Contemporary Literature Free Audio & Video

An abridged edition of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien narrated by Nicol Williamson and released in 1974.

The tale that sent Bach soaring to fame tells the story of a seagull who practices for a lifetime to begin to know the meaning of kindness and love.

Famous recluse J.D. Salinger has hidden from the world since "The Catcher in the Rye" took the world by storm.

Renowned science fiction author Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles) gives aspiring writers some encouraging insight in this short lecture provided on streaming video by UCTV.

In this somewhat unsettling documentary, author Don DeLillo takes viewers into the world of the image showing footage of assassinations and terrorism alongside other random images from TV and film.

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).

The opening episode begins on Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire, with the meeting of Seldon and Dornick, their trial, and their exile to Terminus.

A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head.... The revoltingly intriguing...

On December 1, 1999, The John Adams Institute welcomed the Irish-American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Frank McCourt, for the second time to speak about his novel 'Tis.

Author John le Carré shares his new book, "The Tailor of Panama," and discusses the state of Russian politics today after a recent trip to the country.