follow us 
Ha Jin discusses "The Boat Rocker" at the 2017 Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
Speaker Biography: Author and poet Ha Jin left China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University and eventually pursued creative writing at Boston University. He is the author of several novels, short story collections, volumes of poetry and essays, including "Waiting," "War Trash," "Nanjing Requiem," "Ocean of Words," "Under the Red Flag" and "Between Silences." Jin has received a National Book Award, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, three Pushcart Prizes, a Kenyon Review Prize, a PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award, an Asian American Literary Award and the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. His latest novel is "The Boat Rocker." Jin currently teaches at Boston University. 
VR pioneer and techno-philosopher Jaron Lanier discusses his new book with the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd.
Through a fascinating look back over his life in technology, Jaron Lanier, an interdisciplinary scientist and father of the term “virtual reality,” exposes VR’s ability to illuminate and amplify our understanding of our species, and gives readers a new perspective on how the brain and body connect to the world. An inventive blend of autobiography, science writing, philosophy and advice, this book tells the wild story of his personal and professional life as a scientist, from his childhood in the UFO territory of New Mexico, to the loss of his mother, the founding of the first start-up, and finally becoming a world-renowned technological guru.
Understanding virtual reality as being both a scientific and cultural adventure, Lanier demonstrates it to be a humanistic setting for technology. While his previous books offered a more critical view of social media and other manifestations of technology, in this book he argues that virtual reality can actually make our lives richer and fuller.
Lanier appears in conversation with writer and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, author of 2017’s “The Year of Voting Dangerously.” Tracy K. Smith gave her inaugural reading as the 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. She was joined by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, who opened the event with an original poem.
Speaker Biography: Tracy K. Smith was born in Falmouth, Mass. in 1972 and raised in Fairfield, Calif. She is the author of three books of poetry, including "Life on Mars," winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; "Duende," winner of the 2006 James Laughlin Award and the 2008 Essence Literary Award; and "The Body's Question," winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Smith is also the author of a memoir, "Ordinary Light," a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Nonfiction and selected as a Notable Book by The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her fourth poetry collection, "Wade in the Water," will be published in 2018. In Painting the Gospel: Black Public Art and Religion in Chicago, art historian Kymberly Pinder provides a fascinating survey of some of the stunning religious iconography central to black belief, worship, and resistance. Beginning with images of black-Christ in key Chicago churches, Pinder explores murals, sculpture, and even t-shirts, including works by William Walker, Richard Hunt, and Damon Lamar Reed. Along the way she uncovers how and why African-American faith communities have remade religion in their own images. Join her for a fascinating, image-rich lecture.
This annual lecture recognizes a generous multiyear grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The Terra Foundation is dedicated to fostering the exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts in the United States for national and international audiences. Sportswriter Shea Serrano and friends convene to take your questions on basketball (and other things) to celebrate the release of Serrano’s new book.
Panelists, from left to right: Shea Serrano, Jason Concepcion, Zach Lowe and Rembert Browne
In “Basketball (and Other Things)” Serrano takes you on a basketball-lover's journey through the highest highs of the game, to the lowest lows, and everything in between. He examines the most critical points in the game's history, such as the peak of MJ's career as the greatest player of all time, and breaks down some of the most beloved and heated debates in the fandom. Which NBA championship was most critical to the association's history? How do you rate shots from best to worst?
Regardless of whether you are a seasoned veteran, or a greenhorn just discovering the game, this authoritative anthology of legends, what-if's and stories is sure to earn it's place on your bookshelf from the first chapter. 
Investigative journalist David Neiwert talks with Joe Conason about his new book Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump.
David Neiwert has made a name for himself by reporting on political and cultural extremists for over two decades. Now, in a time where so many Americans are mystified and alarmed by the seeming "revival" of xenophobic organizations and hate groups, Neiwert has compiled the results of his journalistic findings into one book. Alt America: the Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump examines the factors playing into the greater level of visibility afforded to the people who have come to be known as the Alt-Right in contemporary America. He traces the resurgence of far-right political ideology to the 1990's, and later, 9/11. Nurtured by right-wing radio, TV, and now the president, these groups have more leniency now than in the past 20 years.
Joe Conason is editor-in-chief of The National Memo and an editor at The Investigative Fund. One of the country's most popular political columnists. Conason authored two New York Times best selling books, The Hunting of the President and Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine. His newest book, Man of the World, focuses on the post-presidency of Bill Clinton.
