Tulsa City-County Library

Our guest is the widely acclaimed writer and historian Stacy Schiff, who is the winner of the 2019 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. This award is given each year by the Tulsa Library Trust and Tulsa City-County Library.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we learn all about the vitally important book/author/reading series known as Book Smart Tulsa, which was started ten years ago (pretty much single-handedly) by our guest, Jeff Martin. He worked for years as a local bookseller and is now the Communications Manager at Philbrook Museum of Art; he's also the co-creator of our popular Museum Confidential podcast here at Public Radio Tulsa.

Each year, the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature is given by the TCCL's Tulsa Library Trust to a nationally acclaimed author who has made a significant contribution to the field of literature for young adults. This year, that award will go to Rita Williams-Garcia, our guest today on ST. She is being recognized, as noted at the TCCL website, "for writing bestselling novels for young adults that inspire imaginations, dreams, and pride in all ages.

Our guest is the bestselling young-adult writer Laurie Halse Anderson, who is widely known and appreciated for the brave manner in which she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Her novel "Speak," which first appeared two decades ago, was groundbreaking in this regard.

On this edition of ST, we speak with Robert Donaldson, Trustees Professor of Political Science (Emeritus) at The University of Tulsa. A former President of TU, Donaldson is also an expert on international politics, especially Soviet, Russian, and American foreign policies.

On this edition of our program, we offer an engaging conversatiuon with Deborah Hunter, a Behavioral Health Rehab Specialist and Case Manager at Family & Children's Services here in Tulsa. She's been with F&CS since 2011, and she is also a longtime and award-winning poet. Interestingly, Hunter also works as a social worker for the Tulsa City-County Library, mainly at the TCCL's Central Branch (and 5th and Denver).

Our guest on ST is the celebrated British writer Hilary Mantel, who is the newest recipient of the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, which is given annually by the Tulsa Library Trust. Mantel is the author of several books, including the historical novels "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies," which both recount the life of Thomas Cromwell, the "political fixer" best known for his tenure in the court of Henry VIII. Mantel speaks with us about these and other of her very popular works.

On this edition of ST, we learn about the first-annual Wine, Jazz & World Fete, which will happen soon in downtown Tulsa -- from Thursday the 4th through Saturday the 6th -- at both the Guthrie Green and Duet (i.e., Tulsa's brand-new jazz club). This festival, to be hosted by Public Radio Tulsa's Scott Gregory on both Friday and Saturday, will boast outstanding jazz and world-music artists, fine wines, delicious culinary offerings, performance art, kids' activities, and more.

On this edition of ST, we listen back to our April 2017 chat with David Grann, the bestselling author and staff writer at The New Yorker Magazine, about his book, "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI." As was noted of this book by a critic writing for Time: "Nearly 100 years ago, the Osage tribe of Oklahoma were thought to be the wealthiest people per capita in the world, thanks to their oil-rich reservation, kindly sold back to them by the federal government that had snatched it away.

On this edition of ST, we speak with the well-regarded novelist and short-story writer Richard Ford, who is the recipient of the 2017 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. Ford is the author of many critically acclaimed works of ficition, including "The Sportswriter," "Independence Day," and "Let Me Be Frank with You." His newest book, just out, is a memoir about his parents, which he discusses with us at length.

"To have great poets," as Walt Whitman once noted, "there must also be great audiences." And great cities, it would seem, likewise require great bookstores. On this edition of ST, we learn all about Magic City Books -- an indie bookstore owned and operated by the non-profit Tulsa Literary Coalition (or TLC) -- which will soon, at long last, open for business in downtown Tulsa. Indeed, after a series of construction-related delays, Magic City Books will open on Monday the 20th at 9pm...with Mayor G.T.

On this edition of ST, we welcome the Tulsa-based author Jennifer Latham back to our show. Her recently published YA novel, "Dreamland Burning," is a suspenseful narrative about the Tulsa Race Riot. As was noted of this book in an appreciative review from School Library Journal: "Latham follows up 'Scarlett Undercover' with a rich work that links past and present in a tale that explores racial prejudice. After the remains of a skeleton are found in her Tulsa, OK, backyard, 17-year-old Rowan Chase becomes consumed with finding out the story behind the death.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we are pleased to welcome Laurie Halse Anderson to our show. She's written many books of fiction and nonfiction over the years, and she's the winner of the 2017 Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature. She will been given this award at a special ceremony happening on Friday the 5th at the TCCL's Hardesty Regional Library, on East 93rd Street.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we speak with Kim Johnson, who became chief executive officer of the Tulsa City-County Library on January 1st. After more than 15 years as an employee of the TCCL, Johnson seems like a perfect fit for this leadership post. She's very committed, of course, to books and learning and literacy -- and to the vital purpose of libraries within society today -- and she's the first African American to lead the 24-branch system that is the TCCL.

On this edition of ST, we welcome Billy Collins back to our show. He is the winner of the Tulsa Library Trust's 2016 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, and he'll be reading from his work at an event here in Tulsa on Saturday the 3rd at the downtown Central Library. (This event begins at 10:30am and is free to the public.) Known and loved by readers everywhere for his accessible, conversational, clearly rendered, and often witty poems, Collins has been called "the most popular poet in America" by The New York Times.