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Beyond the Page with Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah is a New York Times bestselling author of 20 novels including Firefly Lane (2008), The Nightingale (2015), The Great Alone (2017) and The Four Winds (2021).
Hannah shares her insights on writing, editing and more during this conversational Q&A. She has over 30 years of writing experience and is also excited to discuss her newest book The Women.
Set to release on February 6, The Women follows 20-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath during the turbulent, transformative era of 1960s America as she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps to follow her brother to war. The story reveals how America, and herself, have changed when she returns.Partner:GBH Events -
Beyond the Page with the Master of Suspense, Dean Koontz
GBH is proud to present master of suspense Dean Koontz for January’s Beyond the Page virtual event! Dean Koontz is a New York Times bestselling author of many novels - including Star Quest (1968), Phantoms (1983), Watchers (1987), Odd Thomas (2003), The Silent Corner (2010), The House at the End of the World (2023) and many more!
Koontz shares his insights, tips and tricks for the writing and editing process. He also shares more information about his newest book The Bad Weather Friend, releasing this February. This novel follows follows Benny Catspaw, a man who’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée, and his favorite chair. He’s not paranoid. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why. Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. Benny plunges into a perilous high-speed adventure, the likes of which never would have crossed the mind of a decent guy like him.
Photo Credit: Rick Loomis/ LA TimesPartner:GBH Events -
Benjamin Taylor with Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather
Celebrating one of America’s greatest female novelists, this biography brings to life Willa Cather -- her artistry and endurance, her immigrant family and the prairies on they lived, and her trailblazing success as a journalist and writer.
In the early 20th century, Willa Cather leapt into the forefront of American letters with the publication of her novels O Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Antonia (1918). At the time, she was well into middle age. Her success followed years of working in journalism in Nebraska, brief spells of teaching, and editorial work on magazines. Chasing Bright Medusas is her story told by of another mature and highly accomplished writer, the award-winning biographer Benjamin Taylor, a lifelong lover of Willa Cather’s work. Taylor’s elegant exploration of her artistic endurance and of her early years and family, bring us back in time to portray vividly the challenges of being an immigrant family, a woman, and a literary trailblazer -- one the greatest authors of the twentieth century.Partner:American Ancestors Boston Public Library -
Michael Cunningham grapples with pandemic in new novel ‘Day’
The author, best known for "The Hours," returns to his single-day structure in "Day," a novel following a family before and during the pandemic -
Author and scholar Julia Lee discusses growing up neither Black nor white in America
What does it mean to be Asian in a country where everything is Black and white? Author and associate professor Julia Lee explores the state of being caught in a racially stratified America in her new memoir, "Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America." -
Author Marta McDowell explores how gardening inspires mystery writers
It’s the month of all things spooky and scary, from horror movies to haunted mansions. But what about gardens? Turns out there's an unexpected sinister side to gardening, and writer and gardener Marta McDowell traces the connection between gardening and crime fiction in her book, "Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers." -
Paranormal romance gives readers an escape beyond Halloween
Romance books featuring spooky characters are on the rise and filling the shelves of bookstores year round, not just during Halloween season. -
Author Rick Riordan on new 'Percy Jackson' projects and inclusion in books
Rick Riordan, famous for writing the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series, spoke with GBH News ahead of his keynote address at the Boston Book Festival. -
Author Talk: Neil King, Jr. with American Ramble
Hear from the author of a revelatory memoir about a 330-mile walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City—an unforgettable pilgrimage to the heart of America across some of our oldest common ground.
Neil King Jr.’s desire to walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City began as a whim and soon became an obsession. By the spring of 2021, events had intervened that gave his desire greater urgency. His neighborhood still reeled from the January 6th insurrection. Covid lockdowns and a rancorous election had deepened America’s divides. Neil himself bore the imprints of a long battle with cancer.
Determined to rediscover what matters in life and to see our national story with new eyes, Neil turned north with a small satchel on his back and one mission in mind: To pay close attention to the land he crossed and the people he met.
What followed is an extraordinary 26-day journey through historic battlefields and cemeteries, over the Mason-Dixon line, past Quaker and Amish farms, along Valley Forge stream beds, atop a New Jersey trash mound, across New York Harbor, and finally, to his ultimate destination: the Ramble, where a tangle of pathways converges in Central Park. The journey travels deep into America’s past and present, uncovering forgotten pockets and overlooked people. At a time of mounting disunity, the trip reveals the profound power of our shared ground.
This program is part of the American Inspiration Series from American Ancestors/NEHGS and presented in partnership with with the Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library and the GBH Forum Network.Partner:Boston Public Library American Ancestors -
Neil King Jr.
For 20 years Neil King Jr. traveled to more than 50 countries in all continents to write and report and poke around as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. During his years in Washington, DC, he served as chief diplomatic correspondent, national political reporter and, at the end, the Journal’s global economics editor. He now travels and writes on his own. He is the founder and editor of Gotham Canoe, an online journal dedicated to life out of doors. American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal is his first book. He lives with his wife in Washington DC.