This week, we’re honoring the memory of Oliver Sacks, esteemed neurologist and author of numerous bestselling books, including “Awakenings”, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” and, most recently, his autobiography “On the Move.” We’re reaching back in the archives to 2009, when Dr. Sacks delivered NYPL’s annual Robert B. Silvers lecture. In this fascinating talk, Dr. Sacks explores the musical hallucinations of the deaf, the visual hallucinations of the blind, and more strange behaviors of the human brain.

On the heels of the blockbuster success of her latest novel, “Americanah,” Adichie sat down with Smith at NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to discuss the critically acclaimed book and how it came to be. In their far-reaching conversation, Adichie and Smith talk about race, feminism, and finding one’s identity in a globalized world.

The Macarthur Award-winning author joins us to celebrate the release of his latest book, “The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky & Death,” which chronicles his experience as an amateur card player trying his hand at the World Series of Poker. In a conversation with NYPL’s Jessica Strand, Whitehead discusses his mediocre card skills, the grueling training regimen that prepared him for the tournament, and what he learned about the human condition in Las Vegas.

Eighteen years ago, storytelling collective The Moth launched what has become a world-wide storytelling movement. In this captivating show, we join novelist and Moth Founder George Dawes Green, writer Andrew Solomon, and The Moth's long-time Artistic Director Catherine Burns for a performance and discussion with NYPL’s Paul Holdengräber about the craft of storytelling and its power to re-shape the world.

Lou Reed, Mo Tucker, and Doug Yule of the Velvet Underground reunited at the Library in 2009 for a discussion with Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke. In this provocative conversation, the three legendary musicians talk about strange performance venues, the energy of New York, and how it felt to go where no musician had gone before.