David Levering Lewis | The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order

Wed, September 26, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Professor emeritus of history at New York University, David Levering Lewis won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 and 2001 for his “superb” ( The Nation ) two-volume biography of W.E.B. Du Bois, the polymath founder of the NAACP and a principal…

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Chris Hedges | America: The Farewell Tour

Thu, September 27, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges is the author of a dozen books, including the bestsellers  War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning ,  Empire of Illusion , Wages of Rebellion , and  Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt .…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Ticketed Series Author Events Citizenship Education Politics Social Science

Sandeep Jauhar | Heart: A History

Tue, October 2, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Exploring little-known, behind-the-scenes work in hospitals and the all-too-human lives of doctors, Dr. Sandeep Jauhar is a practicing cardiologist and author of two bestselling medical memoirs, Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation and the…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Ticketed Series Author Events Education Medical Science History

Hampton Sides | On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

Wed, October 3, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Hampton Sides is the editor of Outside and the author of the nonfiction books  Ghost Soldiers , the basis for the film  The Great Raid and described as “the greatest World War II story never told” ( Esquire );  Blood and…

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Rebecca Traister | Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger

Thu, October 4, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15.00
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition Rebecca Traister is the author of All the Single Ladies , The New York Times bestselling book about the intersection of sex, economics, and emotions related to the…

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John Kerry | Every Day Is Extra

Fri, October 5, 2018 1:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $6 - simulcast ticket does not include a book
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Auditorium Sold Out. In-House Simulcast Tickets Available. Update: please note the event begins at 1:00 p.m. and has returned to the Free Library of Philadelphia In conversation with Michael Smerconish John Kerry is a decorated combat veteran thrice wounded in the line of duty, a five-term…

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Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Val Emmich | Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel

Wed, October 10, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $20.00
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EVENT COMPLETELY SOLD OUT Join us for an exciting evening of conversation and live musical performances from the Tony, Oscar® & Golden Globe-winning team behind the musical, “Dear Evan Hansen.” Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Val Emmich will present  Dear Evan Hansen:…

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Joseph Ellis | American Dialogue: The Founders and Us

Tue, October 16, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. In conversation with Jason Freeman, author events producer and editor A “sure-handed and entertaining guide through the thickets of argument, personality and ideology out of which the American nation emerged” ( The Economist ),…

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Jill Soloway | She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy

Wed, October 17, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning creator of the Amazon series Transparent , Jill Soloway is the director of the feature film Afternoon Delight , creator of the series I Love Dick , and was a writer and executive producer for Six Feet Under , How…

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Barbara Kingsolver | Unsheltered

Fri, October 19, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Auditorium Sold Out. In-House Simulcast Tickets Available With a “special gift for the vivid evocation of landscape and of her characters' state of mind” ( New York Times Book Review ), Barbara Kingsolver is the author of The Poisonwood Bible , a finalist for both the Pulitzer…

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Julián Castro | An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up From My American Dream

Mon, October 22, 2018 12:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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In conversation with award-winning broadcaster and journalist Tracey Matisak Former San Antonio mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during President Obama’s second term, Julián Castro burst onto the national political stage as the keynote speaker at the 2012…

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Mitch Albom | The Next Person You Meet in Heaven: The Sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Mon, October 22, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $45/$30—couple + book/single + book
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Couples Ticket “A writer with soul” (Los Angeles Times) who captures the delicacies of the human condition, author, journalist, screenwriter, and nationally syndicated columnist Mitch Albom is best known for the phenomenon that is …

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René Redzepi and David Zilber | The Noma Guide to Fermentation

Wed, October 24, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $55/$40—couple + book/single + book
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  EVENT COMPLETELY SOLD OUT. René Redzepi is chef and co-owner of Copenhagen’s Michelin two-star restaurant Noma, recognized an astounding four times as the best in the world. He is one of Time ’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and the subject of two…

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Nathaniel Philbrick | In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown

Thu, October 25, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. “One of America's foremost practitioners of narrative nonfiction” ( The Wall Street Journal ), Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of the National Book Award-winning In The Heart of the Sea , an account of the nearly mythic…

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POSTPONED UNTIL SPRING: Dave Barry | Lessons from Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog

Sat, October 27, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15

A 30-year writer at the  Miami Herald whose column was syndicated in more than 500 newspapers, humorist Dave Barry won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1988. His more than 30 New York Times bestselling books include  I’ll Mature When I’m Dead ,  Insane City ,…

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Lynsey Addario | Of Love & War

Tue, October 30, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Often focusing on armed conflict, human rights issues, and women’s roles in traditional societies, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario’s work regularly appears in The New York Times , National Geographic , and Time .…

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Tom Hanks | Uncommon Type: Some Stories

Wed, October 31, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Irvine Auditorium | University of Pennsylvania | 3401 Spruce St. | Philadelphia, PA 19104

Cost: $45 Orchestra, $35 Mezzanine, $30 Balcony
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Tom Hanks has played a ping-pong savant, WWII Army ranger, pioneering AIDS activist, toy sheriff, astronaut Jim Lovell, volcano battler, mermaid romancer, Walt Disney, hitman, female baseball team manager, Da Vinci codebreaker, and, of course,…

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Leslie Umberger | Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor

Thu, November 1, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15.00
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Born a slave on an Alabama plantation and 12 years old at the end of the Civil War, Bill Traylor worked as a farm laborer for more than 60 years. Alone in retirement in segregated Montgomery, he discovered art and his creative voice without instruction or guidance, eventually creating more than…

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Anthony Tommasini | The Indispensable Composers: A Personal Guide

Thu, November 8, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Covering orchestras, opera, major international festivals, and a wide variety of contemporary music, Anthony Tommasini is the chief classical music critic for The New York Times . His books include a biography of the composer and critic Virgil…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Ticketed Series Author Events Music

H.W. Brands | Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants

Tue, November 13, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15
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Tickets on sale September 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. “Master storyteller” ( Christian Science Monitor ) H. W. Brands was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his bestselling biographies of Benjamin Franklin ( The First American ) and Franklin Roosevelt ( Traitor to His Class ). Exploring…

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