Jun 20 Watch 7:44 David Sedaris' diaries paint a life spent in observation By PBS News Hour Who was humorist David Sedaris before he had sold millions of books and made countless live appearances before adoring audiences? In a new book, "Theft By Finding," Sedaris offers a portrait of himself as a younger artist through his personal… Continue watching
Jun 20 Tony Bennett named next recipient of Gershwin Prize By Joshua Barajas Bennett is the ninth recipient, following past honorees like Smokey Robinson, Willie Nelson, Carole King, among others. Continue reading
Jun 19 Watch 2:36 The clinic that brings your broken toaster back to life By PBS News Hour In our NewsHour Shares moment of the day, Fixit Clinics teach people how to repair electronic items instead of throwing them out. Continue watching
Jun 19 Have we been taught poetry all wrong? By Elizabeth Flock Poet Matthew Zapruder say that we are too often asked to find the "hidden meanings" in poems, as if a poem is a riddle. Continue reading
Jun 16 The 7 best books from indie publishers right now By Elizabeth Flock Books from independent publishers are often less easily surfaced or visible. Here are 7 terrific books from indie presses you may not know. Continue reading
Jun 15 Watch 3:50 How Dick Cavett brought the art of conversation to TV By PBS News Hour TV great Dick Cavett credits comedian Jack Paar with providing his talk-show hosting philosophy: Make it a conversation. Cavett offers his Brief but Spectacular take on his career. Continue watching
Jun 15 Watch 5:23 Long-silenced songs of Holocaust survivors are rediscovered By PBS News Hour When the death camps and ghettos of Europe were liberated at the end of World War II, a psychologist from Chicago visited former prisoners and recorded their interviews. Unheard for decades, a long-missing reel of songs has been rediscovered, offering… Continue watching
Jun 15 46 years later, Yoko Ono gets songwriting credit with John Lennon for 'Imagine' By Alison Thoet In a 1980 interview, Lennon said the song “should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song because a lot of it — the lyric and the concept — came from Yoko.” He said he received inspiration from Ono’s 1964 book “Grapefruit.”… Continue reading
Jun 14 Watch 7:24 For newly named U.S. poet laureate, the power of poetry is opening ourselves to others By PBS News Hour Tracy K. Smith, a writer and teacher, is taking on a very public role as the nation's poet laureate. Jeffrey Brown sits down with Smith to discuss how language can be a tool of revelation, her reflections on race in… Continue watching
Jun 14 Watch new poet laureate Tracy K. Smith read two of her poems By Larisa Epatko Tracy K. Smith, the nation’s newest poet laureate, says writing is not just about expressing emotion but of the choices you make when putting words on the page. She reads two of her poems here. Continue reading