Our On America series brings writers, journalists, activists, and change-makers together to reflect on the critical issues of our times. Who are we and who are we becoming? How do the stories we tell shape who we are as a nation? Will we rise to the challenges we face?
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On America: Claude Johnson on The Black Fives with Laura Washington
As the 2022 NBA playoffs ramped up, historian Claude Johnson joined The Center for Fiction for a rich conversation on an unsung... -
On America: 50 Years of Title IX with Sherry Boschert, Anucha Browne, and Lucy Jane Bledsoe
June 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation which prohibited sex-based discrimination in federally funded education -
On America: Randall Kennedy on Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word with Erroll McDonald and Annette Gordon-Reed
To celebrate the publication of the twentieth anniversary edition, we were honored to host this distinguished panel discussion of Randall...
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On America: The Front Lines of the Abortion Divide with Jennifer Haigh and Shannon Rose Selden
Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh (Heat and Light) returns with her timely, highly... -
On America: Black Women on Feminism and Pop Culture with Sesali Bowen, Zeba Blay, and Shayla Lawson
What can mainstream feminism learn from game-changing Black women like Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, and Cardi B? Entertainment journalist Sesali... -
On America: Jelani Cobb on The Essential Kerner Commission Report with Arva Rice
Jelani Cobb, Columbia University professor and New Yorker correspondent, joined us to discuss the launch of The...
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On America: Donald Antrim on One Friday in April with Deborah Treisman
America has begun to grapple with new ideas of mental health and wellness in the public discourse. Donald Antrim (Elect Mr -
On America: Climate Writing with Elizabeth Kolbert, Madeleine Watts, and Leslie Jamison
Can great writing help us confront the global climate crisis before it’s too late? Pulitzer Prize winner and New Yorker staff writer... -
On America: Environmental Storytelling
How can storytelling contend with the legacies of resource extraction, toxic industries, and systemic disenfranchisement? How can storytellers...
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On America: Women, Medicine, and Writing
Suzanne Koven, a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Anita Diamant, an author and... -
On America: The Carceral System and Racial Justice with Ian Manuel and Yusef Salaam
Ian Manuel and Yusef Salaam came together for a special event in the On America series to discuss matters of... -
On America: We Are Each Other’s Harvest and the Legacy of Black Farmers
Over the past 100 years, the number of Black farmers working the land throughout the United States has gone from one million to 45,000
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On America: A Performance of James Baldwin's "The White Problem"
In this fraught election year, The Center for Fiction was proud to present a special performance of James Baldwin’s essay... -
On America: Kendrick Lamar's Powerful Storytelling in Song with Marcus J. Moore and Touré
Award-winning music journalist Marcus J. Moore’s biography of Kendrick Lamar, rap superstar and “master of storytelling”... -
Calls to Remove: On Confederate Statues in America
Can America overcome the generational effects of 400 years of slavery when monuments honoring Confederate generals and slave traders still stand?
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On America: The Juvenile Injustice System
In the summer of 2020, the national conversation about police brutality shifted from talk of reform to talk of dismantling an inherently unjust and racist system -
On America: Writing and Reading the Environment
Featuring Kerri Arsenault, Meehan Crist, Bathsheba Demuth, John Freeman, Emily Raboteau, and Meera Subramanian. -
Culture and Conflict: Exploration and Finding 'Home' in the Americas
Lauren Francis-Sharma and Tiphanie Yanique on Book of the Little Axe.
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Joe Wilkins Presents Fall Back Down When I Die with Pam Houston and Luis Alberto Urrea
Shortlisted for the 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Fall Back Down When I Die explores issues of social disharmony, generational... -
Marie Mutsuki Mockett Presents American Harvest with Marlon James and Juston Wolgemuth
American Harvest by Marie Mutsuki Mockett is a beautifully written book about one woman’s experience across “the... -
Introducing… Gabriel Bump’s Everywhere You Don’t Belong with Kaitlyn Greenidge
Hilarious moments abruptly follow terrifying events in Gabriel Bump’s extraordinary debut Everywhere You Don’t Belong