Director of Public Programs at the New York Public Library

Paul Holdengräber

Director of LIVE from the New York Public Library where he has interviewed and hosted President Clinton, Norman Mailer, Spike Lee and Jay-Z

Paul Holdengräber is Director of LIVE from the New York Public Library. He believes, as Lawrence Sterne did before him, that digression is the sunshine of narrative, that a good conversation is digressive, replete with twists and sudden turns; take digression out of the conversation and you might as well stop talking altogether. Among those he has interviewed and hosted are Spike Lee, Margaret Atwood, Keith Richards, Patti Smith, Alfred Brendel, Jan Morris, Pierre Boulez, Norman Mailer, Angela Davis, President Clinton, Orhan Pamuk, Toni Morrison, Umberto Eco, Ferran Adria, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Zadie Smith and Jay-Z.

He has interviewed Werner Herzog four times so far, each time with increasing passion.