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'Giving Thanks' - 25th anniversary special

Giving Thanks: 25th Anniversary Special

Giving Thanks, hosted by John Birge, is celebrating its 25th year on public radio! This year’s show presents the best moments of a quarter century of great guests, including:

• Foodies: Stanley Tucci, Nigella Lawson, Jacques Pepin and Calvin Trillin.
• Writers: Anne Lamott, Adam Gopnik, Julia Sweeney, Anna Quindlen and Deepak Chopra.
• Poets: Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Nikki Giovanni and Ada Limon — plus classic poems read by Patrick Stewart, Bill Moyers and Studs Terkel.
• Musicians: Michael Tilson Thomas, John Rutter and Stephen Hough.
• In memoriam: John Updike, Wendy Wasserstein, Nora Ephron and Rabbi Harold Kushner.

Giving Thanks sounds the way Thanksgiving feels: inviting, warm and festive. There are no clichés about pilgrims and pumpkin pies. Instead, it’s a contemporary, thoughtful celebration of the spirit of the holiday.

For listeners up early in the kitchen, on the road to a family gathering or relaxing after the feast, Giving Thanks provides the perfect atmosphere for Thanksgiving: the warmth of great music and truly memorable words.

Hour 1

• Anne Lamott, 2006

• Adam Gopnik, 2019

• Karl Jenkins: The Shepherd - Polyphony

• Julia Sweeney, 2013

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Aria from Goldberg Variations - Simone Dinerstein, piano

• Deepak Chopra, 2010

• Denny Zeitlin: Hymn - Denny Zeitlin, piano

• Anna Quindlen: A Short Guide to a Happy Life, 2007

• Roy Blount Jr. and Nora Ephron: Pumpkin Pie, 2011

• Jacques Pepin, 2016

• Nigella Lawson, 2010

• Francis Lam: The True Meaning of Turkey, 2017

• Thierry Rougier: Autumn - Xuefei Yang, guitar

• Christopher Kimball, 2015

• Stanley Tucci, 2021

• John Keats: To Autumn - read by Patrick Stewart

• Rita Dove, 2005

• Donald Hall: The Ox-Cart Man, 2004

• Jean Sibelius: The Harvesters - Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; Leif Segerstam, conductor

• Nikki Giovanni, 2014

• Ted Kooser, 2005

• Ada Limón, 2022

• Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now - Piano Demo

• Gary Snyder, 2006

• E. E. Cummings: “i thank You God for most this amazing day” - read by Bill Moyers, 1999

Hour 2

• Carl Sandburg: “Happiness” - read by Studs Terkel, 2000

• Rabbi Harold Kushner, 2008

• John Rutter: The Lord Is My Shepherd - Cambridge Singers; John Rutter, conductor

• Alice Sommer Herz, 2014

• John Updike: To a Skylark, 2002

• Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending - Julia Fischer, violin

• Wendy Wasserstein: Ah, That First Feast In Wild Manhattan, 2003

• Nora Ephron, 2011

• Sir Stephen Hough, 2011

• John Rutter, 2018

• Michael Tilson Thomas, 2020

• Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral): Shepherd’s Hymn of Thanksgiving - English Chamber Orchestra; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

• Traditional: Psalm of Life - Jacqueline Schwab, piano

• From Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums, Chartres Cathedral Story; Psalm 104 - read by Charles Laughton

• Traditional (arr. Stephen Paulus): We Gather Together - Dale Warland Singers


Guests and readings

Here are many of the luminaries who have been featured on Giving Thanks over the years. Listen to their comments individually for the first time.

Foodies

Christopher Kimball

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Giving Thanks - Christopher Kimball

Francis Lam

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Giving Thanks - Francis Lam

Nigella Lawson

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Giving Thanks - Nigella Lawson

Jacques Pepin

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Giving Thanks - Jacques Pepin

Lynne Rossetto Kasper

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Giving Thanks - Lynne Rossetto Kasper: M.F.K. Fischer

Calvin Trillen

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Giving Thanks - Calvin Trillen

Stanley Tucci

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Giving Thanks - Stanley Tucci

Writers

Roy Blount Jr.

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Giving Thanks - Roy Blount Jr.

Tom Bodett

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Giving Thanks - Tom Bodett

Katy Butler

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Giving Thanks - Katy Butler

Deepak Chopra

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Giving Thanks - Deepak Chopra

Antoine de St. Exupery: Flight to Arras

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Giving Thanks - Antoine de St. Exupery: Flight to Arras

Michael Feldman

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Giving Thanks - Michael Feldman

Adam Gopnik

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Giving Thanks - Adam Gopnik

Kevin Kling

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Giving Thanks - Kevin Kling

Anne Lamott (2002)

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Giving Thanks - Anne Lamott (2002)

Anne Lamott (2006)

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Giving Thanks - Anne Lamott (2006)

Anne Lamott (2013)

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Giving Thanks - Anne Lamott (2013)

Abraham Lincoln: Thanksgiving Proclamation

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Giving Thanks - Abraham Lincoln: Thanksgiving Proclamation

Anna Quindlen

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Giving Thanks - Anna Quindlen

Julia Sweeney

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Giving Thanks - Julia Sweeney

Poets

Billy Collins

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Giving Thanks - Billy Collins

Rita Dove

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Giving Thanks - Rita Dove

Dana Gioia

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Giving Thanks - Dana Gioia

Nikki Giovanni

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Giving Thanks - Nikki Giovanni

Ted Kooser

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Giving Thanks - Ted Kooser

Ada Limon

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Giving Thanks - Ada Limon

Bill Moyers reads E. E. Cummings

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Giving Thanks - Bill Moyers: E. E. Cummings

Naomi Shihab Nye

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Giving Thanks - Naomi Shihab Nye

Gary Snyder

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Giving Thanks - Gary Snyder

Studs Terkel reads Carl Sandburg

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Giving Thanks - Studs Terkel: Carl Sandburg

Musicians

Pamela Frank

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Giving Thanks - Pamela Frank

Stephen Hough

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Giving Thanks - Stephen Hough

Brooklyn Rider

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Giving Thanks - Brooklyn Rider

John Rutter

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Giving Thanks - John Rutter

Michael Tilson Thomas

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Giving Thanks - Michael Tilson Thomas

In memoriam

Maya Angelou

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Giving Thanks - Maya Angelou

Baxter Black

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Giving Thanks - Baxter Black

Nora Ephron

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Giving Thanks - Nora Ephron

Donald Hall

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Giving Thanks - Donald Hall

Bill Holm

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Giving Thanks - Bill Holm

Galway Kinnell

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Giving Thanks - Galway Kinnell

Rabbi Harold Kushner

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Giving Thanks - Rabbi Harold Kushner

W. S. Merwin

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Giving Thanks - W. S. Merwin

Alice Sommer Herz

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Giving Thanks - Alice Sommer Herz

John Updike

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Giving Thanks - John Updike

Wendy Wasserstein

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Giving Thanks - Wendy Wasserstein


‘Giving Thanks’ archive

Here are the full two-hour versions of every Giving Thanks episode from the past 25 years.

2022 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2022


2021 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2021


2020 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2020


2019 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2019


2018 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2018


2017 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2017 - Hour I
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Giving Thanks 2017 - Hour II


2016 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2016


2015 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2015


2014 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2014

2013 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2013

2012 - Playlist

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Giving Thanks 2012

2011

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Giving Thanks 2011

2010

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Giving Thanks 2010

2009

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Giving Thanks 2009

2008

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Giving Thanks 2008

2007

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Giving Thanks 2007

2006

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Giving Thanks 2006

2005

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Giving Thanks 2005

2004

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Giving Thanks 2004

2003

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Giving Thanks 2003

2002

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Giving Thanks 2002

2001

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Giving Thanks 2001

2000

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Giving Thanks 2000

1999

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Giving Thanks 1999

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