12 Authors and Their TED Talks

By Lynn Ann Lobash, Associate Director, Readers Services and Engagement
October 14, 2019

Ever wondered if your favorite author has a TED Talk? In honor of the #TEDReads initiative and National Book Month, check out these twelve authors who have given TED Talks.  All of the authors' books are available at The New York Public Library with your free library card

TED Talks Books

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

TED Talk: The Danger of a Single StoryBrowse Books

Start with Purple Hibiscus

Roxane Gay

TED Talk: Confessions of a Bad FeministBrowse Books

Start with An Untamed State (fiction); Bad Feminist (nonfiction)

Pico Iyer

TED Talk: Where Is Home?Browse Books

Start with 

Cuba and the Night (Fiction); Video Night in Kathmandu (Nonfiction)

Isabel Allende

TED Talk: Tales of PassionBrowse Books

Start with The House of Spirits

Lidia Yuknavitch

TED Talk: The Beauty of Being a MisfitBrowse Books

Start with The Book of Joan (fiction); The Chronology of Water (nonfiction)

Mac Barnett

TED Talk: Why a Good Book is a Secret CodeBrowse Books

Start with The Terrible Two

Tracy Chevalier

TED Talk: Finding the Story Inside the PaintingBrowse Books

Start with Girl With a Pearl Earring

Young-Ha Kim 

TED Talk: Be an Artist Right Now!Browse Books

Start with Diary of a Murderer

Amy Tan

TED Talk: Where Does Creativity Hide?Browse Books

Start with The Joy Luck Club

Elif Shafak

TED Talk: The Politics of FictionBrowse Books

Start with The Bastard of Istanbul

Karen Thompson Walker

TED Talk: What Fear Can Teach UsBrowse Books

Start with The Age of Miracles

Elizabeth Gilbert 

TED Talk: Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep CreatingBrowse Books

Start with The Signature of All Things (fiction); Eat, Pray, Love (nonfiction)