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.

News anchor Vicky Nguyen talks to Tracey Nguyen Mang about her new memoir, Boat Baby.

Michelin-starred chef José Andrés talks to Gail Simmons about his latest book, Change the Recipe.

American historian Timothy Snyder presents his lecture The New Paganism—A Framework for Understanding Our Politics

Film critic Alissa Wilkinson talks to Aidan Flax-Clark about her latest book, We Tell Ourselves Stories.

She's Anita, a zombie raising hate crime enthusiast! He's Jean Claude, a vampire who's in the Chamber of Commerce and shops exclusively at International Male! They do not do it until the fifth book! It's Guilty Pleasures, the first Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter book by Laurell K. Hamilton! This was a serious thing for Sara back in college, who is cur…

Historian Edna Bonhomme talks to Linda Villarosa about her latest book, A History of the World in Six Plagues.

Artist Hamid Rahmanian speaks with translator Ahmad Sadri and producer Melissa Hibbard about the Persian epic poem Shahnameh.

Cookbook Author Lisa Kyung Gross is joined by Yael Raviv and Abi Balingit to talk about her latest book, The League of Kitchens Cookbook

Kenneth Roth, the long-time head of Human Rights Watch, talks to M. Gessen about his first book, Righting Wrongs.

Eliza Clark talks to Allison Nellis about her debut short story collection, She's Always Hungry.

Historian Sarah Lewis talks to Nell Irvin Painter about her latest book, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America.

Bestselling author Victoria Christopher Murray sits down with journalist Melissa Noel to discuss her latest book, Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance.

We had a great time sitting down with Grace and Kate from the New York Public Library (as I explained to my husband "the one with the lions") to talk about NYPL's "Best New Romance Books" list of their favorite 2024 romance novels. We talked about everything from Johanna Lindsey cover art to the sad dearth of true pirate romances these days to roma…

In 2003, author Jennifer Finney Boylan published She’s Not There, which became the first bestselling work by a transgender American and established Boylan as a go-to source for public conversation about the impact of gender on our lives. More than two decades later, her new memoir, Cleavage, returns with older and wiser eyes to examine the joys and…

Writer and scholar David Wright Faladé sits down with Julie Orringer to discuss his latest book, The New Internationals, a stunning historical novel that sets a coming-of-age narrative and cross-cultural romance amidst a vibrant political moment in postwar Paris.

We recorded this months ago, in the fall! We are sorry! He's Brendan, a DOJ attorney ferreting out white supremacists! She's Caroline, a counselor whose mom calls all the time! Will they ever buy curtains to spare the neighbors' tender eyes? Find out in Heat Wave by Barbara Delinsky, another of our “five heart romances”! If you’re new to this, we’r…

When author and historian Martha Hodes was 12-years-old she was flying unaccompanied on a plane that was hijacked. Nearly half a century later she explores her memories of that event in her book My Hijacking, which draws on deep archival research and extensive interviews both to re-create what happened to her as a child and to understand the larger…

New York State Poet Laureate Patricia Spears Jones is a poet, playwright, educator, and cultural activist. Her most recent book The Beloved Community was released in 2023. Here she is in conversation with Brent Hayes Edwards, professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature and the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University.…