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.

FILMMAKER TALK: Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña, filmmakers of “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
2022-06-15 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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 (America/Halifax)
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.”

#LOCBookfest22 Author Talk | 'More Than You'll Ever Know' with Katie Gutierrez
2022-08-30 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
PBS Books, in collaboration with GBH, is hosting a conversation celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival with Katie Gutierrez, author of More Than You'll Ever Know: A Novel, to discuss her work and involvement in the festival.
About Katie Gutierrez
Katie Gutierrez has a Master of Fine Arts from Texas State University, and her writing has appeared in Harper's Bazaar, The Washington Post, Longreads, Texas Monthly and elsewhere. She was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and now lives in San Antonio with her husband and their two children. Featured at the 2022 National Book Festival, Gutierrez's debut book, "More Than You'll Ever Know: A Novel," follows a true-crime writer who grows obsessed with the story of Lore Rivera, a woman who was caught leading a double life after one of her husbands murders the other.

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."

Future of Work Inclusion Strategist | 'Say More About That..." with Amber Cabral
2022-09-07 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
PBS Books, in collaboration with WTTW, is pleased to host a conversation with inclusion strategist and author Amber Cabral about her latest book “Say More About That… And Other Ways to Speak Up, Push Back, and Advocate for Yourself and Others,” on Wednesday, September 7 at 8pm ET. This conversation explores how people can assertively address inequitable treatment at home, work, school, and other settings. This program will also discuss the Future of Work and Amber’s first book–Allies and Advocates: Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Culture. The co-moderator is WTTW’s Tim Russell, VP of Community Engagement and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
About Amber Cabral
Amber Cabral is an Inclusion Strategist, certified coach, speaker and author of Allies and Advocates: Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Culture. Formerly a Diversity Strategist at Walmart Stores, Inc., she founded Cabral Co, a diversity, equity and inclusive leadership focused consulting firm, to help organizations ignite behavior shifts to create inclusive cultures. Amber also coaches and inspires high-achievers to transform their passions into executable ideas and content.
Passionate about developing the next generation of decision-makers, Amber serves on the Executive Board for non-profit organizations committed to promoting diverse representation and empowering women and girls across the globe. She speaks on a variety of inclusion, culture and social justice topics. Through her work, she has been featured on television and both print and digital media. In her free time, she hosts a podcast called You Can Have Whatever You Want® and writes articles focused on inclusion, culture, equity and working-class life.

Panel Discussion | “The US and the Holocaust: A Michigan Perspective” with Historians and Community Builders
2022-09-18 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Halifax)
In coordination with the premiere of the new documentary film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” Detroit Public TV (DPTV) hosts live panel discussion in partnership with The Zekelman Holocaust Center, the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit and ADL Michigan. The event “The U.S. and the Holocaust: A Michigan Perspective” includes video segments from the documentary, a message from filmmaker Ken Burns and a panel discussion with prominent leaders and historians addressing a range of topics raised by the documentary.
The panel features:

Catherine Cangany, director of the Jewish Historical Society, an expert in Jewish life in Michigan during the Holocaust
Jeffrey Veidlinger, professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, an authority on modern Jewish, Russian and Eastern European History
Arthur Horwitz, publisher emeritus and former executive editor of the Detroit Jewish News, who will relate his own personal story as a son of Holocaust survivors
Rev Stancy Adams, chair of the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit, to speak about what the lessons of the Holocaust can teach us about our own challenging times

Eli Newman, reporter and producer for WDET-FM, public radio in Detroit, moderates the discussion.
Ryan Woloshin, associate director of Antisemitism Programs at Anti-Defamation League, offers closing remarks, addressing the surge in antisemitic cases in Michigan and what the community’s response could be.

“The U.S. and the Holocaust” the new 3-part documentary film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, will premiere on DPTV starting Sunday, Sept. 18, 8 p.m.

David Bornstein | Solutions Journalism Collaborative Summit Keynote Speaker
2022-09-19 13:30 - 14:30 (America/Detroit)
David Bornstein, co-founder and CEO of the Solutions Journalism Network, will kick off the Solutions Journalism Collaborative Summit by discussing the role Solutions Journalism can play in helping news organizations confront evolving challenges in the news around trust, audience engagement, equity and sustainability.
David Bornstein co-founded the Solutions Journalism Network in 2013 with Tina Rosenberg and Courtney Martin. He has been a journalist, focusing primarily on social innovation, for more than 30 years. He began his career reporting on metro issues for New York Newsday, then shifted to international reporting, contributing to numerous publications. From 2010-21, he co-authored the “Fixes” column in The New York Times, which examined efforts to solve social and environmental problems. He is the author of: “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas,” which has been published in 25 languages, “The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank,” and “Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.”
This speaker event is part of the Solutions Journalism Collaborative Summit, hosted by the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative and Detroit Public TV.

Amy Goyer, 'Choosing to Care' | Solutions Journalism Collaborative Summit Keynote Speaker
2022-09-20 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Detroit)
Amy Goyer, AARP’s national family and caregiving expert, begins the second day of the Solutions Journalism Collaborative Summit with a presentation, “Choosing to Care,” focusing on the intersection of mental health and caregiving and real-world solutions for journalists to vet and turn into impactful stories.
Amy Goyer is AARP’s national family and caregiving expert and moderates its Family Caregivers Discussion Group on Facebook. She has more than 35 years of professional experience serving and advocating for older adults, children and families, and people with disabilities. She has been a family caregiver her entire adult life, caring for her grandparents, parents, sisters and other relatives and friends. She has written three books and appears regularly as a caregiving authority on network news shows, including more than a dozen times on NBC’s “Today.” She has been a guest on “Dr. Phil” and “The Doctors” and been interviewed by CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and People, among other media outlets.
This speaker event is part of the Solutions Journalism Collaborative Summit, hosted by the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative and Detroit Public TV.

Author Talk: ‘The US and the Holocaust: Building Bridges’ with Eboo Patel
2022-09-22 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Thursday, September 22 at 8pm ET
In connection with The US and the Holocaust, PBS Books is pleased to present a conversation with Interfaith America’s Founder and President Eboo Patel, author of We Need to Build: Fieldnotes for Diverse Democracy. It is an inspirational guide for those who seek to promote positive social change and build a more diverse and just democracy. While looking at the Holocaust and some of US’s historical policies, Eboo will discuss his work, his book, and inspiring social activists as he underscores the importance of social infrastructures within today’s society as we build our diverse democracy and ensure there is never another Holocaust.
About Eboo Patel
Eboo Patel is a widely acclaimed civic leader who believes that religious diversity is an essential and inspiring dimension of American democracy. Named “one of America’s best leaders” by US News and World Report, Eboo is Founder and President of Interfaith America (formerly Interfaith Youth Core), the leading interfaith organization in the United States. Under his leadership, Interfaith America has worked with governments, universities, private companies, and civic organizations to make faith a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. He served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council, has given hundreds of keynote addresses, and has written five books, including “We Need to Build: Fieldnotes for Diverse Democracy” published in May 2022. He is an Ashoka Fellow and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, and two sons.

'Carrying Golden Threads' with Michele Oka Doner | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2022-09-23 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
“Carrying Golden Threads” with Michele Oka Doner | Friday, September 23, 8 p.m.
Michele Oka Doner is an internationally renowned artist whose career spans six decades. Her work is fueled by a lifelong study and appreciation of the natural world, from which she derives her formal vocabulary. The breadth of her artistic production encompasses sculpture, drawing, public art, functional objects, video, artist books, and costume and set design. She is well known for creating numerous permanent art installations throughout the United States, including Flight at Reagan International Airport, Arlington, VA, Radiant Site at the Herald Square MTA station, New York and the mile and quarter bronze and terrazzo concourse, A Walk on the Beach at Miami International Airport, seen by 40 million travelers annually.
Learn more
The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2022 Season
This winter, the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series brings respected leaders and innovators from a broad spectrum of creative fields to Ann Arbor’s historic Michigan Theater for weekly in-person events.
Detroit Public Television and PBS Books, in partnership with the Stamps School, will stream each week’s event Fridays at 8pm.
See the full schedule of events livestreamed by PBS Books here.
Some programs may not be available online, depending on artist requests. Interested in receiving notifications before online videos go live? Sign up to receive a reminder before each event begins streaming.
Watch Past Penny Stamps Episodes

A Filmmaker Conversation | MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
2022-09-28 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Wednesday, September 28 8pm ET | 5pm PT
PBS Books, in collaboration with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is pleased to host a conversation with internationally renowned scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ph.D., who is the executive producer, host and writer of MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE, with esteemed scholar Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Ph.D., who is the former past president of ASALH, on Wedneday, September 28 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT.
Explore the themes and content in MAKING BLACK AMERICA as Professor Gates discusses his work and his process for his new documentary in dialogue with his long-time friend and colleague Professor Higginbotham—both are foremost scholars in the field of African American history.
ABOUT MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE is a four-part series that explores Black Americans’ Centuries-Long History of Establishing Communities and Attaining Social, Political and Economic Success in the face of racial segregation; the documentary premieres on PBS stations across the country starting on Tuesday, October 4 at 9pm ET (check your local listing). In this latest series from the acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentarian, Gates and director Stacey L. Holman chronicle the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” During the series, Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders, and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today. MAKING BLACK AMERICA takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.
ABOUT HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., Ph.D. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University.Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates’s most recent books are Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow and The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song. He has also produced and hosted more than 20 documentary films, most recently The Black Church on PBS and Black Art: In the Absence of Light for HBO. Finding Your Roots, his groundbreaking genealogy and genetics series, is now in its eighth season on PBS. It has been called “one of the deepest and wisest series ever on television,” leveraging “the inherent entertainment capacity of the medium to educate millions of Americans about the histories and cultures of our nation and the world.”
The recipient of 56 honorary degrees and numerous prizes, Professor Gates was a member of the first class awarded “genius grants” by the MacArthur Foundation in 1981, and in 1998, he became the first African American scholar to be awarded the National Humanities Medal. He was named to Time’s25 Most Influential Americans list in 1997, to Ebony’s Power 150 list in 2009, and to Ebony’s Power 100 list in 2010 and 2012.
ABOUT EVELYN BROOKS HIGGINBOTHAM, PH.D.
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, where she has been on the faculty since 1993 and has chaired both the Department of African and African American Studies (2006-2013) and the Department of History (2018-2020).
Higginbotham is also the immediate past National President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which was founded in 1915 by Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History.
She is the co-author with the late John Hope Franklin of the ninth edition and now tenth edition of From Slavery to Freedom (2021). A pioneering and prizewinning scholar in African American women’s history, she co-edited with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,
the twelve-volume African American National Biography (2013).
Her numerous awards include most notably the National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barak Obama in September 2015, and most recently the honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in May 2022.

Author Talk: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers | MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
2022-10-05 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Wednesday, October 5 8pm ET | 5pm PT
PBS Books, in collaboration with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is pleased to host a conversation award-winning Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of WEB DuBois in connection with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s latest documentary MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE, on October 5 at 8pm ET| 5pm PT.
In her latest book, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers chronicles the journey of one American family from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil Rights Movement to today’s society. Through the conversation, you’ll learn about her work and process, as well as themes and topics that connect to MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE.

ABOUT HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is a fiction writer, poet, and essayist. She is the author of five poetry collections, including the 2020 collection The Age of Phillis, which won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry and the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, was longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry, and was a finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award, the George Washington Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She was a contributor to The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, edited by Jesmyn Ward, and has been published in the Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, and other literary publications. Jeffers was elected into the American Antiquarian Society, whose members include fourteen U.S. presidents, and is Critic at Large for Kenyon Review. She is a professor and chair of the English Department at University of Oklahoma. The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois is her first novel and was a New York Times bestseller, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, longlisted for the National Book Award, shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction, longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and an Oprah Book Club Pick.
ABOUT MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE is a four-part series that explores Black Americans’ Centuries-Long History of Establishing Communities and Attaining Social, Political and Economic Success in the face of racial segregation; the documentary premieres on PBS stations across the country starting on Tuesday, October 4 at 9pm ET (check your local listing). In this latest series from the acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentarian, Gates and director Stacey L. Holman chronicle the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” During the series, Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders, and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today. MAKING BLACK AMERICA takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with Richard Blanco from Poetry In America
2022-10-06 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Thursday, October 6 | 8pm ET | 5pm PT

PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with award-winning poet Richard Blanco, who a featured guest of PBS broadcast-series Poetry In America, with Poetry In America’s Founder, Director, and Host Elisa New. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, join us to learn about Richard Blanco, his work, and his creative process.

ABOUT THE POET RICHARD BLANCO
Selected by President Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history, Richard Blanco is the first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, the negotiation of cultural identity characterizes his four collections of poetry: How To Love a Country, City of a Hundred Fires, which received the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press; Directions to The Beach of the Dead, recipient of the Beyond Margins Award from the PEN American Center; and Looking for The Gulf Motel, recipient of the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Thom Gunn Award. He has also authored the memoirs For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey and The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood, winner of a Lambda Literary Award. His inaugural poem “One Today” was published as a children’s book, in collaboration with renowned illustrator Dav Pilkey. Boundaries, a collaboration with photographer Jacob Hessler, challenges the physical and psychological dividing lines that shadow the United States. And his latest book of poems, How to Love a Country, both interrogates the American narrative, past and present, and celebrates the still unkept promise of its ideals. Blanco has written occasional poems for the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Freedom to Marry, the Tech Awards of Silicon Valley, and the Boston Strong benefit concert following the Boston Marathon bombings. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and has received numerous honorary doctorates. He has taught at Georgetown University, American University, and Wesleyan University. He serves as the first Education Ambassador for The Academy of American Poets.

ABOUT ELISA NEW
Elisa New is the Director and Host of Poetry in America, 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 Bill T. Jones. 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.
New is the author of The Regenerate Lyric: Theology and Innovation in American Poetry (Cambridge University Press, 1992); The Line’s Eye: Poetic Experience, American Sight (Harvard University Press, 1999); Jacob’s Cane: A Jewish Family’s Journey from the Four Lands of Lithuania to the Ports of London and Baltimore: A Memoir in Five Generations (Basic Books, 2009); and New England Beyond Criticism: In Defense of America’s First Literature, A Wiley Blackwell Manifesto (Wiley Blackwell 2014).

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 poetry into classrooms and living rooms around the world. In partnership with Harvard University, Poetry in America offers free online courses for global learners as well as for-credit and professional development courses for undergraduates, graduate students, highly motivated high-school students, and educational practitioners. Its public television series Poetry in America (presented by WGBH Boston and distributed by American Public Television) first aired nationwide in April 2018. Poetry in America returned for a second season in April 2020, and is airing on public television stations in most major markets across the US. Poetry in America is filmed on location in a rich documentary style. From our base in Cambridge, we follow Allen Ginsberg to San Francisco, Gwendolyn Brooks to the South Side of Chicago, and Emily Dickinson to Amherst. Along the way, scientists and Supreme Court justices, playwrights and journalists, athletes and songwriters, poets and painters, and classroom teachers and their students join us to reflect on essential works of the American literary imagination.

Author & Screenwriter Conversation | Masterpiece’s Magpie Murders
2022-10-11 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
The Magic of Masterpiece
Tuesday, October 11, 8pm ET | 5pm PT
PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with internationally renowned writer Anthony Horowitz, who is the screenwriter, author, and executive producer of Magpie Murders. Magpie Murders will premiere on Sunday, October 16 at 9/8c on MASTERPIECE on PBS. Join us to get a sneak preview into Anthony Horowitz’s work and creative process as you learn about the characters and Horowitz’s carefully crafted story. Plus, he’ll discuss how his blockbuster novel got to the screen.

ABOUT MAGPIE MURDERS
A beguiling murder mystery with a solution that will both astonish and shock viewers, the plot of Magpie Murders revolves around the character Susan Ryeland, an editor who is given an unfinished manuscript of author Alan Conway’s latest novel, but has little idea it will change her life.
Adapted from Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling mystery by the author himself, Magpie Murders stars Leslie Manville (World on Fire, Phantom Thread, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris) as editor turned amateur sleuth Susan Ryeland and Tim McMullan (Patrick Melrose, Foyle’s War) as world-famous detective Atticus Pünd.
WGBH is the producer of MASTERPIECE.
ABOUT ANTHONY HOROWITZ
Anthony Horowitz is one of the most prolific and successful writers in the UK – and is unique for working across so many media – writing books, television, films, plays and journalism. He has written over 50 books including the bestselling teen spy series Alex Rider, which has sold over 21 million copies worldwide, and has been adapted into a hugely successful television series.
Anthony is also an acclaimed writer for adults. He was commissioned by the Conan Doyle Estate to write two new Sherlock Holmes novels, which were internationally lauded. The Ian Fleming Estate commissioned Anthony to write continuation novels for James Bond with Trigger Mortis and Forever and A Day published in 2015 and 2018 respectively. Anthony’s award-winning novel Magpie Murders was released in 2016 to critical acclaim and has been filmed with Lesley Manville in the lead role to premiere on October 16, 2022 at 9/8c on PBS.
Anthony is responsible for creating and writing some of the UK’s most beloved and successful television series, including Foyle’s War, Collision, Injustice, New Blood, and the first seven episodes of Midsomer Murders. Anthony regularly contributes to a wide variety of national newspapers and magazines and has been a patron to the anti-bullying charity, Kidscape. Anthony was recently awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to literature.

'In Conversation' with Wynton Marsalis and Warde Manuel | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Series
2022-10-14 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Wynton Marsalis sits down with UM Director of Athletics Warde Manuel to explore art, athletics, and the creative process. These two successful New Orleans natives come together in a conversation moderated by Christopher Audain, Managing Director of the Arts Initiative.
Learn more
About Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis is a world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader and composer, and a leading advocate of American culture. He presently serves as Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 12, entered The Juilliard School at age 17, and soon thereafter joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He recorded more than 103 jazz and classical recordings, which have won nine GRAMMY® awards. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz GRAMMYs® in the same year, repeating the distinction the following year. Today, Wynton is the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards® in five consecutive years (1983−1987). In 1997, Wynton became the first jazz artist to be awarded the prestigious Pulitzer in Music for his oratorio Blood on the Fields. Marsalis has received honorary doctorates from over 25 of America’s top academic institutions including Columbia, Harvard, Howard, Princeton and Yale. In 2001, he was appointed Messenger of Peace by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In 2005 Wynton received The National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States government.
About Warde Manuel
Warde Manuel is the Director of Athletics at the University of Michigan. He was a high school All-American football player, and played for the University of Michigan under Schembechler. After graduating, Manuel was coordinator of U-M’s Wade H. McCree Jr. Incentive Scholarship program from 1990 to 1993, which helps students prepare for higher education at public universities in Michigan. Afterward, Manuel served in several roles within Michigan’s athletic department, and was named associate athletic director with oversight responsibility for operation facets of the university’s athletic program. He also oversaw Michigan’s football and men’s basketball programs. In 2012, Manuel became the director of athletics at the University of Connecticut. UConn teams won six NCAA national championships under Manuel’s leadership. Manuel returned to U‑M following his four-year run at UConn. His return to Ann Arbor brings him full-circle from an accomplished student-athlete and athletic administrator at U‑M to a distinguished career as an athletic director and back again.

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2022 Season
This winter, the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series brings respected leaders and innovators from a broad spectrum of creative fields to Ann Arbor’s historic Michigan Theater for weekly in-person events.
Detroit Public Television and PBS Books, in partnership with the Stamps School, will stream each week’s event Fridays at 8pm.
See the full schedule of events livestreamed by PBS Books here.
Some programs may not be available online, depending on artist requests. Interested in receiving notifications before online videos go live? Sign up to receive a reminder before each event begins streaming.
Watch Past Penny Stamps Episodes

Author Talk | Kwame Alexander on MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
2022-10-17 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
PBS Books, in collaboration with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is pleased to host a conversation New York Times best-selling Kwame Alexander, author of The Door of No Return and An American Story in connection with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s latest documentary MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE, on October 17 at 8pm ET| 5pm PT.
In his latest book, Alexander’s The Door of No Return chronicles the saga of one African Family in verse and is part of a forthcoming trilogy. Soon to be released, An American Story shares a story about African Americans’ struggle and strength, horror and hope. Through the conversation, you’ll learn about his work and process, as well as themes and topics that connect to MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE.
ABOUT THE KWAME ALEXANDER
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, and New York Times Bestselling author of 36 books, including SWING, BECOMING MUHAMMAD ALI, co-authored with James Patterson, REBOUND, which was shortlisted for prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, The Caldecott Medal and Newbery Honor-winning picture book, THE UNDEFEATED, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and his NEWBERY medal-winning middle grade novel, THE CROSSOVER. A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. In 2018, he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy program he co-founded. He is the writer and executive producer of THE CROSSOVER TV series on Disney+. The fall of 2022 will see the release of book one of a new trilogy, THE DOOR OF NO RETURN.
ABOUT MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE is a four-part series that explores Black Americans’ Centuries-Long History of Establishing Communities and Attaining Social, Political and Economic Success in the face of racial segregation; the documentary premieres on PBS stations across the country starting on Tuesday, October 4 at 9pm ET (check your local listing). In this latest series from the acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentarian, Gates and director Stacey L. Holman chronicle the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” During the series, Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders, and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today. MAKING BLACK AMERICA takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.

'Wholeness in the Future' with Andrea Carlson | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Series
2022-10-21 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
Andrea Carlson (Ojibwe) is a visual artist currently living in Chicago, Illinois. Carlson’s expansive practice cites entangled cultural narratives and institutional practices of possession and display. Her studio work includes multi-part paintings and drawings that feature iterative panoramic views of Indigenous futures. Her large-scale site-specific installations layer together imagery and Indigenous languages in an effort to provide visibility for Indigenous peoples within settler cities.
Learn More

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2022 Season
This winter, the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series brings respected leaders and innovators from a broad spectrum of creative fields to Ann Arbor’s historic Michigan Theater for weekly in-person events.
Detroit Public Television and PBS Books, in partnership with the Stamps School, will stream each week’s event Fridays at 8pm.
See the full schedule of events livestreamed by PBS Books here.
Some programs may not be available online, depending on artist requests. Interested in receiving notifications before online videos go live? Sign up to receive a reminder before each event begins streaming.
Watch Past Penny Stamps Episodes
