The Spoken Word is a public radio series featuring talks and performances about literature, the arts, and our culture that are recorded at independent booksellers throughout the country. The series is produced by Public Radio Partnership in Louisville, Kentucky. The Spoken Word was syndicated in October of 2003 and now airs on public radio stations around the Southeast. For a list of stations broadcasting.

The Spoken Word was launched in 1996 at New York’s Algonquin Hotel as a way to revive the storied past of that literary landmark and its fabled Algonquin Round Table. For five years cultural icons gathered regularly in the historic Oak Room at The Algonquin to discuss their work and our world. In Fall 2001, The Spoken Word recordings developed into a one hour public radio program, finding a home on WABE, Atlanta. The inaugural program featured Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Margaret Edson and her monologue “The Insubstantial Pageant”.

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