Interviews & Live Events

Salman Rushdie at the 92nd Street Y

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 36 mins)
• By Salman Rushdie
• Narrated By Christopher Hitchens

Mr. Rushdie, the author of Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, reads from his newest novel, Shalimar the Clown.

Thalia Book Club: David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 14 mins)
• By David Wroblewski
• Narrated By Ted Marcoux, Daniel Menaker

The novelist talks with author and journalist Daniel Menaker about this deeply satisfying first novel—a multigenerational family story, great adventure, and murder mystery set in the farmlands of northern Wisconsin. This mesmerizing book centers on the coming of age of a mute teenage boy who has a rare ability to communicate with dogs.

Westlife: A Rockview Audiobiography

• ORIGINAL (51 mins)
• By Eva Unbauer, Pete Bruens
• Narrated By Eva Unbauer, Pete Bruens

When the going gets tough Ireland's Westlife gets going. It's hard to believe that Westlife stormed the charts and achieved success in such a short period of time and within a few years of their forming they had seven number 1's, Best New Band, Record of The Year and a biography under their belts

Playing to the Gallery: Helping Contemporary Art in Its Struggle to Be Understood

• ORIGINAL (2 hrs and 47 mins)
• By Grayson Perry
• Narrated By Grayson Perry

It's easy to feel insecure around art and its appreciation, as though we cannot enjoy certain artworks if we don't have a lot of academic and historical knowledge. But if there's one message that I want you to take away it's that anybody can enjoy art and anybody can have a life in the arts - even me! For even I, an Essex transvestite potter, have been let in by the artworld mafia.

Tim Ferriss: Accelerated Learning in Accelerated Times

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 30 mins)
• By Tim Ferriss
• Narrated By Tim Ferriss

As the times accelerate and we face ever-more kaleidoscopic careers, a crucial meta-skill is the ability to learn new skills extremely rapidly. Tim Ferriss, speaking before a live audience at the Marines Memorial Theater in San Francisco, CA, September 14, 2011.

Christopher Hitchens in Conversation with Salman Rushdie

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 16 mins)
• By Christopher Hitchens
• Narrated By Salman Rushdie

Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant. He is a fervent atheist, raised as a Christian, by a mother whose Jewish heritage was not revealed to him until her suicide.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Element

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 14 mins)
• By Ken Robinson
• Narrated By Ken Robinson

He has received several honorary degrees, the Athena Award from the Rhode Island School of Design, the Peabody Medal, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Royal Society of Arts. He received a knighthood for his services to the arts. His latest book is The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. Sir Ken Roinson recorded live at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, CO.

The Best Man

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 58 mins)
• By Gore Vidal
• Narrated By Terrence Currier, Johnny Holliday, Naomi Jacobson, and others

This darkly satirical drama by Gore Vidal finds two presidential contenders seeking the endorsement of an aging ex-president, and explores how personal agendas can change the course of a nation's destiny. The political intrigues rampant in Vidal's 1960 setting are strangely similar what is going on today. Includes an interview with actors Fred Thompson and Marsha Mason.

Tim Ferriss: 'The 4-Hour Workweek' and 'The 4-Hour Body'

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 3 mins)
• By Tim Ferriss
• Narrated By Tim Ferriss

Want to work just four hours a week? Ferriss believes he can show you how. This Jack-of-all-trades has done it all, from becoming the National Chinese Kickboxing Champion and the Guinness World Record-holder for tango dancing to working for education reform.

Adam Gopnik and Malcolm Gladwell: Surveying Mankind from China to Peru

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 18 mins)
• By Adam Gopnik, Malcolm Gladwell
• Narrated By Daniel Sullivan, Henry Timms

New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik and sociologist Malcolm Gladwell revisit their debates about healthcare, education, media, and a variety of other subjects. The event, introduced by Daniel Sullivan, general consul of Canada, and Simon Center director Henry Timms is followed by an extensive Q&A.

Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, and Gabrielle Hamilton on 'How I Learned to Cook'

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 25 mins)
• By Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, Gabrielle Hamilton
• Narrated By Michael Ruhlman

Anthony Bourdain, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Eric Ripert are all well established, accomplished chefs; they share their early cooking experiences, what influenced their cooking styles, and what made them want to be chefs forever. Bourdain is the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, the author of the best-selling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and the host of the popular Food Network series, A Cook's Tour.

Pursuit of the Magnificent: The Divine Order of Love

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 16 mins)
• By Deepak Chopra, Dr. John F. Demartini
• Narrated By John F. Demartini, Deepak Chopra

What would life be like if you believed that every crisis is a blessing, that you're guided to meet the people who cross your path, and that everything happens for a reason? Deepak Chopra examines this topic with John Demartini, an internationally acclaimed speaker whose motivational programs are sought out by individuals and Fortune 500 corporations alike.

Thalia Kids' Book Club: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - 50th Anniversary

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 4 mins)
• By E. L. Konigsburg
• Narrated By Blue Balliett, Chris Grabenstein, Wendy Mass, and others

An afternoon of readings and lively discussion with contemporary authors, including Blue Balliett (Chasing Vermeer), Chris Grabenstein (Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library), Wendy Mass (The Candymakers), and Alexander London (The Wild Ones), who have been inspired by E. L. Konigsburg's Newbery Award-winning classic about a sister and brother who run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and find themselves caught up in a mysterious adventure.

Thalia Book Club: Amor Towles "A Gentleman in Moscow"

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 33 mins)
• By Amor Towles
• Narrated By Liesl Schillinger, Boyd Gaines

Brimming with humor and wit, an unforgettable cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, A Gentleman in Moscow casts a spell as it relates the count's endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose. Amor Towles joins us for an evening of conversation with Liesl Schillinger on this thrilling new work. With a reading by Tony Award-winning actor Boyd Gaines.

Christian Philosophy of History

• ORIGINAL (13 hrs and 4 mins)
• By John Warwick Montgomery
• Narrated By John Warwick Montgomery

Reveille Scholar Lectures: In 1970 Dr. Montgomery was the visiting Reveille Scholar at the University of California - San Diego. This set is comprised of the series of lectures in which he developed a Christian approach to the study of the philosophy of history. Where is History Going?: A critique of secular philosophers of history such as Marx, Spengler, and Toynbee, and presentation of a Christian philosophy of history.

The New Yorker Festival - Tessa Hadley and Tobias Wolff

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 26 mins)
• By Tessa Hadley, Tobias Wolff
• Narrated By Tessa Hadley, Tobias Wolff

Tessa Hadley published her first work of fiction, Accidents in the Home, at the age of 45, three months after her critical study Henry James and the Imagination of Pleasure came out. A second novel, Everything Will Be All Right, was published the following year, in 2003. She teaches English and creative writing at Bath Spa University College and is currently working on a third novel and on a play, The Wendy House, for BBC Radio.

Jesus, God's Storyteller: Discovering Our Story in the Parables

• ORIGINAL (5 hrs and 16 mins)
• By Megan McKenna
• Narrated By uncredited

All major religions tell truth through stories, says storyteller Dr. Megan McKenna. Her spellbinding stories help us understand the significance of the gospel parables and present universal truths that tell us what it is to be human, give us our communal identity, and instill hopes and dreams for the future. "All stories are true. Some of them actually happened," says Dr. McKenna. The stories of Jesus, God's Storyteller inspire us to know Jesus more deeply, and through him, the Father.

On Self Esteem and Scholars, Witches and Other Freedom Fighters

• ORIGINAL (2 hrs and 53 mins)
• By Gloria Steinem
• Narrated By Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem offers her views on the interconnectedness between self-esteem and sexism, racism, politics, and physical and sexual abuse in this entertaining and educating program, recorded live in New York City.

W.D. Gann Interview by Richard D. Wyckoff: The Law of Vibration Governs Stocks, Forex and Commodities Movements

• UNABRIDGED (25 mins)
• By W. D. Gann, Richard D. Wyckoff
• Narrated By Jason McCoy

It appears to be a fact that Mr. W. D. Gann has developed an entirely new idea as to the principles governing market movements. He bases his operations upon certain natural laws which, though existing since the world began, have only in recent years been subjected to the will of man and added to the list of so-called modern discoveries. We have asked Mr. Gann for an outline of his work, and have secured some remarkable evidence as to the results obtained there from. W. D. Gann's description of his experience and methods is given herewith.

Anne Carson at the 92nd Street Y Poetry Center

• UNABRIDGED (56 mins)
• By Anne Carson

Anne Carson is "the most exciting poet writing in English today", said Michael Ondaatje. Carson, an essayist and classicist, is the author of many collections and translations, including Decreation, The Beauty of the Husband, Eros the Bittersweet, and Autobiography of Red. Her translations of four plays by Euripides are collected in Grief Lessons. Carson returns to the Poetry Center to perform her pieces "Cassandra Float Can" and "Lecture on Pronouns".

Call Me Jacks: Jacqueline Pearce in Conversation

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 38 mins)
• By Nicholas Briggs
• Narrated By Jacqueline Pearce

Jacqueline Pearce is well-known to fans of British Sci-Fi television as the iconic Supreme Commander Servalan in Blake's 7, or perhaps as Chessene o' the Franzine Grig in Doctor Who: The Two Doctors. But these appearances are merely two in a long, distinguished career, which in itself is a mere part of a fascinating life. Over a bottle of champagne, she gives an uncompromising interview to Big Finish's Nicholas Briggs, discussing her past triumphs and times.

Silver Image: Early British Photography at The Royal Photographic Society

• ORIGINAL (15 mins)
• By Nicholas James
• Narrated By Denise Kahn

Pamela Roberts, curator of the Royal Photographic Society, Bath, gives an interview to Cv/VAR in 1994, which charts the development of photography from its primary innovation in the 1840s by Hill & Adamson, Fox Talbot, through Roger Fenton in the Crimea War, leading to Royal Patronage of Prince Albert and development of the society into the 20th century.

The British Invasion, Volume 1

• ORIGINAL (28 mins)
• By Gary Theroux
• Narrated By Gary Theroux

In this first edition of The History of Rock 'n' Roll, host Gary Theroux gives listeners the sounds of the earliest days of the British Invasion. You'll hear from members of The Hollies, The Moody Blues, The Searchers, Chad & Jeremy, Peter & Gordon and singer Billy J. Kramer. Theroux takes listeners on a journey as these key players in the British Invasion share stories of their early careers, inspiration behind their songs and discuss what it was like in those early days of breaking out in the United States.

Madeline Kahn: Her Life Explored

• ORIGINAL (30 mins)
• By William V. Madison
• Narrated By Valerie Smaldone

Valerie Smaldone gives listeners a fascinating look at the life and career of Tony and Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated actress and comedian Madeline Kahn. In speaking with William V. Madison, author of Madeline Kahn: Being the Music, A Life, Smaldone paints a portrait of a complex woman who was intensely private and brought larger-than-life characters to the screen. In addition to discussion from Madison, listeners will hear from some of Kahn's closest colleagues as well as an archival recording at the start of her career.

An Interview with Mike Payne

• ORIGINAL (51 mins)
• By Mike Payne, Paul Andrews
• Narrated By Mike Payne

Award winning international cartoonist and illustrator Mike Payne is the creator of many successful characters and concepts known all around the world. Over a billion greetings cards featuring his designs have been sold to date, and he is perhaps best known for being the creator of Tatty Teddy from the 'Me to You' concept. This engaging interview sees Mike talk candidly about his life and career, from his time as a public servant through to concepts he is working on today.

An Interview with Mel Croucher

• ORIGINAL (48 mins)
• By Mel Croucher, Paul Andrews
• Narrated By Mel Croucher

Who is Mel Croucher? He can be described in many ways, some of them even printable. Mel is known to many as the godfather of the UK computer games industry. He was there right at the beginning - the pioneer of multimedia - long before most people had even seen a computer, let alone knew what to do with it. Not only were the videogames produced in the early 80s by Mel's company Automata popular, but also the music often released with them garnered a cult following.

P.D. James in Her Own Words

• ORIGINAL (50 mins)
• By P. D. James
• Narrated By P. D. James

P. D. James was a best-selling crime writer whose Adam Dalgliesh mysteries were popular with the public and critics alike. She only became a professional writer in her forties, but over the next 50 years she wrote 16 acclaimed crime novels, many of which were adapted for TV, as well as several works of nonfiction and a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. In this absorbing compilation, she talks about her professional career and achievements - in her own words....

Thalia Book Club: John Luther Adams and Barry Lopez

• ORIGINAL (1 hr and 14 mins)
• By Barry Lopez
• Narrated By John Luther Adams

Longtime collaborators John Luther Adams and author Barry Lopez discuss their work, which explores environmental concerns and the relationship between the physical landscape and human culture. With a performance of "Among Red Mountains" by pianist Lisa Moore and a reading of Lopez's essay "The Invitation" by James Naughton.