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"This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. Poet Carolyn Forché launches "Otherwhere: New and Selected Poems," a collection of her poetry spanning five decades, in conversation with award-winning poet Patricia Smith. About The Book (from the publisher): Over more than five decades, Carolyn Forché has demonstrated the power of poetry to bear witness to history and speak to our responsibility to one another. "Otherwhere" gathers poems from throughout her groundbreaking career, from her first collection, "Gathering the Tribes," to "The Country Between Us" and "In the Lateness of the World." A short new collection, "If there is ink," is also included, lighting a signal fire in a state of emergency. In these new poems, Forché sifts through the ruins of the present, conjuring the early days of an emergency where people “pretend to live as we have always lived,” and cautioning, “There are no secrets to staying completely invisible, so they are not included here.” Selected by Forché herself, "Otherwhere" offers a sweeping portrait of a poet whose work has consistently explored displacement, political violence, memory, and the human capacity for courage and compassion. Together, these poems represent a remarkable contribution to American poetry and letters. About the Speakers: Carolyn Forché is an American poet, translator and memoirist whose books of poetry include "In the Lateness of the World," "Blue Hour," "The Angel of History," "The Country Between Us" and "Gathering the Tribes." Her memoir, "What You Have Heard Is True," received the National Book Critics Circle Award. Forché is a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Fellowship and the Windham-Campbell Prize. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, she is a university professor at Georgetown University. Patricia Smith is the author of 10 books of poetry, including "The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems," winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry and the 2026 NAACP Image Award for Poetry, and a finalist for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize. Her other acclaimed collections include "Unshuttered," "Incendiary Art," "Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah" and "Blood Dazzler," which was a National Book Award finalist. Smith is also a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam and has received numerous honors for her work as a poet, performer and educator. Public Humanities programs are presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This event was recorded on September 8, 2026."

"This recording is presented in partnership by Princeton Public Library and Labyrinth Books. The author discusses his new memoir "Dad, Love, Me" with Amy Jo Burns followed by a book signing. About the Book (from the publisher): Written in the form of a letter to his ailing father, this debut memoir from the bestselling author of "The Silver Linings Playbook" explores the complicated burden of caring for an abusive parent who is dying—here is Matthew Quick’s most personal and potent work to date. On the surface, Matthew Quick seemed to have it all—a loving wife, a thriving career as a novelist, and a beautiful home. He’d traveled all over the world advocating for mental health awareness, standing before crowds as a success story. But secretly, he was depressed and some days, he didn’t want to live. Years earlier, when he first told his father he wanted to be a novelist, the response was immediate and brutal: “Idiot!” That voice—angry and belittling—would echo through Quick’s mind for years. He channeled his pain into his debut novel, "The Silver Linings Playbook," crafting a complex father-son dynamic drawn straight from his own life. The book became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Still, the approval Quick longed for never came. His father remained cold and withholding. The deeper the rift between them grew, the deeper Quick sank into anxiety and addiction. In this book, Quick takes readers deep into his psyche, as he wrestles with both his own mental health and his father’s cognitive decline. A health scare finally forces Quick to get sober, but then, overcome by creative paralysis, writer’s block threatens to end his career. The blank page is unbearable. As his desperation for healing peaks, Quick turns to a Jungian analyst he nicknames “Zeus.” In the safety of analysis, as Quick’s repressed pain and shame surface, he finally cracks. Just as he is putting himself back together, his father is diagnosed with dementia. Suddenly, the clock is ticking. If there is ever going to be reconciliation, it has to happen now. Quick and his wife pack up their lives in coastal North Carolina, drive eight hours, and move into a house just around the corner from Quick’s parents, on an island right outside of Beaufort, South Carolina. There, as his father slips further and further away, Quick races to make a healing connection. "Dad, Love, Me" is Quick’s raw, vulnerable, and deeply moving account of what it means to forgive a parent who never really knew how to love you. It’s about wounds that never fully heal, and the power of showing up anyway. This beautifully brave and life-affirming memoir is a must read for anyone who has been starved of love but wants to keep loving anyway. About the Author: Matthew Quick is the New York Times bestselling author of "The Silver Linings Playbook"—which was made into an Oscar-winning film—and eight other novels, including "We Are the Light," a main selection of the Book of the Month Club. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, received a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention, was an Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a #1 bestseller in Brazil, a Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis 2016 (German Youth Literature Prize) nominee, and selected by Nancy Pearl as one of Summer’s Best Books for NPR. The Hollywood Reporter has named him one of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors. Matthew lives with his wife, the novelist Alicia Bessette, in Beaufort, South Carolina. About the Moderator: Amy Jo Burns is a frequent presence at Princeton Public Library literary events. Her new novel, "Wait for Me," is the Today Show Read With Jenna pick for March 2026. She is the author of three other books, including "Cinderland," "Shiner," and "Mercury," which was a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and an Editor’s Choice selection in The New York Times. A western Pennsylvania native, she lives in New Jersey with her family. This event was recorded on July 21, 2026."

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