This week, our guest is Krista Tippett, host of the On Being podcast. Tippett started the program in 2003.  It features conversations about faith, ethics and moral wisdom. Tippett often begins her interviews by asking guests what their relationship to faith was like growing up. It’s a prompt that grounds them in memory before Tippett takes the conversation into an expansive examination of their views on everything from their work, to how they see the world and what wisdom they can impart. On April 23, 2022, Tippett came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Pico Iyer, another uncommonly thoughtful host. Iyer is the author of numerous books, including one on his friend, the Dalai Lama, and The Art of Stillness, a beautiful investigation of the benefits of quiet contemplation and travel to “nowhere.

Lauren Groff is a two-time National Book Award finalist and the author of four novels and two collections of short stories.  The relatively young author gathered major attention for her novel Fates and Furies – from literary awards to a nod from President Barack Obama.  Her newest novel, Matrix, imagines the life of Marie du France, a medieval writer who became France’s first woman poet. Her work regularly appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and elsewhere, and she was named one of Granta’s 2017 Best Young American Novelists. On April 12, 2022, Lauren Groff came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk about Matrix with Isabel Duffy.  The two also discussed the utterly unique way in which Groff writes her novels.  After copious research, she writes a complete first draft, tosses that away without reviewing it, writes a new draft, and repeats the process again. With Matrix, she went through eight full drafts before arriving at the final version.

Rachel Cusk is a writer of considerable range and depth, and her most recent works, dubbed the Outline Trilogy, embody a new and distinctive style. The novels take the form of a succession of monologues delivered not by the protagonist, but by the people she encounters.  Little is revealed about a central character who serves principally as a conduit for others.  The themes and questions that arise from those stories are weighty – as is Cusk’s choice to subvert traditional positions and form.  On April 8, 2019, Rachel Cusk came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with Steven Winn about her unconventional work and its reception. 

This week, our guest is author and academic Azar Nafisi. Her books include Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I’ve Been Silent About. Nafisi was born in Iran, and first came to the United States to study in the 1970s. After earning her Ph.D., she returned to her home country to teach at the University of Tehran, where in 1981, she was expelled for refusing to wear the mandatory Islamic veil. Nafisi went back to teaching six years later, with a series of lectures that examined the role of Western literature and culture in Iran after the 1979 revolution. She returned to the United States in 1997 to advocate on behalf of Iran’s intellectuals, youth, and especially young women. Her new book Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times examines some of the most probing questions of our time through the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, and more. On March 31, 2022, Azar Nafisi talked to Steven Winn at the studios of KQED in San Francisco.

This week, we’re listening back to a conversation on creativity from 2018 with two artists whose work span multiple genres. Boots Riley is the leader of the radical funk/hip-hop band “The Coup,” and the director of the 2018 film “Sorry to Bother You.” Ahmir Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove, is the drummer and joint frontman for The Roots, author of several books, and as of March 27, 2022 - an Academy Award-winning director. His debut film documentary Summer of Soul is about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. It features performances by music legends like Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, and others. On April twenty-first, 2018, Questlove and Boots Riley came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to host Carvell Wallace.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin was elected to office in 2020 after a campaign focused on improving public safety and reforming the criminal justice system.  Kimberly M. Foxx is the first African American woman to lead the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office –the second largest prosecutor’s office in the country– with a vision for transforming the office into a fairer, more forward-thinking agency focused on rebuilding the public trust, promoting transparency, and being proactive in making all communities safe. On March 22, 2022, the two spoke with Lara Bazelon about what it looks like to be a progressive prosecutor. They addressed data about crime rates, the misleading notion that progressives aren’t interested in convicting criminals, tensions between prosecutors and the police force, and formative childhood experiences that led each of them to work in criminal justice reform.

We’re celebrating the life of the late Madeleine Albright this week with an encore of her 2008 City Arts & Lectures appearance..  Madeleine Albright was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1937. She and her family were refugees who fled Nazi invaders, eventually emigrating to the US in 1948. Albright went on to earn 8 academic degrees, including both a master’s and doctorate from Columbia University.  Her tenacity and flair for foreign policy led Bill Clinton to appoint her as the first female Secretary of State. During her tenure, Albright concentrated on a bipartisan approach to foreign policy, which made her remarkably popular both at home and abroad. Albright died on March 23, 2022, at the age of 84. On October 13, 2008, Madeleine Albright came to the Herbst Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed on stage by Roy Eisenhardt.  She had just published “Memo to the President-Elect”.

Journalist Jacob Ward of NBC News talks about our growing reliance on artificial intelligence.  His new book is “The Loop: How Technology Is Creating a World Without Choices, and How to Fight Back”.  He draws on interviews with over 100 scientists, as well as his own reporting on behavior shaping technology.  It’s both an investigation into the negative effects of artificial intelligence and a plan for combating them.  On March 15, 2022, Jacob Ward talked with Lauren Schiller, host of the radio show and podcast “Inflection Point”.

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and was one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He is co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. Over the past 40 years, Kornfield has taught around the world, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings with the Dalai Lama, and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. His many books include The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, A Path with Heart, and After the Ecstasy, the Laundry. Loved for her ability to write eloquently, gracefully, and often hilariously about complicated subjects, Anne Lamott has written on subjects ranging from alcoholism and single parenting to religion and writer’s block. She is the author of seven novels including Hard Laughter, Rosie, and Crooked Little Heart, as well as four bestselling books of nonfiction: Operating Instructions, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life,Traveling Mercies, and Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. Her latest book, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage serves as an inspiring guide to restoring hope and joy in our lives. On February 15, 2022, the two friends talked about navigating uncertain times – what Lamott calls the “COVID College” - and finding compassion for others, even those who hurt us.

Our guest is Jeremy Denk, one of America’s foremost pianists. Winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, Denk is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He returns frequently to Carnegie Hall and has recently appeared with ensembles including the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition to phenomenal technique, Denk brings a deep knowledge of music history and composition to his performances – and to his writings on music, including his memoir, “Every Good Boy Does Fine”.  On February 15, 2022, Jeremy Denk talked with Steven Winn about his love of classical music – and performed parts of Bach’s Fugue in B minor from “The Well-Tempered Clavier” – in a conversation recorded in the San Francisco home of music legend Linda Ronstadt.