Library Talks

Daniel Saldaña París speaks with Chloé Cooper Jones about his latest book Planes Flying over a Monster, which explores the cities where París has lived, each one home to a new iteration of himself. These now diverging, now coalescing selves raise questions: Where can we find authenticity? How do we construct the stories that define us? What if our formative memories are closer to fiction than truth?

Dive into the Library’s collections for true tales of crime and chicanery from some of the city’s most outstanding lawbreakers. Beloved actors and performers read stories mined from the Library’s collections about the words and deeds of New Yorkers who lived on either side of the letter of the law. 

Beloved artist and author Maira Kalman sits down with author Rumaan Alam to discuss her new collection of illustrations, Still Life with Remorse, her most autobiographical and intimate work to date.

Celebrating The Joy of Connections, the last book of beloved icon (and long-time New Yorker) Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Co-authors Allison Gilbert and Pierre Lehu are joined by Dr. Ruth's children, Dr. Miriam Westheimer and Dr. Joel Westheimer, in a conversation moderated by WABC-TV's Bill Ritter.

Glory Edim, the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, discusses her new memoir, Gather Me, an ode to the power reading has had on her life and to books’ ability to help us understand ourselves.

Clara Bingham discusses her new book, The Movement, the first oral history of the decade that built the modern feminist movement.

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, the beloved marine biologist and policy expert imagines an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures.

The U.S. Poet Laureate and Caldecott honoree Illustrator discuss their transcendent picture book featuring a poem that will travel into space aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper.

Author Richard Powers discusses his latest novel, Playground, which intertwines tales of technology, race, friendships, and the environment.

Not all evangelical churches fit the stereotypes. In their latest books, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Eliza Griswold and the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute, Hahrie Han, bear witness to two churches who break the mold. In Circle of Hope, Griswold chronicles the ravaging and ultimately destructive results to a group of progressive-leaning Philadelphia evangelicals who attempt a racial reckoning. In Undivided, Han follows four members of a conservative Midwest church whose lives are radically altered for the better by a six-week program designed to tackle racial injustice among their ranks.   Griswold and Han discuss their books with journalist Andrea Elliott and examine how their stories shed light on the complexity of contemporary American evangelism.