Interview With Author Michael Picard
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two and a half books (i.e., one co-authored) and edited three collections.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
How to Play Philosophy: A Book for Public Thinking and the Thinking Public. (Hamilton, 2022).
The book was inspired by those for whom it was originally written, namely participants of the public participatory philosophy sessions I hosted weekly for 12 years.
What are you working on now?
Wrapping up my third edited collection, an anthology of pieces by animators of Cafe Philosophy the world over, including original translations I made from the French book by Marc Sautet, founder of Cafe Philo in Paris in 1992. Over a dozen countries are represented. Several chapters cover practicalities of organizing a sustainable public participatory philosophy events series; others explore — for the first time ever in English — the theoretical and political dimensions of cafe philosophy. There are pieces critical of the practice, and innovations responsive to the critiques, including Philosophy Sports, which I developed and present comprehensively in this book for the first time.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780761873068/How-to-Play-Philosophy
https://www.anvilpress.com/books/cafe-conversations-democracy-dialogue-in-public-spaces
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The truth will set you free.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am translating two books form German by Gerd Achenbach for Lexington Books.
Author Websites and Profiles
Michael Picard’s Social Media Links