Best Brooklyn Public Library Podcasts (2025)

1
Show Me the Incentive, I’ll Show You the Outcome

Play Pause

5h ago

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This week on my podcast, I read my latest Locus Magazine column, “Show Me the Incentive, I’ll Show You the Outcome,” about the process by which we ended up with an enshittogenic policy environment: The whole point of the conservative project is to take away choices, and corral us into “preferences” that we disprefer. Eliminate no-fault divorce, sup…

1
Enshittification With Ed Zitron at the Seattle Public Library

1M ago

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This week on my podcast, I’ve got the audio from last week’s Enshittification book-tour event with Ed Zitron and Whitney Betran at the Seattle Public Library (you can watch the video here). I’ve got many more cities to go on the tour – I hope to see you at one (or more) of them! MP3By Cory Doctorow

1
Thresholds: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on the Future That’s Still Possible 38:54

25d ago38:54

38:54

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, climate scientist and activist. Recently, she sat down with Jordan Kisner, of the Thresholds podcast, to talk about our climate future. You may have heard clips of their conversation in our last episode about Silent Spring. Today, we're playing the full interview as a partnership with Thresholds, a…

1
Introducing: "Borrowed & Returned" from the Brooklyn Public Library 28:13

1M ago28:13

28:13

Thresholds is happy to introduce "Borrowed & Returned," a new podcast from the Brooklyn Public Library about the books that have changed America. This episode was made in partnership between Borrowed & Returned and Thresholds. You can hear the whole interview with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in our feed. Episode description: When Silent Spring came out…

1
We are the Environment: Silent Spring’s Enduring Wisdom 28:13

1M ago28:13

28:13

When Silent Spring came out in 1962, it was an instant best-seller and led to the establishment of the EPA, as well as the ban of harmful pesticides such as DDT. But Rachel Carson’s seminal work also shifted our way of thinking about nature. For the first time, the environment was not just something out there that could be tracked and measured, but…

1
Enshittification With Lina Khan at the Brooklyn Public Library

1M ago

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This week on my podcast, I’ve got the audio from last week’s Enshittification book-tour event with former FTC Chair Lina Khan at the Brooklyn Public Library (you can watch the video here). lI’ve got 24 more cities to go on the tour – I hope to see you at one (or more) of them! MP3By Cory Doctorow

1
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson 37:24

1M ago37:24

37:24

Jordan sits down with marine biologist, writer, and climate advocate Ayana Johnson to talk about her mission to fight climate fatalism, her love of Rachel Carson, and her skepticism of the impulse to look for "hope" in the face of climate change -- as opposed to possibility, or joy. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, …

1
Molly Crabapple on Making Art in a Turbulent World 19:07

2M ago19:07

19:07

By Brooklyn Public Library

1
The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh

1M ago

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The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh This week on my podcast, I read “The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh,” a recent column from my Pluralistic newsletter; about the looming economic crisis threatened by the AI investment bubble: A week ago, I turned that book into a speech, which I delivered as the annual Nordlander Memorial Lecture at …

1
Claire Vaye Watkins 57:21

2M ago57:21

57:21

Jordan sits down with Claire Vaye Watkins to talk about how the grief over her mother's death diffused into a homesickness for the landscape of the Mojave Desert, where she grew up, and the way that that singular landscape then formed her own writing style, which the New Yorker dubbed "Nevada Gothic." They also talk about postpartum depression, Wat…

1
Art Spiegelman on Resistance, Memory, and Speaking Up 19:53

2M ago19:53

19:53

Art Spiegelman is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the graphic novel Maus, the story of his parents’ experience during the Holocaust. We got to sit down with Spiegelman at Brooklyn Public Library’s recording studio earlier this month to talk about Maus almost forty years after it first came out, about censorship, about the war in Gaza, and abou…

1
Mariana Enriquez 44:34

2M ago44:34

44:34

This week, Jordan sits down with the "queen of Latin American gothic horror," Mariana Enriquez, to talk about the manuscript she burned and how it led her to search for a mode of horror writing that was drawn from her own lived experiences of terror. Mentioned: Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina's military dictatorship of 1976 to 1983, gravestones as mon…

1
Maus and the Power of Images 26:29

2M ago26:29

26:29

Art Spiegelman’s Maus almost single-handedly elevated comics from throw-away inserts in newspapers to a serious literary art worthy of winning the highest award in book publishing. But it’s not an accident that this book is coming back to us now. Maus was swept once again into the public eye three years ago, when the conservative movement to target…

1
Miriam Toews 48:51

2M ago48:51

48:51

Jordan sits down to talk with Miriam Toews about her new book, A Truce That Is Not Peace, her first nonfiction book, and the events that inspired it: the death by suicide of her father and then, later, her sister. They talk about the long periods of silence her father and sister both went through when they were alive, and how Toews' own persistent …

1
Book Riot: The Untold Story of Black Librarians 20:02

2M ago20:02

20:02

This episode comes to us from our friends at Book Riot! In this segment, you'll hear Book Riot’s Erica Ezeifedi speak with Rodney Freeman, a librarian and producer of the forthcoming documentary, Are You a Librarian? The Untold Story of Black Librarians. This is part of their Reading and Resistance series, which looks at the relationship between re…

1
By all means, tread on those people

3M ago

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This week on my podcast, I read “By all means, tread on those people,” a recent column from my Pluralistic newsletter; about the way that the American descent in fascism is connected to its abandonment of the rule of law more broadly: Just as Martin Niemöller’s “First They Came” has become our framework for understanding the rise of fascism in Nazi…

1
Matt de la Peña on Small Stories and the Power of Perspective 18:58

3M ago18:58

18:58

Matt de la Peña is the Newbery Medal-winning author of seven Young Adult novels and five picture books. We talked with him about writing small stories and what it means to write a book that is, as he calls it, “Diversity 2.0.” You can read a transcript of this episode on our website. Check out our booklist with books by Matt de la Peña and more! Le…

1
Enshittification (episode 500!)

3M ago

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It’s the 500th edition of my podcast, and to celebrate, I’m bringing you an hour-long excerpt from the audiobook of my forthcoming book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It (Farrar, Straus and Giroux US/Canada; Verso UK/Commonwealth). Because Amazon won’t carry my audiobooks (or any DRM-free audiobooks), I hav…

1
Meg Medina on Latine Stories and Reading as a Family 17:07

3M ago17:07

17:07

Meg Medina is an award-winning author of books for kids and young adults, and she was the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. We talked to her about what it meant to be the first Latinx author in that role, about the need for more diverse kids books, and the importance of reading in families. You can read a transcript of th…

1
How The Snowy Day Changed Children’s Books 28:22

3M ago28:22

28:22

The Snowy Day wasn’t the first picture book to feature a Black child as its beloved protagonist, but it might be the most visible. When it came out in 1962, it challenged the publishing industry to champion books that depict kids of color. Today, we find ourselves in a moment not so different from the one Ezra Jack Keats was in when he sat down to …

1
The Legacy of Howard Zinn's Radical History 21:27

4M ago21:27

21:27

When Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States came out in 1980, it literally rocked the boat. Instead of starting where most histories of the Americas start — on the deck of Columbus’s ship as it approached land — Howard Zinn flipped the script, focusing instead on what the people standing on the shore would have seen. In this episode,…

1
Reginald Dwayne Betts on Freedom and Poetic Constraint 20:33

4M ago20:33

20:33

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, a lawyer, and the founder and CEO of Freedom Reads, an organization with the goal of bringing a library to every cell block in America. We talked with him about what he read – and wrote – while he was incarcerated, and what it taught him about what it means to be free, to be loved, and to be part of a community. Rea…

1
On Reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in Prison 25:42

4M ago25:42

25:42

There are so many reasons to read – and reread – The Autobiography of Malcolm X. But for this episode, we’re revisiting the book with the perspectives of readers who are, or were, incarcerated. Malcolm X’s story isn’t just radical for its narrative of change and self-improvement; it also encourages readers to think more critically about the prison …

1
N.K. Jemisin on Truth, Education, and Speculation 21:27

4M ago21:27

21:27

N.K. Jemisin is a New York Times-bestselling science fiction and fantasy writer. She’s a Brooklynite, the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, and the first author to win three Best Novel Hugos in a row. We talked to her about Octavia Butler’s influence on her writing, and how she processes the present moment in her own fiction. You can re…

1
What Parable of the Sower Taught Us About the Future 26:38

5M ago26:38

26:38

In these unfathomable moments, when the world seems to be falling apart—we often turn to stories for guidance. For the folks in Southern California earlier this year, that story was Parable of the Sower. Readers are returning to the book today because it shows us how speculation – and Afrofuturism in particular – can help us move through the world …

Brooklyn Public Library Podcasts

3401
Borrowed & Returned

Brooklyn Public Library

1
The Owl: The Brooklyn Public Philosophers Podcast

Sophie Murphy

1
Share Public Health

Midwestern Public Health Training Center

201
Podcast – Cory Doctorow's craphound.com

Cory Doctorow

1
Our Streets, Our Stories

Brooklyn Public Library

1
The Review Panel

artcritical

1
Thresholds

Jordan Kisner

1
Show Me the Incentive, I’ll Show You the Outcome

1
Enshittification With Ed Zitron at the Seattle Public Library

1
Thresholds: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on the Future That’s Still Possible 38:54

1
Introducing: "Borrowed & Returned" from the Brooklyn Public Library 28:13

1
We are the Environment: Silent Spring’s Enduring Wisdom 28:13

1
Enshittification With Lina Khan at the Brooklyn Public Library

1
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson 37:24

1
Molly Crabapple on Making Art in a Turbulent World 19:07

1
The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh

1
Claire Vaye Watkins 57:21

1
Art Spiegelman on Resistance, Memory, and Speaking Up 19:53

1
Mariana Enriquez 44:34

1
Maus and the Power of Images 26:29

1
Miriam Toews 48:51

1
Book Riot: The Untold Story of Black Librarians 20:02

1
By all means, tread on those people

1
Matt de la Peña on Small Stories and the Power of Perspective 18:58

1
Enshittification (episode 500!)

1
Meg Medina on Latine Stories and Reading as a Family 17:07

1
How The Snowy Day Changed Children’s Books 28:22

1
The Legacy of Howard Zinn's Radical History 21:27

1
Reginald Dwayne Betts on Freedom and Poetic Constraint 20:33

1
On Reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in Prison 25:42

1
N.K. Jemisin on Truth, Education, and Speculation 21:27

1
What Parable of the Sower Taught Us About the Future 26:38