Showing results for "For the Birds" in Art & Literature

In 2021, Charlie Bird was diagnosed with motor neurone disease—a man whose voice was so synonymous with his career faced losing it completely. Yet knowing he had just a short time left with family and friends, what emerged was a great sense of resilience and motivation to take advantage of every moment. Here, Charlie reflects on his life and phenomenal broadcast career through the lens of his diagnosis, as he ponders the big questions and takes stock of the small moments that we so often overlook.

A major poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) was one of the first African American writers to garner international recognition in the wake of emancipation. In this definitive biography, the first full-scale life of Dunbar in half a century, Gene Andrew Jarrett offers a revelatory account of a writer whose Gilded Age celebrity as the "poet laureate of his race" hid the private struggles of a man who, in the words of his famous poem, felt like a "caged bird" that sings.

Hear a fascinating discussion between author Michael Davis and narrator Caroll Spinney, the man (and voice) behind two of America's most iconic children's characters—Bird Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Listeners will learn about Spinney's contributions to the creation and history of the media masterpiece and pop culture landmark TV series, Sesame Street. Spinney also discusses, among other things, recollections of his early days on TV, the creation of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, and, of course, working with Muppet's creator Jim Henson.