Author and 2015 National Humanities Medalist Isabel Wilkerson discusses her acclaimed first book “The Warmth of Other Suns,” and the profound impact of the Great Migration on every aspect of American culture.
YA and children’s author and curator Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) discusses the joys and responsibilities of writing and curating authentic Native voices for young readers.
Journalist, author, and filmmaker Sebastian Junger discusses his book Tribe—an exploration of how a fractious society disengaged from war may contribute to PTSD suffered by veterans.
Marking Disability Pride month by revisiting my 2020 interview with Rebekah Taussig who discusses her memoir in essays (and current NEA Big Read title) Sitting Pretty The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body.
Author and 2021 National Humanities Medalist Amy Tan discusses “The Joy Luck Club,” her writing with its themes of family and identity, and her relationship with her mother.
Author and Library of Congress’s 2023-24 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Meg Medina wants to spark joy in young readers as they find themselves and others in books.
Novelist and poet Bushra Rehman celebrates the Pakistani American community of 1980s Corona, Queens, and the coming of age of a queer Muslim girl and budding writer in her novel "Roses in the Mouth of a Lion."
Author of the NEA Big Read title "Nothing to See Here" Kevin Wilson discusses the serious issues at the heart of this outrageous (and outrageously funny) novel.
Kelli Jo Ford (Cherokee) discusses her novel Crooked Hallelujah which gives us the stories of four generations of Cherokee women and the love, support, and conflict they share as they navigate their lives in and out of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma...
Sarah Smarsh discusses her book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, which is a 2022-2023 NEA Big Read title.
You may know Daniel K. Isaac as Ben Kim from the television series “Billions,” but he’s also a committed and talented actor in theater and an accomplished playwright. In this podcast, he talks about his career on the stage and the screen.
Peng Shepherd discusses her speculative mystery The Cartographers, her fascination with maps, her love of speculative fiction, and the challenges of writing “the second book.”
We're celebrating poetry in this week's podcast. The first Latino and non-academic Poet Laureate of Kansas (and National Council on the Arts member) Huascar Medina reads from and talks about his poetry, making Kansas his home as a Latino poet, his de...
Stay Connected to the National Endowment for the Arts