Picture Book Picnicker Lauren Korn invites the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature, writer Mac Barnett, and illustrator Carson Ellis on a picnic to talk about their newest collaboration, a re-telling of ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ (Orchard Books, Scholastic Inc.).

In this episode of “Grounding” season two, Sarah Aronson talks to Hannah Dusek and Jonathan Marquis, two artists who turned to their respective media—dancing and drawing—to help them make meaning during the climate crisis. Aronson’s been searching for names for our feelings, like “dissonance” and “the myth of apathy.” It turns out that a lot of people have experienced these sensations but just haven't been able to name them. Sometimes, when words aren’t enough, Aronson, too, turns to art to face the dissonance that comes with watching a world she loves change—complex feelings that are intensified as animals, plants and glaciers disappear.

In advance of his appearance in Livingston, Montana—as a guest of Elk River Arts & Lectures on January 23, 2026, at the Livingston Elks Lodge—novelist Colum McCann discusses the many themes and narratives found in his latest book, ‘Twist’ (Penguin Random House).

Bare Bait Dance and Westside Theater Executive Director Joy French spoke with MTPR Special Projects Producer Keely Larson about Kinetoscope 13 — Westside Theater’s dance film festival, featuring 10 films from six different countries as well as live performances.

In this episode of “Grounding,” season two, Sarah Aronson talks to Renee Lertzman and Panu Pihkala, two experts in the field of climate emotions, who offer models for processing our feelings as well as understanding why we assume people don’t care about the environment when they actually might. Aronson explores how language can be helpful in identifying what we’re feeling.

In this episode of ‘The Write Question,’ host Lauren Korn speaks with former Montana Poet Laureate Tami Haaland about her collection, ‘If I Had Said Beauty’ (Lost Horse Press).