GBH offers a wide variety of in-person and virtual events. From live music recordings, lectures and screenings to our virtual Book Club, tasting events and more, stay connected to our community. Whatever you’re interested in—news, history, the arts or music, we’ve got you covered. Fill your calendar with this rich diversity of events and be inspired, informed and entertained.
If you have questions about any of our events please reach out to Audience Member Services by phone 617-300-3300 or email info@wgbh.org
Featured Events
-
VirtualBeyond the Page with Hank Phillippi Ryan
Join USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan for an unforgettable evening. -
In Person
Ralph Lowell Annual Lecture - Democracy’s Discontent: Why are we so polarized and what can we do about it?
GBH invites you to attend the inaugural Ralph Lowell Annual Lecture, honoring the legacy of GBH founder Ralph Lowell, whose life’s work was devoted to educate and inform the public.Partner:GBH Forum Network John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
More GBH Events
-
In PersonVirtualGreat Decisions: International Cooperation on Climate Change
Over the past 30 years, climate change has become one of the central global challenges of the modern era, one that has hugely important consequences for the livability of the planet.
Join WorldBoston for a timely discussion of this topic with Dr. Kelly Sims Gallagher, Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy. This program will feature an expert presentation, live audience Q&A, and time for networking and discussion with other globally-oriented participants.Partner:WorldBoston -
In PersonVirtual
William Dawes’ Midnight Ride
With William Dawes Schulz, journalist
While Longfellow cast Paul Revere as a lone hero in his 1860 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,” history lovers have stood up for the other rider who carried news from Boston that night, William Dawes, since at least the 1890s. This talk will explore the life and the Midnight Ride of William Dawes.Partner:Paul Revere Memorial Association -
Virtual
Beyond the Page with Hank Phillippi Ryan
Join USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan for an unforgettable evening as she takes us beyond the page of her brand-new psychological thriller, All This Could Be Yours, releasing September 9, 2025.
Known for her pulse-pounding plots and powerhouse prose, Hank is the award-winning author of 16 thrillers, an Emmy-winning investigative reporter, and a true master of suspense. Her latest novel delivers a chilling and captivating look at the dark side of success, when a glamorous book tour becomes a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
Be among the first to hear the inside scoop behind this highly anticipated release that the Library Journal called Hank’s “best book to date.” Plus, enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at her career and writing process in an evening that promises twists and turns.
This event offers two ticket options:- Attend the event: $0
- Attend the event + receive a SIGNED copy of All This Could be Yours + GBH Membership: $60
-
In Person
GBH Amplifies with host Jimmy Hills
GBH Amplifies is a community conversation series focused on expanding the reach of local voices from Greater Boston and beyond. The series features community leaders hosting public conversations in the GBH Studio at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, providing a platform for inclusive perspectives on the issues that matter most to New England communities. GBH Amplifies happens weekly on Thursdays from 12:30-1:30pm at the GBH BPL Studio. This event is free and open to the public. The monthly schedule is:
First Thursday of the Month: James ‘Jimmy’ Hills, Host of Java with Jimmy
Second Thursday of the Month: Ron Mitchell, Publisher and Editor of The Bay State Banner
Third Thursday of the Month: Alberto Vasallo III, President and CEO of El Mundo Boston
GBH Amplifies is also being supported by the Barr Foundation. -
In Person
Outspoken Saturdays (October 2025)
The GBH BPL studio will host Outspoken Saturdays, a spoken word poetry event for emerging artists. Every first Saturday of the month, the series will be created in collaboration with spoken word artist Amanda Shea. Join us!
Registration is encouraged for this free event. -
Virtual
Kathleen DuVal discusses her Pulitzer Prize-winning history, “Native Nations: A Millennium in North America”
Join American Ancestors’ American Inspiration series and Boston Public Library for an enlightening presentation featuring 2025 Pulitzer Prize–winning author Kathleen DuVal and her book NATIVE NATIONS, a comprehensive review of Native American history, from the rise of ancient cities around 1000 CE to fights for sovereignty that continue well into the 2020s. DuVal and fellow Pulitzer Prize winner Nicole Eustace will bring to life the history of these lands and Native peoples, offering a powerful and deeply informed conversation you won’t want to miss in the days leading up to Indigenous People’s Day.Partner:American Ancestors -
In Person
Tiya Miles: Eco-Consciousness in the Lives of Enslaved Black Women
Tiya Miles is the author of eight books, including four prize-winning histories about race and slavery in the American past. Her latest work is the biography Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People. Her 2021 National Book Award winner All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, was a New York Times bestseller that won eleven historical and literary prizes, including the Cundill History Prize and the Frederick Douglass Prize. All That She Carried was named a best book of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, NPR, Publisher’s Weekly, The Atlantic, Time, and more. Her other nonfiction works include Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation, The Dawn of Detroit, Tales from the Haunted South, The House on Diamond Hill, and Ties That Bind. Miles has published essays and reviews in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and other publications, and she is the author of the time-bridge novel The Cherokee Rose, a ghost story set in the plantation South. She has consulted with colleagues at historic sites and museums on representations of slavery,
African American material culture, and the Black-Indigenous intertwined past, including, most recently, the “Fabric of a Nation” quilt exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her work has been supported by a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Miles was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she is currently the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University.
Cosponsored by Boston College History Department, American Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, Women’s Studies, Environmental Studies, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, and the Forum for Racial Justice in America.
The Lowell Humanities Series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, Boston College's Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Provost's Office.Partner:Boston College -
In Person
GBH Jazz Night with Felipe Salles (Boston Public Library)
For our second GBH Jazz Night of the season, enjoy the musical storytelling of Brazilian saxophonist and composer Felipe Salles.
GBH Jazz Nights showcase the incredible range of jazz talent in the Greater Boston area. The series is co-hosted by JazzBoston and GBH Music, taking place on the second Thursday of every month from September through May. Tickets are free, but registration is encouraged. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early! By registering, you agree to receive email communications from GBH Music.
GBH Jazz Nights are made possible by the Goldstein Family Fund. -
In Person
Ralph Lowell Annual Lecture - Democracy’s Discontent: Why are we so polarized and what can we do about it?
GBH invites you to attend the inaugural Ralph Lowell Annual Lecture, honoring the legacy of GBH founder Ralph Lowell, whose life’s work was devoted to educate and inform the public, inspiring in each of us a life of service for the common good.
Harvard University scholar and political philosopher Michael Sandel will deliver the inaugural Ralph Lowell Lecture. Extending his 1996 work "Democracy's Discontent," celebrated by Alan Brinkley when first published as “a remarkable fusion of philosophical and historical scholarship,” Sandel will offer a long view of America’s civic struggles, from the 1990s to the present, recalling moments in the American past when the country found ways to hold economic power to democratic account.
From a 2025 vantage point, he will discuss how Democrats and Republicans alike embraced a version of finance-driven globalization that created a society of winners and losers and fueled the toxic politics of our time—and why the American people must reconfigure the economy and empower our citizens as participants in a shared public life.
This program will be presented in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Get the Book
Michael Sandel will sign copies of his updated book, "Democracy's Discontent," available for purchase at the event.
Visit the Ralph Lowell exhibit in our Atrium
To celebrate the launch of the new GBH Ralph Lowell Annual Lecture and the ongoing support for GBH from the Lowell family and the Lowell Institute, GBH Archives has curated a special exhibit looking back at the 20th century developments spearheaded by Ralph Lowell that established a coalition of support for educational broadcasting in the U.S. and ultimately led to the founding of WGBH in 1951. From support for public lectures, to radio and television programming and digital streaming, the Lowells have continued Ralph’s original mission to support the free dissemination of knowledge as an important foundation for an informed and free democratic citizenry.
About our Event Partner
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is the non-profit partner to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, providing financial support, staffing, and creative resources. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Library and the Foundation seek to promote, through educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.Partner:GBH Forum Network John F. Kennedy Library Foundation -
In Person
Open Streets Boston - Mattapan
Join GBH at the 2025 Open Streets event series, where neighborhood streets are closed to vehicular traffic to create room for community and play. The events allow local businesses to expand into the street and to safely make space for music, games, bicycling, community tabling, and more. On October 18, come say hi to us in Mattapan on Blue Hill Avenue from River Street to Babson Street. -
In PersonVirtual
Who Cares About the Midnight Ride? Perspectives on an American Legend
What does the Midnight Ride mean today, and who does it matter to? In this panel a university professor, a high school teacher and administrator, and a public history content creator will discuss how the Midnight Ride resonates (or doesn’t) with the groups they talk about history with. They will compare perspectives on societal trends that influence whether a historical event like this feels relevant today.
Moderated by Dr. Noelle Trent, Museum of African American History, Boston, with Ahsante Bean, Creator and Storytelling Strategist, Dr. Eileen Ka-May Cheng, History Faculty, Sarah Lawrence College, Kerry Dunne, History & Social Studies department head, Lexington High School,Partner:Paul Revere Memorial Association -
In Person
Poetry Days Presents: An Evening with Philip Metres
Philip Metres is the author of twelve books, including Fugitive/Refuge, Shrapnel Maps, The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance, Sand Opera, and I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky. His work—poetry, translation, essays, fiction, criticism, and scholarship—has garnered fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Watson Foundation.
He is the recipient of the Adrienne Rich Award, three Arab American Book Awards, the Lyric Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and the Cleveland Arts Prize. Metres has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.” He is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. He lives with his family in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cosponsored by the Boston College Poetry Days Series.
The Lowell Humanities Series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, Boston College's Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Provost's Office.Partner:Boston College
