City Arts & Lectures

  Our guest is actor and author Tom Hanks. From his breakout role in “Splash,” to his award-winning performances in “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump,” Hanks has mesmerized audiences for nearly four decades.  On May 16, 2023, Tom Hanks came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed by activist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs. Always a storyteller, Hanks shared anecdotes about author Nora Ephron, studying acting at Chabot Community College in Hayward, California and some of his most famous roles. He also talked about the crew members and other people on set who inspired his first novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece.

Nancy Pelosi has represented San Francisco in Congress for more than 35 years. She served as the 52nd Speaker of the House of Representatives, having made history in 2007 when she was elected the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House. Pelosi made history again in January 2019 when she regained her position second-in-line to the presidency – the first person to do so in more than six decades. As Speaker, Pelosi spearheaded passage of the historic Affordable Care Act in the House and led the Congress in passing strong Wall Street reforms. Her legislative accomplishments also include the passage of historic investments in college aid, clean energy and innovation, and initiatives to help small businesses and veterans. On June 19, 2023, Nancy Pelosi came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with Jelani Cobb, the Dean of Columbia University’s School of Journalism and a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2015.

Award-winning television host and producer Andy Cohen is best known for Watch What Happens Live, Bravo’s late-night interactive talk show, and as executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise. His new memoir, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up, details his experience as a glamorous but ultimately human father. Late-night parties are replaced by early mornings, Housewives drama is no match for what happens on the playground, and Cohen finds meaning in the most important job of his life. On May 19, 2023, Andy Cohen came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage interview with Manny Yekutiel.

Stacey Abrams is a political leader, voting rights activist, and bestselling author. She served as Minority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, and she was the first Black woman to become gubernatorial nominee for a major party in United States history.  Abrams has launched multiple nonprofit organizations devoted to democracy protection, effective public policy, and voting rights. She was instrumental in driving an enormous number of voter registrations in Georgia and those voters were central to turning Georgia blue in the 2020 presidential election and the Senate races. She’s the author of the non-fiction books Lead from the Outside and Our Time is Now; eight romance novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery; and the legal thrillers While Justice Sleeps and her new book, Rogue Justice.  On June 3, 2023, Stacey Abrams came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed on stage by Dan Pfeiffer, co-host of the popular political podcast, Pod Save America, and a former senior advisor to President Obama.

Abraham Verghese is a best-selling novelist, and a physician whose focus on healing and empathy stands out in an era when technology often overwhelms the human side of medicine. His novel Cutting for Stone is the story of twin brothers in Ethiopia coming of age on the brink of the country’s revolution. That book remained on the NYT Bestsellers List for over two years. His newest novel, The Covenant of Water, tells much of the story of twentieth-century India through a single family. Verghese’s nonfiction books are My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story and The Tennis Partner. Abraham Verghese is Professor and Vice Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the School of Medicine at Stanford University. On May 11, 2023, Abraham Verghese came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed on stage by Michael Krasny, host of the Grey Matters podcast and former host of the award-winning KQED program Forum. Krasny is the author of Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life, Let There Be Laughter, and Spiritual Envy.

Siddhartha Mukherjee is the author of The Gene: An Intimate History, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, and The Laws of Medicine. Told in six parts and laced with his own experience as a researcher, doctor, and a prolific reader, Mukherjee’s new book The Song of the Cell, tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Mukherjee is an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University and a cancer physician and researcher.  On November 10, 2022, Mukherjee came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an onstage conversation with Indre Viskontas, a cognitive neuroscientist who co-hosts the popular science podcast Inquiring Minds. This is an encore broadcast.

Actor Laura Dern has been captivating audiences since her breakout role in Blue Velvet in 1986. Since then, she’s appeared in dozens of films including Jurassic Park, Wild At Heart, Rambling Rose, The Last Jedi, Little Women, and Marriage Story, for which she won an Academy Award. Her television appearances include Enlightened, Twin Peaks: The Return and Big Little Lies. Her new book, Honey, Baby, Mine, co-written with her mother and fellow actor Diane Ladd, is a collection of intimate reflections, photos, family recipes, and other mementos. On May 7, 2023, Laura Dern came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater for an onstage conversation with Cheryl Strayed, the author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film - starring Laura Dern.

This week, a conversation with theoretical physicist and futurist Dr Michio Kaku. Kaku is a co-founder of string field theory and he's one of today's most recognizable scientists appearing regularly on news programs, documentary films and as host of two weekly radio programs, Exploration and Science Fantastic. In his latest book, Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything, Kaku suggests how powerful computers might eventually solve some of humanity's biggest problems from incurable disease to global warming and world hunger. On May 4th, 2023, Dr Kaku came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Caterina Fake, a serial entrepreneur, investor at Yes VC, and host of the upcoming podcast ingenious. Join us now for a conversation with Dr. Michio Kaku.

Richard Mosse is a photographer and filmmaker who’s documenting some of the world’s most significant environmental and humanitarian crises – and his work lies at the intersection between journalism and conceptual art. For his recent projects, Mosse used military-grade cameras to create detailed images from miles away. It’s a way to humanize his subjects and give new perspective on urgent issues. His new immersive video installation “Broken Specter” is on display at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco, where he came to the studios of KQED on May 2, 2023, to be interviewed by Steven Winn.

The definitive account of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the tragic legacy of Timothy McVeigh, leading to the January 6 insurrection, comes from jourrnalist Jeffrey Toobin (The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court,The Run of His Life: The People vs. O.J. Simpson). In Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right Wing Extremism, Toobin has combed nearly a million previously unreleased tapes, photographs, and documents, including detailed communications between McVeigh and his lawyers, as well as interviews with such key figures as Bill Clinton. Jane Mayer talks to Toobin about how McVeigh’s principles and tactics have flourished, reaching an apotheosis on January 6 when hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol, and how the story can serve as a warning for the future. The last few minutes of this program are an excerpt from a 2017 appearance by actor, filmmaker, and author Tom Hanks, who will appear later this spring to discuss his debut novel. filmmaker, and author Tom Hanks, who will appear later this spring to discuss his debut novel, The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece.