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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.” 
This video is a portion of George Monbiot's talk "Out of the Wreckage" filmed for The Gaia Foundation
From The Gaia Foundation:
"In this powerful and positive talk for The Gaia Foundation, George Monbiot brings to life his new book, Out of the Wreckage - A New Politics for an Age of Crisis.
George explains how a toxic ideology of extreme competition and individualism not only rules the world, but misrepresents human nature, thereby destroying hope and common purpose whilst fracturing communities and the ecosystems upon which we all depend. He argues that only a positive vision can replace it; a new story that re-engages people in politics and lights a path to a better world, and a more respectful relationship with our beautiful planet.
George explore new findings in psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology cast human nature in a radically different light: as the supreme altruists and cooperators. He shows how we can build on these findings to create a new politics: a ‘politics of belonging’, and a politics which has community, reciprocity and respect for all species at its heart. Both democracy and economic life can be radically reorganised from the bottom up, enabling us to take back control and overthrow the forces that have thwarted our ambitions for a better society and better stewardship of the Earth.
George provides a thrilling and positive vision, and the hope and clarity required to change the world.
Find out more about The Gaia Foundation and our events here www.gaiafoundation.org
This was filmed in Heath Street Baptist Church, North London by Ben Gray for The Gaia Foundation. 23rd November 2017." 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. 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. 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. Elizabeth Alexander, Tyehimba Jess, Yusef Komunyakaa, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Marilyn Nelson, Sharon Olds, Atsuro Riley, Sapphire, Solmaz Sharif and Patricia Smith get together for an evening of readings to celebrate the centenary of Gwendolyn Brooks — part of a year-long, nationwide tribute to one of America’s most influential poets whose career offers an example of an artist always responsive to the dramatic historical, political and aesthetic changes and challenges she lived through. Co-sponsored by Our Miss Brooks: A Centennial Celebration, the Academy of American Poets, Cave Canem Foundation, the NYU Creative Writing Program, the Poetry Society of America, Poets House and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (NYPL).
Recorded on Monday, November 13 at 92nd Street Y.
