Contemporary Conversations

Contemporary Conversations is a series of talks about cultural and current issues with journalists, authors and other relevant speakers. Sponsored by MCPL and Friends of the Library, Montgomery County.

Next Conversation: African-Jewish Cooking: Culinary Traditions, Identity & Food

Contemporary Conversations: speaker Elizabeth Kolbert

Michael Twitty discusses African-Jewish Cooking: Culinary Traditions, Identity, and Food

December 10, 2022
7:00 PM
Virtual Event

Award-winning culinary historian, food writer, teacher, and author Michael W. Twitty will discuss the connection between the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora. He blogs at Afroculinaria.com. He’s appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates and most recently Taste the Nation with Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi

His books, The Cooking Gene (2017), Rice: A Savor the South Cookbook (2021), and KosherSoul (2022), have been released to great acclaim. The Cooking Gene was a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize, a 3rd place winner of Barnes & Noble's Discover New Writer's Awards in Nonfiction and won the 2018 James Beard Award, making Twitty the first Black author so awarded.

Sign language interpretation and captioning provided by request. Learn more about MCPL's accessibility and inclusion services.

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Previous Contemporary Conversations

Elizabeth Kolbert

March 5, 2022
Virtual Event

Staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert, will participate in a moderated conversation about the topic of climate change and how we can make impacts through our habits and decisions.

Haben Girma

June 5, 2021
Virtual Event

Haben Girma will be talking about her memoir, Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, how she become an advocate and her journey from isolation to extraordinary accomplishment. Girma will be in conversation with Kim Jones.

Contemporary Conversations: speaker Jarret Krosoczka

Jarrett Krosoczka

June 26, 2021
Virtual Event

New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka will talk about his young adult graphic memoir Hey, Kiddo. With candor and humor, Krosoczka describes his journey growing up in a family coping with addiction and how his art helped him endure and survive.

Michelle Singletary

April 24, 2021
Virtual Event

Michelle Singletary, prize-winning journalist and nationally syndicated personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, will provide an entertaining and informative presentation about how to understand personal finances from budgeting to becoming an informed investor, inspiring participants to learn more about money management and take better control of their financial affairs.

Contemporary Conversations: writers Edwidge Danticat and Katia D. Ulysse

Edwidge Danticat & Katia D. Ulysse

September 12, 2020
Virtual Event

Haitian-American literary writers discuss diasporic literature, the writing craft, the importance of people of color being represented in literature and the topic of immigration & deportation.

Contemporary Conversations: Ida Jones and Rebecca Roberts

Right To Vote

August 22, 2020
Virtual Event

A presentation by Ida Turner and Rebecca Roberts in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in the USA.

Contemporary Conversations: Tope Folarin

Evan Glass

June 24, 2020
Virtual Event

Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass will facilitate a conversation about LGBTQ issues. Panel members include Claire Rudy Foster, Deacon Maccubin, Tyrese L. Coleman, and Beth Chandler.

Tope Folarin

February 22, 2020
Silver Spring Library

Nigerian-American author Tope Folarin will be talking about his experience as a writer. Mr. Folarin is the first writer based outside Africa to win the prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing in 2013.

Joshua Johnson

November 2, 2019
Silver Spring Library

Journalist Joshua Johnson will provide discus hosting 1A, one of the most important daily conversations in America. Inspired by the First Amendment, 1A explores significant confronting Americans.

Bob Levey

May 11, 2019
Chevy Chase Library

Prize-winning journalist, former Washington Post columnist and TV-radio commentator Bob Levey will talk about his experience as a 37-year career reporter covering all aspects of life in the nation’s capital.

Joseph Esposito

October 21, 2018
Rockville Memorial Library

Writer, historian and educator Joseph A. Esposito will talk about his 2018 book Dinner in Camelot, which is centered on a White House banquet hosting numerous Nobel prize winners.

Dinaw Mengestu

June 9, 2018
Silver Spring Library

Award-winning author and MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Dinaw Mengestu will speak about his inspiration for his work The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and his experiences as an Ethiopian immigrant.

Nancy Pearl

March 25, 2018
Rockville Memorial Library

A recipient in 2011 of the Librarian of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Awards, Ms. Pearl will share the origins of her love of reading and libraries. Of course, she’ll suggest some great books to read.

Craig Dudnick

October 14, 2017
Silver Spring Library

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Inspiration: Screening of Alice’s Ordinary People, a documentary by Craig Dudnick.

Hena Khan

June 4, 2017
Silver Spring Library

Picture book and middle grade author Hena Khan will speak as part of the Contemporary Conversations series at MCPL.

Charles Lane

May 7, 2017
Silver Spring Library

Washington Post editorial writer, Charles Lane, is weekly columnist for the Post and a contributor to the PostPartisan blog. Mr. Lane specializes in economic and fiscal policy.

David Ignatius

April 1, 2017
Gaithersburg Library

David Ignatius, best-selling author and prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post, has been covering the Middle East and the CIA for more than twenty-five years.

Kojo Nnamdi

March 4, 2017
Gaithersburg Library

Kojo Nnamdi, one of the most well-known interviewers and talk show hosts in the Washington, D.C. area will be the first speaker in the new Contemporary Conversations series @ MCPL.