Tagged Biography and Autobiography
For The Love of Hip Hop Exhibit
In collaboration with artist rod jones ii, this exhibition celebrates 50 years of hip hop and brings together Free Library staff and community members to answer the question, “When did you fall in love with Hip Hop?” …
Author Visit: Essence Vance
Join us for a workshop by motivational speaker Essence Vance, author of "Layers of a Single Mother: My Past is not my Present." Learn how to heal from childhood trauma and open doors to a brighter future. Books will be…
Courageous Kids: Wilma Exhibit
In partnership with Philadelphia Doll Museum Forward , we now have on display Wilma alongside related library materials and activities. Wilma was made to honor four brave Black girls named Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne…
Samuel R. Delany | Pride Month: How Science Fiction Dances to the Music of Time
“A visionary novelist & a revolutionary chronicler of gay life” ( The New Yorker ), Samuel R. Delany speaks with Music Department library trainee & Hollywood indie film composer Mark Inchoco on the intersections…
Madan Sara: a documentary by Etant Dupain
Join us for a film screening on the 3rd floor of the Fishtown Library on Saturday, June 8, at 2:00pm. The women known as Madan Sara in Haiti work tirelessly to buy, distribute, and sell food and other essentials in markets through the…
BE/LONGING Exhibition Opening
Gather in Parkway Central Library's main lobby for BE/LONGING. The opening includes light refreshments. BE/LONGING is a polyphonic exhibition on the longing, belonging, and connection that library spaces in Philadelphia can inspire.…
MK Asante | Nephew: A Memoir in 4-Part Harmony
REGISTER In conversation with Molefi Kete Asante MK Asante is a writer, filmmaker, and hip-hop artist, and recipient of the Langston Hughes Award. His books include It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop , the poetry…
Paul Hendrickson | Fighting the Night: Iwo Jima, WW II and a Flyer’s Life
REGISTER In conversation with Wil Haygood Paul Hendrickson ’s books include Sons of Mississippi , winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost,…
Famous Asian Americans
Biographies and collective biographies on Asian Americans.
LGBTQ - Biographies and Autobiographies
Biographies and Autobiographies of important and influential members of LGBTQ community.
Memoirs and Reminiscences by African American Authors
Autobiographical selections.
LitFinder
Discover literature content from more than 150,000 full-text poems, 840,000 poem citations and excerpts, 7,100 full-text short stories and novels, 3,800 full-text essays published in the 16th-20th centuries, 2,400 full-text speeches, and…
Literature Criticism Online
This extensive compilation of literary commentary represents a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras, and genres. Covers Children’s, Classical, Contemporary, Drama, Poetry, Shakespearean,…
Gale Literary Sources (formerly Artemis)
Cross-search all of Gale’s literature databases from a single digital space to find biographies, primary sources, contextual reference, and criticism. Includes Dictionary of Literary Biography, Something About the Author, LitFinder,…
Gale In Context: Biography
Comprehensive online biographical reference database in the areas of literature,science,multicultural studies,business,entertainment,politics,sports,government,history,arts and newsmakers from around the world and throughout history.
Gale in Context | Middle School (formerly Research in Context) *
Discover reliable and trusted information on a variety of topics to support middle school student research for government, U.S and world history, geography, literature, sciences, and social issues. Research In Context offers…
Gale in Context | Elementary (formerly Kids InfoBits) *
Elementary students in kindergarten through grade five will find age-appropriate content covering a broad range of educational topics such as animals, arts, geography, health, literature, people, social studies, technology, etc. Kids…
AskART
Jen Psaki | Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World
In conversation with Annie Duke An “unflappable and genial point-person” ( The New York Times ), Jen Psaki served as the thirty-fourth White House Press Secretary under President Biden until May 2022. Currently the host of MSNBC’s…
Karen Valby | The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History
Featuring: Lydia Abarça, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Sells, Karlya Shelton, and Khadija Tariyan (daughter of Gayle McKinney Griffith) In conversation with Shelly Power, The Dr. Carolyn Newsom Executive Director, Philadelphia Ballet Karen Valby…
Amy Tan | The Backyard Bird Chronicles
In conversation with Beth Kephart A “master of illusion, and one of the best storytellers around” (NPR), Amy Tan is the author of the beloved novels The Joy Luck Club , a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book…
Bakari Sellers | The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn't and How We All Can Move Forward Now
In 2006, Bakari Sellers defeated a twenty-six-year incumbent State Representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. The state’s 2014…
Lydia Millet | We Loved it All: A Memory of Life
Praised for her “darkly funny and painfully sharp” ( Los Angeles Times ) fiction, Lydia Millet is the author of the novel A Children’s Bible , shortlisted for the National Book Award and a New York Times Top 10 book of 2020; the…
Sloane Crosley | Grief is for People
“A fountain of observations” ( The Boston Globe ), Sloane Crosley is the author of three New York Times bestselling essay collections, How Did You Get This Number, Look Alive Out There, and I Was Told There’d Be Cake , which was a…
Hanif Abdurraqib | There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
In conversation with Airea Dee Matthews Hanif Abdurraqib is the author of A Little Devil in America , a sweeping look at Black music, art, and culture that won the Carnegie Medal and the Gordon Burns Prize and was a finalist for the…
Rahul Mehta | Feeding the Ghosts: Poems
Rahul Mehta’s debut poetry collection, Feeding the Ghosts , explores the solace to be found in the everyday beauty sometimes overshadowed by larger calamity, as well as the author’s identities, relationships, and culture. Also the…
Morgan Parker | You Get What You Pay For: Essays
In conversation with Shantrelle Lewis Morgan Parker won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Magical Negro , a poetry collection that ponders the nuances of Black American womanhood. She is also the author of the young adult…
Kara Swisher | Burn Book: A Tech Love Story
In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6abc Action News morning edition An award-winning journalist who has covered the business of the Internet since 1994, Kara Swisher is the host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher and the…
Laurence Ralph | Sito: An American Teenager and the City That Failed Him
In conversation with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor In Sito , Laurence Ralph explores the murder of San Francisco teen Sito Quiñonez and his family’s long-reverberating grief and grace. Ralph, the stepfather of Sito’s half-brother, tells…
Marcus Anthony Hunter | Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation
In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6abc Action News morning edition. Co-promoted by the American Constitution Society The Scott Waugh Endowed Chair in the Social Sciences Division, Professor of Sociology & African American…
Billy Dee Williams | What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life
In conversation with award-winning journalist and broadcaster Tracey Matisak Screen icon Billy Dee Williams is perhaps best known for his role as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars movies The Empire Strikes Back , Return of the Jedi ,…
Paul Alexander | Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday’s Last Year
In conversation with award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Tracey Matisak Paul Alexander ’s bestselling and acclaimed biographies include portraits of James Dean, Sylvia Plath, John McCain, and J. D. Salinger, the last of which…
Shayla Lawson | How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir
In conversation with Jeannine Cook, owner of Harriett’s Bookshop and Ida’s Books Shayla Lawson is the author of This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope , a “whip-smart” ( People ) essay collection about…
Ruha Benjamin | Imagination: A Manifesto
In conversation with Shantrelle Lewis Ruha Benjamin is the author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code , a “galvanizing” and “inventive and wide-ranging” ( The Nation ) look at how new technologies…
Annie Liontas | Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery
In conversation with CJ Hauser Featured as an Editor’s Choice in The New York Times Book Review , Annie Liontas ' debut novel, Let Me Explain You , follows the bridge-burning patriarch of a Greek American family who believes he has…
Raquel Willis | The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation
In conversation with Ernest Owens A writer, activist, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation, Raquel Willis has served as director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, a national organizer for the…
Beth Kephart | My Life in Paper: Adventures in Ephemera
Renowned for her ability “to generalize from her personal experience to the greater human one” ( The Washington Post ), Beth Kephart is the author of more than 30 books across a wide range of genres, including poetry, young adult…
Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter | The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are
In conversation with Airea D. Matthews The winner of three Grammy Awards and three NAACP Image Awards, Tariq Trotter , aka Black Thought , is the MC and co-founder of The Roots. The Philly-based hip-hop group has produced 11 albums…