Colson Whitehead Visits The Jim Crow South

July 1, 2020 History, Literature, Race/Identity

Colson Whitehead’s latest novel is based on a real juvenile detention reformatory in 1960s Florida. He joins us to talk about his story of two boys, bound by the trauma around them as they swing between hope and cynicism.

How Shakespeare Spun Tragedy And Comedy From An Epidemic

June 23, 2020 History, Language, Literature

Stephen Greenblatt, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, joins us to talk about how an epidemic influenced Shakespeare.

Lessons On Kindness From NPR’s Scott Simon

June 12, 2020 Culture, Literature

The Weekend Edition host talks about his new YA novel about accepting others when, sometimes, their gifts are hidden.

Susan Choi On Her Nation Book Award Winner

May 5, 2020 Culture, Literature

Susan Choi joins us to talk about her book, “Trust Exercise: A Novel,” which was a runaway hit last year, delighting readers and critics all the way to a National Book Award.

Lawrence Wright Predicted This Would Happen

April 30, 2020 Current Events, Global Issues, Literature

Lawrence Wright joins us to talk about his fiction focused on a pandemic upending the world, written months and months before our current crisis.

When Science Misses The Forest For The Trees

April 28, 2020 History, Literature, Race/Identity, Science and Technology

Lulu Miller, co-founder of NPR’s “Invisibilia,” joins us to talk about her study of the first president of Stanford University, a taxonomist obsessed with fish, and how his discoveries — and ultimately his intellectual myopia — helped her to make sense of her own world.

Ireland Split In Two: A History Of The Troubles

February 25, 2020 History, Literature

New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe talks to us about assessing this recent dark period of Irish history through the lens of this mysterious disappearance.

He Died, Their Love Survived

February 18, 2020 History, Literature

Tembi Locke talks to us about love and loss: from finding her soulmate in Florence to his death from cancer, to the decision to travel back to her husband’s Sicilian hometown to find herself — and her family — again.

When Bombs Tried to Kill Them, Books Kept Their Souls Alive

November 29, 2019 Culture, Current Events, Education, Literature

Journalist Mike Thompson joins us to talk about one bright spot in the Syrian Civil War: a secret world of books that offered normality and refuge.

‘Undone’: The Story Behind Amazon’s Coolest Series

November 6, 2019 Culture, Literature, Race/Identity, Uncategorized

Kate Purdy, co-creator, producer and writer of “Undone,” joins us to talk about her drama, which uses Rotoscope animation to bridge the worlds of the living and the dead.

A Conversation With John Grisham

October 24, 2019 Culture, Literature

John Grisham joins us to talk about his prolific pace of writing a book a year – and about the art of the legal thriller.

When Lincoln Died, The Drama Began

October 23, 2019 History, Literature

The co-creators of a dramatic podcast about the days following Lincoln’s assassination join us to talk about crafting a compelling modern drama from the annals of history.