Library Talks

294

Join The New York Public Library and your favorite writers, artists, and thinkers for smart talks and provocative conversations from the nation’s cultural capital.

Recent Episodes
  • José Andrés with Gail Simmons: Change the Recipe
    Apr 23, 2025 – 01:16:47
  • Timothy Snyder: The New Paganism—A Framework for Understanding Our Politics
    Apr 16, 2025 – 01:19:35
  • Alissa Wilkinson with Aidan Flax-Clark: We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine
    Apr 9, 2025 – 51:21
  • Edna Bonhomme with Linda Villarosa: A History of the World in Six Plagues
    Apr 2, 2025 – 58:42
  • Hamid Rahmanian with Ahmad Sadri and Melissa Hibbard: Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings
    Mar 26, 2025 – 01:17:01
  • Lisa Kyung Gross with Yael Raviv and Abi Balingit: The League of Kitchens Cookbook
    Mar 19, 2025 – 01:00:18
  • Kenneth Roth with M. Gessen: Righting Wrongs
    Mar 12, 2025 – 55:05
  • Eliza Clark with Allison Nellis: She's Always Hungry
    Mar 4, 2025 – 01:00:56
  • Sarah Lewis with Nell Irvin Painter: The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America
    Feb 25, 2025 – 54:22
  • Victoria Christopher Murray with Melissa Noel: Harlem Rhapsody
    Feb 18, 2025 – 01:09:56
  • Jennifer Finney Boylan with Roxane Gay: Cleavage
    Feb 11, 2025 – 01:02:06
  • David Wright Faladé with Julie Orringer: The New Internationals
    Feb 4, 2025 – 52:10
  • Martha Hodes with Stacy Schiff: My Hijacking
    Jan 28, 2025 – 55:57
  • New York State Poet Patricia Spears Jones in Conversation with Brent Hayes Edwards
    Jan 21, 2025 – 01:14:13
  • Deondra Rose and Angelo Pinto: The Power of Black Excellence
    Jan 14, 2025 – 59:10
  • Caoilinn Hughes with Brandon Taylor: The Alternatives
    Jan 7, 2025 – 54:47
  • Josephine Quinn with Ken Chen: How the World Made the West
    Dec 31, 2024 – 59:31
  • Jean Strouse with Hernan Diaz: Family Romance
    Dec 24, 2024 – 58:06
  • Dava Sobel with Angela Saini: The Elements of Marie Curie
    Dec 17, 2024 – 57:46
  • Daniel Saldaña París with Chloé Cooper Jones: Planes Flying over a Monster
    Dec 10, 2024 – 55:21
  • New York Crime Stories: Reading from the Archives
    Dec 3, 2024 – 01:11:57
  • Maira Kalman with Rumaan Alam: Still Life with Remorse
    Nov 26, 2024 – 52:10
  • Celebrating Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer’s 'The Joy of Connections'
    Nov 19, 2024 – 53:22
  • Glory Edim with Aminatou Sow: Gather Me
    Nov 12, 2024 – 55:04
  • Clara Bingham with Farai Chideya: Revolutionary Foremothers
    Nov 5, 2024 – 58:27
  • Ayana Elizabeth Johnson with Steve Connell: What If We Get It Right?
    Oct 29, 2024 – 01:01:05
  • Ada Limón and Peter Sís: In Praise of Mystery
    Oct 22, 2024 – 54:57
  • Richard Powers with Marlon James: Playground
    Oct 15, 2024 – 57:47
  • Library Talks: Eliza Griswold, Hahrie Han with Andrea Elliott: 'Circle of Hope' and 'Undivided'
    Oct 8, 2024 – 58:21
  • Library Talks: DéLana R. A. Dameron with Renée Watson: Redwood Court
    Oct 1, 2024 – 01:01:14
  • Connie Chung with Walter Isaacson
    Sep 25, 2024 – 59:41
  • Taffy Brodesser-Akner: Long Island Compromise
    Sep 19, 2024 – 58:04
  • Protecting Reproductive Freedoms: Lourdes Rivera, Meera Shah, Reva Siegel, and Jessica Bruder
    Sep 3, 2024 – 59:10
  • Jamaica Kincaid & Kara Walker with Hilton Als: An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children
    Aug 20, 2024 – 46:53
  • Michael Stipe with Taryn Simon: Portraits of Now
    Aug 6, 2024 – 53:26
  • Neel Mukherjee with Hanya Yanagihara: Choice
    Jul 23, 2024 – 58:11
  • Justice Stephen Breyer: Choosing Pragmatism Over Textualism
    Jul 9, 2024 – 01:14:49
  • Tom Steyer with David Wallace-Wells: Winning the Climate War
    Jun 25, 2024 – 57:27
  • Colm Tóibín with Caoilinn Hughes: Long Island
    Jun 11, 2024 – 56:02
  • Emily Wilson: Reading The Iliad
    May 28, 2024 – 01:13:34
  • Ruha Benjamin with Rujeko Hockley: Imagination
    May 14, 2024 – 58:41
  • Marilynne Robinson with Ayana Mathis: Reading Genesis
    Apr 30, 2024 – 57:18
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton with Jennifer Weiner
    Apr 16, 2024 – 56:34
  • Sasha Issenberg with Maggie Haberman: The Lie Detectives
    Apr 2, 2024 – 59:41
  • Lyn Slater and Chloé Cooper Jones
    Mar 19, 2024 – 56:34
  • Chasing Bruno Schulz: Benjamin Balint with Joshua Cohen
    Mar 5, 2024 – 57:27
  • Álvaro Enrigue with Marie Arana: You Dreamed of Empires
    Feb 21, 2024 – 01:02:23
  • Heather Cox Richardson with Andrew Delbanco: Democracy Awakening
    Feb 6, 2024 – 59:35
  • Lesbian Poetic Traditions: Judy Grahn and Friends
    Jan 23, 2024 – 57:40
  • Vauhini Vara with Leslie Jamison: This Is Salvaged
    Jan 9, 2024 – 01:02:33
Recent Reviews
  • ricky d 1 billy
    I love u come back
    Yes
  • Mkmi
    Great guest, condescending interviewer
    The interview with Rebecca Mead was painful. She was wonderful, but it’s as if he wanted to belittle the author and mock her love for this book.
  • idkthisdum
    Pretentious person pretends
    Interesting topics but insufferably pretentious.
  • ordinarily a fan
    host chronically interrupts, talks over guest
    pompous, know-it-all
  • gfrtccdyh
    Interviewer is AWFUL
    Alec Baldwin is great. The interviewee is a pretentious, arrogant twit!
  • EmilyDear3
    Favorite podcast- still active?
    Is this podcast still active? I’m having trouble finding any more episodes since last June. I’ve been listening to the show for a number of years and would be glad to see the programming continue! I had the chance to actually go to a talk at the NYPL in person during a trip to NY (am listening from LA) and it was so exciting to see Paul in person, and hear a great literary conversation with Anne Enright. These recordings of NYPL events have been wonderful opportunities to sit in on programming that rarely happens in other cities—especially those conversations with contemporary writers and artists. Many episodes have led me on to find new authors and texts, so thank you!
  • Nikkijohnson0919
    Great author interviews
    Appreciate all the thoughtful interviews. Great bookish listen.
  • avosmith
    Beautiful Education
    This podcast delivers educational content so beautifully! I always feel like I'm right there in the room with everyone, a part of all sorts of conversations I'm so grateful to be a part of.
  • Dataman58
    An surprisingly entertaining podcast
    You might think the subject matter of this podcast would be dry and didactic. You will learn a great deal but the overriding emotion throughout the many episodes I've heard is joy. There are lots of laughs. Listen to Zadie Smith's conversation with Chimimanda Adichei and Joy-Ann Reid's interview with Nikki Giovanni and tell me you're not more joyful afterwards.
  • marcus ranum
    Interesting and unique
    Great and interesting guests; no hidden agenda that I can detect - it’s nice to be exposed to different thinkers and perspectives. This ‘cast should be on your short-list for general curiousity about the world today. 👍
  • Miss A. Speaking
    What more can you ask for?
    If you're looking for a new book to read, or what further insight into a book you've read or are currently reading, the NYPL podcast is place to be enlightened.
  • OneOfTheOldGods
    Fantastic discussions
    A great listen regularly.
  • Th3Beard3dOn3
    Great stories and interviews
    Follows up with current events in politics, pop culture, religion and literature. Very well produced and curated. Thanks!
  • patconnor
    Excellent Podcast up there with the best iTunes has to offer
    Host Aiden Flax-Clark and the crew behind this podcast make for extraordinary listening. Next to This American Life, this is my most eagerly awaited weekly cast. Great work!
  • richardatgmail
    I wanted to like this podcast but...
    I've listened to several episodes of this podcast, and some were quite fine. I have several problems with this podcast, however. First, there is a decided lack of consistency. It seems like they often just record the programming that is put on at the library and call it a podcast. The result is a mishmash of panel discussions, interviews, etc. with no consistent voices or points of view or progression in topics. One episode featured a speaker who was clearly referring to things that the live audience could see but that was not available to the podcast audience. Second, with episodes often going well in excess of an hour in length, it is not practical to listen in one sitting. Maybe that is some people's preference, but not mine. Third, and most important, the whole thing has an unprofessional feel. In more than half of the episodes I have listened to or attempted to listen to, the podcast suffered from either poor sound quality, weird and distracting verbal ticks from the presenters, uncomfortably long dead air, or some other thing detracting from the listenability. The worst of these was the episode on Emmitt Till. I was really looking forward to this episode because it is a fascinating subject that I do not know enough about. The inescapable smacking sound coming from the presenter every few seconds rendered it utterly unlistenable.
  • tere711
    What on earth is that smacking sound?
    I think the speakers are really interesting. In this case I was listening to the speakers on the Emmett Till story -- an important and fascinating topic, but after a few minutes I simply couldn't listen anymore because it sounded like the speakers were smacking gum, swallowing, some kind of weird feedback into the microphone that was so distracting I finally couldn't stand it. Please fix the feedback issue and this will be a GREAT podcast.
  • KristyVO
    Thank you NYPL!
    I love this podcast! So many intriguing conversations....
  • Purely Optimistic
    The Best Dialogue that Soothe your Ears
    The NYPL Podcast are refreshing, and truly a much needed pleasure to add to ones life. If I missed a live broadcast (i.e. Steinem w/Roberta Kaplan, Esq., Eve Ensler, or Timberland in Harlem at the Schomburg 11/17/15); I have the luxury of regrouping my time and search for the outstanding Podcast and listen to such in the comfort of my home. Simply wonderful!! AWESOME NYPL!!!
  • BranniestFlakes
    Incredible
    Thank you, NYPL! The guest selection is great. Loving all of these. Excellent content.
  • friedmank
    Entertaining, informative, and fun!
    Love this podcast. Thank you NYPL.
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