KQED's Forum

What’s your favorite audiobook? Chances are, it’s one with a great narrator. Audiobook performers can make, or break, the experience for listeners. But what goes into their work? Julia Whelan has been dubbed “the Adele of audiobooks” and has narrated over 700 audiobooks – including Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl,” Tara Westover’s “Educated” and Ottessa Moshfegh’s “My Year of Rest and Relaxation.” She...

In the last year, tens of thousands of white collar workers have been laid off from companies ranging from Salesforce to GM to Target. Last month, Amazon announced it was slashing its white collar workforce by 10%, cutting 14,000 jobs.  Employees who once felt protected by their college and graduate degrees are now entering a stagnant job market that is being called the “Great Flattening.” We talk...

The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, is underway in Brazil. While California Governor Gavin Newsom made an appearance, the U.S. government is not participating in the annual event, which comes as President Trump fires EPA staff, defunds climate research and promotes fossil fuels. At the same time, green investment is booming, and environmental advocates are optimistic about...

Two campus shootings last week rocked Oakland. On Wednesday, a 15-year-old Skyline High School student was injured in a shooting by two minors on campus. On Thursday, beloved former football coach, John Beam, was shot at his job as athletic director for Laney College and died the next day. We’ll hear from those who knew Coach Beam about his life and legacy and we’ll discuss what Oakland schools ar...

As the Trump administration’s deportation campaign has ramped up, so too have the number of federal officers and agents wearing masks. That’s according to Atlantic staff writer Nick Miroff, who says that face coverings have become “a standard accessory for federal immigration enforcement, and a symbol of the mass-deportation campaign that is Trump’s top domestic-policy initiative.” In a rebuke, Ca...

For many, poetry is a balm. But for others, poetry feels inaccessible and hard to understand. In her latest book, “Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times” former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith aims to make poetry less intimidating. We talk to Smith about how to read poems, how to “listen at the widest possible angle” and how to use poetry to connect to one another across our differences. Guests: T...

The dog, writes poet Billy Collins, moves through the world unencumbered, with “nothing but her brown coat and her modest blue collar.” In a new collection called “Dog Show,” the former U.S. Poet Laureate turns his gaze toward the quiet wisdom of our canine friends — their reminders to slow down, pay attention and let the ordinary become radiant. We talk to Collins about dogs, poetry and why it’s...

Pioneering disability justice activist Alice Wong died in San Francisco on  Friday at the age of 51.  We listen back to our January interview with Alice, as  part of our series profiling legends of the Bay Area. We talked with Alice about her joyous approach to life and listened to some favorite interviews recorded with StoryCorps for the  Disability Visibility Project, which she founded. We also...

“Ghosting” has become an almost inevitable part of modern life – not just on dating sites, but among friends, family and even professional colleagues. But what’s behind this act of digital disappearance, and what does it say about how we relate to each other today? We’ll look at how technology that makes it easier to disappear on people has also made ghosting more socially acceptable, despite its...

Growing up in Stockton’s Khmer refugee community, Nite Yun knew some about her family’s history and heritage, but it was only after she visited Cambodia for the first time at age 24 that she connected deeply with her roots. Returning to the Bay Area, she opened the acclaimed Nyum Bai restaurant in Fruitvale, after being nurtured by the culinary incubator La Cocina. Now, she is the chef and owner o...

During the Civil War, “Soldier’s Heart” was the name given to the symptoms we now associate with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. While the condition has had many names in the decades – and wars – that have followed, its toll on soldiers has not abated. Between 11 and 15 percent of Vietnam War veterans are still suffering from PTSD, 50 years after the end of the war. The new documentary “H...

When Waymo robotaxis first rolled out onto San Francisco streets in 2021, people were skeptical. But less than five years later, Waymos are popular – a new poll finds local support at 67% –  though still polarizing. A San Francisco Supervisor is advocating to allow counties to decide whether they are allowed on their roads. As Waymo extends their service this week to San Jose and Bay Area highways...

Michael McFaul witnessed Russia’s slide into autocracy under Vladimir Putin. Now, the former ambassador to Russia warns the U.S. is also at risk. In his new book, “Autocrats vs Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder,” McFaul lays out the internal threats facing American democracy, and argues that we may have misjudged the external threats as well – overestimating China’s st...

If you ask someone with aphantasia to visualize an apple, a tree, or the house they grew up in, their mind draws a blank. Literally. The inability to conjure up mental images was discovered in the 1880s but only recently has been given a name and become the subject of more serious study. Aphantasia is found in approximately one percent of the population and can also affect the ability to recall so...

Starting in January, Californians will be able to buy discounted insulin from the state. That’s thanks to CalRx, the state-run drug label created in 2020 that partners with manufacturers to slash generic prescription drug prices. CalRx already offers the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone for about half the market price and other medications, including asthma inhalers, could be next. We’ll tal...

In Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech after being elected New York City’s new mayor, he thanked those often forgotten by the politics of the city, the “Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties.” It got us thinking about the people who make up our Bay Area cities and whether they are represented by our politics. An...

Our digital lives are increasingly dominated by a handful of powerful tech platforms. Once promising prosperity and democracy, the internet has instead allowed companies like Google, Amazon and Meta to extract money, data and attention from users on an unparalleled scale. Tim Wu, a former technology advisor to President Biden, argues that the government is failing us while tech monopolies deepen w...

The pothole is the bane of any commuter’s day. In Oakland, the city has paid over $35 million in the last 10 years in pothole litigation. And according to a new study, nearly one quarter of San Francisco’s streets are rated below standard. We’ll talk to experts about road maintenance and why it’s so expensive. And we’ll hear from you: What’s a road in your town that needs some attention? Guests: C...

California synth-pop duo PRXZM joins us in studio for a live musical performance. Classically trained musicians Nick Ortega and Emma Maidenberg host a weekly livestream where fans can watch them compose in real-time and offer feedback. PRXZM’s latest project? Remixing our Forum theme song! We’ll talk to them about the process of remixing and what it’s like to collaborate so closely with their fans...

Salman Rushdie is one of the most consequential living writers – artistically, culturally and politically. “The 11th Hour” is his latest collection of short stories and his first work of fiction after being stabbed, nearly to death, at a speaking event in 2022. We talk to Rushdie about his reflections on mortality, the limits of language and what he believes literature provides us with in times of...

We’re now in the longest shutdown in U.S. history after lawmakers on Tuesday again failed to advance a deal to extend health care subsidies and re-open the government. As President Trump calls for an end to the filibuster to force a resolution and as Democrats dig in after decisive election victories, we talk about the latest political maneuverings. And we’ll hear from Republican Congressman Kevin...

This summer, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said he’d like to see psychedelic therapies for depression, trauma and other hard-to-treat disorders approved for use within the next 12 months. Last year the FDA rejected psychedelic-assisted therapy for use in treating PTSD. We check in with long-time researchers about how state and federal governments can influence the mome...

We look at how California voted on Proposition 50, which would temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democratic candidates. Governor Gavin Newsom and other top Democrats, including Barack Obama, back the measure, calling it a response to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas. We talk to KQED’s politics team about what the results mean for voters across the state a...

“AI may not simply be 'a bubble,' or even an enormous bubble. It may be the ultimate bubble,” writes tech journalist Brian Merchant. In the first half of the year, AI contributed to 1.1% of GDP growth and eight tech companies are now valued at $1 trillion or more. While investors are giddy at the pace of growth, many economic analysts are more sober. We get to the bottom of the bubble and what mig...

Journalist Mike Rothschild has for the last decade studied and written about the rise and spread of conspiracy theories, hoaxes and scams. But after he lost his home in Altadena to the Eaton fire, Rothschild witnessed firsthand how conspiracies take hold of people in the throes of a traumatic event. We talk to him about why his community was vulnerable to disinformation about the causes of and res...