Books

Books
Arts

A showbiz striver gets one more moment in the spotlight in 'Up With the Sun'

1:43pm February 07, 2023

by Maureen Corrigan

Author Thomas Mallon's sweeping new historical novel captures a slice of gay life in mid-to-late 20th century America as it reimagines the life — and violent death — of B-list actor Dick Kallman.

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'Brutes' captures the simultaneous impatience and mercurial swings of girlhood

9:21am February 07, 2023

by Kristen Martin

In plunging us into the collective mind of a group of girls watching the search for a missing girl, author Dizz Tate creates an original, stylistically ambitious take on well-trodden subject matter.

Books

Fenkl's 'Skull Water' delves into friendship, belonging and displacement

5:00am February 07, 2023

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with author Heinz Insu Fenkl about his novel Skull Water, which is based on many of his own experiences in South Korea in the 1970s.

Books

Sadeqa Johnson on her novel 'The House of Eve'

8:04am February 05, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

The lives of two Black women in the 1950s intersect over pregnancy and adoption. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Sadeqa Johnson about her novel, "The House of Eve."

Books

Thomas Mallon on his new novel 'Up With The Sun'

8:01am February 04, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks with author Thomas Mallon. His new novel, "Up With The Sun," draws on the real life, and murder, of a stage and screen actor from the 1950's and '60s.

Books

DK Nnuro on his debut novel 'What Napoleon Could Not Do'

8:01am February 04, 2023

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with writer DK Nnuro about his debut novel, "What Napoleon Could Not Do," which looks at differences between how African Americans and Black immigrants view the U.S.

The Wife of Bath from The Ellesmere Manuscript, one of the earliest manuscripts of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Books
Arts

A Wife of Bath 'biography' brings a modern woman out of the Middle Ages

8:01am February 04, 2023

by Neda Ulaby

Dreamed up by Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales more than 600 years ago, the Wife of Bath was known for her lusty appetites, gossipy asides and fondness for wine.

Photo of Alice Wong, an Asian American disabled woman in a power chair, against a background of bamboo trees. She is wearing a blue cardigan and sitting in a power chair. She is wearing a bold red lip color and a trach at her neck.

Activist Alice Wong reflects on 'The Year of the Tiger' and her hopes for 2023

7:00am February 04, 2023

by Thomas Lu

In the Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, Alice Wong shares pieces of her story and experience as a disabled Asian American through a collection of essays, interviews, photos and illustrations.

Pedro Pascal plays Joel Miller in The Last of Us.

Books
Arts

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing

5:01pm February 03, 2023

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Last of Us, The Looney Tunes Show and Ice Merchants.

Books
Arts

Novelist Julie Otsuka draws on her own family history in 'The Swimmers'

1:33pm February 03, 2023

by Terry Gross

Otsuka has recently been awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence for her novel about a Japanese American woman who's lost much of her memory to dementia. Originally broadcast Feb. 22, 2022.

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