The PRH Speakers Bureau is proud to represent speakers who keep us connected and make powerful progress toward change. As we continue to have conversations about challenging the status quo, actively fighting for justice in BIPOC communities, and grappling with COVID-19, we’ve compiled these recent articles, media, and essays from our speakers about the changing personal, political, and cultural landscapes.

We are also happy to include a roundup for you here of upcoming virtual events that are open to the public from our speakers for the upcoming week.

Virtual Events with Our Speakers

Tune in to these virtual Penguin Random House speakers’ book events, author Q&A’s and more that are happening this week.

Tuesday, July 28

• Kiley Reid joins fellow novelists Joshilyn Jackson and Sameer Pandya to discuss SUCH A FUN AGE (7:00PM EST)

Wednesday, July 29

• Colson Whitehead appears on Get Lit with All of It to discuss THE NICKEL BOYS (7:00PM EST)

Thursday, July 30

• Robert B. Reich will be speaking about dismantling the rigged system at the Common Wealth Club (3:00PM EST)
• Robert B. Reich will join the executive director of National Domestic Workers Alliance Ai-jen Poo and journalist David Leonhardt at New York Times to speak on what work will look like in the future and ways we can shape that (5:00PM EST)
• Lara Prescott will be in-conversation with Wiley Cash for SIBA Reader Meet Writer (7:00PM EST)

Friday, July 31

• Emily St. John Mandel talks about her book for Summer Reading NEA Big Read at the Nevada County Community Library and Nevada County Media (2:00PM EST)

Check out #BooksConnectUsLive for more live virtual events.

News and Media from PRHSB Speakers

Black Lives Matter Movement
Below are some recent dialogues from our speakers on systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter movement.

• ‘Racism’ Did Not Seem Sufficient.’ Author Isabel Wilkerson on the American Caste System | Time: Isabel Wilkerson provides long-awaited details about CASTE, the upcoming historical book which publishes in August.
• Patience Is a Dirty Word | The Atlantic: Dr. Ibram X. Kendi speaks on the legacy of John Lewis, the urgency of justice, and why patience is not an option.
• Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me Is Coming to HBO This Fall | Vulture: Ta-Nehisi Coates’s nonfiction work BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, a powerful letter to his teenage son looking back on his life through the lens of structural racism, is coming to HBO as a special this fall.
• Dig into family secrets and The Vanishing Half in August | Los Angeles Times: The L.A. Times Book Club’s August selection is THE VANISHING HALF, Brit Bennett’s new novel about family secrets and twin sisters whose lives take radically different paths.
• Chef Kwame Onwuachi and Dumbfoundead Discuss Issues of Inequality in the Food Industry | Complex: Kwame Onwuachi discusses issues of inequality in food media, the importance of supporting Black-owned businesses, and the obstacles Black chefs face in the restaurant industry.

Books Connect Us 
With their imaginative, impactful pieces of literature, our speakers provide incredibly valuable perspectives to be read by all.

• Reese Witherspoon Is Adapting Where The Crawdads Sing For The Big Screen | Marie Claire:  Reese Witherspoon is set to make a feature film from Delia Owens’s celebrated novel WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.
• A Burning explores Islamophobia, state-sponsored violence, police terrorism, and a failing democracy | International Examiner: Megha Majumdar’s debut novel is getting a lot of attention in the press and social media as a new and important literary voice.
• Author Elliot Ackerman on Red Dress in Black and White | MPR News: Elliot Ackerman talks about his latest novel, writing about past emotional events in a way that readers can connect with and how his life influences his fiction.
• The Vanishing Half Is BuzzFeed Book Club’s August Pick |Buzzfeed News: Brit Bennett’s captivating novel will be BuzzFeed Book Club’s August pick.
• Here Are The 50 Most Impactful Black Books Of The Last 50 Years | Essence: In honor of  celebrating 50 years as a magazine, Essence has chosen 50 remarkable books by remarkable authors – Jacqueline Woodson, Colson Whitehead, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Yaa Gyasi are among them.

COVID-19 
These articles from our speakers highlight practical advice and news about the current pandemic.

• ER Doctor Says Many Will Leave Medicine When COVID-19 Pandemic Is Over | MSNBC: Dr. Michele Harper discusses what ER medical workers can do about the strain from the coronavirus pandemic.
• When Home Is Where The Office Is, Where Do You Hang Your Hat? | WAMC: Laura Vanderkam explains how to create carefully perfected work-from-home routines.
• ‘‘You Do the Right Things, and Still You Get It’ | The New York Times: Dr. Sheri Fink reports on a Texas family that tried to ward off the virus. But as cases in the state soared and debates about masks and distancing raged, there was only so much they could control.
• When Is a Coronavirus Test Not a Coronavirus Test? | The New York Times: Elisabeth Rosenthal gives her opinion on the current state of testing.
• Trump can’t shift public attention from coronavirus to the streets of America | The Guardian: Robert B. Reich talks about how public attention is still on the global pandemic.