Paul Bernard Holdengräber (born March 15, 1960) is an American interviewer, curator and writer. He was director of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

's public programming and organized literary conversations for the NYPL's public program series, '' LIVE from the NYPL,'' which he founded. Since February 2012, he has hosted ''The Paul Holdengräber Show'' on the Intelligent Channel on YouTube. In 2019, he was the founding executive director of The Onassis Foundation, a center of dialogue in Los Angeles.

Early life

Holdengräber was born in Houston, Texas, to father Kurt Holdengräber, and Erica Holdengräber (née Hass). His parents were Austrian Jews with roots in Romania and Poland who fled Austria to

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

during World War II. Holdengräber's father was originally a second year medical student who was expelled for being Jewish. Among a very small Jewish community of 107 families, Holdengräber's father grew vegetables and worked as a farmer in Haiti, where he met and married Holdengräber's mother. The family moved from Haiti to Mexico City, where his older sister was born. The family then moved from Mexico to Houston, and eventually settled in Brussels, Belgium. Holdengräber spent much of his youth hitchhiking around Europe. Holdengräber studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. He received a bachelor's degree from the

Université Catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...

in Belgium. In 1995, Holdengräber received a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Princeton University. From 1995 to 1996, he did a post-doctoral fellowship at the Getty Research Institute.

Career

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Holdengräber was the founder and director of the Institute for Arts and Culture at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with the idea "to challenge the perception that museums are nothing more than mausoleums for Old Masters". Under Holdengräber's direction, the institute became an active and lively forum for debate with its ambitious lecture series in which painters, poets, performers, writers and thinkers address critical cultural issues through lively talks, discussions and performances.

New York Public Library

In 2004, the then NYPL President Paul LeClerc hired Holdengräber to create a public program at the New York Public Library. Holdengräber founded '' LIVE from the NYPL,'' a conversation series with writers, musicians, filmmakers and artists. As the director of '' LIVE from the NYPL,'' Holdengräber interviewed hundreds of public personalities, including Patti Smith, Zadie Smith, Anish Kapoor, and

Jay Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

. He sees the

as a storehouse of knowledge. One of his memorable series of conversations was with the German filmmaker, Werner Herzog. He has worked in partnership with such organizations as Rolex, The Moth, and PEN World Voices.

''The Paul Holdengräber Show''

On February 3, 2012, Holdengräber premiered an internet-television talk show called ''The Paul Holdengräber Show'' on YouTube's Intelligent Channel. The show has featured interviews with Colum McCann, Elizabeth Gilbert and David Chang.

Teaching

He has taught at Princeton University, Williams College, the University of Miami, and

Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna Co ...

Personal life

Holdengräber lives in the Los Angeles, California, suburb of

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

with his wife, Barbara Holdengräber, a writer, and their two sons. He speaks four languages: English, French, German, and Spanish. In Brussels, he spoke French as well as Flemish.

Honors

* 2003: French Government, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres * Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at University of Southern California, Fellow * 1995-1996: Getty Research Institute, Fellow * 2010:

Austrian President The president of Austria (german: Bundespräsident der Republik Österreich) is the head of state of the Republic of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the Constitution, in practice the president is largely a ceremonial ...

, Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art * New York Institute for the Humanities, Fellow

Board memberships

* 2000-2004: Santa Monica Museum of Art * Sun Valley Writers Conference * Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, Trustee * New York Center for Ballet and the Arts

Selected works and publications

Fluent in four languages, Holdengräber has also written essays and articles for journals in France, Germany, and Spain. * * * * * * *