Arts

Books
Arts

The Term 'Graphic Novel' Has Had A Good Run. We Don't Need It Anymore.

3:49pm November 17, 2016

by Glen Weldon

Coined in an era when comics were considered 'junk' culture, graphic novel is a hoary, meaningless, and often completely inaccurate term. Comics are comics; stop apologizing for them.

In 1973, Salvador Dali immortalized some of the surreal dinners he hosted in a cookbook called Les Diners de Gala, which he also illustrated.

Decades Later, Salvador Dalí's Decadent Dream Dishes Are Awakened

3:06pm November 17, 2016

by Tove Danovich

Food and surrealism make bizarre bedfellows in Les Diners de Gala, first published in 1973. Now, you can get a reprint of those recipes and illustrations — and a peek into his legendary banquets.

Books
Arts

Beautiful, Horrifying 'Blood Of The Dawn' Gives Voice To Peru's Victims Of Violence

7:00am November 17, 2016

by Michael Schaub

Claudia Salazar Jiménez's new novel is short and brutally effective. It's the story of three women from different walks of life, all caught up in the violence that convulsed Peru in the 1980s.

Books
Arts

Colson Whitehead, Rep. John Lewis Among National Book Award Winners

11:12pm November 16, 2016

by Colin Dwyer

Six writers emerged with the literary prize: Whitehead in fiction; Ibram X. Kendi in nonfiction; Daniel Borzutzky in poetry; and Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell in young people's literature.

Amerigo Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto) kisses the hand of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) in a scene from Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather.

Books
Arts

To Make 'The Godfather' His Way, Francis Ford Coppola Waged A Studio Battle

6:03pm November 16, 2016

Coppola was 29 years old when he signed on to direct a film. "I was young and had no power," he says, "so [the studio] figured they could just boss me around." But the young director fought back.

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In 1876, O.G. Mason, Bellevue's official photographer, took a carefully staged photograph of a blood transfusion in progress.

Bellevue Hospital Pioneered Care For Presidents And Paupers

4:34pm November 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

The history of New York's Bellevue hospital is also the history of medicine in the United States. From the days before doctors believed in germs through AIDS, the hospital led the way in innovation.

Bob Dylan, seen performing in 2012, told the Swedish Academy that he had "pre-existing commitments."

Bob Dylan Won't Be Picking Up His Nobel Prize In Person

4:31pm November 16, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

The musician won the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature. He told the committee in charge of the award ceremony that he had "pre-existing commitments" and was unable to accept the prize in person.

Arts

In 'The Eagle Huntress,' A Mongolian Girl Sets Out To Prove Her Elders Wrong

4:26pm November 16, 2016

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks to Otto Bell, the director of the new documentary, The Eagle Huntress.

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Amy Adams plays linguist Louise Banks in Arrival.

Arts

What We Can Know And What We Can Change: The Optimism Of 'Arrival'

1:00pm November 16, 2016

by Linda Holmes

Arrival is, like many of our most beloved stories, deeply committed to the idea that knowledge and understanding are the paths to follow.

Swing Time by Zadie Smith (Raquel Zaldivar/NPR)

Books
Arts

Know Thyself? 'Swing Time' Says It's Complicated

10:49am November 16, 2016

by Annalisa Quinn

The narrator of Zadie Smith's new novel is never named — fitting, for a book about the illusions of identity and the ways people try and fail to know and define themselves.