Library Talks

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 the struggles of being transgender.

In this episode of Library Talks, Boylan sits down with bestselling author Roxanne Gay to discuss her latest memoir and her hope for a future in which we all have the freedom to live joyfully as men, as women, and in the space between us.

Direct download: NYPL_021125_Boylan_01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EST

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.

Direct download: NYPL_020425_Falade_01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EST

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 context of the world-historical event in which she unwittingly participated.

Direct download: NYPL_Hodes_012825_01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EST

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. 

Direct download: NYPL_012125_PatriciaSpearsJones_01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EST

Join author and professor Deondra Rose as she discusses her new book The Power of Black Excellence: HBCUs and the Fight for American Democracy with activist Angelo Pinto.

Direct download: NYPL_DeondraRose_011425_01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EST

Caoilinn Hughes joins fellow author Brandon Taylor to discuss her latest book, The Alternatives, a story of four brilliant Irish sisters, orphaned in childhood, who scramble to reconnect when the oldest disappears into the Irish countryside.

Direct download: NYPL_LibraryTalks_010725_rev_01_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EST

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