Kentucky Author Forum

Former CIA officer and author Amaryllis Fox discusses her book Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA with NPR’s special correspondent Melissa Block. Amaryllis Fox is a writer, television host, public speaker, and former CIA officer. Fox’s memoir, Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA, examines her ten years hunting the world’s terrorists in sixteen countries while marrying and giving birth to a daughter. Fox has covered current events and offered analysis for CNN, National Geographic, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. She is the co-host of History Channel’s series American Ripper and the host of the Netflix documentary series The Business of Drugs. Melissa Block was the host of All Things Considered on NPR for many years. She now brings her signature combination of warmth and incisive reporting as special correspondent and guest host to NPR’s news programs. She has earned some of the top honors in broadcast journalism. Her reporting has taken her everywhere from the Mississippi Gulf Coast to the heart of R

Best-selling author Mary Beth Keane and literary critic Maureen Corrigan discuss Ms. Keane’s book, Ask Again, Yes, and other timely topics. Ms. Keane was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for fiction, and has published two other books. Most recently, Ask Again, Yes, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and has been translated in twenty-one languages. Maureen Corrigan is the book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air and writes the ‘Book World’ column for the Washington Post. She is a professor of literary criticism at Georgetown University and an author herself.

Timothy Egan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and best selling author. He writes a bi-weekly Op-Ed column for the New York Times. Elaine Pagels is a historian of religion and professor at Princeton University. She is a best-selling author and received the National Medal in the Arts from President Obama. In this episode of Great Podversations, Egan and Pagels discuss Mr. Egan’s book Pilgrimage to Eternity, history, belief and other timely topics.

Dr. Jerome Groopman and Timothy Snyder discuss Snyder’s recent book "Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary," healthcare in the U.S., and other timely topics. Groopman holds an endowed Chair of Medicine and Chief of Experimental Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Snyder is the Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at The Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.

Clarissa Ward is CNN’s Chief International Correspondent. She discusses her new book On All Fronts with Peter Bergen, a journalist, documentary producer and security analyst. On All Fronts is an account of Ward’s riveting career in journalism in this age of extremism.

Best-selling authors Isabel Allende and Madeline Miller in conversation. They discuss literature, gender issues, humanitarianism, and other timely topics.

Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Michael R. Jackson and NPR’s Ari Shapiro, host of All Things Considered, discuss American theater, music, racial issues, and other timely topics.

Best-selling authors Erik Larson and Amor Towles discuss history, research, and the craft of writing.

Writers Franklin Foer and Malcolm Nance discuss politics, the upcoming 2020 election and more.

Authors Ann Patchett and Dani Shapiro discuss books, writing, and these challenging times.

MSNBC political analyst Chuck Rosenberg and The Atlantic columnist David Frum discuss politics and government during these challenging times, and much more.

The Kentucky Author Forum podcast has a new sound, and a new name: Great Podversations. This interview podcast will feature carefully matched pairs of nationally recognized writers in the kind of thoughtful and candid conversations you have come to expect from Kentucky Author Forum. Our guest authors and experts will discuss literature, politics, history, economics, science, and culture, and every episode will be introduced by NPR's Robert Siegel. Watch for our first new episode. which features MSNBC political analyst Chuck Rosenberg in conversation with The Atlantic columnist David Frum. These two experts will discuss politics and government during these challenging times, and much more.

Today's guest is Admiral James Stavridis, a retired four-star officer in the U.S. Navy. His book, Sailing True North, explores ten famous admirals and the profound influence on history through their leadership and character. Stavridis is interviewed by NPR special correspondent Melissa Block. This conversation was recorded on December 16, 2019 at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.

Dani Shapiro, author of "Inheritance," at the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum on Sept 25, 2019; interviewed by NPR's Robert Siegel.

Pulitzer-winning author and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses her book, "Leadership in Turbulent Times," at the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum on Dec. 6, 2018. Interviewed by A. Scott Berg. +

Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize winning author and columnist, interviewed by U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth at the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum on May 8, 2017.

Robert Wright, author of "Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment," at the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum on Nov. 27, 2017; interviewed by Jon Kabat-Zinn. (Photo credit: Barry Munger)

Charles Graeber discusses his book, "The Breakthrough: Immunotherapy and the Race to Cure Cancer," at the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum on Nov. 15, 2018. Interviewed by Thomas Gajewski, MD, PhD. Charles Graeber, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Nurse, details the astonishing scientific discovery of the code to unleashing the human immune system to fight — and possibly even cure — cancer. For decades, scientists have puzzled over one of medicine’s most confounding mysteries: Why doesn’t our immune system recognize and fight cancer the way it does other diseases, like the common cold? As it turns out, the answer to that question can be traced to a series of tricks that cancer has developed to turn off normal immune responses-tricks that scientists have only recently discovered and learned to defeat. The result is what many are calling cancer’s “penicillin moment,” a revolutionary discovery in our understanding of cancer and how to beat it.

Counter-terrorism expert Malcolm Nance, author of "The Plot to Hack America," at the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum on April 5, 2018. Interviewed by Ned Price of National Security Action.

Sports writer John Feinstein discusses his book, "The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup" at the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum on Sept. 20, 2018. Interviewed by Mike Tirico of NBC Sports.