TED Talks
Embrace your main character energy with Natasha Rothwell | On the Spot | Natasha Rothwell
Actor and writer Natasha Rothwell takes the stage for “On the Spot,” TED’s rapid-fire Q&A format. Answering a stream of unexpected questions, she dishes on everything from creativity and representation in TV to love, the first “pinch me”...
PBS
Stephen King reflects on his iconic career and latest release ‘You Like It Darker’
Fifty years ago, a 26-year-old rural Maine school teacher wrote the horror novel “Carrie.” That man, Stephen King, has gone on to write more than 60 books and many have been turned into such films as “The Shining” and “Shawshank...
PBS
In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new novel, memory is a superpower
To make the case for reparations for the toll of slavery, acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates has offered forceful advocacy and powerful data-driven argument. With his first novel, "The Water Dancer," he uses fiction to illuminate the...
PBS
How Glory Edim's Online Book Club Provides Community For 'Invisible' Black Women
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a book club that has transformed into an online community and literary festival, all celebrating voices that otherwise might not be heard. She talks with Jeffrey Brown about her original...
PBS
Isabel Allende's Newest Historical Novel Tells Familiar Story Of Refugee Life
"A Long Petal of the Sea," a new historical novel by renowned writer Isabel Allende, draws upon events spanning from the Spanish civil war to the 1973 coup in her native Chile -- and with resonance for the experience of refugees today....
PBS
Novelist Valeria Luiselli On Writing To Document ‘Political Violence’
The U.S. is reportedly experiencing illegal immigration at the highest rates since 2007, with significant increases in the number of unaccompanied minors. It is these child migrants who are the subject of Valeria Luiselli’s book “Lost...
PBS
Shelley Fisher Fishkin - Lighting Out for the Territory (April 1, 1997)
A dialogue between David Gergen and Shelley Fisher Fishkin, author of ÃLighting Out for the Territory: Reflections on Mark Twain and American Culture.Ó
PBS
How Fiction Draws Pulitzer-Winner Elizabeth Strout Home To Maine
Olive Kitteridge is overbearing and hard to love, as well as complicated and compelling. The character at the center of Elizabeth Strout's 2009 Pulitzer-winning novel is also back -- in a new book called Olive, Again. Strout takes...
PBS
Lynne Cheney: A is for Abigail
Lynne Cheney, author of "A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women" (Oct. 1, 2003) (Author Interview)
PBS
Author Elizabeth Acevedo On Writing A Coming-Of-Age Novel - Extended Interview
Our November pick for the NewsHour-New York Times book club, "Now Read This," is "The Poet X" by Elizabeth Acevedo. She spoke to Jeffrey Brown about finding her voice through poetry and why she wrote a novel in verse.
PBS
Christopher Curtis, Newberry Award Winner for 'Bud, Not Buddy' (Feb. 18, 2000)
Christopher Curtis, Newberry Award winner for "Bud, Not Buddy" (Feb. 18, 2000) (Author Interview)
TED Talks
TED: How webtoons are changing movies and TV | Hyeonmi Kim
Pop culture is changing thanks to a different kind of storytelling, says digital strategist Hyeonmi Kim. They're called webtoons: comic-like illustrations published in short segments and meant to be read on a smartphone in five to 10...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Notes of a native son: the world according to James Baldwin - Christina Greer
James Baldwin was an American novelist and social critic whose essays in “Notes of a Native Son” explored race, sex and class distinctions. -- In the 1960s, the FBI amassed almost 2,000 documents in an investigation into one of America’s...
PBS
From Sherlock Holmes to 50 Shades of Grey
You've probably heard of the risque novel "50 Shades of Grey," now the best selling paperback of all time. But you may not know that it's actually fan fiction! It seems shocking that a fan fiction novel has become so popular, but 50...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why is Herodotus called The Father of History? - Mark Robinson
About 2500 years ago, the writing of history as we understand it didn't really exist. Then, a man called Herodotus witnessed the Persian invasions of Greece and decided to find out why they happened. Mark Robinson investigates how the...
TED Talks
TED: The nit-picking glory of The New Yorker's Comma Queen | Mary Norris
Copy editing for The New Yorker is like playing shortstop for a Major League Baseball team -- every little movement gets picked over by the critics, says Mary Norris, who has played the position for more than thirty years. In that time,...
TED Talks
TED: The beauty of being a misfit | Lidia Yuknavitch
To those who feel like they don't belong: there is beauty in being a misfit. Author Lidia Yuknavitch shares her own wayward journey in an intimate recollection of patchwork stories about loss, shame and the slow process of...
TED Talks
TED: My year of saying yes to everything | Shonda Rhimes
Shonda Rhimes, the titan behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, is responsible for some 70 hours of television per season, and she loves to work. "When I am hard at work, when I am deep in it, there is no other...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How do hard drives work? - Kanawat Senanan
The modern hard drive is an object that can likely hold more information than your local library. But how does it store so much information in such a small space? Kanawat Senanan details the generations of engineers, material scientists,...
Crash Course
The Parable of the Sower: Crash Course Literature 406
This week, John is teaching you about the near-future dystopia in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. Parable of the Sower tells the story of Lauren Oya Olamina, and her life growing up in a post-climate change, semi-lawless America....
TED Talks
TED: The year I was homeless | Becky Blanton
Becky Blanton planned to live in her van for a year and see the country, but when depression set in and her freelance job ended, her camping trip turned into homelessness. In this intimate talk, she describes her experience of becoming...
TED Talks
TED: Get comfortable with being uncomfortable | Luvvie Ajayi
Luvvie Ajayi isn't afraid to speak her mind or to be the one dissenting voice in a crowd, and neither should you. "Your silence serves no one," says the writer, activist and self-proclaimed professional troublemaker. In this bright,...
Crash Course
Producers: Crash Course Film Production
So... what do Producers even do? It's a hard question to answer because there are so many different kinds of producers on a movie. In this episode of Crash Course Film Production, Lily Gladstone talks us through the different kinds of...