Roya Hakakian discusses her book "A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious” with journalist Jen Balderama. Roya Hakakian is the author of three books in English and has published two collections of poetry in Persian. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. Hakakian has collaborated on journalisti...