Politics and Prose
@politicsprose·255K subscribers·4K videos
Richard Powers — Playground - with John Williams — Playground - with John Williams
Posted
October 16, 2024
Views
12,789
Likes
159
Engagement
1.24%
October 16, 2024
12,789
159
1.24%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
56:27Now PlayingWatch author Richard Powers' book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.
PURCHASE BOOK HERE
Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world's first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane's work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.
They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity's next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island's residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.
Set in the world's largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.
Richard Powers is the author of fourteen novels, including The Overstory, Bewilderment, and Orfeo. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award. He lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Powers is in conversation with John Williams. Williams oversees books coverage for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in 2022, he spent 11 years on the books desk of the New York Times, where he edited the paper’s staff book critics and frequently wrote literary reviews and features. Before that, Williams spent six years in the editorial department of HarperCollins Publishers and then worked as a freelance writer and editor. He founded the literary website the Second Pass, which featured reviews of new books alongside essays about older and more obscure ones.
Be Sure To Click SUBSCRIBE
@politicsprose
Visit us online at
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on instagram
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Threads
Follow Us On TikTok
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter:
Become a store member and save
Audio Archive
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online.
#books #booktube
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
