Exploring Life’s Big Questions with Matt Burriesci

Aired Wednesday, 10 February 2016, 12:00 PM ET

Way before reality TV, 24-hour news cycles and this era of perpetual distraction, there was value place on seeking the answers to life’s big questions. Why are we here? Is there a true right and wrong? Do the ends always justify the means? Some of these answers, while in the background now, remain undebated and have just become part of our cultural values. Join us for a philosophical exploration on some of the Big questions and why they still matter with Matt Burriesci.

About the Guest Matt Burriesci

Matt Burriesci is the author of Dead White Guys: A Father, his Daughter, and the Great Books of the Western World (Viva Editions, June 2015), and Nonprofit (New Issues Press, 2015), which won the AWP Award for the Novel. He is currently the Executive Director of the Providence Athenaeum, a library and cultural institution dedicated to the advancement of the humanities. He began his career at the Tony Award Winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, and later served as Executive Director for both the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. During his tenure at AWP, he helped build the largest literary conference in North America, and he served as a national advocate for literature and the humanities. In his work as a consultant, he has interviewed dozens of global leaders in healthcare, scientific research, and higher education. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife Erin and their children, Violet and Henry.