Bob Holman Discusses 'Language Matters,' 2015

Today we revisit a 2015 conversation between Al Filreis and Bob Holman, the host of Language Matters, David Grubin's documentary series that premiered on PBS stations earlier that year. "There are over 6000 languages in the whole world," the film's synopsis begins, "We lose one every two weeks. Hundreds will be lost within the next generation. By the end of this century, half of the world's languages will have vanished. What do we lose when a language dies? What does it take to save a language?"

This thirty-six minute recording was made on February 19, 2015 at the Kelly Writers House after a special screening of Language Matters, which brought out a very diverse audience of Philadelphians, from literary scholars to historians to language specialists, who offer their comments on the film and pose questions to Holman. What's perhaps most fascinating here is how balanced the dialogue is here, with audience members making considerable contributions to the discussion from their own experience and disciplines, alongside Holman's "language activist" perspective and Filreis' guidance.

You can watch this video on PennSound's Bob Holman author page, along with numerous recordings going back  as far as two Public Access Poetry programs from the late 70s. Other highlights include several appearances on Cross Cultural Poetics, and Holman's album In With the Out Crowd, produced by the legendary Hal Willner.