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Harold Bloom: From the Anxiety to the Anatomy of Influence

On the closing day of the 2011 PEN World Voices Festival, Yale University's Sterling Professor of the Humanities Harold Bloom joins Paul Holdengräber for a discussion LIVE from the NYPL.

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Let's Woman-Splain Romance!
With Katharine Ashe, Lisa Kleypas, Beverly Jenkins, Alisha Rai, Alyssa Cole, & Ron Hogan

The romance genre has been objectified since its inception, but has grown into the foremost feminist genre, written for women/by women. This panel features some of the foremost authors of the genre, and a few of the young, diverse voices actively working to evolve the genre and general public perception, coming together to discuss the appeal, power and strength of Romance to an open-minded (male) moderator. It’s time to turn the tables, and womansplain the appeal and cultural relevance of the most popular commercial genre.
Colson Whitehead Interview: I Have to Know the Destination
“I became a writer once I realised no one liked my stuff.” Watch Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey’s favourite author, Pulitzer Prize-winning Colson Whitehead, on how rejections of his first stab at a novel made him realize that he wanted to pursue writing.

As a child, Whitehead read a lot of Marvel comic books and initially wanted to work within that genre. It wasn't until he started working for the New York newspaper The Village Voice that he began writing, and being a freelance journalist furthermore allowed him the time to write fiction. However, his first attempt at a novel was rejected several times – he was even dumped by his agent – but this only made him want to continue writing: “I had no choice than to keep going and start another novel, and that was ‘The Intuitionist’, which came out in 1999.”

“I figured if you know how to do a certain kind of story, why do it again?” Whitehead likes to switch genres, “moving from pseudo-detective novels to non-fiction to horror novels” to keep it interesting – and challenging – for him as a writer: “If there’s an element of fear involved in not knowing how it’s going to work out in terms of execution, that’s always good.” If Whitehead is unsure about which direction to take a story, he writes his ideas in two different notebooks, going with the one where the ideas seem to flow more freely. He takes notes for up to a year before he starts writing, figuring out the characters as well as the beginning and the end: “I have to know the destination before I set out.”

Colson Whitehead (b. 1969) is an award-winning American novelist. He is the author of several novels, including his debut ‘The Intuitionist’ (1999) and ‘The Underground Railroad’ (2016), for which he won the prestigious 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He has also written the non-fiction book ‘The Colossus of New York’ (2003). Whitehead is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2002) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2013). He lives and works in New York City.

Colson Whitehead was interviewed by Tonny Vorm in August 2017 in connection with the Louisiana Litera-ture festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.
Penelope Lively and Kamila Shamsie introduce Penguin Women Writers
Penguin Women Writers celebrates the centenary of (some) women getting the vote in Britain. Curated by two of the UK’s most acclaimed female writers – Penelope Lively and Kamila Shamsie – this project features four forgotten classics by female authors: Mary McCarthy’s Birds of America, Meatless Days by Sara Suleri, Lifting the Veil by Ismat Chughtai and The Lark by E. Nesbit. We asked them why they were interested in curating the series and what they discovered about the four books they chose.
Edwidge Danticat: I Hope Oxfam Scandal in Haiti Is a #MeToo Moment for Aid Orgs
The British charity Oxfam has released its own internal report into the sex scandal. It concluded senior aid workers at Oxfam, including the country director in Haiti, hired prostitutes at Oxfam properties in Haiti and then tried to cover it up. Oxfam’s internal report includes claims that three Oxfam staff members physically threatened a witness during the charity’s internal investigation. For more, we speak with Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist, author of several books, including “The Farming of Bones,” which won an American Book Award. We also speak with Taina Bien-Aimé, executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, and Sean O’Neill, chief reporter at The Times newspaper in London, which broke the story of the scandal.
Launching BEAUTIFUL RISING at Bluestockings NYC, feat. Laura Newman
In the struggle for freedom and justice, organizers and activists have often turned to art, creativity, and humor. In this follow-up to the bestselling Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution, Beautiful Rising showcases some of the most innovative tactics used in struggles against autocracy and austerity across the Global South.

Here, Laura Newman sings the table of contents to Beautiful Rising at the book's New York City launch. Thanks to Beautiful Trouble, L.A. Kauffman, Laura Newman, and Bluestockings for their support.
Beyond Belief: The Politics of Religious Freedom
In recent years, policymakers in Europe and North America have rallied around the notion that religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and protections for religious minorities are the keys to combating persecution and discrimination. Northwestern University's Elizabeth Shakman Hurd doesn’t think so. A recipient of a Buffett "Big Ideas" grant, Hurd argues in "Beyond Religious Freedom" that the powerful global networks that seek to regulate and moderate religion create the very social tensions and divisions they mean to overcome.
Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman: "A Mind at Play"
Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman will discuss their new book, A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age.

Claude Shannon’s groundbreaking work at MIT and Bell Labs laid the foundations for digital computing and the Information Age. A Mind at Play, the first biography of Shannon (1916-2001), introduces readers to his life and career, his seminal work on information theory, and his interactions with the likes of Einstein, Turing, and von Neumann. Soni and Goodman will touch on Shannon’s work habits and practical advice on fostering creativity, as well as his hobbies as a gadgeteer, gambler, and juggler. The authors will discuss why Claude Shannon’s work is essential to the story of our age, bringing one of the foremost intellects of the twentieth century to life.
Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism
Against racism, sexism, and violence: against the new authority. Women of Resistance, a poetry collection with a feminist ethos that cuts across race, gender identity, and sexuality, is available now
Robert Reich: Morality & the Common Good Must Be at Center of Fighting Trump
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump made a promise to the American people: There would be no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Well, the promise has not been kept. Under his new budget, President Trump proposes a massive increase in Pentagon spending while cutting funding for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Trump’s budget would also slash or completely eliminate core anti-poverty programs that form the heart of the U.S. social safety net, from childhood nutrition to care for the elderly and job training. This comes after President Trump and Republican lawmakers pushed through a $1.5 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly favors the richest Americans, including President Trump and his own family. We speak to Robert Reich, who served as labor secretary under President Bill Clinton. He is now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent book, out today, is titled “The Common Good.”
Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump: Joseph Stiglitz
In the updated edition of Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz’s new book, “Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump,” he argues that when Trump became president, he “threw a hand grenade into the global economic order.” We speak with Stiglitz about the impact of free trade agreements that Trump has criticized.
Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Melting North, by Mark C. Serreze
In the 1990s, researchers in the Arctic noticed that floating summer sea ice had begun receding. This was accompanied by shifts in ocean circulation and unexpected changes in weather patterns throughout the world. The Arctic's perennially frozen ground, known as permafrost, was warming, and treeless tundra was being overtaken by shrubs. What was going on? Brave New Arctic is Mark Serreze's riveting firsthand account of how scientists from around the globe came together to find answers.

In a sweeping tale of discovery spanning three decades, Serreze describes how puzzlement turned to concern and astonishment as researchers came to understand that the Arctic of old was quickly disappearing—with potentially devastating implications for the entire planet. Serreze is a world-renowned Arctic geographer and climatologist who has conducted fieldwork on ice caps, glaciers, sea ice, and tundra in the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic. In this must-read book, he blends invaluable insights from his own career with those of other pioneering scientists who, together, ushered in an exciting new age of Arctic exploration. Along the way, he accessibly describes the cutting-edge science that led to the alarming conclusion that the Arctic is rapidly thawing due to climate change, that humans are to blame, and that the global consequences are immense.

A gripping scientific adventure story, Brave New Arctic shows how the Arctic's extraordinary transformation serves as a harbinger of things to come if we fail to meet the challenge posed by a warming Earth.
Mohsin Hamid on home, identity and Exit West
Twice a Man Booker Prize-nominee , Mohsin Hamid came into Waterstones to talk about his most recent novel Exit West. In part one of a three part interview he spoke about why 'home' and 'identity' are so complex and where the idea for Exit West came from.
Alain Locke's Historical Influence on Society
Professor Jeffrey C. Stewart, author of, "The New Negro", explores why Alain Locke is such an historical influence on today's society.
Bookforum: "Bleeding Hearts"
Bookforum's annual Valentine's Day reading, featuring Sloane Crosley, Porochista Khakpour, Patrick McGrath, Dana Spiotta, and Tony Tulathimutte.
Michael Wolff in conversation with Armando Iannucci - Fire and Fury
We are proud to present an extraordinary and entertaining evening of Fire and Fury as author, Michael Wolff, talks by satirist, producer and director Armando Iannucci. In front of packed house at The Light in London they discuss Wolff’s explosive look inside the Trump White House.

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Harold Bloom: From the Anxiety to the Anatomy of Influence

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