• Stephanie Burt with Special Guests: Super Gay Poems: LGBTQIA+ Poetry after Stonewall
    Jun 25 2025

    In this episode of Library Talks, poets and critics read from and discuss the new anthology, Super Gay Poems: LGBTQIA+ Poetry after Stonewall.

    In Super Gay Poems, Stephanie Burt curates a boundary-pushing anthology of 51 poems by LGBTQIA+ writers, tracing the evolution of queer poetry since the Stonewall Riots. From sonnets to shaped poems, elegies to joyful provocations, the collection features luminaries like Frank O’Hara and Audre Lorde alongside vital contemporary voices such as Chen Chen and The Cyborg Jillian Weise.

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Barbara Demick with Jessica Bruder: Daughters of the Bamboo Grove
    Jun 18 2025

    In this episode of Library Talks, acclaimed journalist and National Book Award finalist Barbara Demick talks to Jessica Bruder about her latest book, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins

    Barbara Demick investigates the origins, shocking cruelty, and legacy of China’s one-child rule; the rise of international adoption and the religious currents that buoyed it; and the exceedingly rare phenomenon of twin separation.

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    1 hr
  • Madeleine Thien with Jiayang Fan: The Book of Records
    Jun 11 2025

    In this episode of Library Talks, author Madeleine Thien talks to Jiayang Fan about her latest book, The Book of Records. The Book of Records is a novel that leaps across generations, ideas, and centuries, as if different eras were separated by only a door.

    Madeleine Thien worked on The Book of Records during her 2021-2022 Fellowship at the Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. She discusses her book with New Yorker staff writer Jiayang Fan.

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    56 mins
  • Claire Hoffman with Jelani Cobb: Sister, Sinner
    Jun 4 2025

    In this episode of Library Talks, Author and Journalist Claire Hoffman sits down with fellow journalist Jelani Cobb to talk about her latest book, Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson

    Sister, Sinner chronicles the dramatic rise, disappearance, and near-fall of Aimee Semple McPherson. A pioneer of Pentecostalism and founder of the Foursquare Church, McPherson used spectacle, storytelling, and her own radio station to bring God’s message to the masses. Her innovations brought Pentecostalism into the mainstream, paved the way for televangelists, and shaped the future of American Christianity.

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Russell Shorto with Aidan Flax-Clark: Taking Manhattan
    May 28 2025

    Bestselling author and historian Russell Shorto talks to Aidan Flax-Clark about his latest book, Taking Manhattan.

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    59 mins
  • Haleh Liza Gafori with Maya C. Popa: Water Translating Rumi
    May 21 2025

    Acclaimed poet Haleh Liza Gafori discusses her latest translations of Rumi's lyric poetry in Water with prize-winning poet Maya C. Popa

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    59 mins
  • Chris Hughes with Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway: Marketcrafters
    May 14 2025

    Economist and writer Chris Hughes talks to Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Allowa about his latest book, Marketcrafters.

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    55 mins
  • Mike Hixenbaugh on his Award-Winning Book 'They Came for the Schools'
    May 7 2025

    On this special episode of Library Talks, we speak with Mike Hixenbaugh, winner of the 38th annual Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, for his book They Came for the Schools: One Town's Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America's Classrooms.

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    56 mins