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Wordsmiths

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by
Taryn Klockenga
• Published on • Last modified on
Hemingways Face Drawn with Words
Programming

This month WTVP showcases a variety of wordsmiths from novelists to poets. Join us on this journey into the written word and the people who create these stories for us. 

Hemingway
APRIL 5, 6, 7, 7 PM

Hemingway, a three-part, six-hour documentary film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, examines the visionary work and the turbulent life of Ernest Hemingway, one of the greatest and most influential writers America has ever produced. Interweaving his eventful biography — a life lived at the ultimately treacherous nexus of art, fame and celebrity — with carefully selected excerpts from his iconic short stories, novels and non-fiction, the series reveals the brilliant, ambitious, charismatic and complicated man behind the myth and the art he created. Directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, written by Geoffrey C. Ward and produced by Sarah Botstein, Novick and Burns. 

Airdates: 

Part 1 – A Writer 

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Mon, 04/05/2021 @ 7 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Mon, 04/05/2021 @ 9 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Tue, 04/06/2021 @ 12 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 – Sat, 04/10/2021 @ 12 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 – Sat, 04/10/2021 @ 8 AM

 

Part 2 – The Avatar 

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Tue, 04/06/2021 @ 7 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Tue, 04/06/2021 @ 9 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Wed, 04/07/2021 @ 12 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 – Sat, 04/17/2021 @ 12 AM WTVP-WORLD 47.3 – Sat, 04/17/2021 @ 8 AM

 

Part 3 – The Blank Page 

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Wed, 04/07/2021 @ 7 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Wed, 04/07/2021 @ 9 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Thu, 04/08/2021 @ 12 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 – Sat, 04/24/2021 @ 12 AM
  • WTVP-WORLD 47.3 – Sat, 04/24/2021 @ 8 AM

Official Trailer

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick explore the writer and his enduring influence. Coming April 2021

Broadcast Sponsors

WTVP would like to thank our broadcast sponsors for supporting Hemmingway, a documentary film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

Illinois Adventure 
Featuring Ernest Hemingway 
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 8:30 PM 

 

Host Jim Wilhelm looks at Ernest Hemingway's life in Oak Park. Next, he checks out the Pontiac and Oakland Automobile Museum and Resource Center, which has an extensive collection of cars and possibly the largest collection of Pontiac/Oakland literature and research material in existence. Finally, he relates the story of Dr. Richard Eells, who was prosecuted for helping an escaped slave.

Airdates: 

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Thu, 04/08/2021 @ 8:30 PM

Children’s Crusade Revisited: Slaughterhouse-Five at 50 
MONDAY, APRIL 12, 10:30 PM 

 

Children’s Crusade Revisited: Slaughterhouse-Five at 50 explores the impact of Kurt Vonnegut's 1969 anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five on American literature and culture. A veteran of World War II, Vonnegut based his classic novel in part on his traumatic experience as a young prisoner of war during the Allied firebombing of Dresden in February 1945. A joint production of WFYI and journalism students at Franklin College, the documentary provides an intimate look at the talented but troubled author.

 

Airdates: 

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Mon, 04/12/2021 @ 10:30 PM

The Children's Crusade Revisited: Slaughterhouse-Five at 50 | Preview

Poetry In America: Season 2: Preview

Poets, public figures and other guests join Elisa New for readings of American poems.

Poetry in America 
TUESDAYS, APRIL 13, 20, 10 PM


This 12-part series draws students of all ages into conversations about poetry. Hosted by Harvard University professor Elisa New, each half-hour episode highlights the work of one distinguished poet (Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks) with a reading by an individual well known for accomplishments outside the humanities (actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, Grammy-Award winner Herbie Hancock; former vice president Joe Biden, and rapper/poet Nas).

New York State of Mind
Tuesday, April 13, 10 PM

Learn alongside host Elisa New as hip hop artist Nas, music executive Steve Stoute, scholar Salamishah Tillet and a chorus of rappers and fans break down the breakbeats and explore the searing vision of Nas's iconic track NY State of Mind.

The New Colossus – Emma Lazarus 
Tuesday, April 20, 10 PM 

Host Elisa New rediscovers the freshness and the still-potent charge of Emma Lazarus's iconic sonnet of immigration alongside singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, activist and founder of the United We Dream Foundation Cristina Jimenez, president of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten, financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein, and poet Duy Doan.

 

 

American Experience
American Oz 
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 8 PM 

Explore the life of L. Frank Baum, the man behind one of the most beloved, enduring and quintessential American classics. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, has been re-interpreted through the generations in films, books and musicals.

 

Airdates: 

  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Mon, 04/19/2021 @ 8 PM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Tue, 04/20/2021 @ 12 AM
  • WTVP-HD 47.1 – Wed, 04/21/2021 @ 2 AM
American Experience

Extended Trailer | American Oz

1:50
Published:

The life and times of L. Frank Baum, creator of the beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.