Francesca Wade with Brenda Wineapple: Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife
Library Talks
In this episode of , Author Francesca Wade, joins Library Talks to discuss her new book Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife she is joined by fellow author Brenda Wineapple who’s most recent book is national bestseller, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation. Gertrude Stein’s Paris salon is the stuff of literary legend. Many have tried to capture the spirit of the place that once entertained the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, but perhaps none as determinedly as Stein herself. Pushing beyond...
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Ray D. Madoff with Gary Gulman: The Second Estate
Library Talks
In this episode of , Ray D. Madoff, a professor at Boston College Law School, talks about her new book The Second Estate which lifts the veil on the 7,000-page tax code that has created two Americas. In one America, “millions of working Americans pay substantial portions of their resources to support the expenses of the country.” In another, the wealthiest one percent have been “given the tools to abdicate their responsibilities and, in a sense, to relocate to a tax-free version of American life.” Madoff talks to stand-up comedian Gary Gulman about how these mechanisms...
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Cheryl McKissack Daniel with Charlamagne Tha God: The Black Family Who Built America
Library Talks
In this episode of , Cheryl McKissack Daniel—fifth-generation leader of the nation’s oldest Black-owned design and construction services firm, sits down with multimedia mogul Charlamagne Tha God to discuss her family's extraordinary 200-year history, as captured in her new book The Black Family Who Built America. From the National Civil Rights Museum in Tennessee, to the Atlantic Yards (Pacific Park) LIRR Yard relocation, the Barclays Center Arena construction in Brooklyn, the Oculus in Manhattan, the New Terminal One at JFK International Airport, and the cherished Lincoln...
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Gish Jen with Weike Wang: Bad Bad Girl
Library Talks
In this episode of , acclaimed novelist Gish Jen joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book Bad Bad Girl. She is joined by fellow novelist Weike Wang. Bad Bad Girl began as a memoir of her late mother, Loo Shu-hsin, before evolving into a fictionalized portrait of their turbulent mother-daughter relationship. As a child Shu-hsin learns how little her life is valued as a woman in 1930s Shanghai and is constantly reprimanded, “Bad bad girl! You don’t know how to talk!” Years later, struggling to keep her own family together as an expat in America, she finds herself...
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David Szalay with Dua Lipa: Flesh
Library Talks
In this episode of , join Dua Lipa for a live discussion of Flesh by David Szalay, a book club pick for Service95—the global lifestyle platform and weekly newsletter she founded. Longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, Flesh tells the rags-to-riches story of Istvan, a lonely young man raised on a Hungarian housing estate, whose rise from obscurity to success is ultimately derailed by events beyond his control.
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Brian Jones with Bettina L. Love and Jesse Hagopian: Black History Is for Everyone
Library Talks
In this episode of , Educator NYPL staff member and author Brian Jones joins Library Talks to discuss his new book Black History Is for Everyone. He is joined by Dr. Bettina L. Love and Jesse Hagopian. In Black History Is for Everyone, Brian Jones offers a meditation on the power of Black history, using his own experiences as a lifelong learner and classroom teacher to question everything—from the radicalism of the American Revolution to the meaning of “race” and “nation.”
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The New Yorker Editorial Roundtable
Library Talks
In this episode of , in honor of The New Yorker’s 100th anniversary, editor David Remnick is joined by Henry Finder, Tyler Foggatt, Susan Morrison, and Daniel Zalewski for a rare editorial roundtable. They offer an insider’s view into how articles are assigned, crafted, and brought to life—from first pitch to final publication—and how the magazine reflects and builds on its storied past. Presented in conjunction with The New York Public Library’s major exhibition , on view through February 21, 2026, which draws on NYPL's collections, including the magazine's...
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Jill Lepore with Jamal Greene: We the People
Library Talks
In this episode of , 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...
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Tricia Hersey with Glory Edim: We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape
Library Talks
In this episode of , 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.
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Lauren O'Neill-Butler with E.C. Feiss and Ciarán Finlayson: The War of Art
Library Talks
In this episode of , 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.
info_outlineBestselling author and historian Russell Shorto talks to Aidan Flax-Clark about his latest book, Taking Manhattan.