2012 Grawemeyer Award Recipients: State of the News

Friday on State of the News, we heard highlights from WFPL interviews with recipients of the 2012 Grawemeyer Awards. Rick Howlett spoke with Dr. Barbara Savage who was honored for ideas set forth in her book "Your Spirits Walk Beside Us: The Politics of Black Religion." The book explores the relationship between African-American churches and political activism. Erica Peterson interviewed Severine Autesserre, an assistant professor at Barnard College and Columbia University, and the author of “The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding.” She was awarded the Grawemeyer for Ideas Improving World Order.The 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition went to to Esa-Pekka Salonen’s "Violin Concerto." Salonen described the piece to the 30-minute piece, which debuted in 2009, to Gabe Bullard.And two neuroscientists from the National Institute of Mental Health were winners of the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Psychology. Leslie Ungerleider and Mortimer Mishkin explained to Devin Katayama how their studies help explain how the brain interprets what it sees.On Friday, we listened to excerpts of these interviews and spoke with our reporters about what they learned. To hear full audio with each recipient, follow the links at the bottom of the post.