PBS Books

Trailblazer: Ben Franklin and The Library
2022-03-30 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Halifax)
Wednesday, March 30 at 5pm ET | 2pm PT, PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with New York Times best-selling author Jane Yolen, author of The Leather Apron Club: Ben Franklin, His Son Billy, & America’s First Circulating Library.
Celebrating libraries, master storyteller Jane Yolen brings Benjamin Franklin and his son Billy story at Leather Apron Club alive. Learn about the first circulating library and hear from Jane Yolen about her work and her creative process. The author will answer audience questions at the end of the conversation.
On April 4 at 8pm ET, Ken Burns’s four-hour documentary, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, will air on PBS stations across the country. It explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century’s most consequential and compelling personalities, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States. “Write things worth reading,” he said in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “or do things worth the writing.” Benjamin Franklin did both. This program is offered in partnership with WETA and the PBS network. #BenFranklinPBS
About the Author
“I am one of those writers who believe that one should not necessarily write what you know, but what you want to know.”
Jane Yolen was a gold star kid. She took piano lessons, studied ballet at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet, sang in the high school and college choirs was captain of the high school girls’ basketball team, and News Editor of her high school paper. Her first forays into writing included the production of a musical she wrote in the first grade about vegetables, and the publication of a newspaper for her apartment building at the age of 10. A veritably precocious child, Jane was born in New York City but during her childhood, her small family moved to California, then back to New York, and then to Connecticut. She graduated seventh in her high school class (although she believes that if she’d worked a little harder she may have been third) and attended Smith College, where she won poetry and journalism awards and again wrote the class musical.
After college Jane moved back to New York City where she worked as an editor and wrote during her lunch breaks and on the weekends. She considered herself a poet and journalist, but to her surprise she became a children’s book writer and sold her first book, Pirates in Petticoats on her 22nd birthday. Since then she has published around 420 books and received numerous awards, including a Golden Kite Award, National Book Award nomination, a Caldecott Medal for Owl Moon, and most recently, the Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award.
Jane has three children and six grandchildren. She lives in western Massachusetts, Mystic Ct. and has a house in Scotland.

'Hiding in Plain Sight' With Sarah Kendzior
2022-03-31 16:00 - 17:00
‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ With Sarah Kendzior
WHEN: Mar 31, 2022, 4:00-5:00 pm EDT
WHERE: This event is virtual.
WHAT: Democracy in Crisis series.
Hear from Sarah Kendzior, author of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America, as part of the spring 2022 Democracy in Crisis series.
Sarah Kendzior’s book Hiding In Plain Sight comes out April 7.
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"The Twilight of Democracy” With Anne Applebaum
2022-04-04 16:00 - 17:00
WHEN: Apr 4, 2022, 4:00-5:30 pm EDT
WHERE: Michigan League Ballroom (and live-streamed)
911 N University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109
WHAT: Democracy in Crisis series.
Pulitzer Prize winning historian, journalist and commentator Anne Applebaum delivers the keynote lecture of the Spring 2022 Democracy in Crisis series, in conversation with Dean Michael S. Barr.
Anne Applebaum is the author of multiple books including The Twilight of Democracy.
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Trailblazer: Ben Franklin and STEM
2022-04-06 17:00 - 18:00
Wednesday, April 6 at 5pm ET | 2pm PT, PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with children’s author Alicia Klepeis, author of The Science And Technology of Ben Franklin.
Not only did Ben Franklin create the first circulating library, he was a printer, diplomat, scientist, and inventor. Benjamin Franklin was a very curious person.
In The Science and Technology of Ben Franklin (readers ages 9 through 12), the author explores the life of one of Colonial America’s most fascinating citizens. During this program, viewers will learn more about the author and her book about Ben Franklin. Alicia Klepeis’s book offers hands-on STEM activities, essential questions, text-to-world connections, and links to online resources. The book is hands-on and interactive—so expect an interactive program! Through hands-on STEM activities, essential questions, text-to-world connections, and links to online resources, kids zoom in for a closer look into Ben Franklin’s world. The author will answer audience questions at the end of the conversation.
On April 4 at 8pm ET, Ken Burns’s four-hour documentary, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, will air on PBS stations across the country. It explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century’s most consequential and compelling personalities, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States. “Write things worth reading,” he said in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “or do things worth the writing.” Benjamin Franklin did both. This program is offered in partnership with WETA and the PBS network. #BenFranklinPBS

About the Author
From circus science to global ice cream flavors, Alicia Klepeis loves to research fun and out-of-the-ordinary topics that bring the world to young readers. Alicia began her career at the National Geographic Society. She is the author of more than 150 children’s books, including Gutsy Girls Go For Science: Astronauts; Polar Bears & Penguins: A Pretty Cool Introduction to the Arctic and Antarctic; The Science And Technology Of Ben Franklin; and The World’s Strangest Foods. A former middle school teacher, Alicia loves doing school visits and is currently working on several projects involving world cultures, unusual animals, and invasive species. She lives with her family in upstate New York.
For more information visit here website here: https://www.aliciaklepeis.com/index.html

World Health Day with Dr. Sandro Galea and Dr. Valerie Maholmes
2022-04-07 20:00 - 21:00
Thursday, April 7 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT. In celebration of World Health Day, PBS Books, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is pleased to host a conversation with scholar and author Dr. Sandro Galea, discussing his latest book The Contagion Next Time, with Dr. Valerie Maholmes, Chief of the Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
As a physician, epidemiologist, and public health voice, Dr. Sandro Galea will highlight the foundational forces behind the health system in the United States that led to its failures during COVID-19. This conversation will highlight necessary elements of health for our communities—housing, education, food, and safe neighborhoods. How can we prevent the next pandemic and protect the most vulnerable? These two doctors will share stories from their experiences and help us to understand changes that need to be made today to make our country’s future equitable and bright. This conversation is a great way to celebrate World Health Day nearly two years after the pandemic began and contemplate the best choices for the future.

About the Author: Sandro Galea, Ph.D. MPH Dr.PH
Sandro Galea, a physician, epidemiologist, and author, is dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at Boston University School of Public Health. In 2015, he became the youngest public health dean in the country, assuming leadership of Boston University School of Public Health.
One of the most widely-cited scholars in the social sciences, Galea has published more than 950 scientific journal articles, 70 chapters, and 19 books. He has published extensively in the peer-reviewed literature about the social causes of health, mental health, and trauma. He has documented the consequences of mass trauma and conflict worldwide, including as a result of the September 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, and the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His research has been principally funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and philanthropic foundations.
He is past chair of the board of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science. He formerly served as chair of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Community Services Board and as member of its Health Board. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Galea has received several lifetime achievement awards for his research, including the Rema Lapouse Award from the American Public Health Association and the Robert S. Laufer, PhD, Memorial Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He is a regular contributor to media, including The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The Boston Globe, TEDMED, and The New York Times.
Galea was born in Malta and emigrated to Canada with his family at the age of 14. After receiving his medical degree, Galea worked in Somalia with Doctors Without Borders before attending graduate school in the United States.
Galea holds a medical degree from the University of Toronto, graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow. Prior to his appointment at Boston University, Galea served as the Gelman Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He previously held academic and leadership positions at the University of Michigan and at the New York Academy of Medicine.
Learn more at www.sandrogalea.org

About the Moderator: Valerie Maholmes, Ph.D. CAS
Dr. Valerie Maholmes is the chief of the Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. In this capacity, she supports research and training in trauma, injury, and critical illness across the continuum of care. She serves on numerous NIH and federal interagency working groups to further the mission and goals of the branch.
Prior to joining NICHD, she was a faculty member at the Yale School of Medicine in the Child Study Center, where she served in numerous capacities, including director of research and policy for the School Development Program. In this role, she provided an array of educational, clinical, and technical support services to schools in low-income neighborhoods and communities around the country to promote child health and well-being. In 1999, she was named the Irving B. Harris Assistant Professor of Child Psychiatry.
In 2003, Dr. Maholmes received the Executive Branch Science Policy Fellowship, sponsored by the Society for Research in Child Development and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Maholmes completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Montclair State University in New Jersey and her doctoral degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She also earned a sixth-year degree from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. She is the author of numerous publications, including commentaries, scientific and review articles, books chapters, and monographs.

Brit Bennett, 33rd Annual Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series
2022-04-08 20:00 - 21:00
Friday, April 8 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books, in partnership with the Marygrove Conservancy and The Tuxedo Project, is excited to welcome novelist and essayist Brit Bennett as the guest author for the 33rd Annual Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series (CAALS).
About the Author
BRIT BENNETT was born and raised in Southern California. She earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan. Her debut novel The Mothers was a New York Times bestseller, and her second novel The Vanishing Half was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. Her essays have been featured in The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Jezebel.
About the Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series
Now in its thirty-third year, the Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series (CAALS) is an annual event bringing a nationally known African American authors to the Marygrove campus for a public lecture and class session or conversation.
About Marygrove Conservancy
Established in 2018, the Marygrove Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that manages operations and stewards a 53-acre campus in northwest Detroit, the site of the former Marygrove College which operated from 1905 until 2019.
A major initiative of the conservancy is managing a landmark partnership to create a cradle-to-career (P-20) educational campus on the site. The P-20 campus is being designed to be an educational, economic and civic anchor in the revitalization efforts of the Livernois-McNichols community. The campus will integrate academic experiences from early childhood to college and career with community-driven services, so that students are empowered and equipped to define their own future and that of their communities.
About The Tuxedo Project
The Tuxedo Project is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to revitalize one of Detroit’s most isolated neighborhoods by increasing access to resources centered on five anchors of community: the Arts, education, food sustainability, housing security, and economic opportunity.
Forty years ago, 7122 Tuxedo Street’s top-floor flat was the childhood home of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson. In 2012, he returned to find it like thousands of other blighted and abandoned homes in Detroit. With the help of his former classmates from University of Detroit Jesuit High School and through a partnership with the former Marygrove College, Henderson sought to affect change by renovating the house at 7122 Tuxedo and transforming the space into a functioning residence and community center.
One house. One block. One neighborhood. This humble and ambitious idea marked The Tuxedo Project’s beginning.

'War in Ukraine' with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Senator Chris Coons
2022-04-14 12:00 - 14:00
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WHEN: Apr 14, 2022, 12:00-2:00 pm EDT
WHERE: This is a virtual event.
PBS Books presents, in partnership with University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, a special pair of discussions on foreign policy priorities and global challenges with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Senator Chris Coons (D-DE). Sen. Coons will discuss the foreign and domestic policy implications of the war in Ukraine. Next, Secretary Blinken will participate in a moderated conversation on 21st century diplomacy. Both conversations will be facilitated by Ford School Dean Michael Barr at the Ford School’s fourth annual Vandenberg Lecture.
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman will provide a special welcome at noon EDT, followed by the discussion between Senator Coons and Barr for one hour. Then at 1:15 pm, Weiser Diplomacy Center Director John Ciorciari will introduce Secretary Blinken for a conversation with Barr and Ford School students on 21st century diplomacy and global challenges.
REGISTER HERE

About Secretary Blinken
Antony J. Blinken is the 71st U.S. Secretary of State. He was nominated by President Biden on November 23, 2020; confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 26, 2021; and sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris the following day.
Over three decades and three presidential administrations, Mr. Blinken has helped shape U.S. foreign policy to ensure it protects U.S. interests and delivers results for the American people. He served as deputy secretary of state for President Barack Obama from 2015 to 2017, and before that, as President Obama’s principal deputy national security advisor. In that role, Mr. Blinken chaired the interagency deputies committee, the main forum for hammering out the administration’s foreign policy.
During the first term of the Obama Administration, Mr. Blinken was national security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden. This was the continuation of a long professional relationship that stretched back to 2002, when Mr. Blinken began his six-year stint as Democratic staff director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Then-Senator Biden was the chair of that committee from 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009.
During the Clinton Administration, Mr. Blinken served as a member of the National Security Council staff, including two years as the senior director for European affairs, the president’s principal advisor on the countries of Europe, the European Union, and NATO. He also spent four years as President Clinton’s chief foreign policy speechwriter, and he led the NSC’s strategic planning team.
Mr. Blinken’s public service began at the State Department. From 1993 to 1994, he was a special assistant in what was then called the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs. Now he is proud to lead the department where he got his start in government nearly 30 years ago.
Outside of government, Mr. Blinken has worked in the private sector, civil society, and journalism. He was a founder of WestExec Advisors, an international strategic consulting firm focused on geopolitics and national security. He was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2001 and 2002. Before joining government, Mr. Blinken practiced law in New York and Paris. He was also a reporter for The New Republic magazine and is the author of Ally Versus Ally: America, Europe and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis (Praeger, 1987).
Mr. Blinken attended grade school and high school in Paris, where he received a French Baccalaureat degree with high honors. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School. He and his wife Evan Ryan have two children.
About Senator Coons
Chris Coons has served as a U.S. Senator from Delaware since 2010. He sits on the Foreign Relations, Appropriations, Judiciary, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Ethics Committees. He is currently the chair of the Appropriations subcommittee that funds U.S. foreign assistance.
Chris has used his position on the Foreign Relations Committee to advocate for key foreign policy and national security priorities. Chris has successfully marshaled into law bills to modernize international development finance, address the root causes of global instability and extremism, and other legislation to advance American interests and values. Chris has spoken out clearly and directly in support of our global alliances and partnerships.
Chris previously worked as an attorney for a Delaware-based manufacturing company, using his legal expertise to direct regulatory and international efforts. Chris graduated from Amherst College with a BA in chemistry and political science, and earned his law degree from Yale Law School and a master’s in ethics from Yale Divinity School.
About the Vandenberg Lecture Series
The Meijer Family established the Vandenberg Fund to honor U.S. Senator Arthur Vandenberg, who served the State of Michigan in the U.S. Senate from 1928-1951. Senator Vandenberg forged bipartisan support for our country’s most significant and enduring foreign policies of the twentieth century, including the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO and the creation of the United Nations.

Devastation in Ukraine and the Consequences of Engagement
2022-04-18 12:00 - 13:00
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WHEN: Apr 18, 2022, 12:00 pm EDT
WHERE: This is a virtual event.
PBS Books, in partnership with University of Michigan’s Wallace House, presents a special conversation with award-winning journalist Elena Milashina, video journalist and filmmaker Simon Ostrovsky, and professor of history and political science at U-M Ronald Suny, regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
While the Russian invasion of Ukraine swiftly united NATO and western nations in condemning Putin, enacting sanctions and supplying defense weapons, there are growing cries for the U.S. and its NATO allies to do more militarily. Join Knight-Wallace journalists who have reported extensively from the region and a U-M policy expert as they examine Putin’s suppression of a free press, the call for direct military support, and the geopolitical, economic and humanitarian consequences of the growing conflict.
Elena Milashina an award-winning senior investigative reporter for Novaya Gazeta, the acclaimed independent Russian news organization that ceased publication in response to threats of closure and imprisonment from the Putin regime. Simon Ostrovsky is a video journalist and filmmaker who reports for PBS NewsHour and The New York Times. Ronald Suny is a professor of history and political science at U-M and a senior researcher at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Wallace House Director, Lynette Clemetson, will lead this discussion.
The Eisendrath Symposium on International Reporting honors Charles R. Eisendrath, former director of Wallace House, and his lifelong commitment to international journalism.
REGISTER HERE

About Elena Milashina
Elena Milashina is a 2009-2010 Knight-Wallace Fellow and an investigative journalist “Novaya Gazeta,” Russia’s last remaining independent newspaper before it ceased publication in response to threats from the Putin regime. She investigates and brings to attention accounts of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, torture, and persecution of relatives of alleged insurgents, women’s rights in Chechnya and beyond. Milashina exposed a major crackdown on gay men in Chechnya in spring 2017, investigated the catastrophe of the Kursk submarine, and hostage crises in Moscow and Beslan. She has documented atrocities committed by both sides during the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict and pressed for an end to impunity. She has repeatedly received death threats from the Chechen authorities. She is the recipient of Human Rights Watch’s Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism ad the International Women of Courage Award.
About Simon Ostrovsky
Simon Ostrovsky is a 2021-2022 Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow. As a Special Correspondent for PBS NewsHour and an investigative journalist, he is best known for his coverage of the Crimea crisis and the war in eastern Ukraine for which he was nominated for two Emmys. He won a DuPont Award from Columbia University in 2015 for his “Selfie Soldiers” documentary, which tracked Russian soldiers in Ukraine through their social media posts, and an Emmy Award in 2014 as a producer of VICE on HBO. Ostrovsky has covered extensively the countries of the former Soviet Union, where he witnessed five revolutions and four wars. He has served as South Caucasus Bureau Chief for Agence France Presse and as an investigative reporter at CNN. His work also has appeared on the BBC and CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
About Ronald Suny
Ronald Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan and Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago. The grandson of the composer and ethnomusicologist Grikor Mirzaian Suni and a graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia University, he taught at Oberlin College (1968-1981), as visiting professor of history at the University of California, Irvine (1987), and Stanford University (1995-1996). He also served as Senior Researcher at the National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Saint Petersburg (2014-2016). He was the first holder of the Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan (1981-1995), where he founded and directed the Armenian Studies Program.
About the Moderator, Lynette Clemetson
Lynette Clemetson is the Charles R. Eisendrath Director of Wallace House, home of the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists at the University of Michigan.

This event is co-sponsored by:
Knight Foundation
Michigan Radio
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Detroit Public Television

Benjamin Franklin and Citizen Science
2022-04-20 19:00 - 20:00
PBS Books, SciStarter, PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs, and WETA present a free virtual program on April 20 at 7pm ET Citizen Science Month, STEM storytelling, and Ken Burns’s ‘BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,’ which will begin to air April 4 at 8/7c on PBS stations nationwide.
Citizen science enables everyday people to be involved in scientific research by participating in data collection. Many consider Benjamin Franklin to be America’s first citizen scientist. Franklin believed all people should engage with science, and that knowledge can be used to advance society for the benefit of all.
Then, tap your inner citizen scientists all year long right here by selecting a project below to share your observations and contribute to citizen science the way Benjamin Franklin did! Continue your citizen science journey on https://www.SciStarter.org/BenFranklin

Pandemic Stories of Children All Over the World
2022-04-28 20:00 - 21:00
April 28 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT
PBS Books, in partnership with GPB, is thrilled to present an unforgettable, emotional evening of reading, as the biggest children’s book authors read real pandemic stories submitted by real kids! When author Kelly Yang (Front Desk, New From Here) invited children to write their pandemic stories, she was floored by the tender, hopeful, and resonant stories she got. To date, she’s published over 500 powerful stories on her website! Now Kelly Yang and her author friends Stuart Gibbs, Meg Medina, Jacqueline Woodson, Jasmine Warga, Jeff Kinney, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Margarita Engle are proud to read a wonderful selection of pandemic stories from children all over the world! Let us commemorate the incredible courage and resilience from kids worldwide by celebrating their voices!
To read more stories written by children about their pandemic story visit Kelly Yang’s webpage here. https://www.kellyyang.com/pandemicstory/
About Kelly Yang and her inspirational book Front Desk, New From Here
Front Desk, New From Here is a Kelly Yang’s latest middle grade children’s book based upon her own pandemic experience. As she travelled around the country sharing about her book, she identified the need for children to write their own pandemic story as well.
Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling author of the FRONT DESK series, including Front Desk, Three Keys, and Room to Dream, and young adult novels Parachutes and Private Label. Front Desk is Kelly’s award-winning middle grade debut novel about a 10 year old Chinese American immigrant girl who manages the front desk of a motel while her parents clean the rooms. FRONT DESK was awarded the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, was the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and was named an Amazon Best Book of the Year, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a NPR Best Book of the Year, and a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year.
Kelly immigrated to America when she was 6 years old and grew up in Southern California, where she and her parents worked in three different motels. She eventually left the motels and went to college at the age of 13 and law school at the age of 17. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she majored in Political Science, and Harvard Law School. After law school, she gave up law to pursue her passion of writing and teaching children writing. She is the founder of The Kelly Yang Project (kellyyang.edu.hk), a leading writing and debating program for kids in Asia. As a writing teacher for 13 years, Kelly helped thousands of children find their voice and become better writers and more powerful speakers. Before turning to fiction, she was also a columnist for the South China Morning Post for many years. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has three children and lives in Los Angeles.

Author Talk | Trailblazing Women Writers | Reshma Saujani's 'Pay Up. The Future of Women and Work'
2022-05-03 20:00 - 21:00
Tuesday, May 3 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT. In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with Reshma Saujani, discussing her latest book “Pay Up. The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think).”
Reshma is the founder of Girls Who Code and bestselling author of “Brave, Not Perfect”; she confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism and presents a bold plan to address the burnout and inequity harming America’s working women today. Since the feminism movement, women have been told that they can “have it all”– break glass ceilings and succeed in their careers.. But data tells a different story.
Historic numbers of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Women’s unemployment rose to nearly fifteen percent, and globally women lost over $800 billion in wages. Fifty-one percent of women say that their mental health has declined, while anxiety and depression rates have skyrocketed. In her book, Reshma Saujani dismantles the myth of “having it all” and lifts the burden we place on individual women to be primary caregivers, and to work around a system built for and by men. She outlines four key steps for creating necessary change: empower working women, educate corporate leaders, revise our narratives about what it means to be successful, and advocate for policy reform. Don’t miss the conversation. There will be time for questions from the audience at the end of the conversation.
About the Author: Reshma Saujani
Reshma Saujani is the author of “PAY UP: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think)”. She is a leading activist and founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She has spent more than a decade advocating for women’s and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and, most recently, championing policies to support mothers impacted by the pandemic. Saujani is also the author of the international bestseller “Brave, Not Perfect,” and her influential TED talk, “Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection,” has more than five million views.
Learn more at reshmasaujani.com.

'Water's True Cost' with Author Peter Annin
2022-05-12 20:00 - 21:00
Thursday, May 12 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT. To address Water’s True Cost, PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with journalist and professor Peter Annin, discussing his book “The Great Lakes Water Wars,” led by Program Director of the Great Lakes Now Sandra Svoboda.
Examining water’s true cost, Annin and Svoboda discuss the aging water systems in the Great Lakes region and across the United States. Annin also provides foundational knowledge about various concepts like diversion and pollution, encouraging audience members to gain a larger understand about the challenges ahead. As the nation prepares to pour billions of federal dollars into rescuing water systems, join this program to learn more.
Water’s True Cost Project is a Great Lakes News Collaborative that includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader. They are working together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
Great Lakes Now
The Great Lakes Now initiative offers in-depth coverage of news, issues, events and developments affecting the lakes and the communities that depend on them, while capturing the character and culture of the region through a monthly magazine-style television program and daily online reports at GreatLakesNow.org,. Find Watch Parties and other events HERE.
Housed at Detroit Public TV, Great Lakes Now’s growing network of regional partner public broadcaster stations and other media outlets contribute coverage to the television program and to the Great Lakes Now website. The monthly show, “Great Lakes Now,” launched in April 2019, and since then has expanded to a basin-wide, bi-national program carried on more than 25 PBS stations in six states as well as on more than 800 Canadian cable systems.
About the Author: Peter Annin
A veteran conflict and environmental journalist, Peter Annin spent more than a decade reporting on a wide variety of issues for Newsweek. For many years he specialized in coverage of domestic terrorism and other conflicts, including the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and the Branch Davidian standoff outside Waco, Texas. He also spent many years writing about the environment, including droughts in the Southwest, hurricanes in the Southeast, wind power on the Great Plains, and the causes and consequences of the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
After his time at Newsweek, Annin became associate director of the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources, a nonpartisan national nonprofit that organizes educational fellowships for midcareer environmental journalists. In September 2006 he published his first book, The Great Lakes Water Wars, which has been called the definitive work on the Great Lakes water diversion controversy and received the Great Lakes Book Award for nonfiction. From 2010 to 2015 Annin served as managing director of the University of Notre Dame’s Environmental Change Initiative, which targets the interrelated problems of invasive species, land use, and climate change, focusing on their synergistic impacts on water resources.
In 2018, Annin published a major revision of The Great Lakes Water Wars and he continues to write about the Great Lakes and other water issues.
He currently serves as director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University in New York, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Northland College.

Author Talk: "Jo Jo Makoons" with Dawn Quigley
2022-05-18 17:00 - 18:00
May 18, 2022 at 5pm ET | 2pm PT
PBS Books, in partnership with the American Indian Library Association, is pleased to interview trailblazer Dawn Quigley, author of the Jo Jo Makoons series, including the recently released Jo Jo Makoons: Fancy Pants (#2).
In American Indian Youth Literature Award: Middle Grade Honor chapter Book, a spunky young Ojibwe girl Jo Jo Makoons is full of pride, joy, and plenty of humor, celebrating who she is. During the program, we’ll be discussing Dawn’s popular new series and get to hear first hand about her latest release. Dawn will share insights into her writing process and her creative inspiration. Not only an author, she is also an educator of K-12 children and future educators.
The Jo Jo Makoons series is published by The Heartdrum imprint, which centers a wide range of intertribal voices, visions, and stories while welcoming all young readers, with an emphasis on the present and future of Indian Country and on the strength of young Native heroes.
Following the conversation, there will be an opportunity for questions from audience members on Facebook.
About the Author
Dawn Quigley, Ph.D. and citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, ND, is an assistant professor at a Midwest university Education Department. She taught English and reading for 18+ years in the K-12 schools along with being an Indian Education program co-director. In addition to her debut coming-of-age Young Adult novel, Apple in the Middle (NDSU Press), “Joey Reads the Sky” in Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, the chapter book series Jo Jo Makoons: The Used to Be Best Friend (book #1); Jo Jo Makoons: Fancy Pants (#2), Red Bird Danced (forthcoming novel-in-verse), and Native American Heroes (Scholastic Books). Dawn has over 30 published articles, essays and poems. She lives in Minnesota with her family.

'I Am An American' with Authors Grace Lin and Martha Brockenbrough | Trailblazing Women Writers
2022-05-25 17:00 - 18:00
Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 5pm ET | 2pm PT
PBS Books is pleased to interview trailblazers Grace Lin and Martha Brockenbrough, authors of “I Am An American: The Wong Kim Ark Story”.
This book is an important picture book that introduces readers to the young man—Wong Kim Ark– who challenged the Supreme Court for his right to be an American citizen and won, confirming birthright citizenship for all Americans. The story takes place in the late 1800s when American-born Wong Kim Ark returns home to San Francisco after a visit to China. He is stopped and told he cannot enter because he isn’t American. After being imprisoned on a ship for months, Wong Kim Ark takes his case to the Supreme Court and argues any person born in America is an American citizen. Join this conversation to hear about the authors’ process, insights, and the importance of this story now.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
GRACE LIN
Before Grace Lin was an award-winning and NY Times bestselling author/illustrator of picture books, early readers and middle grade novels, she was the only Asian girl (except for her sisters) going to her elementary school in Upstate NY. That experience, good and bad, has influenced her books—including her Newbery Honor “WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON”, her Geisel Honor “LING & TING”, her National Book Finalist “WHEN THE SEA TURNED TO SILVER” and her Caldecott Honor “A BIG MOONCAKE FOR LITTLE STAR”. But, it also causes Grace to persevere for diversity as an occasional New England Public Radio commentator and when she gave her TEDx talk “The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf,” as well as her PBSNewHour video essay “What to do when you realize classic books from your childhood are racist?.” She continued this mission with a hundred episodes of the podcast kidlitwomen* and now currently hosts two other podcasts: Book Friends Forever and Kids Ask Authors. In 2016, Grace’s art was displayed at the White House and Grace, herself, was recognized by President Obama’s office as a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling. In 2022, Grace was awarded the Children’s Literature Legacy Award from the American Library Association.
MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH
Martha Brockenbrough is the author of two books for adults and numerous books for young readers (with several others on the way), including YA fiction and nonfiction, picture books, and a forthcoming chapter book series.
A faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts, she’s also the founder of National Grammar Day (every March 4), and she’s written game questions for Cranium and Trivial Pursuit. The former editor of MSN.com, Martha has interviewed lots of celebrities, and her work has been published in a variety of places, including The New York Times. Her books have won many awards, including a finalist for the Kirkus Prize.
She lives in Seattle with her family. Her favorite kind of food is Indian, although Thai runs a close second. Besides writing, she likes board games, playing music with the family band, travel to places far and near, drinking lots of coffee, and working out really hard at the gym.

Author Talk: Paula Yoo
2022-06-08 20:00 - 21:00
In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Vincent Chin, PBS Books is pleased to interview award-winning author Paula Yoo, who recently published “From A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement”. It is a groundbreaking portrait of Vincent Chin and the case that took America’s Asian American community to the streets in protest of injustice. Paula will be interviewed by Zosette Guir, Manager of Detroit Public TV’s One Detroit initiative.
While Paula Yoo’s book was written for a YA audience after significant research, it has captivated audiences of all ages. She has crafted a suspenseful, nuanced, and authoritative portrait of a pivotal moment in Civil Rights history, and a man who became a symbol against hatred and racism. In this current climate of civil unrest and a country confronting a history of deeply rooted systemic racism, the story of Vincent Chin is as important now as ever. Asian American history is often overlooked and undertaught in schools, and Vincent Chin’s name remains relatively unknown despite making national and international headlines at the time. Now, almost 40 years later, it’s time to remember Vincent Chin and the significant role his case played in American history.
About the Author: Paula Yoo
Paula Yoo is an award-winning author of children’s books, a former journalist, and current screenwriter who has merged her talents to create a thoroughly researched and reported nonfiction book, but with the intensity of a suspense movie thriller, and the intimate emotional character journey of a novel. As a Korean American who’s specialized in multicultural Asian-American themed children’s books, and having lived in Detroit working as a journalist for The Detroit News, Yoo is able to examine the controversial racial issues behind the Vincent Chin story with sensitivity, authority and grace. “From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry” is her debut YA nonfiction book. She lives in Los Angeles.

FILMMAKER TALK: Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña, filmmakers of “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
2022-06-15 20:00 - 21:00
In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the death of Vincent Chin, PBS Books, in collaboration with DPTV, is pleased to host an important conversation about “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” with Filmmakers Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña, along with executive producer Professor Juanita Anderson and attorney/activist Jim Shimoura. The conversation will be moderated by Bill Kubota, a Senior Producer at Detroit Public Television’s One Detroit.
Join us to understand more about the process of creating this incredible documentary film, the challenges and obstacles the filmmakers needed to overcome, and the importance of the film. In addition, you can expect to learn about the film’s relevancy in today’s climate; the role of this documentary film in Asian American and Pacific Islander history, and the activism from the 1980s to today. Given recent Asian American discrimination and hate crimes in the last few years, we encourage a broad audience to join this program to learn about this important documentary film 40 years later.
“Who Killed Vincent Chin?” Film Description
In June of 1982, 27 year-old Chinese American Vincent Chin was celebrating his bachelor party when he encountered Chrysler Motors foreman, Ronald Ebens. Ebens, aided by his stepson, Mike Nitz, bludgeoned Vincent Chin that night to death with a baseball bat. After Ebens and Nitz pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were each sentenced to three-year probation and $3,000 fine, the Asian American community was outraged. In “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”, filmmakers Christine Choy and Renee Tajima- Peña chronicle the historic campaign for Justice for Vincent Chin spearheaded by his mother Lily, Detroit’s American Citizens for Justice, and a nationwide coalition of activists. Nominated for an Academy Award, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” became a landmark in Asian American filmmaking and a classic in US independent cinema.
About the Filmmakers: Christine Choy & Renee Tajima-Peña
Filmmaker Christine Choy was born in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, and grew up in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the U.S. Christine Choy is an educator, filmmaker, artist; a pioneer Asian American film maker, she has produced/directed/photographed works in various forms. Choy has made more than eighty five films and received over sixty international awards. She has been a recipient of numerous fellowships, among them: John Simon Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Asian Cultural Council, Fulbright Senior Research, and an award for best cinematography from the Sundance International Film Festival. Choy’s latest collaborative documentary film, “The Exiles”, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2022.
Choy was trained in architecture, but later studied directing at the American Film Institute to become a filmmaker. Her work is concerned with discrimination and migration issues. In addition to the Academy Award-nominated co-directed “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1987), Choy also directed “From Spikes to Spindles” (1976) which focuses on Chinese migrant workers, Choy is currently a Professor of Film and Television at NYU’s Tisch School of Arts and has taught at Yale, Cornell, and SUNY Buffalo.
Her works have been broadcasted on HBO, PBS, Sundance Channel, Life Time, NHK, and many other stations. Her works have also been featured in festivals all over the world. She is the founding director of Third World Newsreel and School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, a member of Project Vetting committee of the Film Development Fund, Hong Kong, and a member of AMPAS (Academy of Motion Pictures and Science of United States of America).
Filmmaker Renee Tajima-Peña was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her grandparents moved from Japan during the Asian Exclusion Era in the early 1900s. She is a filmmaker, known for “No Más Bebés” (2015), “Calavera Highway” (2010) and “My America… or Honk If You Love Buddha” (1997). Tajima-Peña is a Harvard University alum and majored in East Asian Studies and sociology. She is heavily involved with the Asian American movement and the Civil Rights Movement.
Her work focuses on issues of immigration, race, gender, and social justice and has been screened internationally and at festivals such as Cannes Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival. Tajima-Peña most recently produced a five-part PBS series “Asian Americans” (2020). She is currently a Professor of Asian American Studies at UCLA.
About the Featured Guests: Juanita Anderson & Jim Shimoura
Juanita Anderson was the executive producer of “Who killed Vincent Chin?” She is a veteran producer/director, executive producer and documentary filmmaker who has amassed a significant body of work in public television and independent media. A native of Detroit, she is currently Associate Professor of Teaching and Area Head of Media Arts and Studies in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University.
As Executive Producer of Cultural Affairs and Special Projects at Detroit Public Television from 1982-1988, she developed and oversaw the production of “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” She was also the executive producer of groundbreaking PBS news and public affairs specials focused on highlighting Black America, as well as other important social issues.
A long-standing advocate for diversity in media, Anderson co-founded the National Black Programming Consortium in 1978 (now Black Public Media), and has served on the board of directors of the Independent Television Service. She is currently the Resident Artist in Media Arts at The Carr Center in Detroit.
Jim Shimoura has been an attorney and activist for 35 years and his experience has spanned a wide variety of areas from legal aid, staff counsel for two national insurance carriers, and was a partner at a major Detroit area law firm.
He has acted as the counsel to OEM automotive suppliers to the Big Three Manufacturers. Among his numerous civic and political activities, Mr. Shimoura was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, where he served as a commissioner for nearly a decade. He has received numerous civic awards.

'Juneteenth: We The People' with The BLK Freedom Collective
2022-06-19 13:00 - 14:00
On Sunday, June 19 at 1 p.m. ET | 10 a.m. PT, PBS Books is pleased to present a special commemoration virtual event, “Juneteenth: We the People,” produced by the BLKFreedom Collective, a collaboration of 10 African American historical and cultural institutions across the country. It celebrates the emancipation of the enslaved people of Texas in 1865 and the liberty and victory of African American communities nationwide ever since.

It’s become an annual tradition to celebrate our nation’s newest federal holiday. Ten leading Black museums and historical institutions from coast to coast have joined to form the BLKFreedom Collective, which will commemorate Juneteenth, the historic day the Emancipation Proclamation was officially enforced, ending enslavement in Texas.
For the third year, this collaboration has produced a special, virtual program to honor this great national event. The 2022 theme is “We the People,” which explores the founding document of our nation, the U.S. Constitution through the eyes of historic museums and scholars across the United States.
Tune in Sunday, June 19, at 1 p.m. ET, as PBS Books will livestream this remarkable presentation on its website and on Facebook Live. It will also be offered on BLKFreedom.org and the websites of its partner organizations, as well as by libraries and PBS affiliates across the nation, Amazon, Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
“We the People” – taken from the opening words of the preamble to the Constitution – recounts how generations of Black Americans have preserved, innovated, cultivated, created, pioneered, strived and championed the true principles of freedom so that a new generation remembers, echoes and celebrates their ancestors’ accomplishments while remaining vigilant on not only issues of inclusion, diversity and equity, but also justice as promised in the Constitution.
Each of the 10 participating museums and historical institutions contributes to the overall program, focusing on some aspect of the ideas embodied in the preamble and Constitution. In addition, a stellar lineup of respected judges from across the nation read a portion of the preamble, such as Denise Page Hood, Senior United States District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; Eric T. Washington, Senior Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals; and Bernice Donald, Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Cincinnati).
Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865, when union soldier, Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, TX, with the news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This announcement was more than two and half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Through this virtual event, participating Black institutions declare, “We the people, having significantly contributed to this country in its quest to form a more perfect union, desiring for it to fulfill its principles and values as espoused in the Constitution, despite years of enslavement, oppression and discrimination, boldly define ourselves beyond race, condition or socioeconomic background. We are a holistic community and culture with a profound legacy we carry with us today.”
The BLKFreedom Collective is a combined effort among the African American Museum of Philadelphia (PA), America’s Black Holocaust Museum (Milwaukee, WI), August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Pittsburg, PA), Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (AL), Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Detroit, MI), Harvey Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture (Charlotte, NC), Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park (Hilton Head Island, SC), National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, TN), National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH) and Northwest African American Museum (Seattle, WA).
This collaborative program explores the meaning and relevance of “freedom,” “justice” and “democracy.” The event is sponsored by PBS Books, Detroit Public TV, Amazon and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
For more information about collaborative partners, visit blkfreedom.org.

Author Talk | Mark Clague, 'O Say Can You Hear'
2022-06-30 20:00 - 21:00
Thursday, June 30 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with author and esteemed scholar Mark Clague, author of O Say Can You Hear?: A Cultural Biography of The Star-Spangled Banner, in celebration of the Fourth of July and in anticipation of our nation’s 250th celebration.
Clague’s fascinating story of America’s national anthem examines its history and powerful meaning today. In O Say Can You Hear? Mark Clague brilliantly weaves together the stories of the song and the nation it represents. Examining the origins of both text and music, alternate lyrics and translations, and the song’s use in sports, at times of war, and for political protest, he argues that the anthem’s meaning reflects―and is reflected by―the nation’s quest to become a more perfect union. From victory song to hymn of sacrifice and vehicle for protest, the story of Key’s song is the story of America itself. Join us to hear insights in Mark’s process, research and books, and even have an opportunity to listen to a rendition our national song.
Lynette Clemetson, who is the Director of the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards at Wallace House at the University of Michigan, will provide a brief introduction.
About the Author
Mark Clague, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor of Musicology, Arts Leadership, and American Culture at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he is also Associate Dean of Collaborations and Partnerships. His book O Say Can You Hear: A Cultural Biography of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was just published by W.W. Norton. Mark’s research focuses on the social power of music in American life. His publications include the recording Poets & Patriots: A Tuneful History of The Star-Spangled Banner, which surveys historic versions and political parodies of the U.S. national anthem. This work also appears in the Star Spangled Songbook, a collection of sheet music. His anthem research work has sparked collaborations with the Smithsonian Museum of American History, Los Angeles Grammy Museum, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, and in recital with baritone Thomas Hampson at the Library of Congress. His ongoing research is featured at starspangledmusic.org and he posts to twitter as @usmusicscholar.

Author Talk | 'All The Way to the Top' with Annette Pimentel and Jennifer Chaffins-Keelan
2022-07-19 17:00 - 18:00
Tuesday, July 19, 2020 5pm ET | 2pm PT– All the Way to the Top in partnership with PBS Books and GPB
Join PBS Books as author Annette Pimentel and activist Jennifer Chaffins-Keelan discuss All the Way to the Top and Jennifer’s experiences as a child activist. You’ll have an opportunity to learn about Annette’s process as she shares the extraordinary story of Jennifer’s activism, persistence, and perseverance. Plus have an opportunity to hear questions from Girl Scouts and answers from our featured guests.
In partnership with Girl Scouts’ Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace and Georgia Public Broadcasting, PBS Books is pleased to focus on Access in July celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. This series of programs provides viewer (young and old) with an opportunity to learn more about the ADA, its history, and its impact by speaking with trailblazing authors and disability activists.
ABOUT THE TRAILBLAZER & DISABILITY ACTIVIST
Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins is a passionate advocate for the support and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and an activist for disability rights.
She joined the disability rights movement at age six and at age eight she participated in the famous” Capitol Crawl” protest to support the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. In 1990, she received the Americans With Disabilities Act Award from The Task Force on the Rights and Empowerment of Americans with Disabilities.
Today Jennifer is an educator and a motivational speaker. She teaches audiences about the importance of the ADA, the Capitol Crawl, and the disability rights movement and its place in American history, with an emphasis on education, advocacy, and empowerment.
Jennifer is a trailblazer—she is the proud owner of Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins LLC, established in May 2020, a certified woman owned business. She currently lives in Colorado with her Service Dog Mya and live-in aide. Welcome Jennifer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annette Bay Pimentel writes award-winning nonfiction books for kids about the people and ideas that have shaped our world. She’s the author of Before Music: Where Instruments Come From; Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories which one the Goddard Riverside CBC Youth Book Prize for Social Justice; All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything which won a Schneider Honor Prize; Girl Running which was a Junior Library Guild selection; and Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service which won the Carter G. Woodson Book Award. When she’s not digging into archives or pounding away at her treadmill desk, she hikes, quilts, gardens, and helps administer her county library as an elected Library Trustee. She lives in Moscow, Idaho.

Author Talk | ‘Rolling Warrior’ with Judy Heumann
2022-07-26 17:00 - 18:00
Tuesday, July 26, 2022 5pm ET | 2pm PT – Judy Heumann in Conversation with PBS Books – Virtual pbsbooks.org

Join trailblazer and disability activist Judy Heumann, who is considered the mother of the disability rights movement, in a conversation about her books Being Heumann and Rolling Warrior. Judy’s bravery, persistence, and signature rebellious streak speaks to every person fighting to belong and fighting for social justice. In this young readers’ edition of her acclaimed memoir, Being Heumann, Judy shares her journey of battling for equal access in an unequal world—from fighting to attend grade school after being described as a “fire hazard” because of her wheelchair, to suing the New York City school system for denying her a teacher’s license because of her disability. Learn about Judy and her work and have an opportunity to hear questions from Girl Scouts and answers from Judy Heumann.

In partnership with Girl Scouts’ Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace and Georgia Public Broadcasting, PBS Books is pleased to focus on Access in July celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. This series of programs provides viewer (young and old) with an opportunity to learn more about the ADA, its history, and its impact by speaking with trailblazing authors and disability activists.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Judith (Judy) Heumann is an internationally recognized disability advocate. She served in the Clinton and Obama Administration and was a Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation. Judy’s story was also featured in the documentary “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” a 2020 American award winning documentary film produced by the Obama Higher Ground Production. In 2020, she published her memoir “Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist,” written with Kristen Joiner. There is also a Young Adult version called “Rolling Warrior.” Judy is now the producer of The Heumann Perspective, a podcast and YouTube channel that aims to share the beauty of the disability community.

Filmmaker Talk | 'The Great Muslim American Road Trip'
2022-08-04 20:00 - 21:00
Thursday, August 4 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with the filmmakers of The Great Muslim American Road Trip, a new series that recently aired on PBS.
The Great Muslim American Road Trip follows a millennial Muslim American couple on a cross-country journey along historic Route 66. As they meet new friends and explore more than a dozen stops, Mona and Sebastian weave a colorful story about what it means to be Muslim in America today. During a time when Islamophobia is on the rise, join us to learn more about this dynamic PBS show from the filmmakers—the director Alex Kronemer, artist and star Mona Haydar, and scholar Kambiz GhaneaBassiri.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Alex Kronemer has been working for peace and interfaith understanding for most of his adult life. In 1999, Alex and author Michael Wolfe co-founded Unity Productions Foundation, a media and educational nonprofit dedicated to creating peace and understanding about Muslims, Islam, and other religions in the world. Unity Production Foundation (UPF) has gone on to produce twelve documentaries for national broadcast and theatrical release and has received numerous prestigious film awards, including an Emmy nomination for a PBS docudrama “The Sultan and the Saint,” which Alex wrote and directed. Alex is the Director and Writer of The Great Muslim American Road Trip.
Mona Haydar is a Syrian American Muslim born in Flint, Michigan. An English major and a poet, Mona Haydar holds an M.A. in Christian Ethics from the Union Theological Seminary in New York. In 2016 she turned her talents to rap music. When her debut song “Wrap my Hijab” went viral, Billboard Magazine placed it among “The 20 Best Protest Songs of 2017” and named it one of the “Top 25 Feminist Anthems.” Along with her husband Sebastian Robins, Mona is the co-host of The Great Muslim American Road Trip.
Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is the Thomas Lamb Eliot Professor of Religion and Humanities
Religion Department at Reed College in Portland, OR. Dr. GhaneaBassiri is an internationally recognized scholar in Islam in America and the Middle East, he was named a Carnegie Scholar for his book A History of Islam in America and a Guggenheim Fellow for his current book project on the mosque in Islamic history. He also served as one of five national scholars who developed the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Daniel Tutt is a philosopher and filmmaker. His work focuses on Islamophobia, interreligious dialogue, politics, and critical theory. Daniel is the Co-Editor of the forthcoming book Justice in Islam: New Directions in 21st Century Islamic Thought and he has lectured in philosophy at Marymount University, George Washington University and Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. He is the Co-Producer of The Great Muslim American Road Trip and he led the scholarly and historical development of the main themes in the film.

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'Flying the Coop' with Lucinda Roy & 'The Monsters We Defy' with Leslye Penelope
2022-08-15 20:00 - 21:00
PBS Books, in collaboration with Virginia Public Media, is hosting a conversation celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival with Leslye Penelope, author of “The Monsters We Defy,” and Lucinda Roy, author of “Flying the Coop,” to discuss their work, their dedication to creating strong empowered female heroines, and their involvement in the festival. The authors will be interviewed by VPM’s Samantha Willis and Angie Miles.
About Lucinda Roy
Lucinda Roy is an award-winning novelist, poet and memoirist, and a lifelong advocate for diversity and inclusion. She’s lived and taught on three continents and is recognized for her keynotes on race and gender, creative writing, and education reform. Her commentaries and poetry have been published in numerous newspapers and journals, including USA Today, The Guardian, and The New York Times. She lives with her husband in Virginia, where, as a distinguished professor, she teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech. For “The Freedom Race,” she relocated to speculative fiction because it allows her to imagine what form hope would take inside a damaged future world. Roy’s latest novel, “Flying the Coop,” is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.
About Leslye Penelope
Leslye Penelope has been writing since she could hold a pen and loves getting lost in the worlds in her head. She is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance author. Her novel “Song of Blood & Stone” was chosen as one of Time’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Equally left- and right-brained, Penelope studied filmmaking and computer science in college and sometimes dreams in HTML. She hosts the “My Imaginary Friends” podcast and lives in Maryland with her husband and furry dependents. Her latest book, “The Monsters We Defy,” is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.

About the Library of Congress National Book Festival

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of “Books Bring Us Together.”

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers' with Juliet Menéndez
2022-08-16 20:00 - 21:00
PBS Books, in collaboration with South Florida PBS, is hosting a conversation celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival with Juliet Menéndez, author of "Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers".
About Juliet Menéndez
Juliet Menéndez is a Guatemalan American author and illustrator living between Guatemala City, Paris and New York. While working as a bilingual teacher in New York City's public schools, Menéndez noted the need for more books that depicted children like the ones in her classrooms. She studied design and illustration in Paris and now spends her days with her watercolors and notebook. "Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers" is Menéndez's first children's book and is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.

About the Library of Congress National Book Festival

The Library of Congress is the world's largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of "Books Bring Us Together."

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'Walk with Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer' with Kate Clifford Larson
2022-08-17 20:00 - 21:00
PBS Books, in collaboration with Virginia Public Media, is hosting a conversation celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival with Leslye Penelope, author of The Monsters We Defy, and Lucinda Roy, author of Flying the Coop, to discuss their work, their dedication to creating strong empowered female heroines, and their involvement in the festival. The authors will be interviewed by VPM’s Samantha Willis and Angie Miles.
About Kate Clifford Larson
Kate Clifford Larson is a bestselling author of acclaimed biographies, including “Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero,” “Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter” and “The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln.” Larson has a B.A. and M.A. arts from Simmons UNiversity, a Northeastern UNiversity master of business administration and a doctorate from the University of New Hampshire. She has appeared in national and international media. Larson is an award-winning consultant for feature films, documentaries, state and national parks, heritage tourism and more. She is currently a Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Visiting Scholar and lives with her family outside Boston. Larson’s latest book, “Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer” was named one of Kirkus Review’s best of 2021 and is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.

About the Library of Congress National Book Festival

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of “Books Bring Us Together.”

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'Horse: A Novel' with Geraldine Brooks
2022-08-18 18:00 - 19:00
Geraldine Brooks will discuss “Horse: A Novel” at the 2022 National Book Festival.
About Geraldine Brooks
Australian-born Geraldine Brooks grew up in Sydney. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her second novel, “March.” Her novels “Caleb’s Crossing” and “People of the Book” were New York Times bestsellers. Brooks worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. Her first novel, “Year of Wonders,” is an international bestseller, translated into more than 25 languages and currently under option to the actor Olivia Coleman. Brooks’ latest work, “Horse: A Novel,” is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.

About the Library of Congress National Book Festival

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of “Books Bring Us Together.”

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'Tuesdays with Morrie' 25th Anniversary with Mitch Albon
2022-08-22 20:00 - 21:00
Mitch Albom will discuss “Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson, 25th Anniversary Edition” at the 2022 National Book Festival.
About Mitch Albom
Mitch Albom is the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, which have collectively sold more than 40 million copies in 47 languages worldwide. He has written award-winning TV films, stage plays, screenplays, a newspaper column, a musical and eight No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. Through his work at the Detroit Free Press, he was inducted into both the National Sports Media Association and Michigan Sports halls of fame. Albom also received the 2010 Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement. After bestselling memoir “Finding Chika” and “Human Touch,” the weekly serial published online to raise funds for pandemic relief, his latest work is a return to fiction with New York Times bestseller “The Stranger in the Lifeboat.” Albom founded and oversees SAY Detroit, a consortium of nine charitable operations in his hometown, including a nonprofit dessert shop and food product line to fund programs for Detroit’s most underserved citizens. He operates an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which he visits monthly. Albom lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan. His bestselling memoir, “Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man and Life’s Greatest Lesson, 25th Anniversary Edition,” is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.

About the Library of Congress National Book Festival

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of “Books Bring Us Together.”

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'How The Word Is Passed' with Clint Smith
2022-08-23 20:00 - 21:00
PBS Books, in collaboration with Maryland Public Television, is hosting a conversation celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival with Clint Smith, author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, to discuss his work and involvement in the festival. The author will be interviewed American Black Journal’s Stephen Henderson.
About Clint Smith
Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of the bestselling narrative nonfiction book, “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.” He is also the author of the poetry collection “Counting Descent.” The book won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. He has received fellowships from New America, the Emerson Collective, the Art for Justice Fund, Cave Canem and the National Science Foundation. Born and raised in New Orleans, he received his bachelor’s degree in English from Davidson College and his doctorate in education from Harvard University. Smith’s featured book at the 2022 National Book Festival is “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.”

About the Library of Congress National Book Festival

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of “Books Bring Us Together.”

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire and Revolution in the Borderlands' with Kelly Lytle Hernández
2022-08-25 20:00 - 21:00
About Kelly Lytle Hernández
Kelly Lytle Hernández is a professor of history, African American studies and urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she holds the Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History and directs the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. A 2019 MacArthur fellowship recipient, she is the author of the award-winning books "Migra!" and "City of Inmates." Hernández lives in Los Angeles. Featured at the 2022 National Book Festival is her latest work, "Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire and Revolution in the Borderlands." It is about the migrant rebels, the magonistas, that started the 1910 Mexican Revolution.
About The Library of Congress National Book Festival:

The Library of Congress is the world's largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of "Books Bring Us Together."

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'Blackout: A Novel' with Dhonielle Clayton
2022-08-25 21:00 - 22:00
About Dhonielle Clayton
Dhonielle Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of The Belles series and the co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, which was made into a Netflix original series. She is chief operating officer of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books and owner of CAKE Literary. Clayton is one of the authors of “Blackout: A Novel,” which is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival and follows six Black teenagers during a blackout in New York City.

About the Library of Congress National Book Festival

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of “Books Bring Us Together.”

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk: 'Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us' with Rachel Aviv
2022-08-29 20:00 - 21:00
About Rachel Aviv
Rachel Aviv is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes about medicine, education, criminal justice and other subjects. In 2022, she won a National Magazine Award for Profile Writing. A 2019 national fellow at New America, she lives in Brooklyn, New York. Aviv received a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to support her work on her book “Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us,” which is featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.
About The Library of Congress National Book Festival:

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress National Book Festival is a highly anticipated annual event, which draws the young, old and any age in between, appealing to a wide palette of tastes and preferences in genres ranging from adult fiction to fantasy, kid lit to political nonfiction. For the first time in three years, the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival returns to live audiences in a one-day, all-day festival on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival will feature more than 120 authors, poets and writers under the theme of “Books Bring Us Together.”
