Black Mountain Institute Podcast

In this episode, the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute hosts an evening of readings and conversations with three acclaimed authors: Katherine Boo, Geoff Dyer, Adam Johnson, and Jen Kramer. The event was held October 15, 2016 at the Inspire Theater in Las Vegas, NV.

In this episode, the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute hosts a tenth anniversary celebration. It features a number of prominent speakers including Cheryl Strayed, Charles Bock, Tom Bissell, Olivia Clare, and Vu Tran. The event was held November 21, 2016 in the Student Union Ballroom at UNLV.

Black Mountain Institute welcomes three extraordinary writers who explore the myths and untruths of society and culture through the stories of silenced women. The stories of female truthtellers is the key to understanding a society’s (often corrupt) power structure. Maggie Nelson is an American poet, critic, and author of five non-fiction books, including the recent bestselling The Argonauts. Eliza Griswold is a poet, journalist and non-fiction author who writes for The New Yorker. Sally Denton is a journalist and author of eight books of narrative history, including The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World that will be published in March. Moderator Carol C. Harter is UNLV president emerita and founder of BMI.

In this episode, the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute hosts a panel discussion entitled "The Spectacle of Violence: Why We Need to Watch." It features William Vollmann, Kerry Howley, Jonathan Gottschall, and Brian Villmoare. Joshua Wolf Shenk moderates. The event was held September 29, 2016 in the Si Redd Room in the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV.

In this episode, the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute hosts a panel discussion entitled "Echoes of Homer." It features George Packer, Brian Turner, Siobhan Fallon, and Phil Klay: four writers who've had first-hand experience with the intersection of war and literature. The event was held May 5, 2016 in the UNLV Student Union Theatre.

In this episode, the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute hosts a panel discussion entitled "Stroke of Genius: What Brain Injury Reveals about Creativity, Consciousness, and the Mind-Body Connection." Sience writers Sandra Blakeselee and George Johnson, neurologist Dr. Bruce Miller, and fiction writer and memoirist Floyd Skloot discuss the brain, specifically how the experience of brain injury or dysfunction allows a glimpse into the mysterious neurological components of creativity, empathy, personality, and the boundaries of the self. The event was held November 12, 2015 in the Salon Ballroom in the Stan Fulton Building at UNLV and was moderated by BMI Executive Director Joshua Wolf Shenk.

Who owns the land? This question has dominated the history of the American West, where the interests and ambitions of governments and agencies, of capitalists and environmentalists, of new arrivals and old stakeholders often collide. Can there be common ground on issues so contentious that they have led to armed standoff? To discuss this important issue, Black Mountain Institute is proud to welcome a panel of extraordinary writers of diverse backgrounds and views. One of America’s most revered poets, Gary Snyder is a committed environmentalist and has been dubbed the "poet laureate of deep ecology." Timothy Egan is a New York Times columnist and author of the National Book Award-winning The Worst Hard Time, a history of the Dust Bowl. Economist and writer Terry L. Anderson, who coined the term "enviro-capitalism," is one of the foremost advocates of free market environmentalism. Moderator Virginia Scharff is a distinguished Western historian, author, and director of the Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico. Presented with the support of the Eleanor Kagi Foundation: A Lynn M. Bennett Legacy.

In this episode, writers and professors Jamaica Kincaid and Caryl Phillips discuss their lives and work at an event titled "Crossing the Black Atlantic." The event was held March 19, 2015 in the UNLV Student Union Theatre in Las Vegas, NV and was moderated by UNLV English professor Julia Lee.

In this episode, writer Walter Mosley delivers the inaugural Jim Rogers Contrarian Lecture. Presented every other year, this series invites a celebrated writer and intellectual to offer a “contrarian” view on an issue of contemporary importance. This year, Walter Mosley will address the subject of higher education. Mosley appeared May 7, 2015 at UNLV's Student Union Ballroom in Las Vegas, NV.

In this episode, Black Mountain Institute welcomes two of the most celebrated writers working at the crossroads of literature and history. Preeminent literary historian Stephen Greenblatt and best-selling historical novelist Geraldine Brooks will join us to discuss how our literature shapes and is shaped by our understanding of the past. The event was held November 13, 2014 in the UNLV Student Union Theatre in Las Vegas, NV and was moderated by BMI Executive Director, and UNLV President Emerita, Carol Harter.