When Daniel Blank, managing director of public programs for the Free Library of Philadelphia, set out to curate this fall’s Author Event series, he purposefully scheduled both writers who have global stature (Kentucky Governor and presidential contender Andy Beshear, New Yorker writer and public intellectual Malcolm Gladwell) and those who are best known locally (sports writer Ray Didinger, Penn historian Marcia Chatelain).

And then there’s Emily Wilson. A Penn Classics professor, Wilson has spent the last decade quietly translating ancient Greek texts into modern English. These days, though, she’s a global phenomenon, thanks to Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey, which he apparently based on her translation of the Homeric epic. She is, as Blank says, “a Philly figure through and through but is maybe the most famous scholar in the world right now.”

Wilson will talk about her newest release, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature, a book about the art of translation on September 22, a few weeks after the series launches on September 9 with historian Jill Lepore discussing her latest, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State.

“We really believe that bringing people into an auditorium to talk about literature and books is more important now than ever.” — Daniel Blank, Free Library of Philadelphia

Also on this fall’s agenda: Cartoonist Roz Chast, in a “comics conversation” about her new book, The Two Saddest Kitchens; Opera Philadelphia director Anthony Roth Costanzo’s Countertenor, a history; and Pulitzer Prize winner Yiyun Li, talking about her new novel, Music Against the Night. (See the whole schedule here.)

Li, in particular, is someone Blank says he has been hoping to get for the author series since her last book, a memoir about her son’s suicide, was released in 2025. She had a limited touring schedule for that book, Things in Nature Merely Grow. “This novel is going to be incredible,” Blank says. “She’s a terrific get.”

Blank is also excited to welcome Beshear. “Anytime we have a high profile politician who may or may not throw in their hat for the presidency it’s a great opportunity,” he says, noting that last year, the FLP hosted Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Blank has helmed the Author Event series since 2024, a few months after the previous director and team resigned. Under his purview, the library changed their pricing policy — every event now costs $5, instead of some being free and many going as high as $25 — as a way to make them more accessible to more Philadelphians. Attendance numbers are on the rise, and Blank says that according to the historical data he has, last year the library saw record ticket sales and attendance numbers.

“Anecdotally, we’re having a lot of people come out and say to me or my team, ‘This is my first time here, and this is incredible and I’m going to come back,’” Blank says. “It really warms my heart. What I and my small but mighty team do is a labor of love. We really believe that bringing people into an auditorium to talk about literature and books is more important now than ever.”

The Free Library of Philadelphia Author Events take place at the Parkway Central branch at 1901 Vine Street. The fall season begins September 9 and ends December 3.

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