Since 1980, City Arts & Lectures has presented onstage conversations with outstanding figures in literature, politics, criticism, science, and the performing arts, offering the most diverse perspectives about ideas and values. City Arts & Lectures programs can be heard on more than 130 public radio stations across the country and wherever you get your podcasts. The broadcasts are co-produced with KQED 88.5 FM in San Francisco. Visit CITYARTS.NET for more info.
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This is an encore presentation of a program originally broadcast in October of 2025. Arundhati Roy’s internationally best-selling novels include The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Her nonfiction works engage elegantly and passionately with class and power, among other issues. Roy’s new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, examines her childhood in Kerala, India, and a mother…
Dr. Vivek Murthy served as the Surgeon General of the United States under both Presidents Obama and Biden. In that capacity, Murthy shaped the federal response to the opioid epidemic, the rise of e-cigarettes, the Flint, Michigan water crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Murthy has pushed to reduce access to social media for young children, pointing out the harmful effects of bullying, a lack of…
Yotam Ottolenghi is a celebrated chef and bestselling cookbook author whose newest book, Simple Too , comes out in October 2026. He is the restaurateur and chef-patron of six London-based Ottolenghi delis, as well as the NOPI and ROVI restaurants. Ottolenghi has been a weekly columnist for The Guardian (UK) for over sixteen years and is a regular contributor to The New York Times . His commitment…
Eddie Huang has found success in a dizzying variety of fields, including law, comedy, food, and literature. In his 2013 memoir - Fresh Off The Boat - Huang described a tumultuous childhood as the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and a colorful path to forming his own identity – making his way through numerous subcultures and career paths – from law to fashion, comedy and now restaurants. Fresh Off The…
This week, our guest is Bella Freud, clothing designer and host of Fashion Neurosis, a conversation podcast about the connection between clothes and identity. It features an unconventional set-up: guests lie on a couch, and Freud asks questions from a nearby chair, out of their view – in the manner of her great-grandfather, the legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. The interviews with actors,…
This week, our guest is David Szalay. His novel – Flesh – was winner of the 2025 Man Booker Prize. The story begins in Hungary, and it stays close to a protagonist who moves somewhat aimlessly through life, rarely exhibiting any self-reflection. Szalay says that he wanted to write a character whose experience of the world is entirely physical, not psychological. Critics and fellow writers like…
This week, our guest is Elizabeth Pryor – a professor of history at Smith College, whose work focuses on the histories of race and slavery in the United States. Pryor’s memoir, Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me, is about growing up as the Black Jewish daughter of comedian Richard Pryor. It also traces the painful evolution of the N-word from the era of slavery to today –…
This week, our guest is Lena Dunham, best known as the creator of Girls, an HBO series about a group of 20-somethings that one critic called “a generational event.” Her most recent television series, Too Much , is about a New Yorker who moves to London to find her way out of heartbreak. On May 17, 2026, Dunham came to the SGT to talk about her memoir, Famesick, with her close friend, journalist…
José Andrés is widely recognized for both his culinary achievements – including two Michelin stars, and 40 restaurants worldwide – and his humanitarian work. As the founder of World Central Kitchen, Andrés has fed tens of millions of people across dozens of crises. The model is uncommonly nimble and effective; rather than warehousing aid, Central Kitchen activates local restaurants and cooks on…
Ben Rhodes is a writer on U.S. and global politics. A contributor to the New York Times and MSNOW , and co-host of Pod Save the World , Ben has authored two New York Times bestsellers - After the Fall and T he World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House . His latest book, All We Say , is a sweeping look at the battle over American identity and the questions, “What does it mean to be…
