PBS Books

Assessment of Nixon Pardon | Policy Talks @ The Ford School
2024-09-23 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Policy Talks @ The Ford School
Talk streams on Monday, Sept. 23 at 8:00 PM EDT
Policy Talks @ the Ford School Presents:
September marks the 50th anniversary of President Gerald R. Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon. Over the past five decades, that act has been both vilified and then lionized as a great act of patriotism.
Five decades later, what is the significance of that unique, historical pardon? PBS Books is delighted to share a discussion with four legal experts on the significance of the Nixon pardon, in an appearance recorded at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
The discussion features University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks, Nixon White House Counsel John Dean and University of Baltimore Law School professor Kimberly Wehle.

PBS Books Readers Club - "The Cemetery of Untold Stories" by Julia Alvarez
2024-09-25 20:00 - 21:00
Readers Club HomeEpisodes
Literary icon and great American novelist Julia Alvarez, bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, joins the PBS Books Readers Club to discuss a luminescent novel about storytelling that reads like an instant classic.
Readers will be excited to pair this novel with the September 2024 release of American Masters: Julia Alvarez on PBS, chronicling the life and work of one of the most critically and commercially successful Latina writers of her generation.
Don’t miss the PBS Books Readers Club on September 25 at 8:00 pm (ET) as Julia Alvarez shares her inspiration, writing process, favorite books, and more.
About the Book:
Get the E-BookDONATE NOW and download your e-book copy.

Named a Most Anticipated Book by the New York Times, Washington Post, Today.com, Goodreads, B&N Reads, Literary Hub, HipLatina, BookPage, BBC.com, Zibby Mag, and more
Alma Cruz, the celebrated writer at the heart of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, doesn’t want to end up like her friend, a novelist who fought so long and hard to finish a book that it threatened her sanity. So when Alma inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland, she has the beautiful idea of turning it into a place to bury her untold stories—literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her.
Alma wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas and soon begin to defy their author: they talk back to her and talk to one another behind her back, rewriting and revising themselves. Filomena, a local woman hired as the groundskeeper, becomes a sympathetic listener to the secret tales unspooled by Alma’s characters. Among them, Bienvenida, dictator Rafael Trujillo’s abandoned wife who was erased from the official history, and Manuel Cruz, a doctor who fought in the Dominican underground and escaped to the United States.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried? Finally, Alma finds the meaning she and her characters yearn for in the everlasting vitality of stories. Julia Alvarez reminds us that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end.

Guest Biography:
Julia Alvarez
Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer in residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez.” In the Time of the Butterflies, with over one million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.
Readers Club Hosts:
Heather Marie Montilla
Heather-Marie Montilla, a dynamic integrative leader, is an educator and nonprofit manager. She has worked in the nonprofit sector and libraries for over two decades, making a positive impact in arts, cultural, educational, and community-building arenas.
Having joined the PBS Books team as their Library Bureau Chief in Fall 2018, Montilla is now the National Director of PBS Books and has interviewed more than 150 writers. In addition, she is a faculty member at Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University for their Arts and Cultural/Entertainment Management Programs. Having been an Executive Director for 8 years, Heather has a wide range of experience in management, finance, strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising. Heather holds a MPA From Columbia University, a MLIS from Wayne State University, and a bachelor’s from Duke University. She lives in Chicagoland, and is married with four children, a dog, and a bird.
Princess Weekes
Princess Weekes is an award winning writer and video essayist who works at breaking down the intersections between race, gender, and pop culture. Formally an Assistant Editor at The Mary Sue, co-host of Netflix’s The Geeked Podcast, and co-host and co-writer on the PBS Digital Series It’s Lit. On weekends she works as a bookseller at a local bookstore. When not reading or writing she can be found playing TTRPGs of cuddling with her cat, Lola.
Lauren Smith
Executive Producer and host of national PBS programming at Detroit Public TV, Lauren develops content for PBS and other distributors of public media for broadcast, streaming, and other digital channels and has executive-produced and/or produced over 60 national broadcast and programs. Her passion is to develop inspiring, entertaining, and educational content alongside the best national and international talent, and to engage important content with communities across the country. Lauren loves to read and has worked to develop and produce PBS Books content for nearly ten years!
Fred Nahhat
Fred Nahhat is an Emmy Award-winning producer, host, and presenter for Detroit’s PBS station, where he serves as Sr. VP of Production. A 30-year broadcast veteran, Fred has hosted and produced numerous programs for Public TV – including music specials from Il Volo, Celtic Gold and the New Divas – as well as other series and specials “New Year’s Eve with the DSO”, “The Detroit Dream Cruise,” “The PBS Books Readers Club” and “Get Up, Get Out,” among others.
He is a graduate of Wayne State University and a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Michigan Chapter, USA Hockey, and Leadership Detroit.

Kelly Church - Sustaining Traditions | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-09-27 20:00 - 21:00
Kelly Church is an Ottawa and Pottawatomi artist belonging to the Matchi-be-nash-she-wish tribe in Hopkins, MI. A member of the Gun Lake Band in Michigan and a Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Ojibwe descendent, she comes from an unbroken line of black ash basket makers and from the largest black ash weaving family in the Great Lakes region. Her artistic journey is deeply intertwined with the woodlands and forests of Michigan, where she harvests and works with a variety of natural fibers including black ash, birch bark, cedar bark, spruce roots, and basswood. These materials serve as the foundation for her distinctive woven sculptures, each meticulously crafted and adorned with copper and silver embellishments.
With her relatives’ guidance, Church learned to select the best black ash tree in order to provide the best material to create everything from utilitarian baskets to more conceptual weavings. Each tree she harvests and transforms into a basket tells a story, just as those before her created baskets that told their own stories. She has learned firsthand how the process of weaving a black ash basket is not only about weaving, it is also about biochemistry, forest management, pest control, Indigenous language, family history, and deep, ancient connections to the landscape from which her people originate.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

Mike Ford & Jason Carter to Speak: How DO we Run Fair, Safe Elections? | Policy Talks @ The Ford School
2024-09-30 20:00 - 21:00
Policy Talks @ The Ford School
Policy Talks @ the Ford School Presents:
Join the Ford Presidential Foundation and their partners, The Carter Center, More Perfect, and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at University of Michigan, as they examine the inner workings of the election process as well as expectations for staff conduct around elections. This series has been developed in partnership with Principles for Trusted Elections and More Perfect’s Sustainable Democracy Goals.
Co-chaired by Mike Ford (son of President Ford) and Jason Carter (grandson of President Carter), the Principles for Trusted Elections is an effort to bring awareness to the process insuring fair, safe, and secure elections. More Perfect’s “Five Democracy Goals” were created to support key cornerstones of a sustainable and vigorous democracy.
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Fred Wilson - The Silent Message of the Museum | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-10-04 20:00 - 21:00
Fred Wilson is a conceptual artist whose work investigates museological, cultural, and historical issues, which are largely overlooked or neglected by museums and cultural institutions. Since his groundbreaking exhibition Mining the Museum (1992) at the Maryland Historical Society, Wilson has been the subject of more than 40 solo exhibitions around the globe, including the retrospective Objects and Installations 1979-2000, which was organized by the Center for Art and Visual Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
His work has been exhibited extensively in museums including the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Allen Memorial Museum at Oberlin College, Ohio; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Institute of Jamaica, W.I.; the Museum of World Cultures, Sweden; the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College; the British Museum; and the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His work can be found in several public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Long Museum, Shanghai; the Tate Modern in London; and National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Wilson presented his exhibition Afro Kismet at the 2017 Istanbul Biennial, Turkey, which traveled to London, New York and Los Angeles.
Wilson has served on the Board of Trustees for The American Academy in Rome, Creative Capital, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He recently created a permanent outdoor installation for the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC. In 2021 he was commissioned to create a three-story site- specific installation titled “Mother” in the Delta Terminal at LaGuardia airport, NYC. He represented the U.S. at the Cairo Biennale (1992) and Venice Biennale (2003). His many accolades include the prestigious MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius” Grant (1999); the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (2006); the Ford Foundation’s Art of Change fellowship (2018); Brandeis University’s Creative Arts Award (2019); and the 2024 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

Mystery, Murder & Magic Audiobooks - Booklist Reader
2024-10-09 20:00 - 21:00
Program Description:
To get in the Halloween mood, PBS Books and the American Library Association’s Booklist Reader are teaming up to help you find your next big scare! Public Librarian and National Director Heather-Marie Montilla will speak with audiobook editor Heather Booth to explore the best mystery, magic and horror audiobooks released over last few years. Audiobooks are rapidly growing in popularity. While a majority of audiobook readers are between 25 and 44 years of age, the immersive audiobook experience is attracting people of all ages. Join us to learn about what to look for when selecting an audiobook and get top book recommendations from the experts.
Heather Booth, Audio Editor
Heather Booth, Audio Editor, has been at Booklist since 2018, a librarian since 2002, and has been listening to audiobooks since they came on records that were tucked into paper pockets in her picture books. She is always up for listening to a quirky family story, a twisty mystery, or that book so well crafted it takes your breath away. Heather in on a quest to bake a perfect macaron and enjoys spending time with family, her dogs, and nature.
Mystery, Murder & Magic AudiobooksThe Angel of Indian Lake
The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones
The final installment in the most lauded trilogy in the history of horror novels picks up four years after Don’t Fear the Reaper as Jade returns to Proofrock, Idaho, to build a life after the years of sacrifice—only to find the Lake Witch is waiting for her in New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones’s finale.
It’s been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend Letha and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation, and the town, have changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there’s one aspect of Proofrock no one wants to confront…until Jade comes back to town. The curse of the Lake Witch is waiting, and now is the time for the final stand.
New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones has crafted an epic horror trilogy of generational trauma from the Indigenous to the townies rooted in the mountains of Idaho. It is a story of the American west written in blood.
Never Whistle at Night
Never Whistle at Night edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Featuring stories by:
Norris Black • Amber Blaeser-Wardzala • Phoenix Boudreau • Cherie Dimaline • Carson Faust • Kelli Jo Ford • Kate Hart • Shane Hawk • Brandon Hobson • Darcie Little Badger • Conley Lyons • Nick Medina • Tiffany Morris • Tommy Orange • Mona Susan Power • Marcie R. Rendon • Waubgeshig Rice • Rebecca Roanhorse • Andrea L. Rogers • Morgan Talty • D.H. Trujillo • Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. • Richard Van Camp • David Heska Wanbli Weiden • Royce K. Young Wolf • Mathilda Zeller
Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.
These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.
The Reformatory
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt
A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.
Gracetown, Florida
June 1950
Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan, Read by Soneela Nankani
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for eclectic misfits, seeking solely to disappear into the mansion’s dark corridors. Except for Sana. Unlike the others, she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion: To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the door at its end, locked for decades.
Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a besotted, grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil. Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.
Gaslight
Gaslight by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte and Sara Shepard, Read by Julia Atwood

Miles Joris-Peyrafitte (Sundance Award-winning filmmaker and star-studded podcast creator) and bestselling author Sara Shepard (the Pretty Little Liars series) have teamed up to write a timely, tense, compelling thriller that stands out for its exploration of the inner workings of cults, the susceptibility of young minds, and the fragility of friendship and marriage. Joris-Peyrafitte’s unique storytelling style, combined with Shepard’s knack for secrets and twists, makes Gaslight a compelling read for fans far beyond its namesake podcast. Rebecca is leading a tranquil life with her husband Tom and their two young children, believing her past is firmly behind her, until an old friend unexpectedly appears on her doorstep to shatter the idyll. The visitor, Danny, is a ghastly reminder of a charismatic leader-centered cult and all the secrets—including those relating to abuse—Rebecca is keeping from Tom. Established narrator Atwood’s storytelling flows seamlessly, even when revisiting past events to provide context. The tone and pacing are spot-on, with empathy and compassion evident in Atwood’s voice; the audio version of this novel will resonate and appeal to podcast fans. This book is a must-read for fans of cult stories, thrillers, complex characters, or even friendships turned sour (think Pretty Little Liars). Shepard’s unique perspective shines through; her mastery of secrets and twists evident on every page.

Fortune: A Novel
Fortune: A Novel by Ellen Won Steil
One drop of blood for a chance at a multimillion-dollar windfall. Is it a philanthropic gesture from a billionaire widow? Some suspect a darker motive behind the DNA lottery―one tied to the eighteen-year-old mystery of an infant’s unidentified remains that mars the history of idyllic Rosemary Hills, Iowa. Right after the blood lottery is announced, three local women fall under suspicion of knowing something about that night, and their carefully kept secrets threaten to spill out too.
Cleo is a divorced single mom forced to return to her hometown and accept a strange job reading to an invalid recluse; Jemma is a controversial state senator whose reelection campaign and teenage daughter have her on edge; and Alex, a divorce attorney, copes with a crumbling marriage of her own and the suffocating presence of a cold, overbearing mother.
Soon, unimaginable revelations of the past will collide with the present―and not just for Cleo, Jemma, and Alex. In this seemingly ordinary community, they aren’t the only ones with long-buried secrets.
Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook, Read by Genevieve Gaunt
Twenty-year-old Constance Horton has run away from her life in Victorian London, disguising herself as a boy to board the Makepeace, an expedition vessel bound for the icy and unexplored Northwest Passage of the Arctic. She struggles to keep her real identity a secret on the ship, a feat that only grows more difficult when facing the constant dangers of the icy North.
Even more dangerous than the cold, the storms, and the hunger, are some of the men aboard—including the ship’s scientist Edison Stowe. He’s watching Constance, and she knows that his attention could be fatal.
In London two years later: Maude Horton is searching for the truth. After being told by the British Admiralty that her sister’s death onboard the Makepeace was nothing more than a tragic accident, she receives a diary revealing that Edison Stowe had more of a hand in Constance’s death than the returning crew acknowledged.
In order to get the answers she needs, Maude shadows Edison. She joins him on a new venture he’s started to capitalize on the murder mania that has all of London in a frenzy—a travel company that takes guests around the country via train to witness public hangings—to extract the truth from him in any way possible.
No One Goes Alone
No One Goes Alone by Erik Larson
From New York Times bestselling author Erik Larson comes his first venture into fiction, an otherworldly tale of intrigue and the impossible that marshals his trademark approach to nonfiction to create something new: a ghost story thoroughly grounded in history.
Pioneering psychologist William James leads an expedition to a remote isle in search of answers after a family inexplicably vanishes. Was the cause rooted in the physical world . . . or were there forces more paranormal and sinister at work? Available only on audio, because as Larson says, ghost stories are best told aloud.
A group of researchers sets sail for the Isle of Dorn in the North Atlantic in 1905 to explore the cause of several mysterious disappearances, most notably a family of four who vanished without a trace after a week-long holiday on the island. Led by Professor James, a prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research, they begin to explore the island’s sole cottage and surrounding landscape in search of a logical explanation.

Pablo Helguera, Jenna Bednar, Philippa Hughes & Lexa Walsh - Radical Conversations | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-10-18 20:00 - 21:00
In a time of profound division, embracing diverse perspectives becomes a catalyst for meaningful change. How do we transcend boundaries to cultivate an environment committed to fostering honest, caring, and courageous conversations? How are artists responding to these questions through their work? Guided by the framing of U-M Professor Jenna Bednar, artists Pablo Helguera, Philippa Hughes, and Lexa Walsh will delve into the transition from transactional to relational public policy, nurturing our societal fabric with pillars of community, sustainability, dignity, and beyond. Together, they will reflect on the essence of American identity and envision pathways to a flourishing society.
Jenna Bednar is a political scientist whose work explores themes of civic engagement, institutional design, and the interplay between individual agency and systemic structures. Her research is on the analysis of institutions, focusing on the theoretical underpinnings of the stability of federal states. Bednar is the faculty director of UMICH Votes and Democratic Engagement, a non-partisan campus coalition whose mission is to improve the accessibility of voting, foster the confidence necessary to navigate the voting process successfully, and help students understand why their votes matter.
Pablo Helguera, a Mexico City-born artist now based in New York, explores a wide array of mediums including installation, sculpture, photography, drawing, and performance, often intertwining themes of history, pedagogy, sociolinguistics, ethnography, memory, and the absurd. His work spans from lectures and museum installations to musical performances and written fiction. Notably, his project “The School of Panamerican Unrest” exemplifies his blend of art and education, involving a 20,000-mile journey from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Helguera has exhibited and performed globally, from the Museum of Modern Art to the Museo de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, and has been recognized with a Guggenheim fellowship and grants from institutions like Creative Capital and Art Matters. He is author of several books and writes a regular column titled “Beautiful Eccentrics.”
Philippa Hughes’ artistic endeavors celebrate human connection and dialogue, creating spaces that encourage diverse communities to engage in transformative experiences. Her installations, events, and curated environments foster environments where honesty, empathy, and courage can flourish. Hughes draws inspiration from everyday interactions and collective storytelling. By challenging boundaries and amplifying marginalized voices, her work provokes thought, sparks dialogue, and inspires action towards a more inclusive and compassionate society. She is currently Visiting Artist For Art & Civic Engagement at UMMA presenting the exhibition and social engagement platform “Hey, We Need To Talk!”.
Lexa Walsh uses her background in both sculpture and social practice to make site specific projects, exhibitions, publications and objects, using an array of materials and employing social engagement, institutional critique, and radical hospitality. She creates platforms for interaction across hierarchies, representing multiple voices and inventing new ways of belonging. Walsh has exhibited and performed internationally for over 25 years at institutions large and small, and in public spaces.
Learn More>>
Presented in Partnership with UMMA as part of VOTE2024 and the Creative Campus Voting Project through UMICH Votes
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

John Collins & Scott Shepherd with Tom Sellar - Elevator Repair Service | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-10-25 20:00 - 21:00
James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. Building on a rich history of staging modernist works—Gatz, The Sound and the Fury, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)—Elevator Repair Service (ERS) takes on this Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature.
Elevator Repair Service (ERS) is a New York City–based company that creates original works for live theater with an ongoing ensemble. The company’s shows are created from a wide range of texts that include found transcripts of trials and debates, literature, classical dramas, and new plays. Founded in 1991, ERS has created an extensive body of work that includes upwards of 20 original pieces. These have earned the company a loyal following and made it one of New York’s most highly acclaimed experimental theater companies. The company is best known for Gatz, its award-winning verbatim staging of the entire text of The Great Gatsby. ERS has received numerous awards and distinctions, including Lortel awards, a Bessie award, and an OBIE award for Sustained Excellence, as well as a Guggengheim Fellowship and Doris Duke Performing Artist Award for Artistic Director John Collins.
For their Penny Stamps event, Elevator Repair Service’s John Collins and Scott Shepherd will discuss the founding of ERS, the arc of its work, the importance of literature as a cultural influence, and their upcoming performance, Ulysses, which will be staged as part of the University Musical Society’s 2024-25 season.
John Collins (Director) founded Elevator Repair Service in 1991. Since then he has directed or co-directed all of the company’s productions while also serving as the company’s Artistic Director. ERS productions directed by Collins include Cab Legs, Room Tone, Gatz, The Select (The Sun Also Rises), The Sound and the Fury, Arguendo, Measure for Measure, and numerous others. The company’s work, under his direction, has been seen in over a dozen countries as well as in cities across the U.S. John is an experienced sound designer and has worked for The Wooster Group, Richard Foreman, Target Margin Theater, and others. Recent projects include Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, and a new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a United States Artists Fellowship, and a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.
Scott Shepherd (Performer, Co-Director, Dramaturg) has been a member of ERS since 1994, when he played a drunk passed out on a radiator in McGurk: A Cautionary Tale. Other ERS appearances include Measure for Measure; Gatz (Obie Award); No Great Society; Total Fictional Lie; Cab Legs; and Shut Up I Tell You. He has worked with The Wooster Group since 1997, playing Hamlet in Hamlet and other roles in The Town Hall Affair; Vieux Carré; Poor Theater (Obie Award); To You, The Birdie!; Brace Up!; and others. His screen credits include Killers of the Flower Moon, The Last of Us, First Cow, El Camino, True Detective, The Young Pope, and Bridge of Spies.
This event will be an interview conducted by Tom Sellar, a writer, editor, dramaturg and curator, editor of Yale’s international journal Theater, and professor in the Practice of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale. Sellar’s arts writing and criticism has appeared in national publications including Artforum, BOMB, the New York Times, the Guardian, 4Columns, TheatreForum, and American Theatre.
Elevator Repair Service will perform Ulysses at the Power Center on October 19th at 7:30 p.m. and October 20th at 2:00 p.m.. For more information and to order tickets, visit UMS.org.
Learn More>>
Presented in partnership with University Musical Society.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

One Nation, Divergent Views: A Pre-Election Roundtable
2024-10-28 20:00 - 21:00
Program Description:
In the run-up to the presidential election, hear from special guests Bret Stephens and Lydia Polgreen of The New York Times, María Elena Salinas of ABC News and Vincent Hutchings of U-M Center for Political Studies, in conversation with “American Black Journal” host Stephen Henderson, as they provide insights on critical issues shaping the 2024 election and social science research on the American voting public.
PBS Books partners with the University of Michigan Wallace House Center for Journalists and the Institute for Social Research on this special event, at the intersection of journalism and social science.
Drawing on findings from the 75-year-long American National Election Studies, the discussion will explore the dramatic rise of political polarization, the significant decline in public trust in government and other key factors influencing voter behavior.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear diverse perspectives on the forces shaping the upcoming election. It’s part of the University of Michigan’s Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement initiative.

PBS Books Readers Club – “The Marlow Murder Club” by Robert Thorogood
2024-10-30 20:00 - 21:00
Readers Club HomeEpisodesEpisode Description:
Author, screenwriter, and producer Robert Thorogood joins the PBS Books Readers Club to discuss the murder-mystery book The Marlow Murder Club, soon to be a Masterpiece drama series on PBS
To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…
The Marlow Murder Club follows the adventures of unlikely amateur sleuth Judith Potts, a crossword puzzle setter living happily on her own in the quaint town of Marlow.
Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.
One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club. When another body turns up, they realize they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…
Readers will be excited to pair this novel with the October 27, 2024 Masterpiece premiere of The Marlow Murder Club on PBS. The thrilling, four-part series stars Samantha Bond (Downton Abby) as Judith Potts, who is joined by Jo Martin, Cara Horgan and Natalie Dew as Suzie, Becks, and DS Tanika Malik. The Marlow Murder Club series airs Sundays on PBS beginning October 27, 2024, with the full season available in PBS Passport on October 27, 2024.
Author and writer Robert Thorogood said: “After over a decade of working on Death in Paradise, I’m thrilled to be creating a brand-new murder mystery series for TV. I can’t wait for audiences to join Judith, Becks and Suzie on their adventures as they solve a series of fiendishly puzzling murders.”
About the Book:
Get the E-BookDONATE NOW and download your e-book copy.

To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…
Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.
One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.
Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.
When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…

Guest Biography:
Robert Thorogood
Robert Thorogood is an author, screenwriter, producer, and the creator of the hit BBC One TV series Death In Paradise. He was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1972. When he was 10-years old, he read his first proper novel – Agatha Christie’s Peril at End House – and he’s been in love with the genre ever since. He now lives in Marlow in Buckinghamshire with his wife and children.
Readers Club Hosts:
Heather Marie Montilla
Heather-Marie Montilla, a dynamic integrative leader, is an educator and nonprofit manager. She has worked in the nonprofit sector and libraries for over two decades, making a positive impact in arts, cultural, educational, and community-building arenas.
Having joined the PBS Books team as their Library Bureau Chief in Fall 2018, Montilla is now the National Director of PBS Books and has interviewed more than 150 writers. In addition, she is a faculty member at Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University for their Arts and Cultural/Entertainment Management Programs. Having been an Executive Director for 8 years, Heather has a wide range of experience in management, finance, strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising. Heather holds a MPA From Columbia University, a MLIS from Wayne State University, and a bachelor’s from Duke University. She lives in Chicagoland, and is married with four children, a dog, and a bird.
Princess Weekes
Princess Weekes is an award winning writer and video essayist who works at breaking down the intersections between race, gender, and pop culture. Formally an Assistant Editor at The Mary Sue, co-host of Netflix’s The Geeked Podcast, and co-host and co-writer on the PBS Digital Series It’s Lit. On weekends she works as a bookseller at a local bookstore. When not reading or writing she can be found playing TTRPGs of cuddling with her cat, Lola.
Lauren Smith
Executive Producer and host of national PBS programming at Detroit Public TV, Lauren develops content for PBS and other distributors of public media for broadcast, streaming, and other digital channels and has executive-produced and/or produced over 60 national broadcast and programs. Her passion is to develop inspiring, entertaining, and educational content alongside the best national and international talent, and to engage important content with communities across the country. Lauren loves to read and has worked to develop and produce PBS Books content for nearly ten years!
Fred Nahhat
Fred Nahhat is an Emmy Award-winning producer, host, and presenter for Detroit’s PBS station, where he serves as Sr. VP of Production. A 30-year broadcast veteran, Fred has hosted and produced numerous programs for Public TV – including music specials from Il Volo, Celtic Gold and the New Divas – as well as other series and specials “New Year’s Eve with the DSO”, “The Detroit Dream Cruise,” “The PBS Books Readers Club” and “Get Up, Get Out,” among others.
He is a graduate of Wayne State University and a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Michigan Chapter, USA Hockey, and Leadership Detroit.

Irma Boom - Boom Books | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-11-01 08:00 - 17:00
Irma Boom, commonly referred to as the “Queen of Books,” is a book maker based in Amsterdam. She redefines the boundaries of book design with her bold, experimental approach. Educated in fine art and graphic design at AKI Art Academy, Boom began her career at the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office before founding Irma Boom Office in 1991. With a portfolio of over 500 books, she seamlessly blends design and editorial work, challenging traditional conventions in both physical form and printed content. Notable among her projects is the 2136-page SHV Thing Book, a monumental work published in English and Chinese.
Boom makes use of various fabrication processes in her printed material such as embossing and die cuts. In her commissioned book for Chanel, Boom printed an entire 300 page book devoid of ink, using instead embossed text and image to create a semi-invisible narrative of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. Scent is another unusual feature Boom has utilized in her book design. Her conceptual book design for The Road Not Taken has 718 pages printed using ink mixed with a base of beef bouillon. Coffee filter paper is another material choice she has used.
Boom’s innovative designs have earned her numerous accolades, including the prestigious Gutenberg Prize, making her the youngest ever laureate. Her works are part of permanent collections at institutions such as MoMA in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Her complete oeuvre and archive are preserved in the Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam, known as the living Archive. In 2014 Boom received the Johannes Vermeer Award (the Dutch state prize for the arts) from the Minister of Education, Culture and Science. The jury unanimously awarded Boom for her unparalleled achievements in the field of graphic design. Boom is an honorary Doctor of the Royal College of Art in London for her inexhaustible contribution to the book.
Presented in partnership with Design Core Detroit and the UM Library.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

Filmmaker Talk with Sarah Burns - Leonardo
2024-11-06 20:00 - 21:00
Program Descripton:
LEONARDO da VINCI, a new, two-part, four-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon premieres on Nov. 18 and 19, between 8-10 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App. The film explores the life and work of the 15th century polymath Leonardo da Vinci and looks at how the artist influenced and inspired future generations. The film finds in da Vinci’s soaring imagination and profound intellect the foundation for a conversation we are still having today: what is our relationship with nature and what does it mean to be human.
Set against the rich and dynamic backdrop of Renaissance Italy at a time of skepticism and freethinking, regional war and religious upheaval, LEONARDO da VINCI brings the artist’s towering achievements to life through his prolific notebooks, primary and secondary accounts of his life, and on-camera interviews with modern scholars, artists, engineers, inventors, and admirers.
Booklists:
Fiction
Nonfiction
Youth

Emil Ferris - If Your Favorite Thing is Monsters | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-11-08 20:00 - 21:00
Emil Ferris, acclaimed for her graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, blends visual art with storytelling to create impactful works. Overcoming the West Nile Virus, which left her partially paralyzed, Ferris demonstrates remarkable resilience and dedication in her intricate cross-hatching and emotionally charged illustrations.
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters intertwines a coming-of-age story with a murder mystery and a historical reflection on the Holocaust. Through young Karen Reyes, Ferris delves into themes of identity, fear, and the complexities of humanity. Her art, inspired by horror magazines and pulp fiction, juxtaposes the grotesque and the beautiful, fostering empathy and understanding.
Ferris challenges the boundaries of graphic literature, using the medium to address complex social issues and personal histories. Her work confronts internal and external monsters, revealing profound truths about the human experience. By pushing the limits of graphic novels, Ferris elevates the form to explore deeper narratives and emotional landscapes, inviting readers into a world where art and story are inseparable.
Ferris’s contributions extend beyond her graphic novels. In April 2022, Ferris was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA’s benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
My Favorite Thing is Monsters has been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Korean. It has been honored with numerous awards, among them: The Lambda Literary Award, multiple Eisners, the Ignatz, and the Fauve d’or at the Angouleme Festival, France.
Ferris has exhibited her art extensively in the US and Europe, and prior to the pandemic she was honored to teach classes at the Louvre.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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 with Ned Blackhawk - The Rediscovery of America
2024-11-13 20:00 - 21:00
Commemorating Native American Heritage Month, it is a time to celebrate the traditions, languages and stories of Native American communities and ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive. This month and every month, we aim to celebrate the culture and heritage of these remarkable Americans who deeply enrich the quality and character of our Nation. Join PBS Books for a conversation with National Director Heather-Marie Montilla and esteemed scholar Ned Blackhawk, National Book Award winning author of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. Blackhawk’s retelling of U.S. history acknowledges the enduring power, agency, and survival of Indigenous peoples, yielding a truer account of the United States and revealing anew the varied meanings of America. Don’t miss the opportunity to gain insights about this historically transformative book from the author.
ABOUT THE BOOK: The Rediscovery of America
This astonishing book is a sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America, exploring the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non‑Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century. In this transformative synthesis he shows that:

European colonization in the 1600s was never a predetermined success;
Native nations helped shape England’s crisis of empire;
The first shots of the American Revolution were prompted by Indian affairs in the interior;
California Indians targeted by federally funded militias were among the first casualties of the Civil War;
The Union victory forever recalibrated Native communities across the West;
Twentieth-century reservation activists refashioned American law and policy.

Guadalupe Maravilla - Sound As Medicine | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-11-15 20:00 - 21:00
Combining sculpture, painting, performative acts, and installation, Guadalupe Maravilla grounds his transdisciplinary practice in activism and healing. Engaging a wide variety of visual cultures, Maravilla’s work is autobiographical, referencing his unaccompanied, undocumented migration to the United States due to the Salvadoran Civil War. Across all media, Maravilla explores how the systemic abuse of immigrants physically manifests in the body, reflecting on his own battle with cancer.
Maravilla is also a teacher and mutual-aid organizer; his work extends beyond his sculptural practice to consider forms of community-based healing and regeneration. He frequently activates his artistic objects through performances and sound baths – a meditative experience where participants are “bathed” in sound frequencies meant to encourage therapeutic and restorative healing.
Maravilla’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway; and the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, among others. He has received numerous awards and fellowships including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, 2019; Soros Fellowship: Art Migration and Public Space, 2019; MAP Fund Grant, 2019; Franklin Furnace Fund, 2018; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship, 2018; Art Matters Fellowship, 2017; Creative Capital Grant, 2016; Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist Grant, 2016; and The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Award 2003. He has presented solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO; Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway; Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, NY; P·P·O·W, New York, NY; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, among others.
Maravilla’s work is currently included in the 12th Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art: forms of the surrounding futures, Gothenburg, Sweden and the 35th Bienal De São Paulo: choreographies of the impossible, São Paulo, Brazil.
Presented in Partnership with UMMA
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

PBS Books Readers Club – Leonardo da Vinci with Walter Isaacson and Sarah Burns
2024-11-20 20:00 - 21:00
Readers Club HomeEpisodes
Episode Description:
The PBS Books Readers Club Welcomes Renown Historian Walter Isaacson and Guest Sarah Burns, Co-Director/Writer of the new Ken Burns film, LEONARDO da VINCI debuting November on PBS.
He was history’s most creative genius. What secrets can he teach us?
Bestselling author and Professor Walter Isaacson (STEVE JOBS, EINSTEIN, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN) brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this enthralling, comprehensive masterwork that conveys how this Renaissance man unified science and art.
Drawing on thousands of pages from Leonardo’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his work, Isaacson delves into the many facets of the artist’s life and brilliantly captures its essence. A true visionary, and creative across numerous disciplines, Isaacson shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy.
Join the PBS Books Readers Club on November 20 at 8:00 pm (ET) as Walter Issacson shares his vision behind this powerful biography and reveals in the novel how his extensive research into this most famous portraitist changed him. “I did learn from Leonardo how a desire to marvel about the world that we encounter each day can make each moment of our lives richer,” reflects Issacson.
The conversation continues from novel to screen, as filmmaker Sarah Burns joins the PBS Books Readers Club to discuss LEONARDO da VINCI a new two-part, four-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon that will air Nov. 18 and 19, at 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App.
Don’t miss the PBS Books Readers Club on November 20 at 8:00 pm (ET) for an intimate portrait of the multifaceted Leonardo da Vinci with award-winning filmmaker Sarah Burns, and esteemed biographer Walter Isaacson.
About the Book:
Get the E-BookDONATE NOW and download your e-book copy.

The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it…Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life” (The New Yorker).
Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson “deftly reveals an intimate Leonardo” (San Francisco Chronicle) in a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy.
He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history’s most creative genius.
In the “luminous” (Daily Beast) Leonardo da Vinci, Isaacson describes how Leonardo’s delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a misfit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical. His life should remind us of the importance to be imaginative and, like talented rebels in any era, to think different. Here, da Vinci “comes to life in all his remarkable brilliance and oddity in Walter Isaacson’s ambitious new biography…a vigorous, insightful portrait” (The Washington Post).

Guest Biograpies:
Walter Isaacson
Information coming soon..
Sarah Burns
Information coming soon..
Readers Club Hosts:
Heather Marie Montilla
Heather-Marie Montilla, a dynamic integrative leader, is an educator and nonprofit manager. She has worked in the nonprofit sector and libraries for over two decades, making a positive impact in arts, cultural, educational, and community-building arenas.
Having joined the PBS Books team as their Library Bureau Chief in Fall 2018, Montilla is now the National Director of PBS Books and has interviewed more than 150 writers. In addition, she is a faculty member at Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University for their Arts and Cultural/Entertainment Management Programs. Having been an Executive Director for 8 years, Heather has a wide range of experience in management, finance, strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising. Heather holds a MPA From Columbia University, a MLIS from Wayne State University, and a bachelor’s from Duke University. She lives in Chicagoland, and is married with four children, a dog, and a bird.
Princess Weekes
Princess Weekes is an award winning writer and video essayist who works at breaking down the intersections between race, gender, and pop culture. Formally an Assistant Editor at The Mary Sue, co-host of Netflix’s The Geeked Podcast, and co-host and co-writer on the PBS Digital Series It’s Lit. On weekends she works as a bookseller at a local bookstore. When not reading or writing she can be found playing TTRPGs of cuddling with her cat, Lola.
Lauren Smith
Executive Producer and host of national PBS programming at Detroit Public TV, Lauren develops content for PBS and other distributors of public media for broadcast, streaming, and other digital channels and has executive-produced and/or produced over 60 national broadcast and programs. Her passion is to develop inspiring, entertaining, and educational content alongside the best national and international talent, and to engage important content with communities across the country. Lauren loves to read and has worked to develop and produce PBS Books content for nearly ten years!
Fred Nahhat
Fred Nahhat is an Emmy Award-winning producer, host, and presenter for Detroit’s PBS station, where he serves as Sr. VP of Production. A 30-year broadcast veteran, Fred has hosted and produced numerous programs for Public TV – including music specials from Il Volo, Celtic Gold and the New Divas – as well as other series and specials “New Year’s Eve with the DSO”, “The Detroit Dream Cruise,” “The PBS Books Readers Club” and “Get Up, Get Out,” among others.
He is a graduate of Wayne State University and a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Michigan Chapter, USA Hockey, and Leadership Detroit.

Fernando Laposse - Design for Rural Reality | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-11-22 20:00 - 21:00
Fernando Laposse specializes in transforming humble natural materials into refined design pieces. He has worked extensively with overlooked plant fibers such as sisal, loofah, and corn leaves. Laposse’s works are the result of extensive research which culminates in objects of “endemic design” where materials and their historical and cultural ties to a particular location and its people take center stage. He often works with indigenous communities in his native Mexico to create local employment opportunities and raise awareness about the challenges they face in a globalized world.
Laposse’s projects are informative and educational and touch on topics such as sustainability, the loss of biodiversity, community dissolution, migration, and the negative impacts of global trade in local agriculture and food culture. He does so by documenting the issues and announcing possible resolutions through the transformative power of design.
Laposse’s projects have been exhibited in the Triennale di Milano, the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, The Design Museum in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the World Economic Forum, among others. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Design Museum Gent, Le centre national des arts plastiques, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Laposse studied at Central Saint Martins in London as a product designer and currently lives and works in Mexico City.
Presented in partnership with Design Core Detroit
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

Nayland Blake - Tear Down Our Walls | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-11-29 20:00 - 21:00
Tear down our walls: the creative drive and reimagining ourselves. Nayland Blake shares their history as an artist, curator and educator in a talk about how crucial the creative process is in imagining new possibilities for us as individuals and communities.
Since the late 1980s, Nayland Blake has constructed an influential body of work exploring play, eroticism, and the subjective experiences of desire, power, and loss. Inspired by feminist theory and queer subcultures, Blake addresses the contradictions of representation in sculptures, drawings, performances, and videos, particularly as it relates to their own identity as a nonbinary multiracial artist.
Nayland Blake is an interdisciplinary artist living in New York. Their work has been shown extensively and was included in the 1991 Whitney Biennial, the 1993 Venice Biennale, and the landmark exhibition “Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art” at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1994. In 2003, a retrospective of their video work was organized by the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Surveys of their work have been organized by Location One in New York and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. “Nayland Blake: No Wrong Holes,” a full-scale retrospective organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles opened in 2019 before traveling to the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the following year.
Nayland Blake is part of Gender Euphoria, a semester-long explosion of queer artists and art-making. These performances, exhibitions, conversations, and provocations explore how to make art and find queer joy in a state of emergency.
“Teach it – Promote it – Create it – you are responsible for the continuation of the culture you love. Keep it alive through your actions.” – Nayland Blake
Presented in partnership with Gender Euphoria.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

Ty Jeffries - Miss Hope Springs | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2024-12-05 20:00 - 21:00
Ty Jeffries is a prolific composer, lyricist, pianist, singer, and character comedian, whose critically acclaimed works are influenced by the combination of his classical training and his love of both the golden age of Hollywood and the Great American and British Songbooks. He is the son of the late British character actor, screenwriter, and director Lionel Jeffries, who is famous for starring in Camelot and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Jeffries is best known for his onstage persona of Miss Hope Springs, a blonde ex-Vegas showgirl alter-ego who plays the piano and sings cabaret songs. Jeffries plays Springs as a tragicomic “recovering showgirl” looking back on her life and career. The character is inspired partly by memories of fading Hollywood icons visiting his childhood home, as well as memories of old black-and-white films he and his father watched together.
Jeffries won Best Cabaret Brighton Fringe in 2011 and was invited to open the new cabaret room The Crazy Coqs in London, where Miss Hope Springs Sunday Soirées became an institution. Jeffries went on to be resident at The Matcham Room in the Hippodrome Casino (better known as The Talk of the Town where Judy Garland once played), and headlined at the Rah Rah Room in the old Pigalle Nightclub.
In 2016, Jeffries toured the United States with Miss Hope Springs, performing shows in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and New Hope, Pennsylvania, with an appearance at Lincoln Centre. In 2019, Jeffries won Broadway World Awards “Best Cabaret” at Edinburgh Fringe Festival for his show It’s Miss Hope Springs. In 2021, his solo recorded concert at Wigmore Hall for the iconic Pride 2021 celebration was praised by NYC Bistro Awards. In 2022, Miss Hope Springs celebrated 10 years of residency at Crazy Coqs with a sold out rave review week of shows, with the residency continuing into 2023.
—
With support from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.
Learn More>>

The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

Our Favorite Books of the Year
2024-12-11 20:00 - 21:00
Join hosts Lauren, Fred, Princess and Heather as they reminisce the exciting first season of the PBS Books Readers Club! They’ll highlight the most incredible author moments and fascinating reads from the series this year that were heartfelt, funny, and inspiring! Plus, hosts dish out their favorite book picks for 2024 — providing readers with an ultimate gift guide for the holiday season!
This year’s book picks explored an array of genres, from historical fiction (Geraldine Brooks, Horse), suspense (Tana French, The Hunter), American history and religion (Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song), biography (Walter Isaacson, Leonardo da Vinci), family drama (Rachel Khong, Real Americans), and modern classics (Percival Everett, James).
More than a book club, the monthly episodes complement the PBS mission to educate, inspire, entertain and express a diversity of perspectives—often pairing author conversations that align with beloved PBS shows, including Masterpiece® dramas (Robert Thorogood, The Marlow Murder Club), American Masters profiles (Julia Alvarez, The Cemetery of Untold Stories), and exciting series, like The Great American Recipe which harmonized with Olivia Ford’s baking-driven coming-of-old-age novel, Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame.
Don’t miss the season finale of the PBS Books Readers Club on December 11 at 8 PM (ET) to celebrate the writers and creatives works explored this year, and reminisce the most heartfelt, funny, and inspiring author moments—plus get a jump-start on holiday gifting ideas for the book lover on your list, as hosts share their top reads of 2024!

Author Talk | David Brooks
2024-12-16 20:00 - 21:00
Episode Description:
Best-selling author, New York Times columnist and PBS NewsHour correspondent, David Brooks talks about his latest book, “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.” In this conversation with PBS Books contributor, Zoe Clark, he offers a personal, practical guide for how each of us can deal with what he calls the nation’s loneliness epidemic, how to relate to the people we meet, how to practice aggressive friendliness, and why your hometown is a better place to look for happiness than politics. It’s a book for the soul and for our times.
About the Book:
As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.”
And yet we humans don’t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person’s story should you pay attention to?
Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and his determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and from the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.
The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them, and in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How to Know a Person is for anyone searching for connection, and yearning to be understood.
Guest Biography:
David Brooks
David Brooks is one of the nation’s leading writers and commentators. He is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, a writer for The Atlantic, and appears regularly on PBS Newshour. He is the bestselling author of The Second Mountain, The Road to Character, The Social Animal, Bobos in Paradise, and On Paradise Drive.
About the Host:
Zoe Clarke
Interim General Manager and Political Director at Michigan Radio, NPR & Co-host, It’s Just Politics, One Detroit Contributor

2025 Carnegie Medal Finalist Preview
2024-12-18 20:00 - 21:00
Tune in Wednesday, DEC 18 at 8 pm ET | 5 pm PT as PBS Books and Booklist Reader highlight the six 2025 Finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Awards.
Fiction Finalist:

Cinema Love, by Jiaming Tang
James, by Percival Everett
Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar

Nonfiction Finalist:

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, by Adam Higginbotham
Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV, by Emily Nussbaum
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, by Kevin Fedarko

The two medal winners will be announced at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards livestreaming event, on Sunday, January 26. A celebratory event, including presentations by the winners and a featured speaker, will take place in June 2025 at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Philadelphia.
#ALA_Carnegie hashtag!

Filmmaker Talk with Zach OHora - Carl the Collector
2025-01-15 20:00 - 21:00
Join PBS Books as we meet the newest member of the PBS Kids Family Carl the Collector and all his friends with show creator, author and illustrator Zach OHora. This new series, which premiered last fall, is the first PBS Kids program to center on a neurodiverse character. Learn more about Carl and all his adventures while celebrating the diverse way kids think and express themselves.

About the Author
Zachariah OHora
Illustrator, Author & Creator “Carl the Collector”
New York Times best-selling illustrator and author Zachariah OHora is creator and executive producer of “Carl the Collector,” which is produced by his Fuzzytown Productions along with Spiffy Pictures.
The series, PBS KIDS’ first to center on a neurodiverse character, follows the everyday adventures of Carl, a warm-hearted autistic raccoon who loves collecting things. The series celebrates the diverse ways kids think and express themselves while helping them develop a strong sense of self and community.
OHora’s award-winning books include My Cousin Momo!, Niblet & Ralph, The Not So Quiet Library and Fuzzy (Inside & Out).
OHora also created the Rivian Gear Guard avatar featured in all the cutting-edge electric vehicle company’s security systems.
OHora resides in Narberth, Pennsylvania with his wife and two kids.

More from the Author:
Twenty-five years in the Big House and A. Wolf is still sticking to his story: he was framed! As for that huffing and puffing stuff? A big lie. A. Wolf was just trying to borrow a cup of sugar to make his poor old granny a birthday cake.
Who should you believe, the pigs or the wolf? You read. You decide.
A quarter-century after publication, with over two million copies sold, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs remains as funny and irreverent as the inventive minds of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. Viking is celebrating this landmark anniversary with a handsome gift edition, featuring a stunning new jacket with lots of silver. And there’s a surprise inside as well!
A captivating informational picture book about Paul Horn, a musician who communicated with orcas through the power of music. For fans of Shark Lady and Margaret and the Moon.
Unbelievable but true, this is the story of two whales, two Pauls and two boys.
The whales are Haida and Chimo, captive orcas who lived in an aquarium called Sealand of the Pacific in the 1970s.
The Pauls are Paul Horn, a professional flute musician, and Dr. Paul Spong, a scientist studying the orcas in order to learn more about these mystifying creatures.
And the boys are Marlen and Robin, Paul Horn’s sons, who are fascinated with the orcas despite their father’s fear of the giant whales.
What follows is the spellbinding story of how the Pauls, through the power of music, learn to communicate with the orcas — and set into motion an entire anti-captivity movement dedicated to protecting these intelligent and majestic animals.
Zachariah OHora’s distinctive retro art and kid-friendly humor take the stage in this story about accepting and celebrating differences.
Momo is coming to visit, and his cousins are SO excited! But even though Momo is a flying squirrel, he won’t fly for his cousin’s friends. Plus, his games are weird. He can’t even play hide and seek right! But when Momo’s cousins give his strange ways a chance, they realize that doing things differently can be fun…almost as much fun as making a new friend.

Restless Dissatisfaction: An Urgent Call for the Pursuit of Justice and Equality
2025-01-20 09:30 - 11:00
Famed actress, activist and filmmaker, Erika Alexander presents the keynote lecture at the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium at the University of Michigan, which PBS Books will be livestreaming on Jan. 20.
Alexander is an actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer, director and one of the country’s boldest, most daring, and powerful voices. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Maxine Shaw in “Living Single,” Detective Latoya in “GET OUT,” Cousin Pam in “The Cosby Show,” and recently Coraline in the hit movie, “American Fiction.
Recognizing the power of storytelling, Alexander believes that although content must be entertaining, stories have tremendous capacity to create impact and meaningful social change. As co-founder of Color Farm Media, she is on a mission to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to both media and electoral politics.
A critical thought leader on racial and gender equity and leadership, she serves as a board member for One Fair Wage and is highly involved with social and racial justice organizations including The Poor People’s Campaign, Color of Change, NAACP, UNCF, among others.
This special PBS Books presentation is offered in conjunction with the University of Michigan Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives.
Learn more at https://oami.umich.edu/mlk-symposium/
Erika Alexander
Actress, Activist, Entrepreneur, Creator, Producer and Director
Erika Alexander is an actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer, director and one of the country’s boldest, most daring, and powerful voices. Recognizing the power of storytelling, Erika believes that though content must be entertaining, stories have tremendous capacity
to create impact and meaningful social change. As co-founder of Color Farm Media, she is on a mission to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to both media and electoral politics.
Erika has recently stepped boldly into the arena of film director, with her debut film THE BIG PAYBACK, co-directed with Whitney Dow. The film debuted at Tribeca Festival and premiered on PBS on MLK Day 2023. The documentary chronicles the story of the first reparations bill for African Americans in U.S. history.
She is also creator/writer/producer of 2022 Audible Original’s Best True Crime Series and DuPont Columbia award-nominee, FINDING TAMIKA, and producer of the three-time, Emmy-nominated Best Documentary and winner, NAACP Best Documentary, JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE.
Her upcoming projects include THE UNTITLED NOVELIST project, directed by Cord Jefferson; with Jeffrey Wright, Tracy Ross, Sterling K. Williams and Issa Rae.
A critical thought leader on racial and gender equity and leadership, she serves as a board member for One Fair Wage and is highly involved with social and racial justice organizations including The Poor People’s Campaign, Color of Change, NAACP, UNCF, among others.

Rashaad Newsome - Engineering Futures: Art, Code, and the Architecture of Liberation | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2025-01-24 20:00 - 21:00
Rashaad Newsome is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blends several practices — collage, sculpture, video, music, computer programming, and performance — to form an altogether new field. He seamlessly merges art, code, film, and community-building to create immersive experiences that explore the intersections of Blackness, queerness, and futurism. Using the equalizing force of sampling, he crafts compositions that surprise in their associative potential and walk the tightrope between identity politics, social practice and abstraction.
Assembly, his groundbreaking exhibition and film, brings together dancers, artificial intelligence, animation, collage, sculpture, holography, and soundscapes to reimagine collective liberation. Central to this work is Being, the Digital Griot — an AI-powered entity that embodies radical storytelling. Acting as both mirror and provocateur, Being demonstrates AI’s potential as a tool for liberation rather than control.
Newsome will offer an in-depth exploration of the conceptual frameworks and processes behind Assembly and Being. He will discuss how his work dismantles systems of oppression and reimagines physical and digital spaces as arenas for liberation. Through dynamic storytelling, dance, and the collaboration between human and non-human performers, Newsome pushes artistic boundaries while sparking critical conversations about how art and technology can shape futures beyond binary thinking, paving the way for a more liberated world.
Newsome has exhibited and performed in galleries, museums, institutions, and festivals throughout the world, including The Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, SFMOMA, New Orleans Museum of Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. He has received multiple honors and awards for his work, including a 2014 Headlands Center for the Arts Visiting Artist Residency, and a 2011 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award.
In tandem with Newsome’s appearance in the Penny Stamps Series, the Institute for the Humanities is hosting Chimera, an immersive exhibition built around a newly commissioned film of the same name. This exhibition reflects a bold shift in Newsome’s practice toward sci-fi filmmaking, layering the architecture of film, movement, and world-building to probe themes of identity, resistance, and creation. Chimera opens directly following this event at the Institute for the Humanities gallery with an opening reception and artist meet and greet. Chimera will be on view from January 16 through February 28, 2025 at the Institute for the Humanities Gallery.
Presented in partnership with the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.
The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

PBS Books Readers Club - "Remarkably Bright Creatures" by Shelby Van Pelt
2025-01-29 20:00 - 21:00
PBS Books Readers Club launches season two with award-winning author Shelby Van Pelt to examine her extraordinary story, Remarkably Bright Creatures
Join PBS Books Readers Club on Wednesday, January 29 for a captivating conversation with Shelby Van Pelt as she discusses her heartwarming debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures. This engaging virtual event will offer an in-depth exploration of Van Pelt’s extraordinary narrative, which blends humor, emotion, and an unforgettable bond between a widowed woman and an octopus named Marcellus.
Remarkably Bright Creatures tells the story of Tova Sullivan, a grieving widow who forms an unlikely friendship with Marcellus, an intelligent and insightful octopus at the local aquarium. As their lives intertwine, Tova embarks on a journey of self-discovery and healing, with Marcellus offering wisdom in ways no one could have expected. The novel celebrates themes of connection, loss, and second chances, drawing readers into a world full of compassion and surprises.
In this PBS Books exclusive event, Shelby Van Pelt will share the inspiration behind her novel, delve into the unique characters that drive the story, and explore the ways in which art and storytelling can bridge the gap between humans and the natural world. Readers will delight in learning about her writing and research process and discover the family member who inspired the central protagonist, Tova, in this heartwarming story about unexpected friendships and second chances.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is the perfect pairing for fans of the PBS Masterpiece series All Creatures Great and Small, highlighting the unique bonds we share with our animal friends.
Don’t miss this special opportunity to engage with one of today’s most exciting new authors and to discover the magic of Remarkably Bright Creatures. This unforgettable evening of literary discussion takes place on the PBS Books Facebook and YouTube channel, January 29 at 8pm ET.

About the Book
Dazzling and unexpected, Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel, REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, is set over the course of a summer in a fictional town on Puget Sound. This is a witty and warm tale of a widow’s friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance thirty years ago.
Tova Sullivan began mopping floors and tidying up on the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium after her husband died. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Finding the sea creatures around her easier to talk to than the humans in her life, Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms an unlikely friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. As his affection for Tova grows, Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Shelby Van Pelt vividly renders the small town of Sowell Bay and the characters that live within it. Inspired by her own pragmatic, first-generation Swedish-American grandmother, Van Pelt imbues the character of Tova with warmth and specificity, from her love of coffee to her fondness for stray cats. Our favorite octopus Marcellus, however, began as a writing exercise. Long fascinated by the creatures, Van Pelt immediately thought of a captive octopus when asked to write from an unexpected point of view. How bored must it feel? How indignant at the thought that it wouldn’t be able to slip out of its tank? Over the course of writing the book, Van Pelt spent a lot of time wandering aquariums, staring at octopus’ tanks, and hoping that the occupant might emerge from its hiding place to stare back.
Charming, compulsively readable, and full of wit, Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a beautiful exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope—a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
As Van Pelt says in her author’s note, “To gaze at an octopus and have it gaze back at you will make anyone wonder who the brighter creature is.”

Guest Biography
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Shelby Van Pelt lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her family. Remarkably Bright Creatures is her first novel.

Readers Club Hosts
Heather-Marie Montilla
Heather-Marie Montilla, a dynamic integrative leader, is an educator and nonprofit manager. She has worked in the nonprofit sector and libraries for over two decades, making a positive impact in arts, cultural, educational, and community-building arenas.
Having joined the PBS Books team as their Library Bureau Chief in Fall 2018, Montilla is now the National Director of PBS Books and has interviewed more than 150 writers. In addition, she is a faculty member at Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University for their Arts and Cultural/Entertainment Management Programs. Having been an Executive Director for 8 years, Heather has a wide range of experience in management, finance, strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising. Heather holds a MPA From Columbia University, a MLIS from Wayne State University, and a bachelor’s from Duke University. She lives in Chicagoland, and is married with four children, a dog, and a bird.
Princess Weekes
Princess Weekes is an award winning writer and video essayist who works at breaking down the intersections between race, gender, and pop culture. Formally an Assistant Editor at The Mary Sue, co-host of Netflix’s The Geeked Podcast, and co-host and co-writer on the PBS Digital Series It’s Lit. On weekends she works as a bookseller at a local bookstore. When not reading or writing she can be found playing TTRPGs of cuddling with her cat, Lola.
Lauren Smith
Executive Producer and host of national PBS programming at Detroit Public TV, Lauren develops content for PBS and other distributors of public media for broadcast, streaming, and other digital channels and has executive-produced and/or produced over 60 national broadcast and programs. Her passion is to develop inspiring, entertaining, and educational content alongside the best national and international talent, and to engage important content with communities across the country. Lauren loves to read and has worked to develop and produce PBS Books content for nearly ten years!
Fred Nahhat
Fred Nahhat is an Emmy Award-winning producer, host, and presenter for Detroit’s PBS station, where he serves as Sr. VP of Production. A 30-year broadcast veteran, Fred has hosted and produced numerous programs for Public TV – including music specials from Il Volo, Celtic Gold and the New Divas – as well as other series and specials “New Year’s Eve with the DSO”, “The Detroit Dream Cruise,” “The PBS Books Readers Club” and “Get Up, Get Out,” among others.
He is a graduate of Wayne State University and a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Michigan Chapter, USA Hockey, and Leadership Detroit.

1491s - The Full Migizi | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2025-01-31 20:00 - 21:00
The 1491s are a dynamic Native American sketch comedy group known for their razor-sharp wit and fearless approach to storytelling. Comprising a collective of Indigenous creators, including writers, performers, and filmmakers, The 1491s challenge stereotypes and celebrate Native culture through humor, satire, and an unflinching lens. Their work spans viral videos, stage performances, and contributions to acclaimed television projects, such as the groundbreaking series Reservation Dogs.
Rooted in their identities and histories, The 1491s use comedy as a tool for activism and cultural expression, engaging audiences with narratives that amplify Indigenous voices. Their performances often blend traditional storytelling with contemporary issues, fostering a greater understanding of Native experiences while sparking joy and laughter.
Their first video, a Twilight parody called New Moon Wolf Pack Auditions, went viral in 2009, as have many of their subsequent videos. The 1491s have traveled the country and the world sharing their satirical, stereotype-busting humor through live performances, panels, discussions, and appearances on major media outlets including The Daily Show on Comedy Central, Reservation Dogs on FX, and Dallas Goldtooth’s TikTok. They have also used their talents to address social and legislative issues, such as the full inclusion of Indigenous women in the Violence Against Women Act.
Four of the five 1491s members will be in conversation with Eric Ting, Chinese-American Obie award-winning director.
Dallas Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota/​Diné) is a writer, artist, actor, and Dakota language instructor, known for his roles in Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls, and Ghosts.
Migizi Pensoneau (Ponca/​Ojibwe) is a writer, producer, and cultural consultant with credits on Barkskins, Rutherford Falls, and Reservation Dogs.
Ryan RedCorn (Osage Nation) is a graphic artist, writer, and actor, contributing to Reservation Dogs as a writer and performer, and appearing in Barking Water.
Bobby Wilson (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota) is an artist and actor, with work on Rutherford Falls, Reservation Dogs, and Spirit Rangers.
Presented in partnership with the University Musical Society. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.
The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

The Wright Conversations featuring LaTosha Brown
2025-02-05 20:00 - 21:00
PBS Books is proud to share a conversation from the Charles H. Wright Museum! LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, delivers a powerful keynote address about MLK Day. Her speech explores the critical need for African Americans and all disenfranchised members of our community to exercise the right to vote as a means of achieving social justice. Her remarks highlight the healing power of love amidst personal grief and loss. Brown emphasizes that understanding our shared humanity requires embracing pain and compassion providing a perfect start to the Wright’s annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s enduring legacy.
Website: MsLaToshaBrown.com
IG: @MsLaToshaBrown
Twitter: @MsLaToshaBrown

George Rodriguez - Guardians, Altars, and Community | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2025-02-07 20:00 - 21:00
Born and raised in the border city of El Paso, TX, George Rodriguez creates highly ornamented ceramic sculptures, largely unified by a connection to sociopolitical themes. Drawing inspiration from his Mexican American upbringing and experience with global travel, his guardian figures, tomb sculptures, and installations commemorate and build community. Realized with ornamentation, humor, and reverence for heritage and celebration, his art aims to build bridges between cultures and across time.
Recent projects include a permanent installation at the new Kansas City International Airport, a community tile mural at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and an outdoor public sculpture at CASA of Maryland, an immigration advocacy organization in Baltimore. His work has shown extensively throughout the U.S. including the Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Canton Art Museum, Canton, OH; amongst others.
Rodriguez’s sculptures are part of the collections of the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen College of Computer Science and Engineering, Seattle, WA; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., and the National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. He was featured on PBS Craft in America’s ​“Storytellers” episode.
Rodriguez is an educator and assistant professor at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia. His teaching extends beyond the university to engage diverse communities in collaborative building projects, such as tile murals and collectively designed large-scale sculpture. The interchange of ideas from teaching and mentorship recharges Rodriguez’s creative practice.
Presented in partnership with Institute for the Humanities. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.
The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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

Stacey Kirby - The Bureau of Personal Belonging | The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series
2025-02-14 08:00 - 17:00
Stacey Kirby is a queer, white-bodied, self-appointed civil servant and interdisciplinary artist known for creating participatory installations that explore themes of identity, community, and civil rights. Through interactive performances and immersive environments, she invites audiences to reflect on their roles in civic and social engagement. Kirby’s work takes place in traditional art spaces and alternative public spaces such as restrooms, on billboards and at protests.
As the recipient of the 2025 Roman J. Witt Artist-in-Residence Award, Kirby will collaborate with the campus community to create a new iteration of The Bureau of Personal Belonging, reflecting the current cultural, societal, and political landscape. The Bureau, a series of performances set within site-specific art installations, utilizes bureaucratic forms, postures, and language in vintage office environments to engage participants and community performers in exploring questions of civil authority. With a history spanning two decades, including over 200 performances, involving 300 community performers, and engaging 10,000 participants, Kirby’s work employs humor and satire to foster an on-going dialogue about identity, community, and human rights.
Kirby is a recipient of numerous awards, including the ArtPrize 8 Juried Grand Prize and an NC Arts Council Artist Fellowship for Visual Artists; has been nominated for the United States Artists Award and the Anonymous Was A Woman Award; and was a finalist for the 1858 Prize. Kirby has also been awarded artist residencies at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Barton College, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Gibbes Museum of Art, and was a visiting artist at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Her work is represented in the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University Rare Book Collection, and other private collections. Kirby has a dual degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Studio Art and Journalism and Mass Communication. Kirby serves her community on the Nasher Museum of Art’s Friends Board at Duke University and as a member of the Scrap Exchange Board of Directors.
Presented in partnership with Stamps Gallery and Roman J. Witt Artist Residency Program. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.
The Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Fall 2024 Season
This fall, 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 PBS 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
