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About This Podcast
Brooklyn Public Library is full of stories. Borrowed brings the best of them to you.
Current podcast series:
Launching July 8, 2025, Borrowed & Returned is a new podcast series that examines what our reading public borrowed in the past, and what we’re all reading now. In conversations with library workers, authors and readers across the country, we’ll return to the books that changed us, and changed America, too.
Previous podcast series:
Borrowed and Banned is our limited series about America's ideological war with its bookshelves. From September to December 2023, we released ten episodes featuring the stories of students on the frontlines, librarians and teachers whose livelihoods are endangered when they speak up, and writers whose books have become political battleground.
Borrowed, BPL's flagship podcast, is a narrative series about superhero librarians, neighborhood stories and what it means to be a free, democratic place in today’s changing world. We tell stories about libraries during natural disasters, the challenges of homelessness, and NYC’s fraught relationship with trash.
For transcripts, pictures, book lists, and resources, please visit our web page: bklynlib.org/podcasts
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Recent Episodes
S9E15 This Guy Sucked: D W Griffith with Kellie Carter Jackson
Today we’re bringing you a really interesting episode from our friends at This Guy Sucked, a podcast hosted by historian and writer Claire Aubin about the worst people in history. Each episode,…
S9E14 Thresholds: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on the Future That’s Still Possible
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, climate scientist and activist. Recently, she sat down with Jordan Kisner, of the Thresholds podcast, to talk about our climate future. You may have…
S9E13 We are the Environment: Silent Spring’s Enduring Wisdom
When Silent Spring came out in 1962, it was an instant best-seller and led to the establishment of the EPA, as well as the ban of harmful pesticides such as DDT. But Rachel Carson’s seminal work also…
S9E12 Molly Crabapple on Making Art in a Turbulent World
Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer who documents the extremes, from nightclubs to war zones. She’s also the author of several books, including Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun, a memoir of…
S9E11 Art Spiegelman on Resistance, Memory, and Speaking Up
Art Spiegelman is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the graphic novel Maus, the story of his parents’ experience during the Holocaust. We got to sit down with Spiegelman at Brooklyn Public…
S9E10 Maus and the Power of Images
Art Spiegelman’s Maus almost single-handedly elevated comics from throw-away inserts in newspapers to a serious literary art worthy of winning the highest award in book publishing. But it’s not an…
S9E9 Book Riot: The Untold Story of Black Librarians
This episode comes to us from our friends at Book Riot! In this segment, you'll hear Book Riot’s Erica Ezeifedi speak with Rodney Freeman, a librarian and producer of the forthcoming documentary, Are…
S9E8 Matt de la Peña on Small Stories and the Power of Perspective
Matt de la Peña is the Newbery Medal-winning author of seven Young Adult novels and five picture books. We talked with him about writing small stories and what it means to write a book that is, as he…
S9E7 Meg Medina on Latine Stories and Reading as a Family
Meg Medina is an award-winning author of books for kids and young adults, and she was the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. We talked to her about what it meant to be the…
S9E6 How The Snowy Day Changed Children’s Books
The Snowy Day wasn’t the first picture book to feature a Black child as its beloved protagonist, but it might be the most visible. When it came out in 1962, it challenged the publishing industry to…
S9E5 The Legacy of Howard Zinn's Radical History
When Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States came out in 1980, it literally rocked the boat. Instead of starting where most histories of the Americas start — on the deck of Columbus’s…
S9E4 Reginald Dwayne Betts on Freedom and Poetic Constraint
Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, a lawyer, and the founder and CEO of Freedom Reads, an organization with the goal of bringing a library to every cell block in America. We talked with him about what…
S9E3 On Reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in Prison
There are so many reasons to read – and reread – The Autobiography of Malcolm X. But for this episode, we’re revisiting the book with the perspectives of readers who are, or were, incarcerated.…
S9E2 N.K. Jemisin on Truth, Education, and Speculation
N.K. Jemisin is a New York Times-bestselling science fiction and fantasy writer. She’s a Brooklynite, the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, and the first author to win three Best Novel…
S9E1 What Parable of the Sower Taught Us About the Future
In these unfathomable moments, when the world seems to be falling apart—we often turn to stories for guidance. For the folks in Southern California earlier this year, that story was Parable of the…
S9 Introducing: Borrowed and Returned
Borrowed and Returned is a new podcast series that examines what our reading public borrowed in the past, and what we’re all reading now. In conversations with library workers, authors and readers…
S8E14 Tracing the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn
A new exhibit at BPL's Center for Brooklyn History explores the history and legacy of slavery here in Brooklyn. The team at CBH gathered documents and accounts from people who were touched by slavery…
S8E13 A New Year’s Plunge (Rebroadcast)
As 2024 comes to a close, we wanted to share with you an episode that we produced all the way back in 2020. That year, we went to Coney Island to record the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, the group of…
S8E12 Why We Still Read Together: The Joy of Book Clubs
Graphic novels, Haitian-American book bingo, and The Power Broker. These are just a few of the book clubs happening at Brooklyn Public Library! This episode, we take a tour around the borough to…
S8E11 Book Sanctuaries, Buttons and Bouncy Houses
We're pulling out all the stops for the first annual Freedom to Read Day of Action on Saturday, October 19th! Hear from libraries in Los Angeles, San Diego, Hoboken, NJ and Austin, TX about what…
Frequently Asked Questions
Borrowed & Returned has published 119 episodes since February 2019, covering topics in Arts, Books.
Borrowed & Returned is currently declining with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 20m.
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