MASTERPIECE: All Creatures Great and Small Season 2
2022-01-04 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Join PBS Books for a conversation with Ben Vanstone, Writer and Executive Producer of All Creatures Great and Small.
As the writer and Executive Producer, Vanstone will discuss Season 2 and provide insights into the adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, the classic story written by James Herriot. Season 2 begins on Sunday, January 9, 2022, 9/8c on MASTERPIECE on PBS. All Creatures Great and Small returns for an all-new season of heartfelt moments, friendship, and mischief! Transport yourself back to the Yorkshire Dales once again with James, Siegfried Farnon, Tristan Farnon, Helen Alderson, Mrs. Hall, and more. After the events of the Season 1 finale, will James and Helen find their way together? Will James decide to call the Dales home? And can Siegfried and Tristan manage to work together without complete and utter disaster? More laughs, more love, and more animals (and yes, more Tricki Woo) await in Season 2!
Running 7 episodes, Season 2 of All Creatures Great and Small is slated to premiere January 9, 2022, on MASTERPIECE on PBS. Season 2 will be available to view on-air, online, and on the PBS Video app. Season 1 aired January 10 – February 21, 2021 on MASTERPIECE on PBS.
BEN VANSTONE
Ben received stellar reviews for his adaptation of Laurie Lee’s classic novel Cider with Rosie for the BBC, starring Samantha Morton and Tim Spall. He adapted The Borrowers for NBC and the BBC, directed by Tom Harper and also wrote The Last Kingdom for BBC2 and Netflix. He was on staff of the BBC’s hit drama MERLIN which was also broadcast in the US on NBC. More recently he has written and Executive Produced All Creatures Great and Small for Playground Entertainment and channel5. Prior to that, Ben wrote and was Co-Executive Producer on THE ENGLISH GAME, for Netflix.

PBS Books, USA TODAY & The Muhammad Ali Center present CHAMPION OF SERVICE: CELEBRATING MUHAMMAD ALI
2022-01-12 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
In recognition of his 80th birthday, PBS Books, USA TODAY and the Muhammad Ali Center will present “Champion of Service: Celebrating Muhammad Ali,” a live virtual event at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, on the PBS Books Facebook page.
Additional partners include the Louisville Courier Journal, Metro Louisville United Way, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and Kentucky Educational Television (KET).
Known as the G.O.A.T. for his success inside the boxing ring, this program will explore how Muhammad Ali became a champion of humanitarianism through his commitment to service outside of the ring. Featuring Muhammad’s family members and close friends, this program will provide a unique perspective on the Champ from the people who knew him best. This program will explore how Muhammad inspired those around him to follow in his footsteps through acts of courage, generosity, selflessness, kindness, and compassion.
His widow, and vice chair and co-founder of the Ali Center, Lonnie Ali, will introduce the one-hour event. Guest speakers will include PBS filmmaker Ken Burns; Hana Ali, Muhammad Ali’s daughter; John Ramsey, a personal friend; David Chaudoir, longtime employee; and Dr. Richard Lapchick, who is a human rights activist, author, scholar and the 2021 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award recipient. Each participant will draw upon their personal experiences with Muhammad and share their own unique perspectives on his life and legacy as a humanitarian.
The virtual program will include a short video about the Ali Center and Ken Burns sharing some inspirational comments and a segment from his PBS documentary, “Muhammad Ali.”
This online national program will also offer encouragement to others to participate in service projects across the country on January 17th, 2022, Ali’s birthday. This day also coincides with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, offering another opportunity to give back to those in our own communities who are suffering racial or social injustices.
Our hope is to spark service and acts of kindness within communities across the country on MLK Day and Ali’s birthday, which has traditionally been known as a National Day of Service. Here are resources on how you can plan to do this in your communities:
Find a Volunteer Opportunity
Your community can find a virtual or in person opportunity that fits their needs.
Corporate funding for MUHAMMAD ALI was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by David M. Rubenstein. Major funding was also provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by The Better Angels Society and by its members Alan and Marcia Docter; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Tudor Jones; The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund; Gilchrist and Amy Berg; The Brooke Brown Barzun Philanthropic Foundation, The Owsley Brown III Philanthropic Foundation and The Augusta Brown Holland Philanthropic Foundation; Perry and Donna Golkin; John and Leslie McQuown; John and Catherine Debs; Fred and Donna Seigel; Susan and John Wieland; Stuart and Joanna Brown; Diane and Hal Brierley; Fiddlehead Fund; Rocco and Debby Landesman; McCloskey Family Charitable Trust; Mauree Jane and Mark Perry; and Donna and Richard Strong. And by viewers like you.

The National Day of Racial Healing Virtual Livestream
2022-01-18 15:00 (America/Detroit) | Facebook Live
﻿
Tuesday, January 18, 2022, is a day to contemplate our shared values and create the blueprint together for #HowWeHeal from the effects of racism. The National Day of Racial Healing is an opportunity to bring ALL people together in their common humanity and inspire collective action to create a more just and equitable world. Since its launch in 2017, this day has been observed every year on the Tuesday following Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien has just been announced as this year’s host. The National Day of Racial Healing Virtual Livestream happens at Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 3PM ET / 12PM PT.
PBS Books is pleased to partner with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to host the National Day of Racial Healing with a PBS Books Gathering at 8PM ET | 5PM ET on January 18 for libraries and local PBS stations to share with their communities. The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) have called upon their collective memberships to observe the day with reflection and action. Library partners have expressed an interest in sharing the conversation later in the evening. PBS Books will host the program at 8pm ET on its social channels, so that libraries can easily share the content with their community on Facebook, YT, or by embedding it. Go here for Partner Toolkit [LINK].
The 6th annual National Day of Racial Healing observance will be hosted by Soledad O’Brien. Visit the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s YouTube Channel to view the event.
A second virtual gathering will take place on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 8PM EST on the PBS Books Facebook page.
Resources
To learn more about how you can start a dialogue of racial healing in your community, check out the National Day of Racial Healing website.

Author Talk: Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks, author of “Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America”
2022-01-20 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
PBS Books, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is pleased to interview Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks, author of “Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America”. His book contains 12 meditations on contemporary political struggles for our society. The moderator of the conversation will be Venise Wagner.
Written in the form of letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jelks will provide insights his work that speaks specifically to the many public issues we presently confront in the United States—economic inequality, freedom of assembly, police brutality, ongoing social class conflicts and geopolitics. Award-winning author Jelks invites readers to reflect on US history by centering on questions of democracy that we must grapple with as a society.
Following the conversation, there will be an opportunity for questions from audience members on Facebook.
About the Author
Randal Maurice Jelks is a professor, a documentary producer and award-winning author. His latest book, “Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America” (Chicago Review Press, Jan 11, 2022) evokes Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from the Birmingham Jail and contains 12 meditations on many of the public issues currently faced by citizens in the United States —economic inequality, freedom of assembly, police brutality, ongoing social class conflicts, and geopolitics.
Jelks was an executive producer of the documentary “I, Too, Sing America: Langston Hughes Unfurled”, and he currently teaches American Studies, African Studies and African American Studies at the University of Kansas. His writings have appeared in the Boston Review and The Los Angeles Review of Books, and he also serves as co-editor of the academic journal, “American Studies.”
About the Moderator
Venise Wagner is professor of journalism at San Francisco State University where she has taught since 2001. She has a 12-year career as a reporter for several California dailies, including The Orange County Register, The San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle. She has won awards for her coverage of education and of religion/ethics. She has covered border issues, religion and ethics, schools and education, urban issues and issues in the Bay Area’s various black communities. Venise served as chair of the Journalism Department from January 2008 to January 2013, a department at the time with 500 students. She has a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urban and a M.A. in International Policy Studies, with an emphasis in Latin America from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
She is co-author/co-editor of “Reporting Inequality: Tools and Methods for Covering Race and Ethnicity,” which was published in 2019 by Routledge. She is working on a forthcoming family memoir that explores the intergenerational impact of structural racism on her family from slavery to the 1970s.

Trailblazer: Talk with Poet Evie Shockley from Poetry in America
2022-01-26 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books, in partnership with Poetry In America and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is pleased to present a conversation with poet Evie Shockley, historian Robin D.G. Kelly, and actress LisaGay Hamilton, which will be led by Poetry In America Executive Producer and Creator Elisa New.
Highlighting Poetry In America’s Season 3, Episode 4, Elisa New will interview poet Evie Shockley about her satiric humor poem “you can say that again, billie,” which is inspired by Billie Holiday’s haunting song “Strange Fruit.” Shockley will converse with historian Robin D.G. Kelley and actor LisaGay Hamilton to discuss the history of racism, violence, and artistic tradition in the American south.
About the Poet Evie Shockley
Evie Shockley is a poet and scholar. Her most recent poetry collections, the new black (Wesleyan, 2011) and semiautomatic (Wesleyan, 2017), both won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; the latter was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the LA Times Book Prize. Her poetry has appeared internationally in print and audio formats, in English and in translation. She has received the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Stephen Henderson Award, the Holmes National Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Cave Canem, among others. Shockley is Professor of English at Rutgers University.
About the Featured Guest Robin D. G. Kelley
Robin D. G. Kelley is the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. His books include, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original and Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. He is currently completing two books, Black Bodies Swinging: An American Postmortem and The Education of Ms. Grace Halsell: An Intimate History of the American Century (both forthcoming Metropolitan Books). His essays have appeared in several anthologies and publications, including The Nation, Monthly Review, New York Times, and The Boston Review, for which he also serves as Contributing Editor.
About the Featured Guest LisaGay Hamilton
LisaGay Hamilton’s illustrious film career includes roles in “Ad Astra,” “Vice,” “Beautiful Boy,” “The Last Full Measure,” “Go For Sisters,” “Life of a King,” “True Crime,” “Palookaville,” “Drunks,” “The Sum of All Fears,” “Hamlet,” “Beloved,” “The Truth About Charlie,” “Nine Lives,” “Honeydripper,” “The Tourist,” “The Soloist,” and more.
On television, Hamilton can currently be seen in the Hulu series, “The Dropout.” Other notable credits include “Sorry For Your Loss,” “The First,” “Chance,” and “House of Cards.” Hamilton is well known for her regular role on the Emmy Award-winning “The Practice,” for which she also directed an episode. Hamilton’s documentary, “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks,” which she directed and co-produced with Jonathan Demme, premiered on HBO and won Best Documentary at the AFI Awards and a Peabody Award. Hamilton’s theater credits include, on Broadway, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean, and the original production of Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” as well as “Measure for Measure” at the New York Shakespeare Theatre Festival. She earned an Obie Award and the Clarence Derwent Award for her role in Athol Fugard’s “Valley Song.”
About the Moderator
Elisa New is the Director and Host of Poetry in America, director of the Center of Public Humanities at Arizona State University, director of Verse Video Education, and Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature at Harvard University. New created Poetry in America, a PBS series, to bring poetry into living rooms and onto screens of all kinds. The show can be seen on public television and streaming platforms, in schools and libraries, and on airlines. Guests include Joe Biden, Herbie Hancock, Gloria Estefan, Shaquille O’Neal, Elena Kagan, Nas, John McCain, Sonia Sanchez, Tony Kushner, Bill Clinton, Julia Alvarez, Bono, Cynthia Nixon, John Kerry, LisaGay Hamilton, Caroline Kennedy, Katie Couric, Al Gore, and David Strathairn. Along with the series, New produces educational materials on American poetry for all ages—from middle- and high-school students, to K-12 teachers, to lifelong learners—distributed by Harvard University, Amplify Education, and Arizona State University.
About Poetry In America
Poetry in America, created and directed by Harvard professor Elisa New, is a public television series and multi-platform educational initiative that brings the highest quality humanities content to diverse audiences around the world.
Poetry in America for-credit courses, non-credit learning experiences, and professional development opportunities—including programming designed specifically for high-school students and K-12 teachers—are available in partnership with Arizona State University and Harvard. The Poetry in America series is presented by GBH Boston and distributed by PBS Plus and American Public Television. Season One aired nationally in 2018. Season Two aired in April 2020, and Season Three will premiere in January 2022.
Funder information
Support for the television series Poetry in America is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dalio Philanthropies, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Poetry Foundation, Deborah Hayes Stone and Max Stone.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Financial Resolutions: Sowing The Seeds for a Bountiful Retirement
2022-01-28 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
The new year is a chance to turn over a new leaf and set powerful financial resolutions. From boosting your budget – to investing in diverse accounts, building a secure future always begins with a solid foundation. Whether you’re a rookie, or a retiree, learn how to set financial resolutions that will sow seeds for a bountiful harvest.

Saving American Journalism: The Information Needs of a Democracy
2022-02-10 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
A conversation about serving the news and information needs of our nation
Thursday, Feb 10 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books is pleased to host The New Era of Modern Journalism: a conversation with Evan Smith, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Texas Tribune, a pioneering nonprofit, nonpartisan media outlet, in conversation with journalist Errin Haines, Editor-At-Large of The 19th*.
Having recently announced his departure from The Texas Tribune, Evan Smith will discuss his background and career, the current state of journalism and its future.
The conversation will touch on the importance journalism to our democratic system, the threat posed by misinformation and disinformation, the pressing need for diverse voices in coverage and in newsrooms, the danger of news deserts and sustainable business models, particularly for local journalism.
Smith’s work at the Tribune has offered an important template for others to follow to ensure that local communities, especially those that are historically under-represented, are heard. Award-winning journalist Errin Haines is a trailblazer in her own right. As one of the founders and the editor-at-large of The 19th (so named for the constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote), she reports on gender, race, politics, and policy.
About Evan Smith
Evan Smith is the CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, a pioneering nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news organization whose deep coverage of Texas politics and public policy can be found at its website, texastribune.org, and in newspapers and on TV and radio stations across the state. Since its launch in 2009, the Tribune has won international acclaim and numerous honors, including a Peabody Award, 23 national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association and three general excellence awards from the Online News Association. Evan is also the host of “Overheard with Evan Smith,” a weekly half-hour interview program that airs on PBS stations around the country. A native of New York, he’s a graduate of Hamilton College and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
About Errin Haines
Errin Haines is the one of the founders and the editor-at-large of The 19th. An award-winning journalist with nearly two decades of experience, Errin was previously national writer on race for the Associated Press. She’s also worked at the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.

Author Talk: Harriet A. Washington
2022-02-15 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Tuesday, Feb 15 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, 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 Harriet A. Washington, discussing African American health and inequities.
As a medical ethicist, Harriet Washington has a unique and courageous voice and deconstructs the politics around medical issues, including ‘scientific racism.’ In this conversation, she will share about the powerful and disturbing portrait of medicine, race, sex, and the abuse of power. Washington also makes the case for broader political consciousness of science and technology, challenging audiences to see the world differently and challenge established paradigms in the history of medicine. Her latest book, Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent, documents the alarming tale of how the right of Americans to say “no” to risky medical research is being violated. This program is offered as part of ASALH’s annual conference.
About the Scholar and Author
Harriet A. Washington is a prolific science writer, editor and ethicist who is the author of the seminal Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Oakland Award, and the American Library Association Black Caucus Nonfiction Award and five other well-received books, including A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and its Assault on the American Mind, as well as Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Informed Consent in Medical Research, was published in 2021 by Columbia Global Reports.
Washington is a Writing Fellow in Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, has been the 2015-2016 Miriam Shearing Fellow at the University of Nevada’s Black Mountain Institute. She has also been a Research Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School, a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, a visiting scholar at DePaul University College of Law and a senior research scholar at the National Center for Bioethics at Tuskegee University. She has held fellowships at Stanford University and teaches bioethics at Columbia University, where she delivered the 2020 commencement speech to Columbia’s School of Public Health graduates and won Columbia’s 2020 Mailman School Of Public Health’s Public Health Leadership Award, as well as its 2020-21 Kenneth and Mamie Clark Distinguished Lecture Award. Washington has written widely for popular publications and has been published in referenced books and journals such as Nature, JAMA, The American Journal of Public Health, The New England Journal of Medicine, the Harvard Public Health Review, Isis, and The Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics. She has been Editor of the Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health, a guest Editor of the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics and served as a reviewer for the Journal of the American Association of Bioethics and the Humanities.
Ms. Washington has also worked as a classical-music announcer for public radio and curates a medical-film series.

Principles of Personal Financial Literacy
2022-02-25 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
Financial literacy can be a source of stress, fear, and worry for many Americans. The best way to achieve confidence in your personal management of money management is by learning how to make smart and secure financial decisions every day. Join PBS Books as we discuss the Principles of Personal Financial Literacy.

Author Talk: Kelly Yang
2022-03-09 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Detroit)
Wednesday, March 9 at 5pm ET | 2pm PT, PBS Books is pleased to interview trailblazer Kelly Yang, author of New From Here, in celebration of Women’s History Month.
An award-winning author, Kelly will share insights into her writing process, her latest works, and her creative inspiration. Her latest book New From Here is a poignant middle grade novel about courage, hope, and resilience as an Asian American boy fights to keep his family together and stand up to racism during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus. This book is perfect to spark conversation with tweens about recent challenges in their own life. Following the conversation, there will be an opportunity for questions from audience members on Facebook.
About the Author
Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling author of the FRONT DESK series, including Front Desk, Three Keys, and Room to Dream, New From Here, 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: Judith Brodsky with Jodi Throckmorton
2022-03-10 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Thursday, March 10 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books, in partnership with ArtTable, is pleased to host, in celebration of Women’s History Month with two trailblazers: artist, arts advocate, and professor Judith K. Brodsky, author of Dismantling the Patriarchy, Bit by Bit: Art, Feminism, and Digital Technology, with curator Jodi Throckmorton.
In her recent book, Brodsky explores trailblazing women, including artists of color, who have been innovators in the digital art arena as early as the late 1960s. Through an examination of artists’ work and feminist art theory, Brodsky will discuss the crucial role women are playing in the art world in this digital realm, including in new media as video, websites and social networking, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and NFTs. Through this discussion, viewers will gain critical insights into the important role female artists are playing in the digital space, which historically has been dominated by men. Audience questions will be answered at the end of the conversation.
About the Author
Judith K. Brodsky is Distinguished Professor Emerita, Visual Arts, Rutgers University, founder of the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, now the Brodsky Center at PAFA, co-founder of the Rutgers Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities and The Feminist Art Project. Her curatorial work includes The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art, and Society (2012), the Philadelphia city-wide print festival, Philagrafika (2010), and Race and Erasure in Art History: Retrieving a Forgotten Circle of Black Artists (2022). She is past national president of ArtTable, College Art Association, Women’s Caucus for Art, former board chair, New York Foundation for the Arts, and a former dean and associate provost at Rutgers. Just published in October 2021 is Dismantling the Patriarchy Bit by Bit (Bloomsbury) a history of feminist artists using digital technology including women artists of color and female-identifying, queer, and transgender artists such as Legacy Russell and micha cárdenas, along with pioneers like Joan Jonas, Jenny Holzer, and Adrian Piper, and contemporary artists like Ann Hirsch, Hannah Black, and Hyphen-Lab. She shows how feminist art theory intersected with the rise of digital art, freeing technology from its patriarchal context. Her last book was Junctures in Women’s Leadership: the Arts, (Rutgers University Press, 2018) in collaboration with Dr. Ferris Olin. She is also a printmaker/artist with work in many collections.
About the Moderator
Jodi Throckmorton is the former curator of contemporary art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia. Before joining PAFA in fall 2014, she was curator of modern and contemporary art at the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University in Kansas and had previously been associate curator at the San Jose Museum of Art in California. She organized the exhibition and publications for Joan Semmel: Skin in the Game (2021), Rina Banerjee: Make Me a Summary of the World (2018) with Lauren Dickens, and Postdate: Photography and Inherited History in India (2015), among others.
About ArtTable
ArtTable is the foremost professional organization dedicated to advancing the leadership of women in the visual arts. Through our membership network and community initiatives, we expand professional opportunities for women from diverse backgrounds and at all stages of their careers, supporting and fostering a stronger future for all women in the arts.
All ArtTable members are able to connect with our 1,200+ network of professional peers throughout the United States and across several other countries outside the U.S. Members also have the option to join one of ten local ArtTable chapters, located in Chicago, Florida, Houston, Metro Atlanta, New York, Northern California, the Northwest, Southern California, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

Masterpiece: Sanditon Season Two
2022-03-15 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
The Magic of Masterpiece﻿
Tuesday, March 15 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books, in partnership with MASTERPIECE, will present a conversation about Sanditon with Justin Young, who is the Head Writer and Executive Producer for Season 2 and 3. The conversation will be co-hosted by Colleen O’Donnell, who is Detroit Public Television’s Social Media Manager. Join us to meet Justin Young as he discusses his work and process in writing and producing Sanditon’s new Season 2.
Nineteenth century English writer Jane Austen was a trailblazer and a social changer. In early 1817, she fell ill with a mysterious disease when she started work on a novel set in a seaside town called Sanditon. She never finished it. MASTERPIECE introduced its Sanditon mini-series in 2020, picking up Austen’s setting, characters, and plot. While taking us an amazing adventure in the 19th century with Miss Heywood, the series also explores issues of race, sexual abuse, gender roles, money, and power. Season 2 of Sanditon premieres on Sunday, March 20 at 9 ET. Check your local listing.

About the Writer: Justin Young
Justin Young is Head Writer and Executive Producer on Sanditon, Seasons 2 and 3. His previous credits include Sanditon, Season 1, Dickensian, Death In Paradise, and Ripper Street. Justin was Head Writer and Series Producer of Holby City for 3 years, during which the show was BAFTA-nominated twice. Other TV writing includes Casualty and Eastenders. In 2015, his play In My Father’s Words enjoyed a critically acclaimed run at the 59E59 Theatre in New York. His plays include The Houghamagandie Pack, Fierce – An Urban Myth – both for Grid Iron, Metagama (Soho Theatre), August (National Theatre Studio) and Moonwalking in Chinatown (Soho Theatre.)
Watch a sneak peek of ‘Sanditon’, Season 2

Get PBS Passport
Catch up on Season 1 of Sanditon on Masterpiece. Become a member of your local station and receive benefit of PBS Passport for extended access to critically acclaimed series like Sanditon and much more.

'Democracy in Crisis' With Barton Gellman
2022-03-23 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax)
WHEN: Mar 23, 2022, 4:00-5:00 pm EDT
WHERE: This event is virtual.
WHAT: Democracy in Crisis series with the Ford School.
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Barton Gellman in conversation with Michigan Law Professor from Practice Barbara McQuade, as part of the spring 2022 Democracy in Crisis series.
Barton Gellman is the author of multiple books including Dark Mirror.
REGISTER HERE

Trailblazer: Poetry, Celebrating Robert Frost's Birthday
2022-03-23 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Wednesday, March 23 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT, PBS Books, in partnership with Poetry In America and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is pleased to present a conversation with poet Tracy K. Smith, in conversation with Poetry In America Executive Producer and Creator Elisa New, discussing Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” in honor of his birthday.
Do good fences really make good neighbors? Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” asks surprising questions about the role of walls in civil society. Poetry In America’s Host Elisa New and former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith will delve into this classic poem.

About the Poet: Tracy K. Smith
Tracy K. Smith is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, memoirist, translator and librettist. She served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017-19. Her most recent book is Such Color: New and Selected Poems. She teaches at Harvard University

About the Moderator: Elisa New
Elisa New is the Director and Host of Poetry in America, director of the Center of Public Humanities at Arizona State University, director of Verse Video Education, and Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature at Harvard University. New created Poetry in America, a PBS series, to bring poetry into living rooms and onto screens of all kinds. The show can be seen on public television and streaming platforms, in schools and libraries, and on airlines. Guests include Joe Biden, Herbie Hancock, Gloria Estefan, Shaquille O’Neal, Elena Kagan, Nas, John McCain, Sonia Sanchez, Tony Kushner, Bill Clinton, Julia Alvarez, Bono, Cynthia Nixon, John Kerry, LisaGay Hamilton, Caroline Kennedy, Katie Couric, Al Gore, and David Strathairn. Along with the series, New produces educational materials on American poetry for all ages—from middle- and high-school students, to K-12 teachers, to lifelong learners—distributed by Harvard University, Amplify Education, and Arizona State University.

About Poetry In America
Poetry in America, created and directed by Harvard professor Elisa New, is a public television series and multi-platform educational initiative that brings the highest quality humanities content to diverse audiences around the world.
Poetry in America for-credit courses, non-credit learning experiences, and professional development opportunities—including programming designed specifically for high-school students and K-12 teachers—are available in partnership with Arizona State University and Harvard. The Poetry in America series is presented by GBH Boston and distributed by PBS Plus and American Public Television. Season One aired nationally in 2018. Season Two aired in April 2020, and Season Three will premiere in January 2022.

Funder information
Support for the television series Poetry in America is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dalio Philanthropies, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Poetry Foundation, Deborah Hayes Stone and Max Stone.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"American Democracy: The Path Forward" with Jeb Bush
2022-03-24 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax)
WHEN: Mar 24, 2022, 4:00-5:00 pm EDT

WHERE: This is a virtual event.
WHAT: Conversations Across Differences series.
Join for a U-M Democracy & Debate signature event featuring Governor Jeb Bush in conversation with Ford School Dean Michael S. Barr.
Jeb Bush is the author of multiple books including Immigration Wars.
REGISTER HERE

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 (America/Halifax)
‘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.
REGISTER HERE

"The Twilight of Democracy” With Anne Applebaum
2022-04-04 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax)
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.
REGISTER HERE

Trailblazer: Ben Franklin and STEM
2022-04-06 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
﻿
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 (America/Halifax)
﻿
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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.
