News & Features » October 2014 » Spotlight on LIVE from the NYPL
Spotlight on LIVE from the NYPL
On Wednesday, November 5, LIVE from the NYPL will graciously host Akashic’s Tehran Noir/Tel Aviv Noir panel event from 7 to 9 p.m. in the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. This discussion, moderated by best-selling novelist Rick Moody (The Ice Storm), features four contributing authors to these newest Noir Series titles and will explore their writing as it pertains to life both within these cities and outside of them. In honor of their housing our event, today Akashic spotlights the Live from the NYPL discussion and reading series.
LIVE from the NYPL launched in 2005 under the direction of Paul Holdengräber as an affordable public forum for literary icons, artists, filmmakers, historians, and political figures to engage in discussion on a vast swath of topics. Since its inception, LIVE from the NYPL has distinguished itself from other such programs by reaching outside the established NYC elite to include more controversial and independent personalities such as Werner Herzog, John Waters, and Jay-Z. Yet the series has also gained notoriety for the zeal it inspires on the other side of the interviewing table, due in no small part to Holdengräber himself.
Referred to by The Wall Street Journal as the series’ “chief interlocuter and occasional referee,” Holdengräber has earned a reputation as a trenchant moderator and an enigmatic programmer since arriving at the NYPL in 2004. To peruse the list of Holdengräber’s interview subjects is to recognize a man of truly eclectic interests, a quality that has undoubtedly yielded some of New York’s more compelling literary programs. His knack for inspired events is evident in something like the series’ upcoming Marlon James/Salmon Rushdie event (December 14), a coupling that gleefully erases the line between inveterate best seller and young wunderkind by inviting a household name onstage alongside a burgeoning one. Such vigor is striking for the central library of a city known for its old-school literary cred, but it’s this kind of fearlessness that makes LIVE from the NYPL so vital.
In addition to the exceptional live programming, one of Holdengräber and company’s great successes has been its scrupulous recording and archiving of nearly every LIVE from the NYPL program. While their online audio/video archive should hardly supplant experiencing the real thing, it’s a testament to the series’ staying power that even a cursory glance through its nearly 300 recordings could yield several hours worth of compelling television.
It is with all of this in mind that Akashic is thrilled to have our Tehran Noir/Tel Aviv Noir event included in this fall’s LIVE from the NYPL lineup. General admission tickets for our event are $25 or $15 for NYPL friends, seniors, and students with valid IDs. Please join us in supporting the authors, their work, and the incomparable Live from the NYPL series!
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Tehran Noir/Tel Aviv Noir event, Wednesday, November 5, 2014, 7 – 9 p.m. at the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Tickets are $25 General Admission and $15 for Friends of LIVE from the NYPL; click here to purchase.
Posted: Oct 28, 2014
Category: Akashic in Good Company | Tags: Akashic in Good Company, Assaf Gavron, Etgar Keret, event, Gina B. Nahai, LIVE from the NYPL, New York Public Library, NYPL, Paul Holdengräber, Rick Moody, Salar Abdoh, spotlight, Tehran at Twilight, Tehran Noir, Tel Aviv Noir, The Luminous Heart of Jonah S.