Lannan Center Podcast

On April 7th, 2026, the Lannan Center hosted a poetry reading and talk with Volha Hapeyeva and Valzhyna Mort. Hosted by Carolyn Forché. Volha Hapeyeva (b. in Minsk, Belarus) is a poet, writer, translator, doctor of linguistics, and artist. She writes in Belarusian and German and has received numerous prizes and awards for her work: Wortmeldungen Literature Preis-2022 (Germany), among others. Her p...

On March 31, 2026, Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie joined former NPR host and Princeton visiting professor Razia Iqbal for a conversation about his extraordinary writing life, viewed through the lens of change Rushdie will discuss his latest work, The Eleventh Hour, a quintet of short stories published in November 2025, alongside reflections on his literary journey from early novels exploring post...

On March 26, 2026, Poet Travis Chi Wing Lau, author of What’s Left Is Tender, joined radio host Georgina Godwin for an intimate conversation about his powerful exploration of disability, chronic pain, and family silence. Dr. Travis Chi Wing Lau   (he/him/his)is Assistant Professor of English at Kenyon College. He received his B.A. in English with a minor in Classical Civilization from the Universi...

On March 24, 2026, Dominican-American poet, novelist and essayist, Julia Alvarez read from her latest poetry collection in conversation with radio host Georgina Godwin. The poems in Visitations reflect on change across the arc of decades—family, aging, love, the body, finding voice, and the very act of poetry itself. Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the ag...

On Tuesday, February 10, 2026, the Lannan Center hosted a conversation between Mexican novelist Yuri Herrera and Carmen Lamas (Latinx Literary Culture Professor at the University of Virginia). Yuri Herrera is a writer born in Actopan, Hidalgo, México, and he writes in both Spanish and English. His first novel, Trabajos del reino (trans. Kingdom Cons), won the Premio Binacional de Novela Joven 2003...

On Tuesday, January 20th, the Lannan Center hosted a reading and discussion by American fiction writer Jenny Offill, hosted by Lannan Visiting Chair Rabih Alameddine.  Jenny Offill is an acclaimed American fiction writer whose debut novel, Last Things (1999), was named a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the LA Times First Book Award. The New York Times named her second novel, Dept. o...

On Tuesday, November 18th, the Lannan Center hosted a special tribute evening honoring Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, featuring writers Nukoma wa Ngugi, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, and Helon Habila. Moderated by Lannan Visiting Lecturer Tope Folarin. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938–2025) was an award-winning novelist, playwright, and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. Born...

On Tuesday, October 21st, the Lannan Center hosted a reading and discussion by Palestinian-American poet Fady Joudah, hosted by Carolyn Forché. Fady Joudah is the author of […] , a 2024 finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry and winner of the 2024 Jackson Poetry Prize. He has also published six collections of poems: The Earth in the Attic; Alight; Textu , a book-long sequence of short poe...

On Tuesday, September 30th, the Lannan Center hosted a book launch for Rabih Alameddine's  The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (And His Mother) , hosted by Tope Folarin, Lannan Visiting Lecturer. Rabih Alameddine is the Lannan Foundation's Visiting Chair and author of seven critically acclaimed novels, most recently The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (And His Mother) , winner...

On Tuesday, April 8th, the Lannan Center hosted a reading by award-winning poet Roger Reeves, hosted by Carolyn Forché. Roger Reeves is the author of Dark Days: Fugitive Essays (Graywolf, 2023) and Best Barbarian (W.W. Norton & Co., 2022), a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Tracy K. Smith called it “a revelation and a form of reparation.” His...

On Thursday, March 27th, the Lannan Center welcomed award-winning author and journalist Omar El Akkad for a conversation with New York Times contributor Aida Alami as part of the center's annual symposium, this year entitled "Writing Climate". Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager, and now lives in the United...

On Thursday, March 27th, the Lannan Center welcomed actress and activist Susan Sarandon to begin the final night of the center's annual symposium, this year entitled "Writing Climate", with a reading from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring . The reading was followed by a conversation with biologist Dr. Dino J. Martins, moderated by author Aminatta Forna.  Dr. Dino J. Martins is inte...

On Wednesday, March 26th, the Lannan Center welcomed human rights and environmental justice activist Kumi Naidoo for a conversation with Climate Rights International Founder Brad Adams as part of the center's annual symposium, this year entitled "Writing Climate". Kumi Naidoo is a prominent South African human rights and environmental justice activist. At the age of fifteen, he orga...

On Tuesday, March 25th, the Lannan Center welcomed award-winning author Amitav Ghosh for a conversation with journalist Razia Iqbal as part of the center's annual symposium, this year entitled "Writing Climate". Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria and is the author of The Circle of Reason, The S...

On Tuesday, February 25th, the Lannan Center welcomed award-winning poet Dana Levin for a reading, hosted by Carolyn Forché.  Dana Levin is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Now Do You Know Where You Are (2022), a New York Times Notable Book and NPR “Book We Love.” Her first book, In the Surgical Theatre, was chosen by Louise Glück for the 1999 American Poetry Review/Honickma...

On Tuesday, February 4th, the Lannan Center welcomed renowned poet, essayist, professor of Classics, and translator Anne Carson for a reading, hosted by Carolyn Forché. Anne Carson was born in Toronto, Ontario, on June 21, 1950. She attended St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto and, despite leaving twice, received her BA in 1974, her MA in 1975 and her PhD in 1981. Since bursting ont...

On Tuesday, January 21st, the Lannan Center presented a reading featuring poets Eduardo C. Corral and Tyree Daye, hosted by Carolyn Forché. Eduardo C. Corral is the son of Mexican immigrants. He’s the author of Guillotine , published by Graywolf Press, and Slow Lightning , which won the 2011 Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. He’s the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Foundatio...

On Tuesday, October 22nd, the Lannan Center presented an evening with award-winning author Aleksandar Hemon, hosted by Rabih Alameddine, Lannan Visiting Chair. Aleksandar Hemon is most recently the author of The World and All That It Holds (2023). He is also the author of The Lazarus Project , which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, and three c...

On Tuesday, October 1st, the Lannan Center presented an evening with Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka, hosted by Tope Folarin, Lannan Creative Writing Visiting Lecturer. Shehan Karunatilaka is a Sri Lankan author from Colombo. He is the author of two novels: Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew (2010), which won the Commonwealth Book Prize, the DSC Prize, and the Gratiaen Prize, and The S...

On Tuesday, September 24th, the Lannan Center presented a reading by Duncan Wu, Raymond Wagner Professor in Literary Studies, from his debut collection of poems Origin Myths (Shearsman, 2024). Duncan Wu began his career as a Fellow by Special Election at St Catherine's College, Oxford, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the British Academy, in 1991. In 1995 he was appointed Reader in Engli...

On March 21, 2024, renowned authors Reginald Dwayne Betts (Felon: Poems ) and Zeke Caligiuri ( This is Where I Am ) offered their thoughts on the intersection of literature and the prison system as they discussed the impact of incarceration in shaping their writing lives, creative processes and narratives. This event was cosponsored by the Prisons and Justice Initiative.  Reginald Dwayne Betts is...

On March 20, 2024, bestselling author and deaf rights’ activist Sara Nović talked about her writing life and novel True Biz , with the Washington Post ‘s Amanda Morris. This event was coponsored by the Disability Cultural Center and ASL interpreted.  Sara Nović is the author of the New York Times bestseller True Biz. Her other books are Girl at War , which won the American Library Association’s Al...

On March 19, 2024 , acclaimed author Viet Thanh Nguyen discussed his memoir, A Man of Two Faces , and reflected on the TV adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer . With former Newshour host Razia Iqbal. Viet Thanh Nguyen ’s novel The Sympathizer (Corsair, 2016) is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (coming to HBO as a TV series directed...

On Tuesday, February 27, 2024, the Lannan Center presented a reading featuring Macedonian poet Nikola Madzirov and Slovene poet Aleš Šteger. Nikola Madzirov is the author of Remnants of Another Age and Relocated Stone , which received the Hubert Burda European Poetry Award and the prestigious Miladinov Brothers Award. He was awarded the Studentski Zbor Award for Locked in the City and the Aco Kara...

On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, the Lannan Center presented a reading by poets Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Saddiq Dzukogi, Henneh Kyereh Kwaku, and Tolu Oloruntoba. Victoria Adukwei Bulley is a poet, writer and artist. Her debut poetry collection Quiet was published by Faber in 2022 and was the winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize 2023 in the Poetry category. Quiet was also shortlisted for the T.S. Elli...