PBS
Poet Tess Taylor On How Verse Can Provide Solace
For many, it's a time of uncertainty and isolation. But in poet Tess and culture series, "CANVAS.""
Taylor's humble opinion, turning to verse can provide solace. Her recent
book of poems is Rift Zone," and the following essay is part of...
PBS
Author Marlon James On Never Outgrowing The Magical
Marlon James is best known for writing literary fiction, including “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” which won the prestigious Man Booker Prize. But his latest book, “Black Leopard, Red Wolf,” draws on a lifelong love of comics and...
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
Lynne Cheney On American Presidents Of 'The Virginia Dynasty'
Four of America’s first five presidents were born and raised within a 60-mile radius in the state of Virginia. Those men -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe -- and their sometimes complicated...
PBS
How This Philanthropist Hopes To Boost Mid-Career Women Artists
The work of women artists makes up only 3 to 5 percent of major museums' permanent collections in the U.S. and Europe. Many of these artists struggle financially -- but Susan Unterberg is trying to change that. For decades, the artist...
PBS
This poet's guide dog helped him discover a new world
Born with a condition that left him legally blind and in a family that kept his disability hidden, it wasn't until poet and professor Stephen Kuusisto was in his late 30s that he decided to train with a guide dog. Jeffrey Brown talks...
PBS
Poet Amanda Gorman On How She Prepared For Inauguration Day
The poet who will carry on a tradition and present her new work, "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration this week is already quite accomplished at the age of 22. Jeffrey Brown talked to Amanda Gorman to learn more, as part of our...
PBS
Poet Willie Perdomo on the value of writing letters in a digital world
Texting and emailing have revolutionized the way we communicate, enabling us to be more efficient and stay in touch more easily. But they have also altered the dynamics of some of our most important relationships. Within this new digital...
PBS
Why You Should Be Proud Of Your Ethnic Name
Filmed before the Georgia shootings, writer Te-Ping Chen shares with us her "Humble Opinion" that people with ethic names must embrace them instead of shying away. Chen, who says she was given a "boy's name" at birth, looks back on how...
PBS
18 Years After September 11th, An Oral History That Recalls The Details
For everyone old enough to remember September 11th, 2001, their experience of that catastrophic day is seared into memory. But details of what the victims, survivors and emergency responders endured have faded from national consciousness...
PBS
Why Jimmy Carter may be the most misunderstood president in American history
Why Jimmy Carter May Be The Most Misunderstood President In American History
PBS
Poet Franny Choi on the value of imagining alternate realities
What’s the value of asking questions to which we don’t know the answer? Poet Franny Choi’s “Introduction to Quantum Theory” does just that, and she calls it “one of the scariest things” she’s ever written. Choi offers her brief but...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Iseult Gillespie: Frida Kahlo: The woman behind the legend
In 1925, Frida Kahlo was on her way home from school in Mexico City when the bus she was riding collided with a streetcar. She suffered near-fatal injuries and her disability became a major theme in her paintings. Over the course of her...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How to see more and care less: The art of Georgia O'Keeffe | Iseult Gillespie
Feeling disconnected from creating art within classical conventions, artist Georgia O'Keeffe began experimenting with abstract drawings that defied easy classification. Using the shapes and rhythms of nature to capture her internal...
TED Talks
How a strong creative industry helps economies thrive | Mehret Mandefro
When global leaders think about which industries can fuel economic growth, the arts are often overlooked. But filmmaker Mehret Mandefro says the creative sector actually has the power to grow economies -- while also helping safeguard...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Michelle Brown: What is a butt tuba and why is it in medieval art?
A rabbit attempts to play a church organ, while a knight fights a giant snail and a naked man blows a trumpet with his rear end. These bizarre images, painted with squirrel-hair brushes on vellum or parchment by monks, nuns and urban...
PBS
Are Olympic Competitors Geniuses?
Everyone is obsessed with the Olympics right now, watching these geniuses push the boundaries of their field. Wait, did we say GENIUSES? Yes! We normally associate the word "genius" with intellectual accomplishments, but athletes are...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The art forger who tricked the Nazis
It was one of the strangest trials in Dutch history. The defendant in a 1947 case was an art forger who had counterfeited millions of dollars worth of paintings. But he wasn’t arguing his innocence— in fact, his life depended on proving...
TED-Ed
The strange history of the world's most stolen painting | Noah Charney
Throughout six centuries, the Ghent Altarpiece, also called "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," has been burned, forged, and raided in three different wars. It is, in fact, the world's most stolen artwork— and is considered one of the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Silvia Moreno-García: Titan of terror: the dark imagination of H.P. Lovecraft
Arcane books of forbidden lore, disturbing secrets in the family bloodline, and terrors so unspeakable the very thought of them might drive you mad. These have become standard elements in modern horror stories. But they were largely...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Alex Gendler: Why should you read "The Master and Margarita"?
The Devil has come to town. But don't worry– all he wants to do is stage a magic show. This absurd premise forms the central plot of Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece, "The Master and Margarita." Its blend of political satire, historical...
PBS
Is the Web Browser Replacing the Art Gallery?
For the past 200 years, the gallery has been the home of new and cutting-edge art, a place where the art community can come together and share new ideas. In the era of the internet, however, you can view remarkable art from the comfort...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What’s a squillo, and why do opera singers need it?
An orchestra fills an opera house with music, but a singer’s voice soars above the instruments. Its melody rings out across thousands of patrons— all without any assistance from a microphone. How is it possible that a single voice can be...
TED Talks
Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake
In art school, Phil Hansen developed an unruly tremor in his hand that kept him from creating the pointillist drawings he loved. Hansen was devastated, floating without a sense of purpose. Until a neurologist made a simple suggestion:...