In 2019, I helped launch WNYC’s book club, Get Lit with All Of It.

Spearheaded by my colleague Jordan Lauf , monthly events feature interviews and book signings with Nobel- and Pulitzer-winning authors. Each event closes with a conversation and performance from a musical guest.

In 2020, we pivoted to virtual events and partnered with the New York Public Library, who provide New Yorkers with unlimited e-copies of each month’s book. We’ve since returned to in-person events, hosted at the NYPL’s Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library.

I produce the music portion of the evening; sometimes booking artists requested by the authors, sometimes finding musicians who complement an aspect of the month’s book.

From February to May 2024, Jordan and I co-hosted the Get Lit events. I interviewed musicians Jake Blount, Frank Waln, La Bruja, and Lightning Bug. You can watch those events below.

Past Get Lit authors have included Kazuo Ishiguro, Colson Whitehead, Louise Erdrich, James McBride, Marlon James, Jennifer Egan, and more.

Get Lit musical guests have included Jon Batiste, Rhiannon Giddens, Laurie Anderson, Rosanne Cash, The Mountain Goats, The Lumineers, Rufus Wainwright, and many others.

October Get Lit

with Dinaw Mengestu and TBA 

October 30, 2024

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
455 5th Ave
New York, NY

Join WNYC's Alison Stewart and Dinaw Mengestu for a live conversation about his newest book, Someone Like Us. Musical guest TBA.

Previous Get Lit Highlights

September 2023

James McBride
Carla Cook

October 2022

AM Holmes
Laurie Anderson

May 2023

Victor LaValle
Kaia Kater

January 2023

Stacy Schiff
Rosanne Cash

April 2023

Mona Simpson
Hamilton Leithauser

December 2020

Louise Erdrich
Buffy Sainte-Marie

July 2020

Colson Whitehead
Jon Batiste

May 2022

Jennifer Egan
Steve Earle

October 2023

RF Kuang
mxmtoon

November 2023

Mona Awad
Dear Dear

January 2024

Michael Cunningham
Josh Ritter

February 2024

Tananarive Due
Jake Blount

March 2024

Xochitl Gonzalez
Caridad de la Luz

April 2024

Stephen Graham Jones
Frank Waln

May 2024

Lisa Ko
Lightning Bug