Authors Reading Free Audio & Video

Allen Ginsberg's Howl is the ultimate beat poem, and what better way to experience it than listening to Ginsberg read it himself. PennSound features two recordings of Ginsberg reading Howl, one from 1956 (the year he published it) and one from 1995 (a few years before his death).

In 1957 and 1958 Nobel Prize-winning American novelist William Faulkner served two terms as the University of Virginia's first Writer-in-Residence. During this time Faulkner spoke and answered questions at many of the writing and literature classes and these lectures were recorded on audio.

Arthur Miller reads from Death of a Salesman with actress Mildred Dunnock, who played Linda Loman in the original Broadway production. It was recorded at 92Y on February 2, 1955.

John Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs".

In this talk from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Nikki Giovanni tells many stories from her life and reads from her 2002 collection of poetry Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems.

Truman Capote reads "Among the Paths to Eden" and Breakfast at Tiffany's at 92Y in 1963.

With the dry wit that has come to make her a literary icon, Margaret Atwood reads selections from her work and discusses writing in this audio download released by the Lannan Foundation.

First half of a class by William S. Burroughs on the technology and the ethics of wishing.

An Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg poetry reading. Waldman reads "Fast Speaking Woman" and other poems. Ginsberg reads "Howl" in its entirety, and other poems.

In this archive lecture from Naropa University recorded in 1984, beat poets Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs discuss their views on writing.