excerpt at Brave New Films

Neal Stephenson Reads "Anathem"

2008-11-22T08:56:00Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Acclaimed science-fiction author Neal Stephenson reads the introductory chapter from his book, "Anathem."

-----

What if we lived in a world where the long-term was taken seriously?

At an event hosted by the Long Now Foundation, science fiction author Neal Stephenson reads from his latest novel ANATHEM. Afterwards he participates in a conversation with Stewart Brand and Danny Hillis.

Neal Stephenson is the best-selling author of such novels as Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, and The Baroque Cycle. He is best know for writing science fiction (in the postcyberpunk genre) and his interests often lead him into investigations of society, mathematics, cryptology, currency and the history of science. Anathem is his latest novel.

Watch the video

FORA.tv Staff Favorites - Amy Tan

2008-10-29T09:38:58Z

FORA.tv syndication editor Maureen Olund discusses her fondness of Amy Tan and showcases the featured program On Writing: Amy Tan in Conversation with Roger Rosenblatt from the Chautauqua Institution.

Complete video of Amy Tan in conversation with Roger Rosenblatt: fora.tv

FORA.tv Culture Section: fora.tv

FORA.tv Blog: foratv.blogspot.com

Watch the video

On Writing About Africa - Charlayne Hunter-Gault

2008-10-28T15:30:22Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault criticizes racist and sensationalist reporting on Africa.

-----

On the 60th anniversary of Orwell's Politics and the English Language, George Orwell described political speech as consisting "largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness." Some six decades later, many symptoms of manipulation and propaganda diagnosed by Orwell persist on the American political landscape, along with new disinformation techniques enabled by modern technology.

Historians, scientists, philosophers, linguists, cognitive experts, journalists, image-makers, and public figures will debate in three separate sessions the current state of political discourse - and journalism's response to it - on the dawn of a bitterly contested presidential campaign - NYPL

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is a journalist, having worked with CNN, NPR, and PBS. She was the first African American woman admitted to or graduated from the University of Georgia. She is also the author of the autobiography In My Place, which reflects on African American life in the 1940s and 50s and the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. Charlayne Hunter-Gault recently left her post as CNN's Johannesburg bureau chief and correspondent, which she had held since 1999, to pursue independent projects. Before joining CNN, she worked from Johannesburg as the chief correspondent in Africa for NPR from 1997 to 1999.

Hunter-Gault was the chief national correspondent for the Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS from 1983 to 1997. She had joined the MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1978 as a correspondent. In 1989, she was also the correspondent for MacNeil/Lehrer Productions' five-part series, "Learning in America." During her tenure at the NewsHour, she won two Emmys and a Peabody for excellence in broadcast journalism for her work on the series "Apartheid's People." She also received the 1986 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Watch the video

Tom Barbash Reads from Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"

2008-10-19T15:30:39Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Author Tom Barbash reads a selection from Jack Kerouac's influential 1957 novel "On the Road."

-----

"On the Road: The 50th Anniversary," featuring Robert Mailer Anderson, Eddie Muller and Tom Barbash.

Join Bay Area novelist Robert Mailer Anderson as he leads a celebration of Jack Kerouac's famous novel "On the Road: 50th Anniversary Edition." Kerouac's book was first published in 1957, and it has come to epitomize the spirit and ideas of the Beat Generation, which had its origins in San Francisco. Maybe a few lusty readings from the book will revive the spirit! - Book Passage

Tom Barbash is an American writer of fiction and nonfiction, educator and critic. He is the author of the novel The Last Good Chance and the bestselling nonfiction work On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick & 9/11: A Story of Loss & Renewal. His fiction has been published in Tin House, Story magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review and The Indiana Review. His cricitism has appeared in the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He currently teaches at Stanford University, where was both a Stegner Fellow and a Jones Lecturer, at California College of the Arts, and at the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Watch the video

Judith Levine - "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping"

2008-10-15T09:29:23Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Author Judith Levine examines her spending habits in relation to those of the average American consumer in an excerpt from her book, "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping."

-----

Judith Levine talks about "Not Buying It: My Year without Shopping."

Shocked by the commerce in everything from pet cloning to patriotism, frightened by the downward spiral of her finances and that of the trash-strewn earth, Judith Levine enlists her partner, Paul, in a radical experiment: to forgo all but the most necessary purchases for an entire year.

Without consumer goods and experiences, Judith and Paul pursue their careers, nurture relationships, and try to keep their sanity, their identities, and their sense of humor intact. Tracking their progress - and inevitable lapses - Levine contemplates need and desire, scarcity and security, consumerism and citizenship. She asks the Big Questions: Can the economy survive without shopping? Are Q-tips necessary? NOT BUYING IT is the confession of a woman any reader can identify with: someone who can't live without French roast coffee or SmartWool socks but who has had it up to here with over-consumption and its effects on the earth and everyone who dwells there. For the humor and intelligence of its insights, the refreshment of its skepticism, and the surprises of its conclusions, NOT BUYING IT is sure to be on anyone's list of necessities. Levine is also the author of "Harmful to Minors," "My Enemy, My Love" and "Do You Remember Me?" - Cody's

Watch the video

Dinaw Mengestu - "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears"

2008-10-15T09:29:29Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Ethiopian-born author Dinaw Mengestu reads an excerpt from his novel, "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears."

-----

Dinaw Mengestu talks about "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears."

Dinaw Mengestu was born in Addis Ababa, and immigrated to the US in 1980. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and of Columbia Univesity's MFA program in fiction. A former intern at The New Yorker, he is the recipient of a 2006 fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Watch the video