Kentucky Author Forum

This conversation features Congressman Jamie Raskin and Russian expert Dr. Fiona Hill discussing both their books before a live audience at The Kentucky Author Forum on January 24th, 2022 at The Kentucky Center in Louisville. Jamie Raskin represents Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was renamed Chair of the Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for the 117th Congress. Representative Raskin’s moving memoir “Unthinkable,” tells the story of the forty-five days at the start of 2021 that permanently changed Raskin’s life as he confronted the painful loss of his son to suicide, lived through the violent insurrection in our nation’s Capitol, and was appointed House lead impeachment manager in the effort to hold President Trump accountable for inciting the political violence. He is a former constitutional law professor. Fiona Hill is recognizable to many Americans as the key impeachment witness during the U.S. House of Representatives Trump-Uk

Author Roya Hakakian discusses her book "A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious” with journalist Jen Balderama. Roya Hakakian is the author of three books in English and has published two collections of poetry in Persian. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. Hakakian has collaborated on journalistic programming for network television, including 60 Minutes. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and served on the editorial board of World Affairs. Since 2015, she has taught at THREAD, a writing workshop at Yale, and is a fellow at the Davenport College at Yale. Jen Balderama is an editor in the Opinions section of The Washington Post, where she edits columns and essays by staff and contributing writers. Previously, she was an editor at The New York Times Book Review and on the national desk of The Times. For several years Balderama worked as a freelance editor of book-length nonfiction, nove

Author and professor Amy Zegart discusses her book “Spies, Lies, and Algorithms” with journalist Scott Shane. Amy Zegart is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, as well as a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University. She is a contributing writer to The Atlantic and has written five previous books, including co-authoring with Condoleezza Rice “Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity,” based on their popular Stanford MBA course. Zegart specializes in U.S. intelligence, emerging technologies, national security, grand strategy, and global political risk management. Scott Shane is a journalist and author who spent 15 years covering national security and other subjects for The New York Times, where he won the Pulitzer Prize with Times colleagues in 2017 and in 2018 for stories on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. His most recent book is “Objective Troy: A Terrorist, A President, and the Rise of the

Author Laurence Leamer discusses his book “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal and a Swan Song for an Era” with professor, historian, and film critic Leo Braudy. Laurence Leamer is a New York Times best-selling writer and journalist. He is a former Ford Fellow in International Development at the University of Oregon and an International Fellow at Columbia University. In addition to Leamer’s eighteen books, he has written for New York Magazine, The Washingtonian, Harper’s, and The New York Times Magazine. He is regarded as an expert on the Kennedy family and has appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, and NPR discussing American politics. Leamer has written several best-selling biographies of other Americans, including Johnny Carson, the Reagan family, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Leo Braudy is a cultural historian and film critic. He is a professor of English and American Literature at the University of Southern California. His work appears in journals such as American Film, Film Quarterly, Genre, N

Physicist Frank Wilczek and Professor Janna Levin discuss Wilczek’s book, “Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.” Frank Wilczek jointly won The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004, for his graduate work at Princeton with David Gross. He was among the earliest MacArthur Fellows and has won many awards both for his scientific work and his writing, which includes hundreds of articles in leading scientific journals. His “Wilczek’s Universe” column appears regularly in the Wall Street Journal. Wilczek is the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Janna Levin is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. A Guggenheim Fellow, Janna has contributed to an understanding of black holes, the cosmology of extra dimensions, and gravitational waves in the shape of spacetime. She is the presenter of NOV

Writer Mary Roach and NPR host Peter Sagal discuss Ms. Roach’s latest book, “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law”. Mary Roach is the author of six New York Times bestsellers. Roach has written for National Geographic, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and Clinical Anatomy. Her TED talk made the TED 20 Most Watched list. Roach has been a guest editor for The Best American Science and Nature Writing, a finalist for the Royal Society’s Science Book Prize, and a winner of the American Association of Engineering Societies' Engineering Journalism Award. Mary Roach’s books have been published in 21 languages. Peter Sagal is the host of the Peabody Award-winning NPR news quiz show “Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!” He is a playwright, screenwriter, amateur athlete, and host of several documentaries, including Constitution USA with Peter Sagal on PBS. Sagal has contributed to Opera News, Saveur, Finesse, The New York Times Magazine, Chicago magazine, and was the "Road Scholar" columnist for Runner’s World. He's also wo

Writer and professor Kathryn Paige Harden discusses her book "The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality," with journalist and author Carl Zimmer. Kathryn Paige Harden is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and co-directs the Texas Twin Project. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Huffington Post, among others. In 2017, Harden was honored with an award from the American Psychological Association for her distinguished scientific contributions to the study of genetics and human individual differences. Carl Zimmer writes the "Matter" column for The New York Times and has frequently contributed to The Atlantic, National Geographic, Time, and Scientific American. He has won the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Journalism Award three times. Zimmer teaches science writing at Yale, and has been a guest on NPR’s "RadioLab,"

Writer Kurt Andersen discusses his latest book “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History,” with professor and author Daron Acemoglu. Kurt Andersen is the bestselling author of the novels “Heyday, “Turn of the Century,” and “True Believers.” He is also a contributor to Vanity Fair and The New York Times and was the host and co-creator of Studio 360, the Peabody Award-winning public radio show and podcast. Andersen writes for television, film, and the stage. He regularly appears as a commentator on MSNBC. Andersen co-founded Spy magazine, served as editor in chief of New York Magazine, and was a cultural columnist and critic for Time Magazine and The New Yorker. Daron Acemoglu is an Institute Professor at MIT and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, the British Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the European Economic Association, and the Society of Labor Economists. Acemoglu is the author o

Writer and Professor Ethan Kross discusses his book “Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters and How to Harness It'', with journalist and author Maria Konnikova. Ethan Kross is a best-selling author and award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business. He studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships. Kross’ research has been published in Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, among other peer-reviewed journals. He has participated in policy discussion at the White House and has been interviewed on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and NPR’s Morning Edition. Kross’ pioneering research has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, The Economist, The Atlantic, Forbes, and Time Magazine. Maria Konnikov

Professor, writer, and CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter discusses her book “Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and Politics" with professor and author Sarah J. Jackson. Anne-Marie Slaughter is the CEO of New America and Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 2009-2011 she served as the director of policy planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. Dr. Slaughter has written or edited seven other books. She is also a frequent contributor to various publications, including The Atlantic, the Financial Times, and Project Syndicate. Sarah J. Jackson is a Presidential Associate Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and Co-Director of the Media, Inequality, & Change Center. Dr. Jackson is the author of two books, a 2019 New America National Fellow and 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Her next book traces the contributions of Black media-makers to American democra

Journalist and award-winning author Sonia Shah discusses her book “The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move” with journalist Caitlin Dickerson. Sonia Shah is a science journalist and author of critically acclaimed books on science, politics and human rights. She was a finalist for the 2021 PEN/E.O Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and won a Publishers Weekly best nonfiction book of 2020, a best science book of 2020 by Amazon, and a best science and technology book of 2020 by Library Journal. Shah’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Scientific American, and has been featured on CNN, RadioLab, and Fresh Air. Her TED talk about malaria has been viewed by over 1,000,000 people around the world. Caitlin Dickerson is a staff writer for The Atlantic, where she writes about immigration and the American experience. Dickerson joined The Atlantic in 2021 after four years at The New York Times, where she broke news about changes in de

Former commander of NATO, Admiral James Stavridis discusses his geopolitical thriller 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, with New York Times Journalist and George Washington University National Security Professor Thom Shanker. Admiral James Stavridis spent more than thirty years in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of four-star Admiral. He holds a Ph.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he recently served five years as dean. He has published nine previous books and hundreds of articles and is a frequent national and international television commentator as well as a Bloomberg Opinion weekly columnist, and a contributing editor to TIME Magazine. Thom Shanker was named director of the Project for Media and National Security at George Washington University in June 2021, after nearly 25 years with The New York Times, including 13 years as Pentagon correspondent covering the Department of Defense, overseas combat operations and national security policy. Most recently, he h

Best-selling author and diplomat Richard Haass speaks with Stanford professor and author Francis Fukuyama about Haass’ book, “The World: A Brief Introduction”, and other timely topics. Dr. Richard Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the senior Middle East adviser to President George H. W. Bush, as director of the Policy Planning Staff under Secretary of State Colin Powell, and as the U.S. envoy to both the Cyprus and Northern Ireland peace talks. “The World: A Brief Introduction” explores the many challenges globalization presents, and clarifies the most influential events and ideas. Haass aims to promote “global literacy” so that readers can make sense of this complicated and interconnected world. Haass is a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal, the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award, and the Tipperary International Peace Awards. Haass is also the author or editor of fourteen other books, including the best-selling “A World in Disarray.” Francis Fukuyama

Writer Matthew Barzun speaks with Harvard Professor and author Amy Edmondson about Barzun’s book, “The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go”. Matthew Barzun has served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. He served as National Finance Chair for former President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. He joined CNET Networks in 1993 as its fourth employee and held various management positions during his 11 years with the company, including Chief Strategy Officer.  Amy Edmondson is a Professor at the Harvard Business School. She has been recognized by the biannual Thinkers 50 global ranking of management thinkers since 2011, and most recently was ranked #3. Her most recent book, “The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth”, offers a practical guide for organizations serious about success in the modern economy and has been translated into 11 languages.

Anne Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and a Senior Fellow of the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of three critically acclaimed and award-winning histories of the Soviet Union: “Red Famine, Iron Curtain, and Gulag” - winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Applebaum’s “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism” raises an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West and explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. Jason Stanley is a best-selling author of five books, including “How Propaganda Works,” winner of the Prose Award in Philosophy from the Association of American Publishers, and “How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them.” Stanley serves on the Advisory Board of the Prison Policy Initiative and writes frequently about propaganda, free speech, mass incarceration, democracy, and authoritarianism for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Boston Review.

Investigative journalist and author Barton Gellman speaks with The Washington Post national security reporter Ellen Nakashima about Mr. Gellman’s bestseller, “Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State.” Barton Gellman is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist. Since 2013 he has been a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. During 21 years at The Washington Post he served tours as legal, military, diplomatic, and foreign correspondent. He has taught courses at Princeton on nonfiction writing, investigative reporting and national security secrecy. His bestselling “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency” won The Los Angeles Times’ Book Prize and was a New York Times Best Book of 2008. Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post who writes about cyber, intelligence and related issues. In 2018, she and her colleagues won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Russia’s efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. In 2014, she was part of

Physician, sociologist and author Nicholas Christakis speaks with NPR journalist Rob Stein about Dr. Christakis’s bestseller, "Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live." Nicholas Christakis directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, where he is also the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science. Dr. Christakis is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009, Christakis was named to the Time 100, Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2009 and again in 2010, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine to its list of top global thinkers. Rob Stein is a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk. Stein covers health and medicine, focusing on stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. Stein's work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for

The twenty-first episode of GREAT PODVERSATIONS features best-selling writer Elizabeth Kolbert speaking with journalist Kate Aronoff about Ms. Kolbert's book, “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” and other timely topics. Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her most recent book, “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” was published in February. In it, Kolbert explores whether we can change nature to save it, in Earth's new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. She meets biologists who are trying to preserve the world’s rarest fish, which lives in a single tiny pool in the middle of the Mojave; engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a “super coral” that can survive on a hotter globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth. The New York Times praises “Under a White Sky” as: "...important, necessary, urgent, and phenomenally interesting." Kolbe

Best-selling writer Nicole Krauss speaks with NPR journalist Elizabeth Blair about Krauss’ book of short stories, "To Be A Man." Nicole Krauss is best known for her novels "Forest Dark," and "Great House," and a finalist for the National Book Award and the Orange Prize. Her fiction has been published in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, Esquire, and The Best American Short Stories, and her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages. She is currently the first Writer-in-Residence at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. Elizabeth Blair is an Award-winning senior producer and reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR. Blair produces, edits, and reports arts and cultural segments for NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. She has reported on a range of topics from arts funding to the MeToo movement. Blair has overseen several large-scale series including The NPR 100, which explored landmark musical works of the 20th Century, and In Char

Grammy award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma speaks with conductor, composer, and musician Teddy Abrams about the power of music, healing cultural differences, and other timely topics. Yo-Yo Ma has recorded more than 100 albums, is the winner of 18 Grammy Awards, and has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration. He has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Kennedy Center Honors. He has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2006, and was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Teddy Abrams is the acclaimed Music Director of both the Louisville Orchestra and the Britt Festival Orchestra. Abrams has fostered interdisciplinary collaborations with organizations including the Louisville Ballet, the Center for Interfaith Relations, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Speed Art Museum, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. His rap-opera, ‘The Greatest: Muhammad