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December 2: Gayle Jessup White; “Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy.” In conversation with journalist Dionne Ford (“Slavery’s Descendants”). Jessup White, a Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson who works at Monticello, his legendary estate, discussed her debut memoir with journalist Ford (“Slavery’s Descendants.”) The powerful conversation included Jessup White’s promise to hold the nation her ancestor helped found to the principles of liberty for all that he so famously espoused.
November 11: Andrea Elliott, “Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City.” In conversation with Lydia Polgreen, head of content for Gimlet Media. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Elliott talked to Polgreen, former editor in chief of the Huffington Post, about “Invisible Child.” For this book the author spent a period of many years updating her award-winning series for the Times about a gifted child living in a homeless shelter. Elliott and Polgreen discussed the changes in relationships between reporters and sources over time, the crucial importance of family and school to poor children, and the burden of code-switching.
October 24: Sandra Cisneros; “Martita, I Remember You.” In conversation with Quiara Alegría Hudes. Cisneros (“The House on Mango Street”) and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and memoirist Hudes discussed Cisneros’s new novella, “Martita, I Remember You.” Cisneros read aloud from “Martita,” and the lively conversation touched on the natural lifespan of friendships, “The House on Mango Street” and Cisneros’s exciting, eclectic book recommendations.
October 14: Alice Hoffman; “The Book of Magic.” In conversation with Elisabeth Egan of The New York Times Book Review. A New York Times bestseller. Acclaimed novelist Hoffman returned to Montclair to discuss the finale to her Practical Magic quartet with Egan (“A Window Opens”), a critic at The New York Times Book Review. Highlights of their conversation included why writers create fictional universes, the powerful bonds between sisters and aunts, and the upcoming HBO Max pilot of “The Rules of Magic.”
October 2: Rob Reich and Mehran Sahrabi; “System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How to Reboot.” In conversation with journalist Dale Russakoff (“The Prize”). Co-presented by Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival. Two distinguished Stanford professors shared the secrets of their famous, long-running interdisciplinary course on rethinking the roots of computer science. No video available.
September 19: Mary Roach; “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.” In conversation with Lulu Miller of NPR’s Radio Lab. A New York Times bestseller. Quirky bestselling science writer Roach discussed her new book, “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law,” about human-animal conflicts in a shrinking habitat and a warming planet with Miller (“Why Fish Don’t Exist”) of NPR’s “Invisibilia.” The conversation touched on garbage-guzzling bears in Colorado, child-stalking leopards in India, jaywalking deer in Ohio and so much more.
September 7: Lawrence Wright in conversation with Elisabeth Rosenthal, MD; “The Plague Year: Americans in the Time of Covid.” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New Yorker staff writer Wright discussed his new book, “Plague Year: Americans in Time of Covid” with Rosenthal (“An American Sickness”), editor in chief of Kaiser Health News. They also talked about the Delta variant, the history of SARS in China, and the recent challenge to abortion in Texas.
May 20: Barry Meier in conversation with Michael Isikoff: “Spooked: The Trump Dossier, Black Cube, and the Rise of Private Spies.” A former New York Times reporter and a member of the paper’s team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, Barry Meier talked about his new book, “Spooked: The Trump Dossier, Black Cube, and the Rise of Private Spies,” and the evolving code of journalistic ethics in our time, with Michael Isikoff, the chief investigative correspondent of Yahoo News.
May 6: Jhumpa Lahiri in conversation with Kate Tuttle: “Whereabouts.” The Pulitzer-winning novelist (“Interpreter of Maladies,” “The Namesake” and “The Lowland”) talks about her New York Times bestseller, “Whereabouts,” her first book in 10 years, which she wrote in Italian and translated herself, with a book critic of The Boston Globe. Lahiri read the first chapter aloud in Italian and English and told us about the roots of her grand passion for all things Italian.
April 22: Quiara Alegría Hudes in conversation with Elena Martinez: “My Broken Language: A Memoir.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (best known for writing the book to “In the Heights”) talked about her new memoir, “My Broken Language,” with the co-artistic director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center. Hudes read briefly from the book and then engaged in a discussion that ranged from the Black Lives Matter movement and the “founding mothers” of Puerto Rican civic activism to the political responsibilities of the artist.
March 21: Elizabeth Kolbert in conversation with Michelle Nijhuis: “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future.” Co-sponsored by Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker staff writer (“The Sixth Extinction”) talks to fellow environmentalist writer Nijhuis (“Beloved Beasts”) about her new latest book, “Under A White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” and humanity’s most recent efforts to control the effects of climate change, including electrifying rivers, gene-editing Australian cane toads and artificially inseminating coral reefs.
February 28: Gabrielle Glaser in conversation with Benilde Little: “American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption.” Bestselling author and journalist Glaser discusses her new book, “American Baby: A Mother, a Child and the Shadow History of Adoption,” with Little, a fellow author and editor. Their conversation includes references for adoptees on their own search, the unconscionable cruelty of 1950s and ’60s adoption agencies, and one family’s heartbreaking story.
February 22: Isabel Wilkerson in conversation with Rachel Swarns: “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson and Rachel L. Swarns, associate professor of journalism at NYU (“American Tapestry”), discuss Wilkerson’s groundbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller, “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.” Their inspired and inspiring conversation covers race, class, hegemony, the role of education in overcoming white supremacy, the power of “radical empathy” and more.
February 11: Charles Blow in conversation with Jim Johnson: “The Devil You Know.” New York Times Op Ed columnist Charles Blow talks to Jim Johnson, former chair of the Brennan Center for Social Justice, about his daring plan to expand Black voting power in “The Devil You Know.” The idea is to have large groups of Black people reverse the Great Migration and break the back of the former slave states in the South.
January 10. Ann Patchett in conversation with Jeanine Cummins; “The Dutch House.” The award-winning novelist talks to her friend, the author of “American Dirt,” about her longtime bestselling novel, writing during the pandemic, and the importance of support for your local library.
We are grateful to all of the wonderful authors, conversation partners, library staffers, and, of course, viewers who have made Open Book / Open Mind Online such a success in 2021.
Open Book / Open Mind is presented by the Montclair Public Library through the generous financial support of The Montclair Public Library Foundation, The Investors Foundation and watchung booksellers.
And, as always, the series is made possible by the support of the Open Book / Open Mind Advisory Board: Co-chairs and series founders Jennifer Dorr and David Jones; Jonathan Alter, Neal Carruth, Priya Doraswamy, Elisabeth Egan, Dionne Ford, Ivan Held, Marc Lacey, DT Max, Dale Russakoff, Margot Sage-el, Rachel Swarns, Kate Tuttle, Juan Milà, and Susan Weinberg.
