Meet Idris Goodwin, author of “And In This Corner….Cassius Clay.” Find out what fascinates him about the spoken word and learn about his process for writing a play and other forms of writing.

Explore the power of current and next generation griots chronicling our time in hip hop, spoken word, and poetry with Gia’na Garel, podcast host, filmmaker, musician, and storyteller.

How can we carry forward important stories in conscious, creative and compelling ways?  Explore how with M.K. Stallings, founder of UrbArts, podcast host and storyteller. 

Investigate the importance of Oral Tradition and the carriers of story in this program with songwriter, and photographer Dannie Boyd. 

Who, what and why were the Griots of African culture?  Learn with Lois Conley, Griot Museum of Black History and Culture, and Bernie Hayes, National Blues Museum. 

Explore the connections between story, food and healing as we investigate oral traditions in the black community with Mama Cat (Dr. Cathy Daniels). 

Explore the power and joy of griots and storytelling traditions in the black community with writer, storyteller, and public speaker Cheeraz Gorman.

Go behind the pages of this biography in this interview with the author, President Eisenhower’s granddaughter Susan Eisenhower.

Poet, storyteller, and griot Dannie Boyd encourages aspiring storytellers to do just that; tell stories and write, write, write to inspire their confidence, and find their voice.

Poet, storyteller, and griot Dannie Boyd reflects on the importance of research in writing and reporting and the value of finding out the truth going to the original source when you can.

Poet, filmmaker, and storyteller Gian'na Garel reflects on the opportunity and the power for all of us to be griots in our community.

Poet, storyteller, and teacher M.K. Stallings offers his thoughts on how to help others find their own gift to tell stories.

Poet, storyteller, and teacher M.K. Stallings reflects on the people, places, events, and influences that led to his evolution to the griot he is today.

Poet and storyteller Dannie Boyd describes the impact of reading "The Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison.

Poet and storyteller Dannie Boyd shares his perspective on the importance of griots and the oral tradition in the Black community.

Poet and storyteller Dannie Boyd describes his perspective on the differences between a griot and a reporter.

Poet and storyteller Dannie Boyd describes the events and people in his school years that influenced his journey to griot and his belief in the power of oral tradition to make a difference.

Lois Conley, Executive Director--Griot Museum of Black History, and Bernie Hayes, Executive Director--National Blues Museum, discuss the role of songs in the oral tradition of Black culture.

Historian Lois Conley, Founder and Executive Director of the Griot Museum of Black History, describes the many ways that griots in Black culture tell their stories.

Historian Lois Conley, Founder and Executive Director of the Griot Museum of Black History, talks about the role of griot in Black culture and the impact of their memory and storytelling on the cultu...

Poet and storyteller Cheeraz Gormon recites one of her original poems.

Poet and storyteller Cheeraz Gormon describes her love of folklore, its influence on her work as a poet and storyteller, and how she uses it in her work.

Poet and storyteller Cheeraz Gormon shares the life events, family members, and mentors that inspired her writing career.

In time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.

In this historical novel, the author tells of a series of book thefts which roil the iconic New York Public Library, leaving two generations of strong-willed women to pick up the pieces.

The author presents a poignant examination of mental illness; the broken love between a mother and daughter, the pull to better understand ourselves, our relationships to family and the world.

The author, an American poet, short story writer and novelist, offers a collection of ten searing stories, plus a novella featuring the return of villainess Serena Pemberton.

In this interview, author Jill McCorkle discusses the hieroglyphics of history and memory, finding the story, and how she carved out writing time while raising a family.

The author discusses how this novel, about a PhD candidate in neuroscience, studying the neural circuits of depression to discover a scientific basis for all the suffering she sees, came to be.

In this wide-ranging interview, the author shares insights into her book, the real life places and people who inspired it and how reading is vital to your health.

Following up on previous novels, the author spins a brilliant story with a dark edge, exploring the nature of secrets and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.

The author's enchanting tale follows one woman’s search within herself as she travels through a library, which contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality.

The author discusses his thought provoking novel and other topics.

This Ghanaian author speaks about the motivation and research involved in writing a novel about a young woman making a path for herself and the unexpected turns on her journey.

This master storyteller narrates the struggle over slavery as embodied by John Brown and Abraham Lincoln, two men moved to radically different acts to confront our nation’s gravest sin.

The Pulitzer Prize finalist has written an illuminating accounting of her journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for an exploration of American citizenship.

Sportswriter Reid Forgrave examines the dangers of sports related concussions through Zac Easter’s memoir and his own research into CTS, a progressive brain disease.

O’Neill frames the battle over Confederate symbols by following efforts to remove four memorials to Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general and first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

A gripping story of a banker and a president thrown together in the crucible of national emergency, the outcome of which resonates to today.

Walker joins us from his home where he talks about its inspiration on his novels, the reader who he writes for, but who’s probably never read this series and his love of music.

Reichs discusses how she wrote her novel about a forensic anthropologist who needs to solve the case of human remains with no face, hands or teeth.

Bombardier, a trans man, has assembled a memoir of his own essays, poems and interviews about his life and experiences transitioning from his birth assignment as a female to a trans man.

Clavin lays out in painstaking detail the events leading up to, and following the gunfight at the OK Corral, the most famous shootout in the wild west.

Doyle talks about the challenges of writing in quarantine, the modern issues that affect his work, and the memories, moments and emotions that inspire him.

This book will have you grabbing your swimsuit while heading for the nearest body of water with its incredible stories of record breakers and survivors as well as interesting history and science.

This prolific crime author is spicing things up a bit by introducing a new character and series to readers.

The author talks about her fascination with the Amish community, her writing process and how she brings her characters and settings to life.

The author of internationally bestselling suspense novels shows us his detailed 140-page outline for his novel, The Goodbye Man, and explains why it’s vital to his writing process.

Meltzer, author of “The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President–and Why it Failed,” discusses the book.

Lee grew up wanting to be a comic book nerd, so imagine what it was like for her to work with Marvel and its team of fact checkers on this book.

This thriller is about a pathogen that could start a pandemic. The author talks about the timing of the book and the research involved.

The author weaves true events with a ghostly story of love, mystery, and horror as she relives the Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage and the sinking of her sister ship, the Britannic, four years later.

Two sisters go missing from a beach on the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia. The novel enters the lives of women and girls in this tightly knit community who are connected by the crime.

George speaks to how he came up with the book’s stunning ending, the challenges it brought, what’s it like to sell your own books in your bookshop.

Trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of “Gourmet” in this book and interview.

The Haitian American novelist creates a bond with her readers that carries them through the journeys of triumph, struggle, and resilience of a people and land of depth and color.

In this memoir, the author recounts the racism she endured from strangers, friends and even her extended family, and explains how she pushed past the hate to embrace the power of love.

Co-authors Groner and Teicholz detail the nine-year legal battle for health coverage for those who spent months working in the rubble of the Twin Towers.

This breakthrough book documents price gouging by hospitals and sweetheart deals with insurance companies. It includes ideas on how to fix the system, and how patients can work to lower the price the...

This novel was inspired by folklore told by the author’s Filipina mother. She shares how she began writing novels as a child to channel the loneliness she felt as a Filipina-American in Louisiana.

Russo shares insights into his writing practices and how his college experience plays into the opening of this novel, which includes his trademark wry humor and strong male relationships.

Playwright Eric Coble talks about the value of each person's own experiences in creating stories that others can learn from.

Author Ron Austin describes how he determines what makes a story idea worth pursuing into story creation.

Author Ron Austin describes the process of editing his own work and working with an editor.

Author Ron Austin describes what causes him to believe that a story idea he has been contemplating is worth spending time on to develop in detail.

Biographer George Leopold describes the process of determining what information to include and leave out, and how to organize it all to create an interesting read in his biography of Gus Grissom.

Author George Leopold describes the frustrations and the benefits of working with an editor throughout the process of writing his biography of Gus Grissom.

Author George Leopold discusses why he chose to title his biography of Gus Grissom as "Calculated Risk:  The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom."

Author George Leopold discusses his research process and new information he learned along the way as he wrote his biography of Gus Grissom.

Author George Leopold shares how the process writing his new biography of Gus Grissom was similar to, and different from, his regular career of writing articles for science and technology magazines.

Biographer George Leopold describes the process of research and writing he used to "set the story straight" on the "hatch door blowing incident" of Gus Grissom's splash down after his Mercury flight.

Author George Leopold describes his interest in science and technology and how that led him to a career writing in those fields.

Author Ron Austin describes what he likes about writing short stories as opposed to longer novels and provides examples of challenges and opportunities that he sees in the short story form.

Author Ron Austin describes some examples of writer's block and other frustrations of being a writer and how he overcomes them.

Author Ron Austin explains how he thinks about his audience as he writes a story.

Author Ron Austin shares where is story ideas come from.

Students may react to Austin’s writing, characters and his descriptions and choice of words with this program.

Author Ron Austin describes bringing his collection of short stories in "Avery Colt is a Snake, a Thief, A Liar" to life.

Ron Austin, author of "Avery Colt is a Snake, A Thief, A Liar" describes how Richard Wright's novel "Black Boy" both impressed and influenced him as a reader and a writer.

Austin reads selections from his work and talks about where story ideas come from, his process as a writer, and related topics.

In this book, Burns maps a path for American leadership in the face of a changing world order and explains why now, more than ever, diplomacy should always be “our tool of first resort.”

The author discusses how he exposed the origins of synthetic opioids and the devastating consequences of a drug crisis that has ravaged families and communities across America.

In this novel, based on true events, the author follows three indomitable women from St. Petersburg to Paris under the shadow of World War I. Hall-Kelly also explains how she crafts her characters.