Library Talks

In this episode of Library Talks, American historian Jill Lepore joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution. She is joined by constitutional law expert Jamal Greene. On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, Jill Lepore’s We the People reexamines this foundational text not as a static artifact but as a living document shaped—and often stalled—by the will of the people. Drawing on research from the Amendments Project—a searchable archive of all the proposed amendments to the Constitution from 1789 to the present—Lepore traces more than two centuries of attempts, mostly by ordinary Americans, to amend a document designed both to resist change and to permit it through peaceful, democratic means.

In this episode of Library Talks, multidisciplinary artist and theologian, Tricia Hersey joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape. She is joined by Glory Edim, author of Well Read Black Girl. Tricia Hersey is the founder of The Nap Ministry. She is the global pioneer and originator of the “rest as resistance” and “rest as reparations” frameworks, and collaborates with communities all over the world to create sacred spaces. This talk was recorded as part of the Schomburg Centennial Festival.

In this episode of Library Talks, Author and editor Lauren O’Neill-Butler joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book, The War of Art: A History of Artists' Protest in America. The War of Art tells the history of artist-led activism and the global political and aesthetic debates of the 1960s to the present. In contrast to the financialized art market and celebrity artists, the book explores the power of collective effort — from protesting to philanthropy, and from wheat pasting to planting a field of wheat.

In this episode of Library Talks, Miriam Toews, the internationally bestselling author of Women Talking and Fight Night discusses writing about her own life in nonfiction for the first time. Miriam Toews had written nine books, but when the organizer of a literary festival prompted her to answer the question “Why do you write?” Toews found that every attempted response only proved that the question might not be possible to answer. Her new book, A Truce That Is Not Peace, is a memoir of the will to write and a surfacing of new layers of guilt, grief, and futility connected to her sister’s suicide. It explores the uneasy pact a writer makes with memory and the silences in her family she struggles to understand.

In this episode of Library Talks, Research scientist Joshua Miele joins Library Talks to discuss his memoir Connecting Dots: A Blind Life. He is joined by Andrew Leland, author of the memoir The Country of the Blind. Throughout his life, Miele has found increasingly inventive ways to succeed in a world built for the sighted, and to help others to do the same. At first reluctant to even think of himself as blind, he eventually embraced his blindness and became a committed advocate for disability and accessibility. Connecting Dots delivers a captivating first-person perspective on blindness and disability as incisive as it is entertaining. Joshua Miele’s story is one of one ordinary blind life with an indelible impact.

In this episode of Library Talks, award-winning writer and multidisciplinary artist Eloghosa Osunde joins the podcast for a conversation about their new novel Necessary Fiction with the editor of Necessary Fiction Jake Morrissey. Necessary Fiction takes place across Lagos, one of Africa's largest urban areas and one of the world's most dynamic cities, Osunde’s characters seek out love for self and their chosen partners, even as they risk ruining relationships with parents, spouses, family, and friends. As they work to establish themselves in the city's lively worlds of art, music, entertainment, and creative commerce, we meet their collective and individual attempts to reckon with the necessary fiction they carry for survival.

In this episode of Library Talks, writer, activist, and speaker Raquel Willis joins Library Talks to discuss her memoir The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. She’s joined by fellow writer Mecca Jamilah Sullivan. In The Risk It Takes to Bloom, Raquel Willis recounts with passion and candor her experiences straddling the Obama and Trump eras, the possibility of transformation after the tragedy, and how complex moments can push us all to take necessary risks and bloom toward collective liberation. This recording was part of the Schomburg Centennial Festival. Find more events celebrating the Schomburg Centennial

In this episode of Library Talks, Writer and director Malcolm D. Lee Joins Library Talks to discuss his debut novel The Best Man: Unfinished Business. He’s joined by his coauthor Jayne Allen in a discussion moderated by radio and television host Bevy Smith. The beloved characters from Malcom D Lee’s The Best Man movies and hit television series reunite in the first in the trilogy, The Best Man: Unfinished Business. The novel follows Harper, Jordan, and Robyn as they try to establish lives away from the hurts of the past and come to realize that some love is impossible to break.

In this episode of Library Talks, Novelist and features editor at The Verge Kevin Nguyen joins Library Talks to discuss his second novel Mỹ Documents Mỹ Documents follows four Vietnamese cousins whose lives are upended after a terrorist attack incites a government crackdown that targets their community through mass internment of Vietnamese-American citizens. Nguyen relies on the history of Japanese internment, the Vietnam War, and more recent immigrant detention to imagine a not-entirely-implausible near American future.

In this episode of Library Talks, Acclaimed translator and playwright Jeremy Tiang joins Library Talks to discuss his debut novel and winner of the Singapore Literature Prize State of Emergency. Jeremy Tiang is a novelist and playwright, and the translator of over thirty books from Chinese. His debut novel State of Emergency follows an extended family from the 1940s to the present day as they navigate the choppy political currents of the region.

In this episode of Library Talks, National book award finalist Jonas Hassen Khemiri talks to Tess Gunty about his latest book, The Sisters. Narrated in six parts, each spanning a period ranging from a year to a day to a single minute, Jonas Hassen Khemiri's The Sisters is a big, vivid family saga of the highest order Jonas Hassen Khemiri worked on The Sisters during his 2021-2022 Fellowship at the Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.

In this episode of Library Talks, New York’s funniest LGBTQ performers take the stage for a one-night-only celebration of queer comedy, community, and joy. Hosted by Bobby Hankinson, Kweendom is an all-LGBTQ comedy show featuring some of the city’s sharpest queer comedians and storytellers. Born from Hankinson’s frustration with lineups lacking authentic queer representation, Kweendom centers a wide range of LGBTQ voices—spanning gender identities, cultures, and backgrounds—each sharing their distinct experiences through stand-up.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr talks to Lisette Nieves about his latest book, Teacher by Teacher.

In this episode of Library Talks, author and climate scientist Kate Marvel explores her latest book, Human Nature, with David Wallace-Wells, Monica Youn, and Lauren Kurtz through talks, performances, and more Each chapter of Kate Marvel’s new book, Human Nature, employs a different emotion to explore the science and stories behind climate change. Kate Marvel shares some of the hope, heartbreak, and humor that she uses to help readers confront the questions about what future lies ahead and how we can help shape it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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