Poets & Writers Theater

In this CBS Sunday Morning video, Washington Post book critic Ron Charles recommends books for the summer, including the novels Godwin by Joseph O’Neill (Pantheon, 2024), Same as It Ever Was (Doubleday, 2024) by Claire Lombardo, and Bear (Hogarth, 2024) by Julia Phillips, who is profiled in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this CBS Sunday Morning video, correspondent Conor Knighton reports on how public libraries across the country are renovating and evolving beyond acting as repositories for books and becoming innovative community centers that meet the many needs of their patrons.

In this CBS Sunday Morning interview, renowned Chilean author Isabel Allende discusses her family history, the inspiration behind her courageous and passionate characters, and her latest novel, The Wind Knows My Name (Ballantine Books, 2023), translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle.

In this CBS Sunday Morning video, correspondent Martha Teichner speaks with the founders of the activist group Moms for Liberty, library officials, a teacher removed from her classroom for giving her students access to banned books, and Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus, about the fight over banning books. This week, the American Library Association released its annual list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books.

“I travel across America twice a year making lots of stops along the way, and each time the country feels a little different.” In this CBS Sunday Morning video, author and satirist David Sedaris comments on recent word choices he finds irritating.

In this CBS Sunday Morning video, Reginald Dwayne Betts speaks about founding Freedom Reads, a nonprofit organization that designs, builds, and places mobile libraries in prison housing units. For more, read “Freedom Reads” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this CBS Sunday Morning video, David Begnaud interviews Teddy Droseros, who began a project leaving journals in coffee shops and classrooms around the country for people to write down what they were grateful for and has collected entries and created a book with hundreds of messages of gratitude.

“To me, reading becomes a lot more palatable if young people realize that the stories, the books that exist within them are as valuable as the books that exist on the outside of them.” In this CBS Sunday Morning interview, Jane Pauley speaks to Jason Reynolds, award-winning author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, about lifting up children through storytelling, his journey as a writer, and the importance of friendship.

“Suddenly I wasn’t thinking about my mom losing her hair, or my mom losing weight, I was thinking about us in Korea eating patbingsu,” says Michelle Zauner in this CBS Sunday Morning interview about her best-selling memoir, Crying in H Mart (Knopf, 2021), and finding comfort in the Korean-owned supermarket chain after losing her mother to cancer.

In this CBS Sunday Morning video, Washington Post book critic Ron Charles gives his book report on new recommendations for the summer, including Sanjena Sathian’s debut novel, Gold Diggers (Penguin Press, 2021), Great Circle (Knopf, 2021) by Maggie Shipstead, and The Man Who Lived Underground (Library of America, 2021) by the late Richard Wright, which is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I just felt this deep need to express myself.... I had a strong desire to understand and to express that understanding.” In this CBS Sunday Morning interview, Ta-Nehisi Coates talks about the purpose of his writing and how the music of Marvin Gaye influences the language in his work. Coates’s debut novel, The Water Dancer (One World, 2019), is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this 2002 CBS Sunday Morning interview with Martha Teichner, Salman Rushdie discusses living in New York City, his upbringing in India and England, and the controversy over his 1988 award-winning novel, The Satanic Verses.