City Arts & Lectures

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Encore: A. S. Byatt Feb 11, 2024

Show notes

This week, we reach into the archives for a 2009 appearance by the late A. S. Byatt. The author and critic published 11 novels, 6 collections of short stories, and 9 volumes of short stories, as well as editing the Oxford Book of English Short Stories and several other anthologies. Byatt’s best-known novel, Possession, won the Booker Prize and was made into a film; the book she discusses in this City Arts & Lectures appearance, The Children’s Book, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 1999, she was made a Dame of the British Empire for her contributions to English literature. On October 26, 2009, A. S. Byatt came to the Herbst Theater in San Francisco to be interviewed on stage by poet Robert Hass.

Encore: Paul Simon Feb 04, 2024

Show notes

This week, we present an encore of our 2016 conversation with songwriter and musician Paul Simon. Simon has been the recipient of many honors and awards including 12 Grammy Awards, three of which (“Bridge Over Troubled Water”, “Still Crazy After All These Years” and “Graceland”) were albums of the year. In 2003 he was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as half of the duo Simon and Garfunkel. He is in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Simon and Garfunkel and as a solo artist. He was a recipient of The Kennedy Center Honors in 2002 and was named as one of Time Magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World” in 2006. In 2007, Mr. Simon was awarded the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

On June 6, 2016, Paul Simon came to the Nourse Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with Dave Eggers, after performing at the Greek Theater in Berkeley on June 3 and 4. His album “Stranger to Stranger” had been released that same week. Paul Simon’s latest work, “Seven Psalms” came out in 2023.

Benjamin Moser Jan 28, 2024

Show notes

Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Benjamin Moser is the author of biographies of Susan Sontag and Claire Lispector. He’ll talk to us about his most recent book, The Upside-Down World: Meetings with Dutch Masters. It’s about the lives of artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer, as well as lesser known figures of the Dutch Golden Age. It’s a coming of age story too; Moser spent twenty years working on the book. He was interviewed on January 18, 2024, arts critic and journalist Steven Winn interviewed Moser in the studio.

Dr. Jen Gunter Jan 21, 2024

Show notes

Our guest is Dr. Jen Gunter, an OB-GYN and pain medicine physician. Gunter’s work both as a clinician and a writer, is aimed at helping women understand and care for their bodies. That includes countering a large amount of misinformation about women’s health - which she does with great wit on social media. Her books include “The Vagina Bible”, “The Menopause Manifesto” and her newest, “Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation”. On January 9, 2024, Jen Gunter came to the studios of KQED in San Francisco to talk with Indre Viskontas.

Robert Sapolsky Jan 14, 2024

Show notes

Our guest is renowned neuroscientist and primatologist Robert Sapolsky. He’s spent his career investigating behavior across the animal kingdom, including humans. In books like The Trouble With Testosterone and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, Sapolsky translates decades of research into fascinating stories and lessons accessible to non-scientific audiences. His latest book, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about how consciousness works—the tight weave between reason and emotion and between stimulus and response in the moment and over a life. On January 3, 2024, Sapolsky joined Caterina Fake for a conversation recorded at the studios of KQED in San Francisco.

Tracy K. Smith Jan 07, 2024

Show notes

Tracy K. Smith is the author of five acclaimed poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars. Her memoir, Ordinary Light, was a finalist for the National Book Award. From 2017 to 2019, she served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States. In 2020, heartsick from constant assaults on Black life, Smith found herself soul-searching, and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the “din of human division and strife.” In her new book, To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul, Smith draws on several avenues of thinking – personal, documentary, and spiritual– to understand who we are as a nation and what we might hope to mean to one another. On November 10, 2023, Tracy K. Smith came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with john a. powell, Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute and a Professor of Law and Professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California.

Encore - John Waters with Aubrey Plaza Dec 31, 2023

Show notes

This week, an encore of one of last year’s most popular programs - a conversation between two unconventional artists, director, visual artist and author, John Waters and Aubrey Plaza, actor, comedian and producer.

For nearly 50 years, John Waters has been making subversive films that playfully push all sorts of boundaries - movies like “Pink Flamingos”, “Hairspray”, and “Serial Mom”.

Actor and comedian Aubrey Plaza cites Waters as a major influence of hers. She's best known for roles in “Parks and Recreation” and the second season of HBO’s “The White Lotus”.

On May 9, 2023, John Waters and Aubrey Plaza came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for a rapid-fire conversation on a variety of topics - including Waters’ first novel, “Liar Mouth: A Feel-Bad Romance”. As any fan of John Waters would expect, the night was as filthy as it was hilarious, so this program may not be suitable to all listeners.

David Brooks Dec 24, 2023

Show notes

This week, our guest is David Brooks. As an Op-Ed contributor to The New York Times, Brooks writes about subjects ranging from politics and foreign affairs, to cultural trends and spirituality. Brooks started as a humorist, penning satires for his college paper, before becoming a film critic and then a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. You can see him regularly on the PBS Newshour. He’s also the author of bestselling books like Bobos in Paradise and The Social Animal. Like several of his more recent books – including The Second Mountain – his newest is more personal in nature. It’s called How To Know A Person, and it’s a guide to fostering deeper relationships, at home, in the workplace, or elsewhere. On November 18th, 2023 Brooks came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Steven Winn about what it means to really see each other.

Leslie Jones - Podcast Only - EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND CONTENT Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

NOTE: This program was not broadcast, because as you’ll hear, it contains a lot of explicit language and content - so much that we felt it would be hard to listen to with all the bleeps and edits that would be necessary for the radio. The language in this podcast has NOT been edited or bleeped, so please listen to it with that in mind.

Leslie Jones is a three-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee as well as a Writer’s Guild Award and NAACP Award nominee for her work on Saturday Night Live. She has also been honored as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Jones recently wrapped production on season two of the MAX series “Our Flag Means Death”. In January 2023, Jones kicked off a new era of The Daily Show as the program’s first guest host. She also co-hosts the podcast THE FCKRY with comedian Lenny Marcus. Her new memoir is “Leslie F*cking Jones”.

On October 24, 2023, Leslie Jones came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater for an on-stage conversation with novelist Jasmine Guillory.

Viet Thanh Nguyen Dec 17, 2023

Show notes

Viet Thanh Nguyen's debut novel, The Sympathizer, earned him the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Now he’s written A Man of Two Faces. It’s a memoir about his family, as well as larger stories of refugeehood, colonization, and ideas about Viet Nam and America. On November 9, 2023, Nguyen came to The Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk to Shereen Marisol Meraji to talk about the new book - why he chooses to call himself a refugee, not an immigrant - and his conflicted feelings about his hometown, San Jose, California.

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