Podcast

The Free Library Podcast is an easy way to participate in the author events and lectures that take place at the Central Library. Visit Author Events to find upcoming events.

Recent Episodes

  • Katrina van Grouw | Unnatural Selection

    • Recorded Jun 14, 2018

    The former curator of the ornithological collections at London’s Natural History Museum, Katrina van Grouw is the author of The Unfeathered Bird . A sumptuous labor of love, this hybrid of art, science, and history features 385 detailed drawings… more

    Author Events  Science  History  Animals and Nature 

  • Eliza Griswold | Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America

    • Recorded Jun 12, 2018

    In the  New York Times  bestselling book  The Tenth Parallel , immersive journalist Eliza Griswold spent seven years traversing the geographic and ideological fronts in Africa and Asia where Christianity and Islam collide. In I Am the Beggar of… more

    Author Events  Biography & Autobiography   Business & Economics  Environment & Nature  Literature  Politics  General Research  Science  Technology 

  • Ken Auletta | Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else)

    • Recorded Jun 11, 2018

    In conversation with journalist Tracey Matisak Ken Auletta has penned the “Annals of Communications” column for The New Yorker for more than 25 years. His 11 books include the bestsellers Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way , The… more

    Author Events  Business & Entrepreneurs  Technology  Digital Media 

  • Sarah McBride | Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality

    • Recorded Jun 7, 2018

    In conversation with State Representative Brian K. Sims , former staff counsel for policy and planning at the Philadelphia Bar Association. Sims recently stepped down as both the president of the board of directors of Equality Pennsylvania and as… more

    Author Events  Biography & Autobiography   Body, Mind & Spirit  Law  LGBTQ  Self-Help 

  • Bill Clinton & James Patterson | The President Is Missing

    • Recorded Jun 6, 2018

    In conversation with Lee Child, No. 1 internationally best selling author of the Jack Reacher novels. Please join President Bill Clinton and the world’s bestselling author James Patterson as they discuss their forthcoming novel, The President Is… more

    Author Events  Fiction  Politics 

  • Steven Brill | Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America's Fifty-Year Fall—and Those Fighting to Reverse It

    • Recorded May 30, 2018

    Journalist and lawyer Steven Brill is the founder of Court TV, 10 regional newspapers, and The American Lawyer magazine. His 2013 Time magazine cover story “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us” won the National Magazine Award for Public… more

    Author Events  Business & Economics  Government Information  Politics  History 

  • Nell Irvin Painter | Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over

    • Recorded May 22, 2018

    Celebrated historian Nell Irvin Painter’s many books include Sojourner Truth, Creating Black Americans , and, most recently, The History of White People , a national bestseller examining the dangerous socially constructed notion of whiteness. The… more

    African American  Author Events  Biography & Autobiography   Makers & Makerspaces 

  • Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. | American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family

    • Recorded May 17, 2018

    In conversation with Tracey Matisak A scion of America’s most fabled political dynasty, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a clinical professor and supervising attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of… more

    Author Events  Biography & Autobiography   Environment & Nature  Politics  History 

  • Kevin Powers | A Shout in the Ruins with Elise Juska | If We Had Known

    • Recorded May 16, 2018

    Kevin Powers won the 2013 PEN/Hemingway Award  and the Guardian First Book Award for The Yellow Birds , “the first great Iraq War novel” ( Rolling Stone ), a work drawn from his experiences as a U.S. Army machine-gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar.… more

    Author Events  Fiction  Literature  History 

  • Alex Wagner | Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging

    • Recorded May 15, 2018 Explicit Content

    In conversation with award winning broadcaster and journalist Tracey Matisak. Political commentator Alex Wagner is co-host of Showtime’s The Circus  and a contributor to CBS News and The Atlantic . She previously hosted MSNBC’s Emmy-nominated Now… more

    Author Events  Biography & Autobiography   Family  Genealogy  Literature  New Americans  General Research 

Find More Episodes

20th & Vine - Backstage with Jesmyn Ward

This month we're featuring two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, who recently visited the Free Library of Philadelphia to promote her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing. Laura Kovacs spoke to her backstage about living memory. 20th & Vine is behind-the-scenes conversations from the Free Library of Philadelphia's award-winning Author Events series. Subscribe now for more videos with your favorite authors.

Top 10 Podcast Episodes May 2018

  1. Simon Winchester Simon Winchester
  2. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
  3. Jen Sincero Jen Sincero
  4. Jake Tapper Jake Tapper
  5. Curtis Sittenfeld Curtis Sittenfeld
  6. Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward
  7. Mark C. Serreze Mark C. Serreze
  8. Alan Stern and David Grinspoon Alan Stern and David Grinspoon
  9. Mary Morris Mary Morris
  10. Kevin Powers Kevin Powers

Top 10 Livestream Videos May 2018

  1. Diane McKinney-Whetstone
  2. Alan Stern and David Grinspoon
  3. Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby
  4. Richard Powers
  5. Ta-Nehisi Coates
  6. Walter Isaacson
  7. Elif Shafak
  8. Jesmyn Ward
  9. Jake Tapper
  10. Jorge Ramos

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