Andrea Elliott is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times and a former staff writer at The Miami Herald. In 2012, Elliott set out to report about what it was like to be an unhoused child in New York City. She met 11-year-old Dasani Coates, living in a shelter with her parents and seven siblings.  The conditions were unsurprisingly horrible, and the challenges faced by Dasani’s family enormous and multigenerational. Elliott followed Dasani and her family for eight years, and her book Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City, weaves together Dasani’s story - including her time at a boarding school designed to help disadvantaged girls escape poverty – with the history of Dasani’s family, tracing the passage of their ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north. It’s the story of a fierce, resilient, and overburdened child – and the profound impacts of poverty and racism.  On October 5, 2021, Andrea Elliott spoke with Isabel Duffy about the book - what it took to write it and what she’d like readers to take from it.

City Arts & Lectures

Andrea Elliott

Mary Roach is the author of the books Stiff, Spook, Bonk, Gulp, Grunt, and Packing for Mars, all of which bring her distinctly funny voice to popular science subjects. Her new book Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, combines little-known forensic science and conservation genetics, with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, trespassing squirrels, and more of “nature’s lawbreakers,” offering hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat. Roach has written for National Geographic, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine.  On September 29, 2021, Mary Roach came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation before a live audience with Malia Wollan, director of the UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship at the Graduate School of Journalism.

Mary Roach

Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard is best known for the autobiographical series “My Struggle.” The six volumes total more than 3,000 pages. And the books manage to be both epic and intimate. In them, Knausgaard meticulously catalogs the minor details of his daily life, like cleaning his father’s house and checking out books at the library.  He also tackles fundamental questions about existence -- laying bare his personal relationships and anxieties about family, career, and purpose. The stories move slowly and calmly and their effect on the reader can be almost hypnotic. On September 23, 2021, Karl Ove Knausgaard spoke to Judson True about his newest book, a novel called The Morning Star.

Karl Ove Knausgaard

Colson Whitehead is the only novelist to win a Pulitzer Prize for consecutive books: The Underground Railroad, now a television miniseries directed by Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins, and The Nickel Boys. His novels span a wide range of genres, including satire (Apex Hides the Hurt), post-apocalyptic zombie horror (Zone One), and an autobiographical coming-of-age story (Sag Harbor, which is slated for an HBO adaptation produced by Laurence Fishburne). With his highly-anticipated new heist novel, Harlem Shuffle, Whitehead tries his hand at yet another literary category. On September 17, 2021, Colson Whitehead talked to Alexis Madrigal about his writing before an audience at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco, the first live on-stage program for City Arts & Lectures since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Colson Whitehead

This week, we’ll hear from Frances Moore Lappé, whose groundbreaking book “Diet for a Small Planet” was controversial when it first came out in 1971.  World hunger was a major news topic and a genuine concern; many believed there simply wasn’t enough food to feed the planet.  But Lappé argued that hunger wasn’t caused by a scarcity of food, but a scarcity of power among those who go hungry.  She believed democracy – and a plant-centered diet – could solve the problem.  On September 9, 2021, Frances Moore Lappé spoke to her daughter, Anna Lappé, about what drove her to write the book, and what she’s learned in the intervening 50 years.  Anna Lappé is also an author and an advocate for sustainability and food justice.

Frances Moore Lappé

Under the pen name Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler is responsible for the beloved thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events and the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, among other books. Mr. Snicket is back with his first book for readers of all ages, a whimsical and philosophical novel that begins with the protagonist Snicket finding a note that informs him: “You had poison for breakfast.” On August 30, 2021, Daniel Handler talked to his sister, the writer Rebecca Handler, about writing again as Mr. Snicket, about craft, and about family. Daniel Handler is the author of the novels Why We Broke Up, We Are Pirates, All the Dirty Parts, and most recently, Bottle Grove. Under the name Lemony Snicket, Handler has written numerous children’s books, including The Dark, the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, and the thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events, which has sold more than 60 million copies and was the basis of a feature film. Poison for Breakfast, Snicket’s most recent book––for readers of all ages––was published in August 2021. The whimsical and philosophical novel begins with the protagonist Snicket finding a note that informs him: “You had poison for breakfast.” Rebecca Handler is a writer who lives and works in San Francisco. Her stories have been published and awarded in several anthologies. Her recent debut novel Edie Richter Is Not Alone features a protagonist who moves with her family to Perth, Australia following the death of her father. There, she finds herself isolated and forced to confront a painful secret from her past. On August 30, 2021, Daniel Handler and Rebecca Handler talked about writing again as Mr. Snicket, about craft, and about family. 

Daniel Handler

Dr. Andrew Budson is a cognitive and behavioral neurologist, a cognitive neuroscientist, and author. He has written and co-authored a number of books that focus on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and related disorders –– including his most recent work, Six Steps to Managing Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia, is a guide for families who are navigating caring for a loved one. Budson is incredibly active in his field: he is the founder and medical director of the Boston Center for Memory; Associate Director & Education Core Leader for Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center; and a professor and lecturer of neurology at both Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine.  On August 31, 2021, Budson spoke with Simone Silverstein, a writer and performer living in San Francisco.

Andrew Budson

  This week, conversations with two writers of newly published books - one on caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s, and another on writing and creativity.  In the first half of the program, we’ll hear from Dr. Andrew Budson, a neuroscientist and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine.  On August 31, 2021, Dr. Budson talked to Simone Silverstein about his book Six Steps to Managing Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia.   Under the pen name Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler is responsible for the beloved thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events and the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, among other books. Mr. Snicket is back with his first book for readers of all ages, a whimsical and philosophical novel that begins with the protagonist Snicket finding a note that informs him: “You had poison for breakfast.” On August 30, 2021, Daniel Handler talked to his sister, the writer Rebecca Handler, about writing again as Mr. Snicket, about craft, and about family.

Andrew Budson - Daniel Handler

This week…. a encore of a 2018 conversation with Michael Pollan. When it was originally recorded in 2018, the idea of using psychedelics for therapeutic intervention was new to many people. Today, just a few years later, treating mental health disorders like depression and PTSD with drugs like psilocybin, LSD or MDMA, better known as a component in Ecstasy, is much more familiar. Some might say it’s rapidly gaining public acceptance. Michael Pollan has written numerous books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect - on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in our minds. His books, including The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, are all meticulously researched and wonderfully engaging to read. With “How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence” -- Pollan takes a deep dive into the historical record and current research on psychedelics, as well as his own personal journey. On May twenty-first, 2018, Michael Pollan came to the Nourse Theater in San Francisco to talk about the science of psychedelics with Dacher Keltner.

Michael Pollan

Rita Dove was the youngest person ever to be named United States Poet Laureate.  She was also the first African American to hold the title.  Her poems imbue historical events with personal detail and experience.  Dove is also a novelist and acclaimed lyricist.  On August 15, 2021, she talked with Steven Winn about her most recent collection. “Playlist for the Apocalypse”.

Rita Dove

Joy Harjo is a performer and writer of the Muskogee Creek Nation. She’s currently serving her second term as United States Poet Laureate.  Much of Harjo’s poetry incorporates indigenous myths.  She also addresses social justice and feminism.  Her newest book is a memoir, “Poet Warrior”.  On August 16, 2021, Joy Harjo talked with Steven Winn about her work.

Joy Harjo

Alison Bechdel‘s cult following for her early comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For grew wildly in response to her family memoirs, the best-selling graphic memoir Fun Home, adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical, and Are You My Mother? She has become a cultural household name for the concept of the Bechdel Test, a metric used when considering the representation of women in film. Bechdel has been named a MacArthur Fellow and Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont, among many other honors. On May 7, 2021, she talked to artist George McCalman about her latest book “The Secret to Superhuman Strength”.  It’s a history of exercise trends, from Jack LaLanne in the 1960s to spin classes and yoga studios.  It’s also a very personal examination of Bechdel’s own fascination with fitness.

Alison Bechdel

When journalist Courtney Martin learned that white families in her gentrifying neighborhood in Oakland largely avoided the majority-Black, poorly-rated public school down the street, she began asking why. In Learning in Public: Lessons For a Racially Divided America From My Daughter’s School, Martin examines her own fears, assumptions, and conversations with other parents as they navigate school choice.  The book is part memoir, part investigation into the persistence of school segregation in the United States. It’s a vivid portrait of integration’s virtues and complexities. Courtney E. Martin is the author of five books, including Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists and The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream, as well as the popular newsletter Examined Family. She is the co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network, FRESH Speakers, and the Bay Area chapter of Integrated Schools, as well as the Storyteller-in-Residence at The Holding Co.  On August 11, 2021, Courtney Martin spoke with Anna Sale, host of the podcast “Death, Sex, and Money”. 

"Learning in Public" with Courtney Martin

Brian Greene is one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, widely recognized for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of superstring theory. His ability to clearly communicate cutting-edge science - even bringing humor to abstruse mathematical concepts -- has made Greene a sort of rock star physicist. On February 25, 2020, Brian Greene came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Gina Pell about his newest book “Until The End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe”.

Brian Greene

This week, we’ll hear how distance has played a key role in psychotherapy – even before the pandemic. Starting with Freud’s treatments by mail, to crisis hotlines, and now mobile phones and Zoom sessions, therapy has long existed outside the doctor’s office.  Hannah Zeavin calls it teletherapy, and she explores its history in a new book “The Distance Cure”.  On July 17, 2021, Zeavin talked to Adam Savage.

Hannah Zeavin: The Distance Cure, A History of Teletherapy

Since 1980, City Arts & Lectures has presented onstage conversations with outstanding figures in literature, politics, criticism, science, and the performing arts, offering the most diverse perspectives about ideas and values. City Arts & Lectures programs can be heard on more than 130 public radio stations across the country and wherever you get your podcasts. The broadcasts are co-produced with KQED 88.5 FM in San Francisco. Visit CITYARTS.NET for more info. 

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