KPR Presents
KPR Presents is an opportunity to showcase high-profile, thought-provoking lectures, discussions and dialogues recorded throughout the region. There are so many fascinating people who come to this area, everyone from Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor to syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts. KPR Presents is a great way to share some of those lectures with our listeners. We have also been able to expand the program to cover a broad range of topics, including the Kansas Sesquicentennial, the National Day of Listening and the Kansas Reads program sponsored by the State Library of Kansas, just to name a few. Subscribe via your favorite podcast platforms.
Latest Episodes
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The State Library of Kansas has just released its 2025 Kansas Notable Books list, 15 of the best new books by Kansas authors or about Kansas. State Librarian Ray Walling and Notable Books facilitator Brett Rurode give us a sneak peek at this year's batch. We also revisit a conversation with 2024 Kansas Notable winner Sarah Edgerton, author of Daughter of Chaos. And we visit the No Stone Unturned Foundation in Manhattan, KPR's Community Spotlight organization for May. -
Our Kansas Notable series continues with Nghiem Tran's haunting novella, We're Safe When We're Alone. Also, Rachel McCarthy James explores the history of axe murder in her new book, Whack Job. -
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly on motherhood, soccer, and her book, It Goes So Fast, now out in paperback. Also, the story of the University of Kansas Jayhawk, and a conversation with Ada Límon who just completed her second term as U.S. Poet Laureate. -
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, we hear from Kansas veterans about their military service in Vietnam. It's a special encore presentation of "Kansas Stories of the Vietnam War," a statewide oral history project sponsored by Humanities Kansas. -
We celebrate National Poetry Month with Antonio Sanchez-Day's "I've Been Fighting This War Within Myself," edited by Brian Daldorph and named a Kansas Notable Book. -
We mark Autism Acceptance Month with a children's book about a special little boy facing a challenging week of school. Jenn Bailey is the author of "Henry, Like Always," named a Kansas Notable Book by the State Library of Kansas. -
Beyond morels: exploring the world of Devil's Dipstick, Puffballs, Fried Chicken Mushrooms, and more! Caleb Morse, Sherry Kay, and Benjamin Sikes are the authors of A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms, a Kansas Notable Book. -
Rebekah Taussig is the author of "Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary, Resilient, Disabled Body," the Kansas City Public Library's Big Read selection for 2025. -
From the Docking years and the Brownback tax experiment to the election of Governor Laura Kelly, it's a look at the push and pull of Kansas politics over the past 70 years, with the co-editors of "Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics." -
In honor of Women's History Month, it's a look at the often-underestimated political role of America's First Ladies. Diana Carlin is one of the co-authors of "Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America's History-Making Women."
