PBS Books

Filmmaker Talk: A discussion about the national fight over confederate monuments
2021-07-12 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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PBS Books, in partnership with GPB and POV, is thrilled to host Filmmaker Talk: A discussion about the national fight over confederate monuments with Neutral Ground Filmmaker CJ Hunt, Author Karen Cox, Reporter Tyler Estep, and Chairman of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association Rev. Abraham Mosley on Monday, July 12 at 8pm ET. The conversation will be moderated Josie Duffy Rice, former President of The Appeal. This event can be streamed on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pbsbooks1/live), in addition to this site pbsbooks.org/neutralground.
About the Film
An official selection of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, The Neutral Ground documents New Orleans’ fight over monuments and America’s troubled romance with the Lost Cause. In 2015, director CJ Hunt was filming the New Orleans City Council’s vote to remove four Confederate monuments. But when that removal is halted by death threats, CJ sets out to understand why a losing army from 1865 still holds so much power in America. As the national monument controversy expands, Hunt’s journey includes visits with historians, activists and his own father. At times darkly hilarious and at others soberingly serious, The Neutral Ground is a poignant exploration of the legacy of slavery which much of America has yet to face.
Watch The Neutral Ground on PBS on July 5 at 9:30pm ET (check local listings) or online at pov.org. Join us for excerpts from the film and live conversation discussing the fight over monuments nationally and the ongoing debate about Georgia’s Stone Mountain, America’s largest Confederate memorial.
About the Panel
Karen Cox, author of  No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice
Tyler Estep, AJC Reporter
CJ Hunt, director of  The Neutral Ground
Rev. Abraham Mosley, Chairman of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association
Moderated by Josie Duffy Rice, former President of The Appeal
About the Book
When it comes to Confederate monuments, there is no common ground. Polarizing debates over their meaning have intensified into legislative maneuvering to preserve the statues, legal battles to remove them, and rowdy crowds taking matters into their own hands. These conflicts have raged for well over a century – but they’ve never been as intense as they are today.
In this eye-opening narrative of the efforts to raise, preserve, protest, and remove Confederate monuments, Karen L. Cox depicts what these statues meant to those who erected them and how a movement arose to force a reckoning. Timely, accessible, and essential, No Common Ground is the story of the seemingly invincible stone sentinels that are just beginning to fall from their pedestals.

Harnessing your Inner Hummingbird: How to Build Your Nest Egg
2021-06-25 13:00 - 14:00, 2021-06-15 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
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Saving for retirement is about more than just stashing away cash in a jar. How much will you need? What’s the easiest way to continue contributing after you retire? We’ll take you through simple steps to grow a comfortable nest egg that will last through your golden years.

MASTERPIECE Author Talk with David Nicholls
2021-06-22 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
The Magic of Masterpiece﻿
A Family Vacation Across Europe – What Could Go Wrong?
Tuesday, June 22nd at 8pm ET: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with David Nicholls, discussing the forthcoming adaptation of his bestselling 2014 novel Us on PBS’s MASTERPIECE, produced by GBH. This exciting event will trace the process of placing words into pictures and making a clever story about family dynamics come alive on screen. As Nicholls showcases in his own distinct style, dramas can be complex, charming, and honest. In the conversation, Nicholls will explore the real-life lessons one can gleam from this fictional story, at once a journey far away and an experience close to home. This event can be streamed on Facebook in addition to the site pbsbooks.org/davidnicholls .
About the Author:
David Nicholls is a screenwriter, as well as the author of five novels. He worked as an actor before moving into script-editing for theatre, radio and TV. His first produced screenplay was an adaptation of Sam Shepard’s play Simpatico. He then worked in British TV, writing episodes of Cold Feet, original series Rescue Me I Saw You and The 7.39 as well as adaptations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Much Ado About Nothing.
David’s third novel, One Day, has sold 5 million copies around the world and is published in over 40 languages. His latest novel, Us, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and in the year that it was published (2014) he was named UK Author of the Year at the National Book Awards.
About the Book:
With the same captivating approach of his New York Times bestseller One Day, David Nicholls’ Us is a striking, humorous, and candid novel about what holds marriages and families together—and what happens, and what we learn about ourselves, when everything threatens to fall apart.
Us follows one man, Douglas Petersen, in his mission to reconnect with his wife, as he simultaneously tries to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger. It is a moving meditation on the demands of everyday life: marriage, parenthood, and the continual exploration of identity. The novel also foregrounds the regrets of abandoning youth for middle age, and the intricate relationship between the heart and the head.
About the MASTERPIECE Adaptation:
Douglas, his wife and his teenage son take a European summer vacation together. What could go wrong? Tom Hollander, Saskia Reeves, and Tom Taylor star in an adaptation of David Nicholls’ bittersweet, bestselling novel about a family giving their relationship one last shot. “Funny and touching and acutely observed,” applauded The Independent (London).
Adapted from David Nicholls’ Booker Prize–nominated novel, #UsPBS airs in two two-hour episodes on MASTERPIECE, Sundays, June 20 and 27, 2021 at 9/8c on PBS. MASTERPIECE is presented by GBH Boston.
Episode One
Sunday, June 20; 9 – 11pm ET
Connie tells Douglas she wants to end their 20-year marriage, but not before they take a European vacation with Albie, their rebellious teenage son.
Episode Two
Sunday, June 27; 9 – 11pm ET
Searching for Albie in Venice, Douglas makes a new friend, Freja. Later, he lands in jail. Back in England, Connie wonders what’s going on.
Us is a Drama Republic and Bandstand Productions for BBC and MASTERPIECE. David Nicholls is the writer and executive producer. Greg Brenman and Roanna Benn are the executive producers for Drama Republic and Hannah Pescod and Tom Hollander are the executive producers for Bandstand Productions. The director is Geoffrey Sax. The producer is Hannah Pescod. Jo McClellan is the executive producer for BBC One.
About MASTERPIECE:
Winner of 83 Primetime Emmys® and 18 Peabody Awards, MASTERPIECE has been
essential Sunday night viewing for millions of fans since 1971. Susanne Simpson is the executive producer and Rebecca Eaton is the executive producer-at-large for the series. Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking and Raymond James with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust. Produced for PBS by GBH Boston, MASTERPIECE is known for hits such as All Creatures Great and Small, Sherlock, Downton Abbey and Victoria, and beloved classics such as Upstairs Downstairs, Prime Suspect, The Forsyte Saga and Poldark.
pbs.org/masterpiece

A Juneteenth Commemoration: Lift Every Voice and Sing
2021-06-17 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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On Thursday, June 17, at 8 p.m. ET, PBS Books will share a special virtual program—“Lift Every Voice and Sing”—which is created by 10 leading Black museums and historical institutions across the nation. Celebrating the victory and liberty of the African American people and representing www.blkfreedom.org’s second year of collaboration, the virtual program will be offered in partnership with The Charles H. Wright Museum. The event can be viewed here and www.facebook.com/pbsbooks1/live.
The event will commemorate Juneteenth, the day that the Emancipation Proclamation was officially enforced, ending enslavement in Texas. Juneteenth dates to June 19, 1865, when union soldier, Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas, with the news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This announcement was more than two and half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
The participating museums each have contributed a segment to the film, selecting a theme from the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Among the topics explored are the pride of over 200 years of Gullah culture, the perseverance of Little Africa through Black Laws, tenacity through industry and pop culture in Detroit, and resiliency during the COVID Era.
Additional performances will feature the African American Cultural Ensemble (ACE), West African Dance and poetry. There will also be readings of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteen through Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed after the Civil War to abolish slavery and grant equal rights to all citizens, including newly freed enslaved Americans.
Besides the Charles H. Wright Museum, the other members of the BLKFREEDOM.org effort are:

America’s Black Holocaust Museum (Milwaukee, WI)
Amistad Research Center of Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana)
August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Pittsburg, PA)
California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Harvey Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture (Charlotte, NC)
Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park (Hilton Head Island, SC)
National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis TN)
Northwest African American Museum (Seattle, WA)
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH)
National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, TN)

For information about the collaborative partners, visit BLKFREEDOM.org.

Author Talk: Gregg Behr & Ryan Rydzewski
2021-06-15 20:00 (America/New_York)
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Author Talk: Education: Learning Inspired by Mister Rogers with Authors Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski
June 15th, 2021 — 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT
Tuesday, June 15th at 8pm ET: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski, hosted by PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger, discussing the important lessons we can continue to glean from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. This special event will include an in-depth exploration of their book When You Wonder, You’re Learning: Mister Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids, which traces indispensable “tools for learning.” As Behr and Rydzewski suggest, Rogers’ logic has only grown more applicable to education and parenting in modern contexts. The two authors will explore the explicit and implicit messages Rogers shared with us and how we might create productive visions for our future as we investigate them further.
About the Book
When You Wonder, You’re Learning is an essential exploration into the tools for learning that are still so vital in how we raise our children today. So much of what made Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood essential was invisible to the camera. Fred Rogers’ careful plans to nourish curiosity and encourage creativity were built so skillfully into his scripts and songs that viewers never even knew they were there. The lessons from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood—and the designs that helped Rogers fulfill them—have never been more needed, especially in the wake of a deadly pandemic that changed the way children learn unlike anything else before it. According to data from the 2020 census, nearly 93 percent of households with school-age children reported engaging in some form of distance learning—a dramatic departure from how kids and families have typically learned in the past.
Featuring a foreword by Rogers’ late wife, Joanne Rogers, the book brings the lessons of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood into the digital age. Each chapter reveals the logic behind Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, connecting Rogers’ methods to the latest science and sharing helpful tips for parents and educators. Along the way, readers learn from renowned thinkers and scientists, many of whom worked with Rogers himself: media and communication experts, psychologists, museum curators, after-school program designers, and more.
About the Authors

Gregg Behr, executive director of The Grable Foundation, is a father and children’s advocate whose work is inspired by the legacy of his hero, Fred Rogers. For more than a decade, he has helped lead Remake Learning—a network of educators, scientists, artists, and makers he founded in 2007—to international renown. Formed in Rogers’ real-life neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Remake Learning has turned heads everywhere from Forbes to the World Economic Forum for its efforts to ignite children’s curiosity, encourage creativity, and foster justice and belonging in schools, libraries, museums, and more. Behr is an advisor to the Brookings Institution and the Fred Rogers Center, and has been cited by Barack Obama and the Disruptor Foundation as an innovator and thought leader.
Ryan Rydzewski is an education reporter whose award-winning stories on science, learning, and more appear in outlets around the country. A former elementary school teacher, his magazine features span everything from schools to space travel to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Author Talk: Ishmael Reed
2021-06-03 20:00 (America/Detroit)
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Author Talk: History: Muhammad Ali with Author Ishmael Reed
June 3rd, 2021 — 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT
Thursday, June 3rd at 8pm ET: PBS Books, in partnership with The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and the Keiga Foundation, presents this Author Talk with Ishmael Reed about his book The Complete Muhammad Ali. Journalist Stephen Henderson will lead the conversation discussing the fascinating narrative of Muhammad Ali’s life. Together, Reed and Henderson will explore why we continue to remember and celebrate Ali, and delve into the importance of incorporating other, often unexplored voices, in charting one’s legacy. This special event precedes the upcoming documentary Muhammad Ali, a film by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, & David McMahon, premiering on PBS in September 2021.
About the Book
Reed’s 2015 book The Complete Muhammad Ali discusses American boxer and activist Muhammad Ali (1942-2016), with a unique addition of previously uncharted material and photographs documenting his life. In the biography, Reed traces many of Ali’s notable experiences, including his role as part of the Nation of Islam, feats in competitive boxing, and his undeniable trailblazing in modern African American history. While the book is the culmination of over ten years of research and writing celebrating Ali’s everlasting legacy, it is also a crucial and nuanced portrait of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries.
About the Author
Ishmael Reed is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, songwriter, lecturer, and publisher. He has won prizes and grants in each category. He is also an illustrator and Jazz pianist. His most recent awards include the Alberto Dubito Award for International Poetry, presented at the Ca’Foscari University in Venice in 2016 and The AUDELCO award for theater presented in 2017. In 2019, he began his 36th year as a professor at The University of California at Berkeley. He also teaches at the California College of the Arts where he is a distinguished professor. His most recent books, published by Baraka Books, are Why No Confederate Statues in Mexico (2019), The Terrible Fours (2021), and the Forthcoming Bigotry on Broadway. He lives in Oakland.

Retirement Readiness for Military Families
2021-05-28 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
Listen in as experts discuss the tools servicemembers and their families have available to plan and save for their future. How does the military’s 2018 blended retirement system work? What sort of VA benefits are available to service members?
Even if you served in the military years ago, you may be eligible for valuable grants or interest-free loans created to help veterans and their families deal with COVID-related financial challenges, or transition to civilan life after military service. Where to go to find more resources for life after leaving the military?
Plus, members of the military are often targeted by scammers. Learn how to recognize and avoid scams… and so much more, May 28th at 1pm ET.

Author Talk: History, Race and Photography
2021-05-17 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax) | Facebook Live
PBS Books, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), will host a conversation on Monday, May 17 at 8pm to discuss History, Race and Photography, highlighting the recently released book To Make Their Own Way in the World: The Enduring Legacy of the Zealy Daguerreotypes. This book is a profound consideration of some of the most challenging images in the history of photography: fifteen daguerreotypes—men and women of African descent who were enslaved in South Carolina. The conversation will feature four extraordinary scholars; Ilisa Barbash, Deborah Willis, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, and Sarah Elizabeth Lewis.
This important conversation will delve into the daguerreotypes that were made by photographer Joseph T. Zealy for Harvard professor Louis Agassiz in 1850 and were rediscovered at the Peabody Museum in 1976. Since that time, the images have drawn worldwide interest, provoking wide-ranging interpretations and raising critical questions about the history and conditions of slavery, racism, representation, and identity. The conversation will examine the role photography plays in discussing race and our history.
About Contributor & Editor
Ilisa Barbash is the curator of visual anthropology at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. She co-directed the films In and Out of Africa (1992) and Sweetgrass (2009), which was nominated as best documentary film for the Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Award, IDA Documentary Award, and Cinema Eye Awards and was selected for the U.S. State Department and the University of Southern California’s 2012 American Documentary Showcase. She co-wrote Cross-Cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Video (1997) and co-edited The Cinema of Robert Gardner (2007). Barbash’s book Where the Roads All End: Photography and Anthropology in the Kalahari (Peabody Museum Press, 2016) was the recipient of the Society for Visual Anthropology’s 2017 John Collier Junior Award for visual excellence in the use of still photography.
Deborah Willis, Ph.D., is University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has an affiliated appointment with the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Social & Cultural Analysis, Africana Studies, where she teaches courses on Photography & Imaging, iconicity, and cultural histories visualizing the black body, women, and gender. Her research examines photography’s multifaceted histories, visual culture, the photographic history of Slavery and Emancipation; contemporary women photographers and beauty. She received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Willis is the author of Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present; and co-author of The Black Female Body A Photographic History; Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery; and Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs (both titles an NAACP Image Award Winner). Professor Willis’s curated exhibitions include: “In Pursuit of Beauty” at Express Newark; “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits” at the International Center of Photography and “Reframing Beauty: Intimate Moments” at Indiana University. Since 2006 she has co-organized thematic conferences exploring imaging the black body in the West such as the conference titled Black Portraiture[s] which was held in Johannesburg in 2016. She has appeared and consulted on media projects including documentary films such as Through A Lens Darkly and Question Bridge: Black Males, a transmedia project, which received the ICP Infinity Award 2015, and American Photography, PBS Documentary.

About the Contributors
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Ph.D. is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She became the national president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in January 2016. Higginbotham began her teaching career as a public school teacher before moving to the university setting. She has also taught on the faculties of Dartmouth College, the University of Maryland, and the University of Pennsylvania. At the special invitation of Duke University, she taught at the Duke Law School in 2010-2011 as the inaugural John Hope Franklin Professor of American Legal History.
Higginbotham earned her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in American History, her M.A. from Howard University, and her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. A pioneering scholar in African American women’s history, she is the author of the prizewinning book Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church 1880-1920. She is also co-editor with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of the African American National Biography, now in its second edition (2013).
Higginbotham is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Most notably in September 2015, she received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama at the White House for “illuminating the African American journey.” In March 2015 she was named one of the “Top 25 Women in Higher Education” by Diverse Magazine.

Sarah Elizabeth Lewis is an associate professor at Harvard University in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of African and African American Studies. She is the founder of the Vision and Justice Project. Lewis has published essays on race, contemporary art, and culture, with forthcoming publications including a book on race, whiteness, and photography (Harvard University Press, 2021), Vision and Justice (Random House), an anthology on the work of Carrie Mae Weems (MIT Press, 2021), and an article focusing on the groundwork of contemporary arts in the context of Stand Your Ground Laws (Art Journal, Winter 2020). In 2019, she became the inaugural recipient of the Freedom Scholar Award, presented by The Association for the Study of African American Life and History to honor Lewis for her body of work and its “direct positive impact on the life of African-Americans.”

Photo Credits: Ilisa Barbash photo by Kris Snibbe © President and Fellows of Harvard College and Sarah’s is photo credit: Stu Rosner. The book’s cover credit is: Cover of To Make Their Own Way in the World: The Enduring Legacy of the Zealy Daguerreotypes. (Peabody Museum Press/Aperture, 2020). With artwork by Carrie Mae Weems. Photograph by Fabrizio Amoroso/Aperture.

Retirement Readiness for Military Families
2021-05-12 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
Listen in as experts discuss the tools servicemembers and their families have available to plan and save for their future. How does the military’s 2018 blended retirement system work? What sort of VA benefits are available to service members?
Even if you served in the military years ago, you may be eligible for valuable grants or interest-free loans created to help veterans and their families deal with COVID-related financial challenges, or transition to civilan life after military service. Where to go to find more resources for life after leaving the military?
Plus, members of the military are often targeted by scammers. Learn how to recognize and avoid scams… and so much more.

Author Talk: History of Black Education
2021-05-11 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax)
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Author Talk on Education PBS Books, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), presents their author Jarvis Givens, and scholars Cornel West and Brandon Terry discussing the history of Black education in the US sparked by Givens’ new book Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching.
About the Book
Givens’ new book Fugitive Pedagogy journeys through the subversive history of black education, and it uses the life of famed educator Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) to elevate the political and intellectual contributions made by teachers to the long black freedom struggle.

About the Conversation
Professors Jarvis Givens and Cornel West will discuss the life of Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) as a student, teacher, and education leader. But, as Givens shows in his new book, Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching (Harvard University Press, 2021), Woodson was the product of longstanding subversive traditions among black schoolteachers, the educators who taught him and those whom he worked alongside. Givens and West will discuss why black teachers were so central to the long black freedom movement, and what lessons we might glean from their legacy as we search for meaningful education today. This conversation will be moderated by Professor Brandon Terry.

Trailblazing American Women Writers Project Series: Amy Tan
2021-05-06 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax) | Facebook Live
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PBS Books will host trailblazing author Amy Tan in conversation with actress Tamlyn Tomita on Thursday, May 6 at 8 PM ET on PBS Books Facebook and YouTube Live channels and ZOOM at http://bit.ly/PBSBooksAmyTan
About the Author:
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Amy Tan rejected her mother’s career expectations and chose to write fiction instead, resulting in her becoming a New York Times best-selling author. In addition to adult fiction, Tan has written two memoirs, two children’s books, numerous magazine articles, a libretto, screenplays, and was the creative consultant for Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat, the Emmy-winning PBS KIDS series. In addition to Tan’s most recent book Where The Past Begins: A Writers Memoir, PBS Books will be discussing her episode of AMERICAN MASTERS, Unintended Memoir.
About the Moderator:
The conversation will be led by actress and activist Tamlyn Tomita, who is best known for her role in Karate Kid II and The Joy Luck Club, as well as her narration of the PBS series, Asian Americans, produced by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and WETA, the flagship PBS station in Washington, D.C.
About the Series
The PBS Books Trailblazing American Women Writers Project’s goal is to highlight incredible women authors and their accomplishments as part of our ongoing celebration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, supported in part by a contribution from the National Endowment for the Arts. PBS Books will release a video highlighting our honored guest after the event to further promote her life and work. We hope to use technology and media to increase access to her work, reach new audiences and encourage dialogue about these writers while inspiring young trailblazers.

Author Talk for Kids: Cozbi Cabrera
2021-05-04 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Halifax) | Facebook Live
PBS Books, in partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) presents their Trailblazing American Women Writers featuring children’s author Cozbi Cabrera.
About the Author
Cozbi Cabrera is the illustrator of several books, including the picture book Beauty, Her Basket, which Publishers Weekly called “a quiet treasure” in a starred review. Her work is featured in her eponymous shop and atelier in Brooklyn. She lives in New York City. To learn more about Cabrera, please visit her at Cozbi.com.
About the Book
A Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Honor Book
Mama’s love is brighter than the sun, even on the rainiest of days. This celebration of a mother-daughter relationship is perfect for sharing with little ones!
On a rainy day when the house smells like cinnamon and Papa and Luca are still asleep, when the clouds are wearing shadows and the wind paints the window with beads of water, I want to be everywhere Mama is.
With lyrical prose and a tender touch, the Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Honor Book Mama and Me is an ode to the strength of the bond between a mother and a daughter as they spend a rainy day together.

This event is brought to you in part through the partnership with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Learn more about ASALH.

Trailblazing American Women Writers Project Series: Joy Harjo
2021-04-27 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax) | Facebook Live
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PBS Books, in partnership with the American Indian Library Association and Kansas City Public Library, is thrilled to present their Trailblazing American Women Writers featuring Joy Harjo in conversation with Cindy Hohl, the President of the American Indian Library Association. The interview will take place Tuesday, April 27 at 8 PM ET |7PM CT on PBS Books Facebook and YouTube Live channels.
About the Author
Joy Harjo is a poet, playwright, and musician, and is currently serving her second term as the first Native American United States Poet Laureate. Harjo’s writing focuses on feminism and social justice, often incorporating Indigenous values, symbols, and myths into her writing. A proud member of The Muscogee Creek Nation, Harjo has kept close to her roots, and her poetry shows the beautiful connection she has to her Indigenous heritage.
About the Moderator
Cindy Hohl (Santee Sioux) is the President of the American Indian Library Association and she works as the Director of Branch Operations at the Kansas City Public Library. She also serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the Joint Council of Librarians of Color and she holds a MBA degree from Baker University and a BA in Organizational Management and Leadership degree from Friends University. As an ALA Spectrum Scholar, she represents Indigenous Librarianship, and she is passionate about Indigenous Knowledge, leadership, literacy, and lifelong learning.
About the Series
The PBS Books Trailblazing American Women Writers Project’s goal is to highlight incredible women authors and their accomplishments as part of our ongoing celebration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, supported in part by a contribution from the National Endowment for the Arts. PBS Books will release a video highlighting our honored guest after the event to further promote her life and work. We hope to use technology and media to increase access to her work, reach new audiences and encourage dialogue about these writers while inspiring young trailblazers.

When I’m 65 - Investing: What’s New & What’s Not
2021-04-23 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Halifax) | Facebook Live
Investors have been on a roller coaster ride in the last 12 months. The only prediction sure to come true is that we can expect the unexpected.
We will discuss what tools and trends Millennials and the Gen Z ‘Zoomers’ are popularizing that might be worth adding to your portfolio. Plus, the tried and true principles that will help traditional investors get across the retirement finish line.

When I'm 65 - Investing: What’s New and What’s Not
2021-04-19 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
Investors have been on a roller coaster ride in the last 12 months. The only prediction sure to come true is that we can expect the unexpected.
We will discuss what tools and trends Millennials and the Gen Z ‘Zoomers’ are popularizing that might be worth adding to your portfolio. Plus, the tried and true principles that will help traditional investors get across the retirement finish line.
“Boomers To Zoomers” is a production of When I’m 65, and funded by a grant from the Investor Protection Trust (IPT). The IPT is a nonprofit organization devoted to investor education. Since 1993 the IPT has worked with the States to provide the independent, objective investor education needed by all Americans to make informed investment decisions.

Hemingway: Coming Of Age In An Earlier Age
2021-04-16 20:00 - 21:00 UTC | Facebook Live
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Friday, April 16, at 8pm ET
Stream here or on Facebook
In conjunction with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s epic documentary, “Hemingway,” Detroit Public TV is presenting a special virtual event on the writer whose Michigan-based Nick Adams short fiction has long been a model for coming-of-age stories. Much of those stories were patterned on Hemingway’s own childhood, when he spent summers in Northern Michigan fishing, exploring and learning about life.
We will invite a distinguished panel of guest to delve into these tales, what they tell us about Hemingway, how modern they were in their own time and how they influence (or not) today’s more diverse community of writers and readers. Do the Nick Adams stories still speak to us? How do characters – and the rest of us — come of age in America one hundred years later?
Panel:

Marc Dudley, Professor of English at North Carolina State University, Author of “Hemingway, Race, and Art: Bloodlines and the Color Line.”
Keith Hood, Writer and Former Editor of the Orchid Literary Review
Monica Rico, Poet, Editor-in-Chief of U-M Bear River Writers’ Conference Review
Fred Svoboda, Professor of English at University of Michigan-Flint, Former Director and Treasurer of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation
Moderator, Heather-Marie Montilla, Library Bureau Chief of PBS Books

This event is being presented in partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint and Comma Bookstore.

Corporate funding for HEMINGWAY was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by the Annenberg Foundation, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and by ‘The Better Angels Society,’ and its members John & Leslie McQuown, the Elizabeth Ruth Wallace Living Trust, John & Catherine Debs, The Fullerton Family Charitable Trust, the Kissick Family Foundation, Gail M. Elden, Gilchrist & Amy Berg, Robert & Beverly Grappone, Mauree Jane & Mark Perry; and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.

When I'm 65 - The COVID Effect: Restoring Financial Wellness
2021-04-15 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
We discuss the ongoing impact of relief funding, and how to spend the latest round of checks to help bridge the gaps in your current investments or create a stronger security net. Plus, what options will help you build a secure baseline savings in the event of any other future disruptions to personal income or the economy?
“Boomers To Zoomers” is a production of When I’m 65, and funded by a grant from the Investor Protection Trust (IPT). The IPT is a nonprofit organization devoted to investor education. Since 1993 the IPT has worked with the States to provide the independent, objective investor education needed by all Americans to make informed investment decisions.

Poetry Author Talk: Dwayne Reed
2021-04-14 17:00 - 18:00 UTC | Facebook Live
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In celebration of Poetry Month and in collaboration with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), meet with “America’s Favorite Rapping Teacher” Dwayne Reed to hear all about Simon B. Rhymin’. Inspired by the children he teaches and his hometown of Chicago, Dwayne has a passion for education and music. Using the power of rap and rhyme, Dwayne shows us that even the underdog can make a difference. The event will occur on Wednesday, April 14 at 5pm ET on PBS Books Facebook Live and Youtube pages.
About the Author
Dwayne Reed is a Chicago teacher, whose viral back-to-school music video “Welcome to the 4th Grade” took the internet by storm. His debut novel, Simon B. Rhymin’ , inspires young readers everywhere to use their voice to create change within their communities. When he’s not writing, rapping, or teaching, Dwayne can be found presenting at educator conferences across the U.S. or loving on his beautiful wife, Simone.

About the Book
Eleven-year-old Simon Barnes dreams of becoming a world-famous rapper that everyone calls Notorious D.O.G. But for now, he’s just a Chicago fifth grader who’s grader who’s small for his age and afraid to use his voice.
Simon prefers to lay low at school and at home, even though he’s constantly spitting rhymes in his head. But when his new teacher assigns the class an oral presentation on something that affects their community, Simon must face his fears of talking to people when he decides to focus on the homeless population in his neighborhood.
With some help from an unexpected ally and his friends, will Simon gain the confidence to rap his way to an A and prove that one kid can make a difference in his ‘hood.

Penny Stamps: Ken Fischer and Wynton Marsalis
2021-04-09 20:00 - 21:00 UTC | Facebook Live
Exploring community connection through the performing arts, UMS President Emeritus Ken Fischer and jazz musician Wynton Marsalis come together in a conversation moderated by Lisa Richards Toney, president and CEO of the APAP Conference NYC.

Hemingway Book Club Conversation
2021-04-08 20:00 - 21:00 UTC
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PBS Books was proud to host a book club conversation on Ernest Hemingway, in conjunction with the new PBS series, HEMINGWAY, which premiered April, 2021.
We encouraged people across the nation to read a book written by Hemingway in March, watch the HEMINGWAY documentary, and then join us for a virtual book club conversation with the filmmakers, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, the following day.
The conversation was moderated by the Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden.

University of Michigan Penny Stamps Speaker Series
2021-04-02 20:00 - 21:00 UTC

Trailblazing American Women Writers Project Series: Laurie Wallmark & Brooke Smart
2021-03-31 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Detroit) | Facebook Live
Join author Laurie Wallmark and illustrator Brooke Smart to discuss Code Breaker, Spy Hunter, the story of Elizebeth Friedman, Americas first female cryptanalyst on Wednesday, March 31 at 5pm ET on Facebook Live and YouTube Live.

Elizebeth Friedman uncovered Nazi spy rings, took down gangsters, created the CIA’s first cryptology unit, and saved thousands throughout World War II, and beyond. Friedman is an excellent example of a Trailblazing American Woman! During the event, you’ll gain insights into the author and illustrator’s process as they share Elizebeth Friedman’s amazing story.

After the event, learn more about Elizebeth by watching The Codebreaker on PBS’ American Experience.

About the Author
Award-winning author Laurie Wallmark has written picture-book biographies of women in STEM fields ranging from computer science to mathematics, astronomy to code breaking. Her books have earned multiple starred reviews, been chosen as Junior Library Guild Selections, and received awards such as Outstanding Science Trade Book, Cook Prize Honor, and Parents’ Choice Gold Medal. She is a former software engineer and computer science professor. She lives in Ringoes, New Jersey. You can find her at lauriewallmark.com and @lauriewallmark.

About the Illustrator
Brooke Smart loves telling stories through her illustrations, especially stories about brave women from history. She has always loved to read, and growing up she could be found nightly falling asleep with a book on her chest. Illustrating books as a professional artist is a lifelong dream come true. She is living the busy, tired, happy, wonderful dream in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, their three kids, and their naughty cat named Sunshine. Learn more about her at brooke-smart.com.

About the Series
The PBS Books Trailblazing American Women Writers Project’s goal is to highlight incredible women authors and their accomplishments as part of our ongoing celebration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, supported in part by a contribution from the National Endowment for the Arts. PBS Books will release a video highlighting our honored guest after the event to further promote her life and work. We hope to use technology and media to increase access to her work, reach new audiences and encourage dialogue about these writers while inspiring young trailblazers.
