PBS Books

Author Talk: James Patterson and Matt Eversmann on E.R. Nurses
2021-10-12 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Tuesday, October 12 at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with world’s best-selling author James Patterson and author Matt Eversmann about their latest collaborative book E.R. Nurses.
In celebration of ER Nurse Week, PBSs Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with authors James Patterson and Matt Eversmann on October 12th as part of our ongoing program to bring quality programming to libraries and PBS stations. The event will enable audiences to hear about the book and get a sneak peak into their process as they documented real-life stories of ER nurses who save lives everyday. This conversation will feature an intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Authors
James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author. His enduring fictional characters and series include Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and Ali Cross, along with such acclaimed works of narrative nonfiction as Walk in My Combat Boots, E.R. Nurses, and his autobiography, James Patterson by James Patterson. Bill Clinton (The President Is Missing) and Dolly Parton (Run, Rose, Run) are among his notable literary collaborators. For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, Patterson was awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal. The National Book Foundation presented him with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and he is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and nine Emmy Awards. He lives in Florida with his family.
Matt Eversmann retired from the Army after twenty years of service. His last assignment was as an Infantry Company First Sergeant in the 10th Mountain Division during the surge in Iraq. He spent almost half of his career in the 75th Ranger Regiment and was a member of Task Force Ranger, the unit immortalized in the film Black Hawk Down. Matt and his family live in West Palm Beach where he runs his own consulting company, Eversmann Advisory.

Celebrating Muhammad Ali: Performance and Talk with Kwame Alexander, Author of Becoming Muhammad Ali
2021-09-21 17:30 (America/Detroit)
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On Tuesday, September 21 at 5:30pm ET | 4:30pm CT, Join WTTW and PBS Books via Facebook Live for a Performance and Talk with Kwame Alexander, author of Becoming Muhammad Ali. Brandis Friedman, co-anchor and correspondent for WTTW’s flagship nightly newsmagazine Chicago Tonight and host of Chicago Tonight: Black Voices, will moderate the conversation.
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, and New York Times bestselling author of 35 books, notably Swing; Becoming Muhammad Ali, co-authored with James Patterson; Booked, longlisted for the National Book Award; Rebound, shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal (UK); The Undefeated, a picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson that won the Caldecott and Newbery Medals; and his Newbery Medal-winning novel The Crossover.
Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse. We meet his family, neighbors, and childhood friends, and follow his struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing.
You will learn about Cassius’ childhood in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve. Just three years later, he won his first Golden Gloves bout and began his transformation into the unrivaled Muhammad Ali.

How to Make Your Earnings Work For You – Through Retirement
2021-09-17 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
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Join PBS Books for the upcoming episode in our virtual series about financial and investor protection all about making earnings WORK FOR YOU. Whether you are grinding away as a newbie in your career, or slowing down as you gear up for retirement – making sure the money you earn today will cover your expenses later in life, is an important conversation to have.
Listen as financial experts discuss when to make adjustments to retirement accounts, how to cash in on credit card rewards, and the best way to explore a passive income stream – then engage with the panelists yourself by asking questions live – via Facebook Live.
Tune in on September 17th at 1pm ET on the PBS Books Facebook page.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival: Author Talk: Maria Hinojosa
2021-09-16 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Thursday, September 16th at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Maria Hinojosa about her book Once I Was You.
In collaboration with Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Maria Hinojosa on September 16th as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.”
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Maria Hinojosa’s nearly thirty-year career as a journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WGBH, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring and executive producing the Peabody Award–winning show Latino USA, distributed by Futuro Media and PRX. She is a frequent guest on MSNBC, and has won several awards, including four Emmys, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, and the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club. In 2010, she founded Futuro Media, an independent nonprofit organization with the mission of producing multimedia content from a POC perspective. Through the breadth of her work and as the founding co-anchor of the political podcast In The Thick, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. She lives with her family in Harlem in New York City. Follow Maria on Twitter at @Maria_Hinojosa and Facebook at Maria.Hinojosa.718.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Tana French
2021-09-15 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Detroit)
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Wednesday, September 15th at 6:00 PM ET | 3:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Tana French about her book The Searcher.
In collaboration with GBH, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Tana French on September 15th as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.” The moderator for the conversation will be GBH Celtic Sojourn Host Brian O’Donovan.
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Tana French is the author of seven previous books, including In the Woods, The Likeness, and The Witch Elm. Her novels have sold over three million copies and won numerous awards, including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry Awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival: Author Talk: Annette Gordon-Reed
2021-09-13 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Monday, September 13th at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Annette Gordon-Reed about her book On Juneteenth.
In collaboration with WETA, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Annette Gordon-Reed on September 13th as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.”
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard. Gordon-Reed won sixteen book prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2009 and the National Book Award in 2008, for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W.W. Norton, 2008). In addition to articles and reviews, her other works include Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy(UVA Press, 1997), Vernon Can Read! A Memoir, a collaboration with Vernon Jordan (PublicAffairs, 2001), Race on Trial: Law and Justice in American History (Oxford University Press, 2002), a volume of essays that she edited, Andrew Johnson (Times Books/Henry Holt, 2010) and, with Peter S. Onuf, “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination (Liveright Publishing, 2016). Her most recent book is On Juneteenth (Liveright Publishing, 2021). Gordon-Reed was the Vyvyan Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History at the University of Oxford (Queens College) 2014-2015. Between 2010 and 2015, she was the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She was the 2018-2019 President of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. She is the current President of the Ames Foundation. A selected list of her honors includes a fellowship from the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, a Guggenheim Fellowship in the humanities, a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Humanities Medal, the National Book Award, the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, the George Washington Book Prize, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. Gordon-Reed served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College from 2010 to 2018. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011 and was a member of the Academy’s Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2019, she was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Christopher Paolini
2021-09-08 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Wednesday, September 8th at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Christopher Paolini about his book To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.
In collaboration with Kansas City PBS and Kansas City Public Library, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Christopher Paolini on September 8 as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.”
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Christopher Paolini was born in Southern California and has lived most his life in Paradise Valley, Montana. He published his first novel, Eragon, in 2003 at age nineteen, and quickly became a publishing phenomenon. His Inheritance Cycle—Eragon and its three sequels—have sold nearly 40 million copies worldwide. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is his first adult novel.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Viet Thanh Nguyen
2021-09-02 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Thursday, September 2nd at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Viet Thanh Nguyen about his book The Sympathizer.
In collaboration with SoCal PBS and KCTS, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Viet Thanh Nguyen on September 2 as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.”
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Viet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in America. He is the author of The Sympathizer , which was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction alongside six other prizes. He is also the author of the short story collection The Refugees, the nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies, a finalist for the National Book Award, and is the editor of an anthology of refugee writing, The Displaced. He is the Aerol Arnold

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Sarah Pearse
2021-08-31 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Wednesday, August 31 at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Sarah Pearse about her book The Sanatorium.
In collaboration with Maryland Public Television, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Sarah Pearse on August 31st as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.”
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Sarah Pearse grew up in Devon, UK, and studied English literature and creative writing at the University of Warwick before completing a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism. She lived in Switzerland for several years before returning to the UK. The Sanatorium, her debut novel, was an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and was selected as a Reese’s Book Club Pick. Her second novel, The Retreat, will be published by Pamela Dorman Books/Viking in April 2022

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Brit Bennett
2021-08-30 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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On Monday, August 30 at 8 PM ET | 5 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Brit Bennett about her book The Vanishing Half.
In collaboration with DPTV, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Brit Bennett on August/September as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.”
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan. Her debut novel The Mothers was a New York Times bestseller, and her second novel The Vanishing Half was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and in 2021, she was chosen as one of Time’s Next 100 Influential People. Her essays have been featured in The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Jezebel.

Investing: A Beginner’s Guide for Getting Started
2021-08-27 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
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Investing young is one of the best ways to lay a stable financial foundation – long term. Learn how allocating money wisely now can build the wealth and freedom you’ve always wanted.
Tune in as PBS Books breaks down the basics of investing, dissects different investment strategies to help you gain a competitive advantage, and explores the most common investing mistakes novice investors make when they first start out.
Engage with financial experts by asking questions live – via Facebook – and begin charting the path that makes sense for you.
Panelists include:
YANELY ESPINAL, the Director of Educational Outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance
SAUNDRA DAVIS, a financial coach and educator
WHITNEY HANSEN, a financial and business coach, and host of the Money Nerds podcast
MATT ROLING, an adjunct finance professor at Wayne State University
Watch the livestream August 27 at 1pm ET.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Kelli Jo Ford
2021-08-26 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Detroit)
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Thursday, August 26th at 7:00 PM ET | 6:00 PM CT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Kelli Jo Ford about her book Crooked Hallelujah.
In collaboration with WTTW, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Kelli Jo Ford on August 26th as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.” The conversation will be moderated by Melodi Serna, Executive Director of the American Indian Center in Chicago. In addition, Allison Waukau, an American Indian Library Association Executive Board member, will join to ask a few questions, as well.
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Kelli Jo Ford is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize, the Everett Southwest Literary Award, the Katherine Bakeless Nason Award at Bread Loaf, a National Artist Fellowship by the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and a Dobie Paisano Fellowship. Her fiction has appeared in the Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Missouri Review, and the anthology Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, among other outlet.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Martha Wells
2021-08-25 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Wednesday, August 25th at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Martha Wells about her book Fugitive Telemetry.
In collaboration with South Florida PBS, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Martha Wells on August 25th as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.” This conversation with be moderated by South Florida PBS Between the Covers Ann Bocock.
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Martha Wells has written many fantasy novels, including The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, the Books of the Raksura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads and ending with The Harbors of the Sun), and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and nonfiction. Her New York Times and USA Today-bestselling Murderbot Diaries series has won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards.

Celebrating the Library of Congress National Book Festival Author Talk: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2021-08-24 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Tuesday, August 24th at 8:00 PM ET | 5:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Silvia Moreno-Garcia about her book Velvet Was the Night.
In collaboration with KERA, PBS Books is honored to host this virtual engagement event with author Silvia Moreno-Garcia on August 24th as part of our dynamic, sequel partnership with The Library of Congress for the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival “Open a Book, Open the World.”
After a successful partnership with The Library of Congress last year, this second series of virtual author talks with legendary authors of our time will center on this year’s theme: “Open a Book, Open the World.” The 2021 LOC Festival will be a 10-day event, held from September 17-26, 2021. Programming includes a 60-minute PBS Books special, exploring the many worlds authors create, investigate, and share. Hosted by LeVar Burton, the special will premiere on Sunday, September 12, from 6-7pm ET (Check your local listing). Additional PBS feed dates are Saturday, September 18 at 7pm ET, and Sunday, September 19 at 1:30pm ET (more details to follow). Expect diverse discussions from incredible guests like Angie Thomas, Tana French, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Michael J. Fox.
Throughout the months of August and September, PBS Books is hosting ten events to celebrate several authors who are part of this thrilling special. These intimate, moderated Q&As will be moments to learn about the care and curiosity that generates great writing. The events will provide insights into the upcoming festival and will be targeted to particular national regions. As always, this PBS Books content will be accessible to all audiences.
About the Author
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed speculative novels Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Signal to Noise, Certain Dark Things, and The Beautiful Ones; the crime novel Untamed Shore, and the forthcoming noir Velvet Was the Night. She has edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows (aka Cthulhu’s Daughters). She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Author Talk for Kids: Trailblazer Meg Medina
2021-07-29 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Detroit)
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Thursday, July 29th at 5:00 PM ET | 2:00 PM PT: PBS Books presents this Author Talk for Kids with Meg Medina about her book Merci Suárez Can’t Dance, the highly anticipated sequel to the award-winning and captivating Merci Suárez Changes Gears, for which she was the 2019 Newbery Medalist. This event will be a time for viewers of all ages to learn more about Medina, discover new details in Merci’s ongoing story, and connect on themes of identity and coming-of-age. With an impressive collection of inspiring work, Medina is a trailblazing author who showcases Latino characters and uplifts all readers. PBS Books is honored to share this special event for both returning and new viewers nationwide. In conjunction with hosting Meg Medina and our focus on her outstanding new book, we will discuss PBS’ programming in The Latino Experience: a three-hour presentation of nonfiction and fiction short films that explore Latino/a/x identity in the context of the United States and Puerto Rico. Follow the conversation at #LatinoExperiencePBS.
About the Book
Medina’s 2021 book Merci Suárez Can’t Dance is all about growing up and self- discovery. From the start, it is clear that seventh grade is going to be a real trial for Merci Suárez. For science she’s got no-nonsense Mr. Ellis, who expects her to be as smart as her brother, Roli. She’s been assigned to co-manage the tiny school store with Wilson Bellevue, a boy she barely knows, but whom she might actually like. And she’s tangling again with classmate Edna Santos, who is bossier and more obnoxious than ever now that she is in charge of the annual Heart Ball. One thing is for sure, though: Merci Suárez can’t dance—not at the Heart Ball or anywhere else. Dancing makes her almost as queasy as love does, especially now that Tía Inés, her merengue-teaching aunt, has a new man in her life. Unfortunately, Merci can’t seem to avoid love or dance for very long. She used to talk about everything with her grandfather, Lolo, but with his Alzheimer’s getting worse each day, whom can she trust to help her make sense of all the new things happening in her life? The Suárez family is back in a touching, funny story about growing up and discovering love’s many forms, including how we learn to love and believe in ourselves.

Keep learning more about Merci Suárez Can’t Dance: Meg Medina has created a discussion and activity guide for all of her books, linked here.

Financial Freedom – Declare the Life You Want
2021-07-23 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Detroit)
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What does FINANCIAL FREEDOM mean to you, and how do you ACHIEVE it? Whether you want to reduce debt, save more, create a passive income for your family, automate investments, or simply feel like you have enough money on hand to retire and live out the life you’ve always imagined – Financial Freedom begins with setting a plan.
Learn different debt reduction strategies… begin taking steps to make your money work for you… and determine how to invest more for the future.
PBS Books will speak with financial experts about the different strategies to help lead to prosperous, secure and empowering futures.

Author Talk: Art: Creating With Judy Chicago
2021-07-20 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Tuesday, July 20th at 8pm ET: PBS Books presents this Author Talk with Judy Chicago about her book The Flowering: The Autobiography of Judy Chicago. This event will be a time for our viewers to get to know America’s most dynamic living artist. Known for her extraordinary and genre-defying art, such as The Dinner Party, Birth Project, Holocaust Project, and more, Chicago is a trailblazing feminist and a champion of using art to express visions and challenge boundaries. PBS Books is honored to learn more about Chicago alongside viewers nationwide, as she explores her own personal journey to becoming a multi-talented American icon. This special event will showcase the stories behind her works and celebrate her lifelong aim: a more just and equitable world for all beings. This conversation will be led by Jessica Porter, Lila Harnett Executive Director of ArtTable, Inc. : the foremost professional organization dedicated to advancing the leadership of women in the visual arts.
About the Book
Chicago’s 2021 book The Flowering is an answer to and reflection upon her previous autobiographical writings, as well as a crucial update to her story of resilience. Written on the eve of her first-ever career retrospective at the age of eighty-two, the book unearths stories behind some of her most groundbreaking artworks. After decades on the margins of the art world, which devalued her work for its feminist content, Chicago continues to pave the way for a new generation of rising trailblazers. In addition, her perspective as a woman artist guides this narrative. Chicago shares, both from decades of experience and extensive research, stories of how misogyny, racism, and other prejudices often intersect to erase the legacies of artists. In further exploring her own life, Chicago reinforces her message of resilience for artists, activists, and all audiences.
“The Flowering,” Chicago writes in the book’s Introduction, “chronicles my journey as a white, cis, middle-class Jewish woman who learned about the potential power of art through the widespread positive response to her work despite art critical scorn; who had to build a community of support when there was none; who never swerved from her vision, no matter how difficult her life became; and who ultimately triumphed by not giving up. My struggle has sometimes been overwhelming and dispiriting but in the end it was worth it. I hope my readers will find my tale as inspiring as I did when I first discovered the long struggle of my foremothers, who paved the way for so many of the freedoms we enjoy today.”
About the Author
Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, and educator whose career spans nearly six decades. Her work is in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Brooklyn Museum, The British Museum, the de Young Museum, The Getty Trust, The Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, SF MOMA, Tate Modern, and more than 25 university art museums.

Author Talk: History: Celebrating Ida B. Wells’ Birthday with Author Michelle Duster
2021-07-14 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
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Wednesday, July 14th at 8pm ET: PBS Books, in partnership with The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), presents this Author Talk with Michelle Duster about her book Ida B. The Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells. This night will be a birthday celebration for Ida B. Wells, and a time to learn more about her fantastic feats, which earned her a posthumous Pulitzer Prize just recently in 2020. As the great-granddaughter of one of the most iconic American trailblazers, Duster will explore her own family history alongside our viewers. This special event will further illuminate an incredible legacy and chart how we can continue Wells’ work in search of equality and justice for all.
About the Book
Duster’s 2021 book Ida B. The Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells discusses her remarkable great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells (1862-1931). At once a research-fueled, deep dive into Wells’ life, and a personal narrative about Duster’s own self-discovery and activism, the book is a combination of lessons of the past and visions for the future. As America sees its first Black woman Vice President in office, the story of this American civil rights pioneer is more resonant than ever. Wells’ staunch defense of Black lives, advocacy for universal suffrage, and organizing work (co-founding of the NAACP) are just a few of numerous examples when she used her individual strength and voice to advocate for others. Now, generations later, Duster takes up the family’s mission through thoughtful analysis and writing. Connecting their bond of womanhood across centuries, Duster illustrates Wells’ journey from ferocious teen to pioneering journalist to anti-lynching crusader.
About the Author
Michelle Duster is a writer, speaker, professor, and champion of racial and gender equity. In the last dozen years, she has written, edited, or contributed to over a dozen books. She co-wrote the popular children’s history book, Tate and His Historic Dream; coedited Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism and Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls; and edited two books that include the writings of her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells. She has written articles for Essence, Refinery29, HuffPo, Teen Vogue, Glamour, People and The North Star.

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.
